I had a fairly good idea what I was getting into the second time around. Somehow, when it comes to labor, that did not make it any easier. Apparently, my body just likes to grow big babies and my cervix just does not like to cooperate. I was hoping for a VBAC, but ended up with another c-section. Here is the story of how Baby Zwei came into the world.
1/11. Busy bee today. Lost gobs of mucus plug (c'mon, this is the whole story!!). Cramping in back. Packed up all Christmas decorations. Made a couscous soup. Made a batch of chocolate raspberry scones and apple cinnamon muffins. Stripping cloth diapers. Wrapped the gifts for brothers to exchange. Dance parties and playdoh with Beck. And a 90 minute nap. Trying to get things going. Waiting, waiting.
1/12. More bloody show this morning. Tried to stay active doing laundry (stairs). A bit more cleaning. Sweeping floors. Etc. No major contractions anymore though. Went for a walk as a family before dinner. About 1 mile. Around 8 pm I started contracting about every ten minutes. Went to sleep around 11 pm.
1/13. 1 am. Awake and up for a potty break. Freezing. Still having contractions. Gonna try to get as much sleep as possible.
4 am. Still about 10 minutes apart. Restless.
5 am. Tell husband to turn off his alarm--he won't be going to work today. Head to the bathroom again to do some timing. It is weird, but the toilet is quite a comfy place to sit.
7 am. My Mom arrives to watch her grandson while we head to the hospital. I shower, finish packing my bag, and take one more belly picture with my first baby boy. Should have eaten but contractions 3-4 minutes apart and didn't want to anymore. Had some tea. Big mistake.
830 am. Contractions slowed to 5 minutes while en route. I am only 2 cm. Boo. Got an IV for antibiotics for group B Strep. Stuck in bed. Contractions quickly picked up intensity and I had a hard time not being able to move. Husband turned on my labor playlist and I did find myself singing and dancing along a bit. Contractions were torture. Nurse did not like that contractions were lasting up to three minutes!!! I held out as long as I could.
12 pm. Get an epidural and sweet relief. It also helped normalize my contractions. Now lasting 30 seconds to a minute each instead of three.
1230 pm. Baby's HR drops. Nurse calls a code on me. The whole floor of scrubs appears in my room. Panic. There is nothing scarier than when the experts think there is a reason to worry. Change positions. Normalizes. All is well. But now my BP is low. Meds to raise it. Checked again at a 3. Major boo. Given Tylenol for headache. Hooked up to BP cuff constantly now.
4 pm. Contractions are 2 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute and strong. Staying on one side for sake of baby's HR means one side gets more juice than the other. I am feeling the tightness of contractions. Surprised to find that my water may have broken on its own.
445 pm. Husband has been watching monitors and tattles that my cheeks are rosy and babes hr has been going up. Slight fever but also confirmed water break. Now a 6! Woohoo. Starving, but not allowed to eat. Ice chips are not filling. Convinced Chris to go get some dinner. My favorite nurse takes pity on me and brings me the best rocket Popsicle ever.
615 pm. Dr arrives. Breaks the rest of my water. She says I'm a 7. Slight meconium. But making progress.
640 pm. Headache. More Tylenol. Change positions and try sitting up for awhile to bring head down.
7 pm. Baby's HR slowing a bit. Scalp monitor placed. Dr Wong warns that slowing HR and head not descending are things they are watching closely. Also my water is a bit more bloody than they would like. Going to give me a bit more time to progress but if head stays high we will be off to the OR. This is all feeling very familiar.
815 pm. Still a 7 with no further head descent. 24 hours in, we decide it is time to have a baby. Once again, both my doctors are there. I joke that they just want to see how big this baby is. Surgery prep happens very quickly. That blue sheet comes up in front of my face and before I know they are even cutting, I feel the pull of a baby exiting my body.
919 pm. Keaton Elliot is born. 9 lbs even. 21 inches long. Cord wrapped around neck twice. And now I have my second due date baby.
10 pm. We are in recovery. Skin to skin. He latches easily. Looks like his brother. Dad heads to nursery for first bath and checks while I try to get warm and stop shaking from the drugs.
12 am. We are all back in our room. It is immediately apparent that while they do look alike, this baby is quite different from his brother. Nurses quickly, not very demanding of the boob, sleeping well. Whoa.
Spend the day trying to manage pain. Baby doing awesome. All blood sugars have been good. Nursing well according to lactation consultant. Gave us 3 wet and 1 dirty diaper--already progressing past meconium!! Gramma and grampa were first visitors. Also learned that apparently one of my ovaries was bleeding when they cut me open. Due to the traumas of labor. Interesting.
1/15. Big brother visits with Oma and Grandpa. Very emotional for me. I was not really sure that I would have kids and here I was with two boys. A family. I could not have been more proud. Brothers exchange gifts and kisses. After they leave, we have our celebratory meal.
