*** sorry this is a long post but I wanted to get everything down
Where do I start, they say every pregnancy and delivery are different.... I didn't realize how different they really could be. I remember thinking to myself at probably hour 12 of being in labor with Alyvia that I was not doing this crazy all natural thing if we had another kid, but after she was born our wonderful midwife Anne said the next one would be about half as long... 7 hours seemed much easier for some reason.
The 9 months leading up to our little mans arrival was different in many ways than when I was pregnant with Alyvia... I got to chase after an energetic almost 2 year old, try and keep it a secret until 20 weeks (just for the heck of it), I only had heartburn when I was lying down, and I seemed to carry a lot lower. August and I decided after we found out we were expecting again that we would keep it our little secret as long as we could; it was fun to have something just the two of us knew. I remember being at my family's Christmas in July celebration camping talking about how the next year we would have two kids in tow, though at times it seems like we never talked about it because we didn't want to slip up.
We didn't find out if we would be blessed with another beautiful girl or handsome boy, it was so much fun not knowing the first time. All we prayed for was a healthy and happy baby, though deep down I wished for a boy... who doesn't want to enjoy the trials of raising a boy and a girl. I had my self convinced thought that we were having another little girl, which I was happy with... I already had a good supply of girls clothes and accessories.
When it came to labor and delivery, I could never have imagined there being such a night and day difference. With this pregnancy I had a lot more and stronger Braxton hicks contractions than when I was pregnant with Alyvia, I thought they were real contractions until I would go in for my weekly check ups and I hadn't had much progression. I told my self and everyone else that I was going past my February 15th due date. I had it planned: I was going to take the week off of work to help my mother in-law Pat out in her flower with the Valentine's Day rush and have the baby few days later. Alyvia was a few days late so why would this baby come early.
My last day of work was February 10th. The next day I worked a few hours in the flower shop before heading off to my ob appointment, where they said everything was going good and I had progressed a little from my last appointment but nothing to be too excited about. I had been having what I thought were Braxton hicks all day and figured if they were the real deal she would have commented on them at the appointment but she didn't say anything.
With Alyvia my water broken so I knew my labor would be starting shortly there after and we would head to the hospital, I hoped and prayed that would happen this time also, because I had no clue how I would know I was truly in labor otherwise... I didn't want to be that mom went in 10 times and wasn't in labor and just got sent home. That night I had been having some contractions, we talked about if I was in labor or not and I told August if I could go to sleep that I wasn't truly in labor. OnceI got relaxed and to sleep the contractions subsided, I was so happy for a good nights sleep. The next morning we got up early to head to Parkersburg to watch district wrestling and decided last minute to get things pack in the truck just in case (up until this point we had very little pack to go to the hopsital, I just had a the clothes picked out for the baby, but nothing else done), since it would be a long drive back home if this started to progress more. While at wrestling I had a few contractions each other but nothing I couldn't make it through. That night I hung out with a few of my really close girlfriends, I continued to have contractions. I didn't really keep track of how close they were together... I just keep telling myself that I wasn't really in labor... I had a few more days, right! Once I got home I decided to take a warm bath and see if that stopped the contractions so I go could to bed... I didn't have a single contraction while I was in the bath so I figured I must not be in labor and looked forward to getting some sleep before a busy week working at the flower shop. To my surprise as soon as I got out they started right back up, August asked me what I wanted to do, I told him I just wanted to sleep. I certainly tried to sleep, but it just didn't work... August on the other hand slept like a baby. Finally sometime before midnight I started to time my contractions and over the hour I timed them they got closer together... guess I wasn't going to get any sleep. I woke August up around midnight to see what he thought we should do, I told him how close my contractions were and he fell back asleep... really I was having contractions about 4 minutes apart and he falls back asleep. Not sure why but I let him sleep, around 1 I woke him up and told him we need to decide what we were going to do... my contractions at this point were around 3 to 4 minutes apart. August I guess wasn't sure that was the truth (a winning uncomfortable wife I guess was enough) so he downloaded a contraction timer on his phone and timed my contractions and let me know that they were about 3 minutes apart... didn't I already tell him this. With the confirmation from his phone he decided to call our midwife and see what she thought. We had no clue which midwife was on call, we liked both midwives we saw but had a much stronger connection with Ann. She was there when I delivered Alyvia and knew how much we wanted an unmediated delivery and supported us 200% in that decision. As soon as I heard August say Ann's name I started to cry from relief knowing she would be there for this delivery too... God certainly knows what he is doing. Around 1:30am we called my mom to have her meet us to get Alyvia on our way to the hospital. In my mind, I was planning on my mom bringing Alyvia in the mornig, so she could be there when she became a big sister... we really wanted her to be there for the delievery. I was figuring a good 5 hours or so before I would even be thinking about pushing.
