It has been a long time since I wrote a post. Being a working pregnant mom was a really hard title to maintain, and I just didn't have the energy to write. Luckily though, I get to reclaim the title of Stay at Home Mom for the next 8 months, and what better way to kick that off than to write about the arrival of the little girl who is the reason for that!
I was sure Melody would come early. Weeks early, even. I felt her so low from about 34 weeks and was on constant alert, expecting to go into labor any minute. My doctor even expressed that with my gestational diabetes, delivering a little bit early would be a good idea if possible, so I had my membranes stripped at 38 weeks and geared up to have a baby the next day.
And then nothing. Nothing! I walked for literally miles, drank a whole box of raspberry leaf tea, popped a bunch of evening Primrose oil pills, put clary sage oil on the labor pressure points, had a pedicure with extra massage time, even made my husband have really awkward pregnant sex with me. I had gross stuff coming out of me for days, but no baby.
I focused my my attention on making James' final days as an only child as special as possible. We went to the bounce houses at the mall and got to catch butterflies. We spent sunny days at the beach or the splash pad or the park. We went to a playgroup with some friends. Then on Thursday April 27, I started feeling...off. I'd had plenty of energy all week, and we spent the morning playing outside before I suddenly felt exhausted. I had already promised to take James to the pool, so we went for an hour and came home for a nap. By the time we woke up, I was feeling noticeably more uncomfortable. Dustin came home from work and I told him we might be heading to the hospital soon for me to get checked. I timed contractions all evening, but they never got intense enough or closer together than about 6 minutes, so I soaked in a hot bath and tried to sleep some.
In the middle of the night, I had to get up because nonpodition in bed was comfortable. I propped myself up on the couch and timed more contractions, but they were still about the same frequency. I fell asleep that way.
I had an appointment the next morning, and when Dustin got up I asked if he could take the day off to go with me in case they wanted to admit me to Labor and Delivery. We sent James to the sweet neighbor who had agreed to keep him while I gave birth, and headed to the doctor.
I had made some progress, but not much. The doctor did a second membrane sweep and stretched me to 4 cm, then sent me down to L&D to get monitored and see if things picked up. She also suggested augmenting the labor with Pitocin, since I had a few conditions that made an early delivery ideal.
We were taken to our room and things picked up pretty quickly. Most of you know that I had an induction with James, but it was an otherwise natural birth. I had every intention of repeating the experience, but things progressed MUCH faster this time. With James, they started Pitocin at about a 0.5 and increased it by as much every hour. This time, they started it at a 2 and an hour later kicked it up to a 4. My contractions were suddenly coming only about a minute apart and my body hadn't had time to work up to that. I didn't have the luxury of a hot bath like I'd had before, and the other natural coping techniques that had served me so well with my first born were doing little to ease the pain. After about 2 hours of active labor and my water having broken, I gave in and called for the epidural. Dustin was still entirely supportive and didn't question my decision at all. When asked why not, he said "She's done this before, she knows what she needs."
The nurse verified with me that I wasn't feeling the urge to push yet, and I confirmed. However, while waiting for the anesthesiologist, I noticed that I did seem to be bearing down a little bit with each contraction, and it was a slight relief to do so. Still, with James Inlushed for HOURS, and at that time the prospect of even a few more minutes of the pain seemed like an eternity, so I fought the urge and told them I still wasn't pushing.
As soon as the anesthesiologist finished up and left, I couldn't help but push a tiny bit more, and my water bag popped. The nurse checked my cervix and immediately informed me I was fully dilated to 10 cm. After only 2 hours! No wonder it was so intense! They called the doctor in to verify and I frantically moaned that I needed to poop. They assured me that what I was feeling was the baby (but I did poop a little) and that it was time to push. Three real pushes and she was out, not even ten minutes after getting the epidural! I sort of wish I had held out just a little longer so I could say I went without again, but I think having the chance to rest a little for the last few contractions helped me focus on pushing more effectively. And I did make it all but ten minutes without, in a labor that went much faster than it should have, so I still think that's pretty badass.
Melody was born at 7 lbs 6.6 oz, a full 2 lbs smaller than her brother and with a head 2 inches smaller! I still tore a little bit, but not as severely as with James. and having had sleep the night before and not having had to engage my whole body for 12 hours made my recovery MUCH easier. I'm still sore where you'd expect, but I don't feel so physically exhausted this time (which is helpful when you have a very active almost-3-year-old at home).
The new big brother James came to meet his baby sister the next morning and has been completely enamoured with her since. He picked out a special stuffed animal and balloon to give her, and loved the box of Legos that "she" got for him. He gives her hugs and kisses and tells her he's her brother and that he loves her so much. He gets jealous when anyone else holds her, not because he wants attention but because he wants to be the one holding her! He didn't even want to leave her to have Daddy take him on the traditional "New Sibling Trip to the Zoo," but he did end up having a blast once they got there.
Melody didn't have the issues with jaundice that James had that caused us to extend our hospital stay, so we actually got to go home after just 24 hours! I'm still so thrilled about that. There is no rest to be had in a hospital where nurses and lab techs are coming in to check on you around the clock, but sleeping in our own bed last night was heavenly!
Right now we are just enjoying our newborn snuggles and fawning over the beautiful birth photos our wonderful photographer got (Treena Butera, Kiss Studios). I can tell that becoming a mom of two will definitely be an adjustment, but so far my heart is exploding at the love between the members of my
little family.
So, lessons learned:
1. Pitocin sucks. If you have to have it, INSIST on small doses.
2. Faster labors do not mean easier labors. Sometimes a long but slowly progressing labor is easier than a quick but overly intense one.
