Second baby--smooth labor
From the moment I learned I was pregnant with my second baby, my mind kept drifting ahead to the labor and delivery. Would it be seemingly endless like the first? Would I push for two and a half hours like before? Would my body do what it was supposed to do and go into labor on its own? Would I end up with an extremely painful recovery afterward? One week before my due date, I got my answer...
On Friday, June 4, I was busy with the delightful task of completing a 24-hour urine catch to determine whether I had pre-eclampsia. The night before, I had noticed some light pink spotting, but I didn't think much of it until I started collecting the pee and noticing stuff floating in it. I think it was pieces of my mucous plug. By that afternoon, I was feeling a lot of pressure in my lower abdomen. I didn't think it meant much, just maybe that the baby had dropped. I continued my collection efforts and during my 1 a.m. trip to the bathroom, I lost my mucous plug and noticed some blood with it. Aha! Maybe something really was happening!
By 8 a.m. Saturday, I was feeling a lot more pressure in my pelvic area, and it seemed to be coming in waves. It was definitely stronger than it was the day before. I still hesitated to believe that what I was feeling was contractions, though. I didn't feel crampy, and I didn't have any back pain. I described it to DH as feeling like I'd eaten an entire Thanksgiving dinner, put on my tightest pair of pants and had everyone in my family sit on my pelvis all at once. Yep, it was an intense pressure!
At 10:30 we left for the hospital lab to turn in my urine. All the way there, I continued feeling the pressure, but I still wasn't sure it was contractions. After we left the lab, we went to Costco, and that's where everything changed. There amongst the giant packages of gum and industrial-sized vats of peanut butter, I became a believer--yes, these were contractions, and yes, I was in labor. I could make it through an aisle and a half and then I'd have to stop and grab onto a shelf or a pole and wait out the pain. I'm sure I was quite the sight for all the other shoppers!
Once we got home from Costco, I continued feeling the pains, but it seemed that whenever I sat down, they slowed down. I started timing them and they were four minutes apart when I was on my feet, eight minutes apart when I was on my duff. What to do? I decided to wait it out. We put DS1 down for his nap and I took a nap myself. Afterward, we took a walk and the pain became more steady again. It continued even as I sat through dinner. DH timed them and they were a steady four minutes apart, lasting 45 seconds to a minute each. And they were getting way more difficult to talk through. I decided it was time to call the doctor. He said he'd call the hospital and tell them to be expecting me.
After dropping off DS1 at my parents' house, we made it to the hospital around nine on Saturday evening. I had to walk through the ER entrance to the elevator, and I know I had to stop and grip the wall at least twice. When the elevator doors opened at L&D, I couldn't get out of the elevator because I was gripping the rail during a contraction. It was kind of funny when I did come out, though. The nurses just had a knowing look on their faces. In triage, I was checked and I was only three centimeters, but I wasn't discouraged. This was farther than I'd ever gotten on my own with DS1's labor. In fact, by the time I was a three with him, I was begging for an epidural (Pitocin contractions are the devil, by the way.). But not this time. I was breathing through the contractions, and I was still in good spirits.
Once I was admitted, they moved me to my room on the labor floor and I was allowed to walk the halls. This is one of the sweetest memories of my labor. DH and I talked about our boys and the things we wanted to see them do as they grew up together. He supported me as I stopped with each contraction to grip the rail along the wall. Although the nurses were at their desk, it seemed DH and I were the only people in the world, so soon before our family would go from three to four.
After an hour of walking, I was checked by the nurse and had dilated to five centimeters. The contractions were getting close to unbearable for me, so I decided to get an epidural. And, oh, was that a fabulous decision! I had relief from the pain and DH and I were able to get some rest during the remainder of the night.
The next morning (Sunday), the nurse checked me before shift change at around 6:45 and said I was dilated to 8 cm, but the bag of waters was still intact. She thought that once the doctor ruptured it, I would be ready to push in a matter of just a few minutes. She said I was so lucky to have gotten through labor without the need for pitocin, and I totally agreed!
My doctor was delivering a baby at a different hospital, so he didn't arrive until 8:30 a.m., but he was definitely worth waiting for. He broke my bag of waters and by 9 a.m. I was ready to push. The doctor and nurse encouraged me the whole way. They were always supportive, never demanding. The doctor allowed my body to do what it needed to do and never seemed in a rush to get the baby out. It was just the positive atmosphere I needed, and when I finally felt the baby's head coming out, I felt so excited and proud and determined all at the same time. DH was so excited, and I remember looking at him and then looking down as I felt the rest of DS's body emerge. I screamed with excitement and they immediately placed him on my chest. I couldn't stop saying, "I love you!" I couldn't stop laughing. I couldn't believe that I was so blessed.
Colby Wayne entered the world on June 6, 2010, at 9:59 a.m. He weighed 8 lb., 2 oz., and was 20.5 in. long. He is loved beyond words by his mommy, daddy and big brother, Wyatt.
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