This time around, we had to schedule an induction due to being considered “high risk” from GD, but luckily everything was looking good for baby #2. Her heart rate was great, her estimated weight and size looked great, and my blood sugar levels were completely diet controlled. The nurse scheduled us for November 22 (Tuesday) at 7am. I had to call in at 6am and make sure they were still on schedule, and they most definitely were. The hospital said to come in at 7am to get started.
Emma was a wonderful child, and she only minimally complained when we got her up at 6:05am to go to school super early. I don’t even think we fed her breakfast because we knew that the school would feed her breakfast that morning. Our bags were already packed and ready to go. I slept as well as I could the night before, but it wasn’t the best sleep ever. I know Peter was also slightly nervous, too, but he didn’t show it much.
When we got to the hospital, we checked in with a very nice woman and were immediately taken to the labor and delivery suite #7. I figured maybe it was a nice sign to have room #7…that’s a lucky number, right?
When we got to the room, I had to take off my clothes and wear the hospital gown. Getting in and out of the hospital bed very excruciating with my hip/pelvic pain. I think the nurses thought I was a wuss, but it hurt like crazy! I had to use this huge peanut pillow to relieve some of the pressure while I laid on my side. It helped, but I felt like a nut with this HUGE inflatable peanut between my legs.
The nurses, Laura and Laura, were very nice but the IV–not so much. Apparently my left arm had wavy veins so then they had to take out that IV and do it again on the right arm. Ouch! Once they got it settled, they started me on a slow Pitocin drip to get contractions started. I actually can’t complain about the Pitocin. The contractions very pretty smooth and very gradually increased in intensity. I had heard horror stories about how Pitocin can give you TERRIBLE, sharp contractions, but I really didn’t let it get to that point.
Peter sent out a text message to the family to let everyone know that we were in the hospital. I didn’t really want everyone knowing about the induction beforehand because my hope was that labor would happen naturally. It didn’t work out that way, but that is ok. Since the delivery was scheduled, my actual doctor was able to be there, which was really nice, because she made me feel a million times better about the epidural that I wanted and making sure that the “area” was numb if she had to do any stitches after delivery.
My parents came to visit and stayed for a while. It was a nice distraction, but contractions were starting to build up in intensity while they were there. When the anesthesiologist came to give me the epidural, my parents left for a little while. The whole time my parents were visiting, there was a woman screaming bloody murder down the hall. Apparently she missed the window for the epidural, and, man, was she loud. I’m not sure if she was just a screamer by nature or if it really hurt THAT bad, but I am glad that I didn’t have to find out. Since the anesthesiologist wasn’t as busy as he planned, he came into the room for me pretty quickly. Now I have to say, I don’t think I will ever be ok with getting needles in my spine. No matter how much I wanted an epidural, I was still terrified knowing that it was coming. I squeezed Peter’s hand as tight as I could, and I know I started shaking from nerves. Luckily, the anesthesiologist got it right the first time, and there were no complications.
I expected that my legs would go cold and numb the way they did the first time (with Emma), but they didn’t. I could feel them, I could move them, and that was slightly terrifying to me. The nurses assured me that this was normal and that I wouldn’t feel pain. Needless to say, I didn’t really believe them and was still terrified that the epidural wasn’t working…it was slightly reassuring that I couldn’t feel contractions anymore though.
Since I was still only about 1.5 cm dilated, the doctor had to come in and break my water, which also terrified me, but it wasn’t bad at all. I could feel the warm trickle of water breaking very soon after she did her thing. What a strange sensation! Very soon after, the nurses said I was dilated to 5.5-6 cm.
My parents came back in, and we chatted for a while. The doctor had come in to tell us that she had two other second-pregnancy moms that she had just delivered recently. She said their labors were pretty quick, but she also said it’s hard to know if you will deliver in an hour or in ten hours. Because of this comment, I was sure it would be a while since I was only 5.5 cm dilated. Peter and my dad were chatting about something silly so I suggested that they go get some food. It was about 5:30pm, and poor Peter hadn’t eaten anything but a protein bar all day. Peter laughed and told me there was no way he was leaving the room and that he knew better :).
Once or twice in this timeframe, I thought I started to feel a contraction or two, but I couldn’t tell if I was imagining it or not. The nurse came in a few minutes later to tell me that I needed to flip onto my other side for a while. She moved my legs from the right side of the bed to the left side, and then I immediately had the sensation of a baby wanting to come out ASAP! I started to panic a little bit, “I feel pressure! I feel pressure!” Let me just say that every aspect (which felt like having to cross one hurdle at a time) of childbirth terrified me. I know I did it once before, but that didn’t make me feel any less stress about it. At this point, I was now nervous that the baby was just going to pop out or something before the doctor came back into the room.
They quickly called the doctor into the room, and I started pushing. I am told that it was about 4 sets of pushes and then out “popped” a baby at 5:50 pm. I don’t recall the whole situation happening like this, but I know it was significantly quicker than Emma’s delivery.
The doctor plopped this little tiny, blue, slimy baby on my belly, and I just started automatically crying from all of the craziness that just transpired and the hormones and EVERYTHING! I kept thinking, “Her head is so tiny!” She was crying and had all of her limbs and things so that was good ;). Peter had some wet eyes, too, and assured the doctor that he did not want to cut the umbilical cord.
They took the baby over to the baby station, and she weighed 6 lbs 9 oz, was 20 inches long, and had Apgar scores of 8 and 9. When they brought her back over to Peter and me, I was amazed at how much she looked like her big sister, Emma. I couldn’t get over the resemblance. I expected some similarities, but I felt like I was looking at baby Emma again. When baby #2 opened her eyes, I noticed that they were a slate grayish color with a slight beige tone in the right light. So far we still don’t know what color her eyes are, but Peter and I are guessing brown.
The doctor did some sewing while we held the baby, and she asked me if I needed lidocaine down there before she started. I was scared (once again) that I would feel the sewing happening like I did the first time so she gave me some lidocaine and did her thing. Apparently everything was still numb, and I didn’t feel the needle–which is fine by me. I do NOT mind being extra numb in this kind of situation :).
Peter fed the baby her first bottle, and it was cute to see him talk to her so much. I feel like when we had Emma, we weren’t really sure how to do this whole parenting thing, but this time, we actually knew how to interact with a newborn from the start. I told Peter thank you for not leaving the room when I told him that he should go get something to eat with my dad. I honestly never thought all of that would transpire in a timespan of about 15 minutes.
