This past Monday, November 19, I had the privilege of bringing our second little one, and first boy, into the world. The experience turned out to be quite the surprising end to an interesting journey.
Once again we had some trouble getting pregnant and after all of the frustration that goes along with that we were thrilled to find out we were pregnant earlier this spring. I have to say that I had a fairly easy pregnancy, as I had with Lily. Though I might have been to busy taking care of Lily to give in to “feeling bad” this time around. Once again we waited to find out the gender of this baby and I am so happy that we did. Already having another child I was much more anxious to find out it this was a boy or girl since I wanted to know if Lillian’s closest sibling would be a brother or a sister. We had a much harder time coming up with a name and we actually went to the hospital having no names at all. I’m pretty sure that was due to the fact that I didn’t want to get attached to the idea of a certain gender ahead of time. Lily was certain it was going to be a sister (though who knows if she really understood the difference…). Clark and I hadn’t actually said out loud what we thought it was going to be until we were on the way to the hospital and we both finally predicted a girl also. I would have loved for Lily to have a sister close in age, as I have, but I know she’ll love her little brother, just like I love mine!
Anyway, on to his entrance into the world…
On Monday morning I went to the doctor to discuss my options as I was 2 days overdue. We decided to have the doctor strip my membranes and see what happened from there. I left the office and had a very productive day getting all kinds of errands done and having maybe 1 or 2 contractions an hour at most. I really thought that nothing was going to happen. Later that evening the contractions started up a little more often but they were so mild I didn’t think much of it. At 6:30, though very mild, I decided to start timing the contractions just to get an idea of what was going on. I called the hospital after timing for an hour to get their opinion of what I should do as the contractions were coming under 4 minutes but I could still walk and talk through them and I wasn’t sure I should actually come in yet. The nurse suggested I head over to get checked out due to the timing and the fact that this wasn’t my first pregnancy. After another hour or so of prepping and waiting for Lily’s uncle Dean to arrive and babysit we left for the hospital. By this time I was definitely sure we should be leaving! We got to the hospital around 8:45 and got settled in for what I was sure would be a nice long evening. I had progressed to 5cm but the contractions were so confusing to me I wasn’t sure how things were going to go. With Lily the contractions felt almost constant. Like I had only 15-30 seconds rest in between them and they were never going to end. This time they were very distinct and separate. We had what felt like a few minutes in between each one and even though they became very strong we were joking and laughing together in between each one.
I knew I wanted an epidural but again wasn’t sure it was time since we had only been at the hospital for a short time and I wasn’t at the point yet where I wanted to die (which was when I asked for one with Lil). Clark even tried to talk me out of it since to him I didn’t seem to be having that hard of a time. The nurse advised that if I wanted one I should do it sooner rather than later due to how fast she thought I was progressing and I was more than happy to get that started. I had to wait 30 or so minutes for the anesthesiologist but I finally got my meds going and felt some relief. After another 3 or 4 contractions I started feeling an immense pressure down below that I was surprised to find quite painful. I told the nurse and after 3 or 4 contractions like that the nurse checked me again and I had quickly progressed to just past 9cm. Within another 10 minutes my water broke and we decided it was time to start pushing. I don’t know if the epidural didn’t have enough time to fully take effect or if it just malfunctioned somehow but pushing this one out was not as much fun as with Lil. I had relief from the contraction pain in my stomach area but everything below that was not affected by the medicine. Luckily I was only pushing for around 20-30 minutes but I was painfully aware of just how big this guy’s head was! At 10:35 we were told that our new little one was a boy!
We were very excited and both in shock at what had just happened. I kept looking at the clock to make sure I was seeing things correctly. I had only been at the hospital for 2 hours! and before that I had barely spent any time at home in much discomfort. Only 4 hours!?! I was of course thrilled and grateful, but I still can’t believe what had just happened. It definitely took a few minutes for me to wrap my head around. I also couldn’t believe when they said he weighed 8lbs 15oz! To be honest when I heard that the first thing that went through my head was a line from one of my favorite movies, “The Sandlot.” It’s during a baseball game against a rival team and the fat kid of the group is heckling the batter and he says “Come on pitcher. This is gonna be a short game and I gotta get home for lunch!” Maybe only a few other people would appreciate that but I couldn’t help acknowledging that I just gave birth to a little chunk! At least I was amused :).
I was able to get out of the hospital after a day and a half which was great. We are adjusting to our new family of 4 and loving every minute of it. I am so grateful for the privilege to care for my babies and especially that I get to do so with my husband by my side.
