Back when this saga was written, my little blog was just for me, and my code family and friends. I didn’t have an audience. So it is written like I am talking to my family, and doesn’t work great for 9 years later … but Im keeping it how it is for memory’s sake.

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Well, poor Mister hasn’t had nearly the pregnancy updates his sister had. But, I will give him his birth story post. :).

Fair warning, it’s very long and includes a lot of detail (mainly for my benefit later).

I woke up at 1:10am Sunday, with pretty strong pains in my very lower abdomen. These were not anything like I had been experiencing in the last weeks, but they felt like sharp, stabbing pms cramps. I wasn’t sure what I was experiencing…

After a few minutes I felt more, regular pains but was still unsure if they were contractions or my upset stomach I’d had for 2 weeks. I went to the bathroom and laid back down; the pains were 4-6 minutes apart, so I thought just maybe I should get up, drink some water, and walk around for a few minutes to see if they’d subside. After an hour they were 4 mins apart regularly, and were getting more painful. Husband was snoozing so I let him rest, unsure if I should wake him.

About 3:00am I decided I should, told him I thought I was in labor and contrax were 3.5-4 min apart at this time (thank you contraction timer app for iPhone! Haha)

He wanted to go with me, but I told him I would just run to the hospital and make sure it was real labor before we woke his mom, got her to the house to sit with big sister, etc. Plus, he was going to need his rest to help me labor, and I knew it’d be a few hours before we knew anything.

So, I got my things together, threw them in the car and drove to the ER. They wheeled me to L&D where I put on the gown, climbed in the bed, answered all the insanely personal question, and they checked to see what progress I had made. After 2.5 hours of labor (it was about 3:30am at this point) I was 3 cm and 80% effaced (which is great), but my cervix was still way back, or posterior. Had my contrax been 5-10min a part they would have let me go home to labor more, but because they were between 2.5-2 min by this point (yes, insanely close for such early labor) they were going to keep me. Plus it was my second baby so he could be here any minute you know … Yea right.

So I called husband, told him I was staying, and to take his time. He was there in 20 minutes. His mom came and stayed at the house until Lady woke up, then she dressed her and took her to church.

Labor was very much different from what I had experienced with my first. My contractions with her were up and across my tummy, and felt more like a tightening wave. My contractions with Baby2 felt like lower PMS cramps. They hurt much worse, and were pretty much on top of each other by 5:30am. However, despite them being painful, 45second long, and 2-3 min apart, I wasn’t making very fast progress.

And despite that the dr on call and my wonderful nurses did NOT push petocin on me. I was so thankful! When I told them I didn’t want it, they totally respected that.

By about 6:30 I was uncomfortable enough that I was ready for something to help with the pain. I was only at 4-5cm and I knew at this point labor would not be the quick and easy “cut your first labor time in half” delivery everyone said it would be. I have a terrible time w catheters, and since they are required for an epidural I opted for the pain meds instead. *sigh* big. Fat. Fail.

They did help w the contractions  for about an hour, but they made me feel so loopy, and I hated that. But I was able to rest between contractions, which I had not been able to do previously, so that was nice. By 7:30am the meds were wearing off and I was getting cranky, baby wasn’t progressing much and the contrax were just so close and painful, def worse than mine with my first.

There was also a new nurse on shift, and she said if I was ok with it, we didn’t have to do a catheter for the epi! We would just use the bed pan when we could. Can I get an AMEN?! This girl just won herself some big ole brownie points.

So we ordered the epidural, and the dr finally arrived with it an hour later … Let me backup a bit. With the full moon on Friday/Saturday morning still affecting all things natural and the hurricane sitting on top of us all weekend, labor and delivery was suddenly full. After I arrived they were flooded with mamas in labor. So the anesthesiologist took a while to get to me, because someone had ordered their epidural before I did (well played, other mama, well played).

Anyway, I got the epidural which was an incredibly easy experience compared to that I had with L. I waited so late in the game to get it with her (because my contraction weren’t that bad until much later), that while getting the epidural I was miserable and then had a rough reaction to it. This time I was uncomfortable and began to cry when he finally got started, but for some reason the whole thing was more pleasant than w my first. I was also able to straighten up and rest during contractions, while he was working. I didn’t get to do that with my first.

