Juliet came flying out into the world on Wednesday! Unlike her brother three years earlier, who believed that “delivery” was an optional portion of “labor and delivery,” once Juliet decided to get moving, she was in a hurry.
I called DH at work around 9:15 on Wednesday morning, and told him I was having some contractions, but they felt about the same as the ones I’d had the evening before, which died out and didn’t really feel productive. I took a shower while my parents played with DS, and by the time I got out, struggled to get dressed and went to lay on my side for a few minutes. At 10:30, I called DH again, and I think all I said was, “I think you should come home.” So he hopped on the train and I mostly continued to lay on my side. I turned on my hypnobabies birth CD, and in retrospect I think it helped quite a bit (as labor progressed, I was silently cursing the whole hypnobabies concept, having no idea how far I’d actually progressed). DH got home just as it ended. A few minutes later I asked him to call the hospital. Based on his description of the contractions, they told us to wait another hour and check in again. 20 minutes later, we called them from the car and told them we were on our way. Contractions got steadily stronger during the car ride, and a flood of memories from my 26 hour first labor came rushing back. I told DH I was planning to ask for an epidural, contrary to everything we had discussed ahead of time.
By the time we got to the parking garage, I knew I couldn’t walk into the hospital on my own. For some reason, DH was convinced that the only way to deal with this was to take me to the emergency room. In between increasingly crazy contractions, I kept repeating, DON’T take me to the emergency room! Find a wheelchair! This was probably the lowpoint in our communication, LOL. When I couldn’t convince him to locate a wheelchair (stress makes us a little irrational!), I said forget it, I’ll try to walk. As we got to the entrance of the garage, I saw a huge line of wheelchairs lined up and locked together like the luggage carts at an airport. We grabbed one, and I had the most painful ride of my life from the garage, through the longest hospital corridor ever built, and up to the 4th floor.
The first nurse who saw me get off the elevator got me right into triage, and within a couple of minutes they had me changed and were checking me. To my utter astonishment, I was at 7 cm. One nurse went to find the doctor, and another told me this was probably going to be pretty quick! I didn’t really process this, and still assumed I had many hours to go, so I still asked for an epidural. Meanwhile, the contractions were getting closer and stronger by the minute, but somehow I still didn’t trust what my body was telling me, that this baby was ready to come out! A few minutes later, the anesthesiologist came in, but before he did anything, listened to a couple of contractions and asked the nurse to check me again. She said, “wow, there’s the head!” I asked how much longer she thought it would be. She answered, “I’d say give it ten minutes.” Just as she said that, I had my first urge to push. On the first push, my water broke. On the second push, her head came out. On the third push, Juliet was fully in the world. The nurse looked at me, laughed, and said, “um, you didn’t give us ten minutes!”
I am still in shock how quick and, in retrospect, easy it all was. We were walking out of the hospital less than 24 hours later, with everyone healthy and happy. Juliet is nursing up a storm, and her big brother is so far adjusting remarkably well.
Oh, and the basic stats are… 7 lbs. 9 oz., 20 in. Not as big as her brother, but not the tiny one my OBGYN was predicting either (given my massive belly, I was surprised she wasn’t a 10 pounder!)
Pictures to come when I figure out how to do the link.
I called DH at work around 9:15 on Wednesday morning, and told him I was having some contractions, but they felt about the same as the ones I’d had the evening before, which died out and didn’t really feel productive. I took a shower while my parents played with DS, and by the time I got out, struggled to get dressed and went to lay on my side for a few minutes. At 10:30, I called DH again, and I think all I said was, “I think you should come home.” So he hopped on the train and I mostly continued to lay on my side. I turned on my hypnobabies birth CD, and in retrospect I think it helped quite a bit (as labor progressed, I was silently cursing the whole hypnobabies concept, having no idea how far I’d actually progressed). DH got home just as it ended. A few minutes later I asked him to call the hospital. Based on his description of the contractions, they told us to wait another hour and check in again. 20 minutes later, we called them from the car and told them we were on our way. Contractions got steadily stronger during the car ride, and a flood of memories from my 26 hour first labor came rushing back. I told DH I was planning to ask for an epidural, contrary to everything we had discussed ahead of time.
By the time we got to the parking garage, I knew I couldn’t walk into the hospital on my own. For some reason, DH was convinced that the only way to deal with this was to take me to the emergency room. In between increasingly crazy contractions, I kept repeating, DON’T take me to the emergency room! Find a wheelchair! This was probably the lowpoint in our communication, LOL. When I couldn’t convince him to locate a wheelchair (stress makes us a little irrational!), I said forget it, I’ll try to walk. As we got to the entrance of the garage, I saw a huge line of wheelchairs lined up and locked together like the luggage carts at an airport. We grabbed one, and I had the most painful ride of my life from the garage, through the longest hospital corridor ever built, and up to the 4th floor.
The first nurse who saw me get off the elevator got me right into triage, and within a couple of minutes they had me changed and were checking me. To my utter astonishment, I was at 7 cm. One nurse went to find the doctor, and another told me this was probably going to be pretty quick! I didn’t really process this, and still assumed I had many hours to go, so I still asked for an epidural. Meanwhile, the contractions were getting closer and stronger by the minute, but somehow I still didn’t trust what my body was telling me, that this baby was ready to come out! A few minutes later, the anesthesiologist came in, but before he did anything, listened to a couple of contractions and asked the nurse to check me again. She said, “wow, there’s the head!” I asked how much longer she thought it would be. She answered, “I’d say give it ten minutes.” Just as she said that, I had my first urge to push. On the first push, my water broke. On the second push, her head came out. On the third push, Juliet was fully in the world. The nurse looked at me, laughed, and said, “um, you didn’t give us ten minutes!”
I am still in shock how quick and, in retrospect, easy it all was. We were walking out of the hospital less than 24 hours later, with everyone healthy and happy. Juliet is nursing up a storm, and her big brother is so far adjusting remarkably well.
Oh, and the basic stats are… 7 lbs. 9 oz., 20 in. Not as big as her brother, but not the tiny one my OBGYN was predicting either (given my massive belly, I was surprised she wasn’t a 10 pounder!)
Pictures to come when I figure out how to do the link.
Welcome to the world Juliet!
:
