Sunday, February 6, 2011

... and then there were two. :)

It's be a while since baby #2 arrived. As everyone knows, she has a name but... baby #2 is how she was known for so long that I feel like it's only fair this one last time.
Some of you wanted a birth story. Most of you don't care... but, here we go.

First off, just so you know - when I was pregnant with Julia I really wanted to deliver her naturally, just have a baby like the pioneer women. I couldn't. Literally, my body wouldn't let me. I caved... but, I did so much better with Baby #2.

Around midnight on December 7th, I thought my water broke. My water broke with Julia so, I was familiar with what that was like. So, we called up our sitter and headed to the hospital. They checked us in and long story short - my water didn't break.

You can keep reading if gross things don't gross you out. Apparently, sometimes when you are preparing for labor (it could be days or weeks before delivery) your body may release a lot of mucusy discharge - sometimes containing blood... from broken capillaries... That's all it was.

We got sent home around 3:00 a.m. After arriving home -- I was have small cramps. It was annoying and I figured it was just from the exam. I took two Tylenol PM and went to sleep. Julia woke up at 7:30 that morning so we got up with her. I was still having mild cramping so... I took two more Tylenol.

I started to have "cramps" that lasted longer but, weren't painful at all. Honestly, I've had menstrual cramps 100 times worse then that... but, they were lasting for several minutes (about 1-2) and they were 3-5 minutes apart. I had a Dr's appoint at 11 that morning so... I told Dan I would just wait until then. I did but, we sent Julia off once again to a sitter.

I called the Dr. and asked if they could move my appointment up. They said, come on in. So, we arrived at 10:40 and got in quickly. The Dr. asked how I felt and I said, "Crampy". He checked my cervix and said, "Well, this is fairly elementary. You'll be having a baby today. You're dilated to a 6."

Of course, Dan and I let the Dr.'s, went straight to the hospital (after grabbing lunch since they don't let you eat after they admit you to the hospital to deliver) and checked in around Noon. (Yeah, just 10 hours after they sent us home).

I figured since I was already a six with very little discomfort, I could get this kid out without and epidural. The labor progressed kind of slow after that. I got to an eight and really felt defeated. I explored other pain options and decided that I needed something. I got one dose of Stadol. Stadol was amazing and put me back on my feet, walking around and made the transition from 8 to 10 a lot easier.

We arrived at our destination of a 10 at about 4:30, got the room ready for the baby and started pushing. We pushed for about 40 minutes (which is about 20 minutes longer than we did with Julia -- I think it's because labor hurts - but pushing is the only thing that takes the pain aways.)

Addison arrived at 5:15 and weighed 7lbs 7oz and was born on December 7th... basically, she's our lucky number 7.

3 comments:

Brian said...

Honey. My dear Amanda. You are not a pioneer woman. Please don't dis the comforts of modern society again. Those pioneer women would have KILLED for those drugs. LOL

Love you!

Brian

Dan and Amanda said...

Oh Brian. I love you! Let's get together next time we are in Raleigh. I could use a good laugh!

Brian said...

I'd love to! 919-696-9593