Joss Stone Opens Up About Traumatic Birth of Second Baby: 'Massive Amounts of Pain'

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joss stone
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After a stressful 30-plus hour labor before welcoming her second baby, son Shackleton, Joss Stone is feeling thankful that things are now going "really great" at home with her two kids.

The English singer, 35, details her "scary" birth experience in this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, sharing that she was going through "massive amounts of pain" before she required an emergency cesarean section.

Stone, who shares daughter Violet, 21 months, and baby Shackleton with partner Cody DaLuz, tells PEOPLE that though she had been "preparing for my whole life" to have a natural birth, things didn't go as expected when welcoming her son last month. (She also welcomed daughter Violet via c-section.)

"[Shackleton's] heartbeat was at normal rate. And then all of a sudden, it just slowed down, massively slowed down. I thought, 'Oh, that's my baby. That's not good,' " Stone recalls.

She says she was already in labor for over 30 hours when the nurse told her they would need to call in the obstetric emergency team. "She comes up to me and she goes, 'The room is going to fill up with a lot of people. Don't worry about it. Just stay calm.' Then Cody looks at me and he said the same thing," she shares.

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joss stone
joss stone

Cody DaLuz/Instagram Joss Stone (R) and boyfriend Cody DaLuz

RELATED: Joss Stone and Partner Cody DaLuz Welcome Second Baby, Son Shackleton, Following 'Scary' Labor

"When I first arrived in that hospital, the nurse that was on call said, 'Do you have a birth plan?' I said, 'My plan is to birth my baby. If something goes wrong and if my baby's in danger, you guys are going to birth my baby. I'm just going to give it to you.' That is exactly what I did," she explains.

Stone says she remembers around 15 doctors and nurses in the room all "talking over me" before her baby's heart rate "massively slowed down" again.

"He was coming down the birth canal, and when my uterus split, his head went into my abdomen and he went back up," she recalls. "They had to bring him back to breathing again."

She was then brought into the operating room where Stone simply remembers a doctor telling her, "'OK, we're going to sleep,' and then I woke up, I had my baby and everything was okay."

Stone says she's "super grateful" to the doctors and nurses who "turned up so quickly" to take care of her and her baby. "It was like having 15 angels fly into the room. They were trying to make me feel comfortable. They were very nice and professional and made me feel safe."

The musician, who recently released her first-ever Christmas album Merry Christmas, Love, is now soaking up time at home with both of her kids. "It's really great because Violet is so in love with him," says Stone. "She wants to kiss him all the time. She was screaming with excitement to meet him. I mean, she wanted to see the baby more than she wanted to see me."

She also shares her appreciation for DaLuz for helping with Violet and Shackleton, who was named after Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, as she returns to performing. In the coming weeks, the star is set to perform at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the National Christmas Tree Lighting on CBS and at the Grand Ole Opry.

"This could not be possible if I was doing it on my own," she shares. "It takes a village."

For more on Stone and her new baby boy, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.