Well this labor was
so different from J-man's(which was several days and although tiring I felt really able to cope the whole time). This time - yikes - quick delivery's are a bit overwhelming.
With your second baby they don't consider you to be in active labor till you are 4 cm or your water breaks. Regardless of the contractions you are having! Which at the time made me rather mad! So due to this technicality I was considered to be in active labor for 24 minutes! Yup you read that right - not 24 minutes of pushing but 24 minutes of labor!
Anyway back to the beginning - I woke up at 3 am with contractions - no big deal there as I have had them for weeks - esp at night. I went to the bathroom and moved around and unlike usual they didn't go away. After an hour of 4 minute apart contractions I woke Ry - just to let him know. At 5 am(an hour later) I called the midwife - who told me I didn't sound cranky enough yet(this was early yet and I knew it but due to being Strep B positive they had told me to call asap if the contractions were less than 5 minutes apart!). I was to call her back if my water broke or when the contractions were stronger.
At 10 am I called again - and we decided to go to the hospital to be assessed. At 11:30 I was assessed at 2 cm - which I was disappointed by. The midwife also swept my membranes - which was not my favourite part let me tell ya! This made my contractions go NUTS! We decided to give it an hour - so the midwife went for lunch and since the maternity department was slow they let me stay and wait there. At 1pm I was assessed at 3cm - I couldn't believe it as I was having contractions that were so strong (similar to the end of my labor with J-man). The midwife swept my membranes again (why she didn't just hit me over the head with a bat I don't know) so my contractions again increased even further as they hadn't calmed down at all from before. They decided to start my antibiotics - and if I was still 4cm in an hour they would send me home. Which I point blank said there is no way I can walk out of here - it is not possible - so you better resign yourself to the fact that I will sit here until you carry me there then!
At 1:20 they started my IV, at 1:35 my sister (who was with us) called my mom to say she would need to come to the hospital as she could not handle it anymore! Poor girl - I don't know if she 'll ever have kids now ;-) Marcy(my sister) came back in and Ry went to go check on the car as it was only in 2 hour parking. While he was gone I felt my water break(1:45) I was really disappointed as I knew my contractions would increase then and I didn't know how I was going to handle it getting any worse. Then I got the joy of being sick while having contractions - super fun! I remember telling my sister that I was so upset that my water had broken and my labor was not going the way I had hoped. She rubbed my back and was a great support person. Ry got back to the room at 1:50.
I remember this time as very intense as the contractions were very strong and close together. The midwife was beside me and I told her I starting to get the urge to push - but I knew there was no way it could be so soon. She agreed that it probably was and told me to pant through them. So for the next 2 I did, after which I couldn't have stopped the pushing if you held a gun to my head. The midwife was looking at my tummy rather strangely(the cord was so short that every time I had a contraction my uterus would come down with the baby - and you could watch it happen from the outside - she had never seen this before - like most things I am weird even in delivery) So since she could tell that the baby was coming down she checked me again and said I was fully dilated - we were all shocked by this. So at 2 :00 I started pushing and at 2:09 Baby G was here!
I went into shock kind of after - shivering away on the bed staring at my sweet girl - in wonder of how fast it had all gone! Recovery wise I am in much better shape than post J-man - and way less tired. So for that I am happy to have had a baby at warp speed - but I felt out of control and unsure of what was happening the whole time. As well because I hadn't even gotten a full dose of the antibiotics I had to stay in the hospital overnight which was also not my plan. So I felt out of sorts about the birth but was so happy it was over and delighted in my little girl!
She is doing really well - a much easier baby than J-man. I am also a lot calmer having done this before ;-) J-man also got late onset Jaundice and had to be hospitalized when he was a week only - I was really nervous about this and had been praying my whole pregnancy that this baby would not get it. God is good - and she is so far not jaundice at all - which is a first for the family(as in nieces, nephews) as all the babies have had it to one degree or another on Ry's side.
Now it is time for this no longer pregnant lady(yeah!) to get to bed!
My sweet baby girl is one month old! I can't believe how much faster it is going this time. She is a much easier baby than J-man so I think that helps ;-) Last night she even gave me a gift of 5 1/2 hours of sleep...in a row!
