Tuesday morning (the 22nd) I woke up about 6:30 am with... hmmm, was that a contraction? I'm laying in bed squished between DH and DS, so I laid there and waited. Yep, I think that might have been a contraction. (It's really hard for me to feel contractions, at least early on.) I got up and put away some clean laundry, started a new load and then went to check my email and message boards.
I had pictured (and hoped for) another middle of the night birth like with DD, so was surprised that things were getting started during the day. About 6:45 I called my friend V, who would come over to help with keeping DS and DD entertained. I wasn't sure if anything was going on, but wanted to give her the heads up something might be happening that day. DH got up, listened to me on the phone with V, and went ahead and started getting the birth pool uncovered and all the birth supplies gathered downstairs.
7:15 - decided to go ahead and call my midwife and give her the heads up too. I still wasn't sure if anything was going on, but since I had a quick labor with DD thought that it wouldn't hurt to let her know. She said that she would head on over in a little while to see what was going on, and if it was nothing then we would go ahead and do this week's prenatal. Then she heard me through a contraction and said "never mind, I'm on my way."
7:35 - Called V back and let her know to come on over, even though my kids weren't up quite yet. I figured they would wake up soon. This was my last verbal conversation. I was shaky and sweaty and it was getting really hard to talk, I tend to draw into myself during labor. It's always easy to recognize transition in hindsight, but at the time it just seemed perfectly normal. At this point I started to think that I really was in labor.
A little before 8 am my contractions started requiring my attention and I went ahead and got into the birth tub, my midwife and her assistant arrived probably around 8:20 or so. I could tell things were moving along because I was starting to get a little bit grunty at the end of contractions.
Not long after my midwife arrived my body started pushing and my water broke as the baby crowned. I flipped over to my hands and knees in the birth tub (the position my body was telling me to get into) with DH helping support under my arms. I consciously tried to slow things down (wanting to try to prevent tears) but within 3 minutes of pushing the baby came flying out. I scooped the babe out of the water and held her for a few minutes, covered with a chux pad and with her body down in the water to help keep her warm, before looking to see that we had another little girl.
Kira Lilith was born at 8:41 am, about a week early and covered in vernix (with a few other signs that she was definitely not 40 weeks yet), but still a healthy 9lb 9 oz (half a pound smaller than DD1!) and 21" long. Labor was right at 2 hours and 10 minutes again, just like with DD. No tears, just a few skid marks from her coming out so quickly. No vaginal exams during the pregnancy or labor, just listened to my body like I did last time and let it do what it needed to do.
Being checked over, not quite 2 hours old.
Hanging out with big brother.
Being checked out by big brother & sister.
I love chubby little baby cheeks!
adjusting to chaos
I had pictured (and hoped for) another middle of the night birth like with DD, so was surprised that things were getting started during the day. About 6:45 I called my friend V, who would come over to help with keeping DS and DD entertained. I wasn't sure if anything was going on, but wanted to give her the heads up something might be happening that day. DH got up, listened to me on the phone with V, and went ahead and started getting the birth pool uncovered and all the birth supplies gathered downstairs.
7:15 - decided to go ahead and call my midwife and give her the heads up too. I still wasn't sure if anything was going on, but since I had a quick labor with DD thought that it wouldn't hurt to let her know. She said that she would head on over in a little while to see what was going on, and if it was nothing then we would go ahead and do this week's prenatal. Then she heard me through a contraction and said "never mind, I'm on my way."
7:35 - Called V back and let her know to come on over, even though my kids weren't up quite yet. I figured they would wake up soon. This was my last verbal conversation. I was shaky and sweaty and it was getting really hard to talk, I tend to draw into myself during labor. It's always easy to recognize transition in hindsight, but at the time it just seemed perfectly normal. At this point I started to think that I really was in labor.
A little before 8 am my contractions started requiring my attention and I went ahead and got into the birth tub, my midwife and her assistant arrived probably around 8:20 or so. I could tell things were moving along because I was starting to get a little bit grunty at the end of contractions.
Not long after my midwife arrived my body started pushing and my water broke as the baby crowned. I flipped over to my hands and knees in the birth tub (the position my body was telling me to get into) with DH helping support under my arms. I consciously tried to slow things down (wanting to try to prevent tears) but within 3 minutes of pushing the baby came flying out. I scooped the babe out of the water and held her for a few minutes, covered with a chux pad and with her body down in the water to help keep her warm, before looking to see that we had another little girl.
Kira Lilith was born at 8:41 am, about a week early and covered in vernix (with a few other signs that she was definitely not 40 weeks yet), but still a healthy 9lb 9 oz (half a pound smaller than DD1!) and 21" long. Labor was right at 2 hours and 10 minutes again, just like with DD. No tears, just a few skid marks from her coming out so quickly. No vaginal exams during the pregnancy or labor, just listened to my body like I did last time and let it do what it needed to do.
Being checked over, not quite 2 hours old.
Hanging out with big brother.
Being checked out by big brother & sister.
I love chubby little baby cheeks!
adjusting to chaos
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