3. Epidurals don't cross the placenta as I previously thought, and they certainly aren't the end of the world. There are births that go better naturally and births that really call for some pain relief. Know your body and listen to it.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more frequent posts now that I'll have some more time.
I was sure Melody would come early. Weeks early, even. I felt her so low from about 34 weeks and was on constant alert, expecting to go into labor any minute. My doctor even expressed that with my gestational diabetes, delivering a little bit early would be a good idea if possible, so I had my membranes stripped at 38 weeks and geared up to have a baby the next day.
And then nothing. Nothing! I walked for literally miles, drank a whole box of raspberry leaf tea, popped a bunch of evening Primrose oil pills, put clary sage oil on the labor pressure points, had a pedicure with extra massage time, even made my husband have really awkward pregnant sex with me. I had gross stuff coming out of me for days, but no baby.
I focused my my attention on making James' final days as an only child as special as possible. We went to the bounce houses at the mall and got to catch butterflies. We spent sunny days at the beach or the splash pad or the park. We went to a playgroup with some friends. Then on Thursday April 27, I started feeling...off. I'd had plenty of energy all week, and we spent the morning playing outside before I suddenly felt exhausted. I had already promised to take James to the pool, so we went for an hour and came home for a nap. By the time we woke up, I was feeling noticeably more uncomfortable. Dustin came home from work and I told him we might be heading to the hospital soon for me to get checked. I timed contractions all evening, but they never got intense enough or closer together than about 6 minutes, so I soaked in a hot bath and tried to sleep some.
In the middle of the night, I had to get up because nonpodition in bed was comfortable. I propped myself up on the couch and timed more contractions, but they were still about the same frequency. I fell asleep that way.
I had an appointment the next morning, and when Dustin got up I asked if he could take the day off to go with me in case they wanted to admit me to Labor and Delivery. We sent James to the sweet neighbor who had agreed to keep him while I gave birth, and headed to the doctor.
I had made some progress, but not much. The doctor did a second membrane sweep and stretched me to 4 cm, then sent me down to L&D to get monitored and see if things picked up. She also suggested augmenting the labor with Pitocin, since I had a few conditions that made an early delivery ideal.
We were taken to our room and things picked up pretty quickly. Most of you know that I had an induction with James, but it was an otherwise natural birth. I had every intention of repeating the experience, but things progressed MUCH faster this time. With James, they started Pitocin at about a 0.5 and increased it by as much every hour. This time, they started it at a 2 and an hour later kicked it up to a 4. My contractions were suddenly coming only about a minute apart and my body hadn't had time to work up to that. I didn't have the luxury of a hot bath like I'd had before, and the other natural coping techniques that had served me so well with my first born were doing little to ease the pain. After about 2 hours of active labor and my water having broken, I gave in and called for the epidural. Dustin was still entirely supportive and didn't question my decision at all. When asked why not, he said "She's done this before, she knows what she needs."
The nurse verified with me that I wasn't feeling the urge to push yet, and I confirmed. However, while waiting for the anesthesiologist, I noticed that I did seem to be bearing down a little bit with each contraction, and it was a slight relief to do so. Still, with James Inlushed for HOURS, and at that time the prospect of even a few more minutes of the pain seemed like an eternity, so I fought the urge and told them I still wasn't pushing.
As soon as the anesthesiologist finished up and left, I couldn't help but push a tiny bit more, and my water bag popped. The nurse checked my cervix and immediately informed me I was fully dilated to 10 cm. After only 2 hours! No wonder it was so intense! They called the doctor in to verify and I frantically moaned that I needed to poop. They assured me that what I was feeling was the baby (but I did poop a little) and that it was time to push. Three real pushes and she was out, not even ten minutes after getting the epidural! I sort of wish I had held out just a little longer so I could say I went without again, but I think having the chance to rest a little for the last few contractions helped me focus on pushing more effectively. And I did make it all but ten minutes without, in a labor that went much faster than it should have, so I still think that's pretty badass.
Melody was born at 7 lbs 6.6 oz, a full 2 lbs smaller than her brother and with a head 2 inches smaller! I still tore a little bit, but not as severely as with James. and having had sleep the night before and not having had to engage my whole body for 12 hours made my recovery MUCH easier. I'm still sore where you'd expect, but I don't feel so physically exhausted this time (which is helpful when you have a very active almost-3-year-old at home).
The new big brother James came to meet his baby sister the next morning and has been completely enamoured with her since. He picked out a special stuffed animal and balloon to give her, and loved the box of Legos that "she" got for him. He gives her hugs and kisses and tells her he's her brother and that he loves her so much. He gets jealous when anyone else holds her, not because he wants attention but because he wants to be the one holding her! He didn't even want to leave her to have Daddy take him on the traditional "New Sibling Trip to the Zoo," but he did end up having a blast once they got there.
Melody didn't have the issues with jaundice that James had that caused us to extend our hospital stay, so we actually got to go home after just 24 hours! I'm still so thrilled about that. There is no rest to be had in a hospital where nurses and lab techs are coming in to check on you around the clock, but sleeping in our own bed last night was heavenly!
Right now we are just enjoying our newborn snuggles and fawning over the beautiful birth photos our wonderful photographer got (Treena Butera, Kiss Studios). I can tell that becoming a mom of two will definitely be an adjustment, but so far my heart is exploding at the love between the members of my
little family.
So, lessons learned:
1. Pitocin sucks. If you have to have it, INSIST on small doses.
2. Faster labors do not mean easier labors. Sometimes a long but slowly progressing labor is easier than a quick but overly intense one.
3. Epidurals don't cross the placenta as I previously thought, and they certainly aren't the end of the world. There are births that go better naturally and births that really call for some pain relief. Know your body and listen to it.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more frequent posts now that I'll have some more time.
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