I don’t know what that dr did or how he did the dose, but I was still able to feel my legs, move in my bed, and feel my cervical checks, but I didn’t feel the contractions. It was a PERFECT because this also meant I could feel to use the bedpan to empty my bladder if needed. (and he doesn’t do walking epis, so that’s not what it was… but maybe it was and he just wouldn’t call it that for insurance purposes?)

But …. About 11:30 am that posed a slight problem; I was in the transition phase of labor, going from 8-10cm and I was feeling the dilation. No, not “pressure” from the numbing of the epi, but the burning, very painful sensation of dilation and shortly there after, pushing. The sweet nurse on staff asked me if it was pressure I felt during contractions and when I described what I was feeling, she looked at me like, “uh oh.” at 11:50 I started pushing and although I’m sure I didn’t feel ALL of the pain associated with delivering an 8lb 11oz baby, I felt a lot.

At one point, I just cried and told them “no, I could feel him and it hurt! No, I couldn’t do it!”.

My dr and nurses kept telling me “he’s big, Meghan, just a few more times and he will be out! You will be done!”.And they were right- and I’m thankful my epi wasn’t full strength. I was able to feel when I pushed, that I was being effective. I could feel him moving down each time, and as he emerged. Again, not pressure like you feel when numbed. It was painful, amazing, and at the same time encouraging.

After I got over the fear or shock of it, I just kept thinking about how close we were. And after 20 minutes of pushing he was here! The doctors were shocked by how much he weighed.

I couldn’t be more thankful that my on call doctor was my on call doctor. At first I was disappointed because I wanted my doctor, but Dr. Thaxton was amazing! Amazing. She followed all my wishes, was kind, and a huge baby advocate- she didn’t make me feel like she was just there to catch the baby, because she wasn’t. She was in there coaching me, alongside my husband and two fabulous, precious, nurses. She smiled, laughed, encouraged me, and was so careful afterward while finishing things up.

My husband was amazing. He entertained me when I needed it, held my hand, did the squeezing thing I need him to do during contractions, and let me go inward during the transition phase when I needed quiet. He encouraged me, pushed my backup while I pushed, and cried with me when baby came. It was just a great experience for us both.

Another thing I like about this labor was we waited to cut the cord. I won’t go into details about the benefits but the blood coming through the cord is very nutrient and oxygen rich. It’s full of stem cells and nutrients that help baby immediately after birth, and later in life. After he was born, they laid him on me for us to hold and bond with him. During that time they did all the stitching, cleaning up, etc and suctioned out his nose and chest.

Then they took him to his little table where they cleaned him up and checked his vitals. They gave him to daddy after that and we looked on in awe. Mister nursed right away, and had no problems… Unlike his sister who came out starving but wouldn’t latch on and fell asleep constantly while breastfeeding, M latched right on and never looked back. He’s had many many poopy diapers and several wet ones. He stays awake while nursing, and sleeps in between sessions. He has dark curly hair, teal eyes, and huge feet. Like huge feet…. Even the baby nurse said, ” he has really big feet!” Haha. In comparison to Lady, she had curly dark blonde hair w highlights and steal gray blue eyes. We are thinking his eyes will be green since they are the teal color. He looks just like his daddy, but favors lady a lot!

Speaking of her- My sweet precious girl bug is so wonderful. She went to church w sue sue and papa Sunday while I labored. Then my mom got in town and she spent time with her. Husband went home and got her about 2:30 Sunday and brought her to see me and baby. She was so excited she couldn’t get her words out, haha. When she finally did they consisted of, “I sit up there. I sit up there”- talking about on the bed with me so she could see baby. Then with arms outstretched and anticipation on her face, “I hold him! I hold him!”. So we told he how she had to be very easy with him and laid him in her arms. She immediately hugged and kissed no him. She was so excited, she also said she needed to take his hat off, and we needed to put him in the floor to play with her. Haha. It was sweet.

So, today is Monday the 3rd. Today is Lexie’s birthday! We can only figure that Max was determined to come on his own day! 🙂 Jtom has gone home to get Lexie up and about, I am going to get a shower and rest, then they are coming to see us here. We will go home tomorrow at noon. I am fortunate that I’m sleeping well during nursing sessions, my nurses have mostly be great, and since we aren’t having visitors (sorry about that…) I am resting and we get to bond with baby. Things really are going great. I know being home will pose a challenge and a lot of adjustment, but I think with our routines and consistency that we keep for lexie things will be much easier than if we just did whatever all the time.

Keep us in your prayers and thank you for all the wonderful texts and messages!

(sorry for typos, working on my ipad here)