1/16. We take advantage of the day in the hospital. Relaxing and eating all the meals I can. Watch some movies, take showers. And then...We go home!!
1/11. Busy bee today. Lost gobs of mucus plug (c'mon, this is the whole story!!). Cramping in back. Packed up all Christmas decorations. Made a couscous soup. Made a batch of chocolate raspberry scones and apple cinnamon muffins. Stripping cloth diapers. Wrapped the gifts for brothers to exchange. Dance parties and playdoh with Beck. And a 90 minute nap. Trying to get things going. Waiting, waiting.
1/12. More bloody show this morning. Tried to stay active doing laundry (stairs). A bit more cleaning. Sweeping floors. Etc. No major contractions anymore though. Went for a walk as a family before dinner. About 1 mile. Around 8 pm I started contracting about every ten minutes. Went to sleep around 11 pm.
1/13. 1 am. Awake and up for a potty break. Freezing. Still having contractions. Gonna try to get as much sleep as possible.
4 am. Still about 10 minutes apart. Restless.
5 am. Tell husband to turn off his alarm--he won't be going to work today. Head to the bathroom again to do some timing. It is weird, but the toilet is quite a comfy place to sit.
7 am. My Mom arrives to watch her grandson while we head to the hospital. I shower, finish packing my bag, and take one more belly picture with my first baby boy. Should have eaten but contractions 3-4 minutes apart and didn't want to anymore. Had some tea. Big mistake.
830 am. Contractions slowed to 5 minutes while en route. I am only 2 cm. Boo. Got an IV for antibiotics for group B Strep. Stuck in bed. Contractions quickly picked up intensity and I had a hard time not being able to move. Husband turned on my labor playlist and I did find myself singing and dancing along a bit. Contractions were torture. Nurse did not like that contractions were lasting up to three minutes!!! I held out as long as I could.
12 pm. Get an epidural and sweet relief. It also helped normalize my contractions. Now lasting 30 seconds to a minute each instead of three.
1230 pm. Baby's HR drops. Nurse calls a code on me. The whole floor of scrubs appears in my room. Panic. There is nothing scarier than when the experts think there is a reason to worry. Change positions. Normalizes. All is well. But now my BP is low. Meds to raise it. Checked again at a 3. Major boo. Given Tylenol for headache. Hooked up to BP cuff constantly now.
4 pm. Contractions are 2 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute and strong. Staying on one side for sake of baby's HR means one side gets more juice than the other. I am feeling the tightness of contractions. Surprised to find that my water may have broken on its own.
445 pm. Husband has been watching monitors and tattles that my cheeks are rosy and babes hr has been going up. Slight fever but also confirmed water break. Now a 6! Woohoo. Starving, but not allowed to eat. Ice chips are not filling. Convinced Chris to go get some dinner. My favorite nurse takes pity on me and brings me the best rocket Popsicle ever.
615 pm. Dr arrives. Breaks the rest of my water. She says I'm a 7. Slight meconium. But making progress.
640 pm. Headache. More Tylenol. Change positions and try sitting up for awhile to bring head down.
7 pm. Baby's HR slowing a bit. Scalp monitor placed. Dr Wong warns that slowing HR and head not descending are things they are watching closely. Also my water is a bit more bloody than they would like. Going to give me a bit more time to progress but if head stays high we will be off to the OR. This is all feeling very familiar.
815 pm. Still a 7 with no further head descent. 24 hours in, we decide it is time to have a baby. Once again, both my doctors are there. I joke that they just want to see how big this baby is. Surgery prep happens very quickly. That blue sheet comes up in front of my face and before I know they are even cutting, I feel the pull of a baby exiting my body.
919 pm. Keaton Elliot is born. 9 lbs even. 21 inches long. Cord wrapped around neck twice. And now I have my second due date baby.
10 pm. We are in recovery. Skin to skin. He latches easily. Looks like his brother. Dad heads to nursery for first bath and checks while I try to get warm and stop shaking from the drugs.
12 am. We are all back in our room. It is immediately apparent that while they do look alike, this baby is quite different from his brother. Nurses quickly, not very demanding of the boob, sleeping well. Whoa.
Spend the day trying to manage pain. Baby doing awesome. All blood sugars have been good. Nursing well according to lactation consultant. Gave us 3 wet and 1 dirty diaper--already progressing past meconium!! Gramma and grampa were first visitors. Also learned that apparently one of my ovaries was bleeding when they cut me open. Due to the traumas of labor. Interesting.
1/15. Big brother visits with Oma and Grandpa. Very emotional for me. I was not really sure that I would have kids and here I was with two boys. A family. I could not have been more proud. Brothers exchange gifts and kisses. After they leave, we have our celebratory meal.
1/16. We take advantage of the day in the hospital. Relaxing and eating all the meals I can. Watch some movies, take showers. And then...We go home!!
