F/U May 1 baby- Birth story!

On Monday (4/30) I had my 38w appointment. Because I had been having contractions, my OB went ahead and checked me. I was 3cm dilated and 50% effaced, as compared to 1cm and not effaced at all at my 36w appointment. She asked if I wanted her to strip my membranes and I said SURE! I was hopeful that things would start moving along but I also knew that with two weeks remaining until my due date, it could still be awhile. That afternoon I went on a long walk and did lots of squats. DH and I had sex that evening and by the time I went to bed I was having very mild, irregular contractions.

At 2 AM, I was woken up by a very STRONG contraction. Since I was up I used the bathroom and had another contraction while I was peeing. I was wide awake at that point so I decided to stay up for a little bit to see if anything was actually happening. I sat down at the computer and I was going to use the Bump tool to time my contractions but by the time everything got booted up I KNEW that it was time. They were extremely painful and close together. I woke up my DH and told him to start getting ready and called the on-call OB. She told me to come on in to triage.

We had to drop my DS off at my parents' house so by the time we arrived at the hospital it was about 4am. It was VERY slow and the doctor met us in triage before I was even lying in bed! She checked me and I was 5cm dilated and 90% effaced- it was baby time! They admitted me and I was wheeled off to the L&D room. I think I was in triage all of 20 minutes.

By this point the contractions were TERRIBLE. I knew I wanted an epidural so I told the nurse as soon as I could have it, I wanted it! In the meantime, she hooked me up to the IV and started my penicillin since I was GBS positive. She also gave me some sort of pain medication to hold me over which took the edge off, but not by much. Mostly it just made the room seem like it was spinning. I think it was shortly before 6AM when the anesthesiologist came around. They let my DH stay in the room but he couldn't watch them place the epidural. Later he told me that it was pretty pointless because he saw the whole thing in the reflection of the window! Luckily that sort of thing doesn't bother him.

The details are a little fuzzy after this, I know they checked me twice and I was 6cm and then 7cm. I just don't remember what time. Originally they were planning on waiting for my water to break on its own to make sure I received at least one full dose of penicillin, but at 8:30 they went ahead and broke my water since it had been the full four hours.

Sometime after 10 AM I started to feel a bit of pressure so they came in and checked me again. Sure enough, I was 10cm and ready to push! The doctor told the nurse NOT to let me do any practice pushes because she thought I would deliver quickly. And sure enough, I pushed that baby out in less than 10 minutes! :-) Kenny was born at 10:45 AM on May 1. It was so easy compared to the first time around, I couldn't believe it was over so quickly!

Because I was GBS positive they made me stay in the hospital a full 48 hours after delivery to keep an eye on Kenny. He did great and also took to breastfeeding right away. My milk came in the day I came home so I have been dealing with lots of leaking- fun fun! Hopefully my supply regulates itself soon.

Jerry (DS#1) has adjusted better than I expected so far. He did not show much interest in Kenny at first but has started to come up and give him kisses. It is SO adorable! Kenny looks so much like Jerry, it is unbelievable! I am really excited to be embarking on this 2u2 adventure.