We arrived at the hospital around 2 and got escorted right to our room where Ann was waiting, she figured it was the real deal from what she heard from in the background when August called her. We also found out later that Kim had giver her the heads up after my appointment the day before that she would probably see us that weekend(once again why our midwives are awesome) She checked me right away and to our surprise I was already dilated to 8. My contractions were starting to get rather painful, they were about 2 to 3 minutes apart. I had a really hard time staying still enough for them to get the required heart rate read on the baby. I think I scare the phlebotomist for life, since I wanted an all natural delivery I didn't want to have an IV port started. Since, I didn't have an IV started the phlebotomist had to come and draw my blood, she would get ready to draw my blood and would have to stop because I would have a contraction. To help relieve some of the discomfort from my contractions I wanted to get in the bathtub, Ann said she needed to check me because I couldn’t have the baby in the tub and if I was dilated anymore I couldn't get in. Well guess what I was and she didn't feel comfortable with me getting in the tub.
I would love to tell you I was in complete control and relaxed perfectly through each contraction, but that wouldn't be realistic. Even if could have gotten in the tub I couldn't have made it there, I spent a lot of time on the floor in room. All my body wanted to do through the contractions was push. I never had the urge with Alyvia, it was such a crazy feeling, I couldn't control my body through the contractions. It amazing what your body know how to do things when we allow it too. I asked Ann to check me because I thought I felt something different down there, I was right our baby we getting really close to making his appearance. I made it to the bed barley and got on my hands and knees. I remember saying I couldn't push for 2 hours like I did with Alyvia, Ann reassured me that would not be a problem this time... I didn't believe her for one bit though, it couldn't truly be that different. I don't remember how many pushes it took, but no more than maybe 10 minutes and I pulled our baby out. It was an amazing feeling to be the first one to touch the him on the outside. I even got to be the first one to announce we were adding a baby boy to our family. The moment was so indescribable, I got to be the first one to hold our baby boy in my arms.
The atmosphere in the room was so differently than when Alyvia was born. The room became tranquil after he was born, no one was in a rush to cut the cord or take him to get weighted. Kanen James came into the world within about an 1.5 hours of being at the hospital, I guess he know how awesome it was out here and didn't want to wait He weighted in at 8.7 pounds and 21.5 inches long with a full head of hair and was as perfect as perfect can get!
Where do I start, they say every pregnancy and delivery are different.... I didn't realize how different they really could be. I remember thinking to myself at probably hour 12 of being in labor with Alyvia that I was not doing this crazy all natural thing if we had another kid, but after she was born our wonderful midwife Anne said the next one would be about half as long... 7 hours seemed much easier for some reason.
The 9 months leading up to our little mans arrival was different in many ways than when I was pregnant with Alyvia... I got to chase after an energetic almost 2 year old, try and keep it a secret until 20 weeks (just for the heck of it), I only had heartburn when I was lying down, and I seemed to carry a lot lower. August and I decided after we found out we were expecting again that we would keep it our little secret as long as we could; it was fun to have something just the two of us knew. I remember being at my family's Christmas in July celebration camping talking about how the next year we would have two kids in tow, though at times it seems like we never talked about it because we didn't want to slip up.
We didn't find out if we would be blessed with another beautiful girl or handsome boy, it was so much fun not knowing the first time. All we prayed for was a healthy and happy baby, though deep down I wished for a boy... who doesn't want to enjoy the trials of raising a boy and a girl. I had my self convinced thought that we were having another little girl, which I was happy with... I already had a good supply of girls clothes and accessories.
When it came to labor and delivery, I could never have imagined there being such a night and day difference. With this pregnancy I had a lot more and stronger Braxton hicks contractions than when I was pregnant with Alyvia, I thought they were real contractions until I would go in for my weekly check ups and I hadn't had much progression. I told my self and everyone else that I was going past my February 15th due date. I had it planned: I was going to take the week off of work to help my mother in-law Pat out in her flower with the Valentine's Day rush and have the baby few days later. Alyvia was a few days late so why would this baby come early.
My last day of work was February 10th. The next day I worked a few hours in the flower shop before heading off to my ob appointment, where they said everything was going good and I had progressed a little from my last appointment but nothing to be too excited about. I had been having what I thought were Braxton hicks all day and figured if they were the real deal she would have commented on them at the appointment but she didn't say anything.
With Alyvia my water broken so I knew my labor would be starting shortly there after and we would head to the hospital, I hoped and prayed that would happen this time also, because I had no clue how I would know I was truly in labor otherwise... I didn't want to be that mom went in 10 times and wasn't in labor and just got sent home. That night I had been having some contractions, we talked about if I was in labor or not and I told August if I could go to sleep that I wasn't truly in labor. OnceI got relaxed and to sleep the contractions subsided, I was so happy for a good nights sleep. The next morning we got up early to head to Parkersburg to watch district wrestling and decided last minute to get things pack in the truck just in case (up until this point we had very little pack to go to the hopsital, I just had a the clothes picked out for the baby, but nothing else done), since it would be a long drive back home if this started to progress more. While at wrestling I had a few contractions each other but nothing I couldn't make it through. That night I hung out with a few of my really close girlfriends, I continued to have contractions. I didn't really keep track of how close they were together... I just keep telling myself that I wasn't really in labor... I had a few more days, right! Once I got home I decided to take a warm bath and see if that stopped the contractions so I go could to bed... I didn't have a single contraction while I was in the bath so I figured I must not be in labor and looked forward to getting some sleep before a busy week working at the flower shop. To my surprise as soon as I got out they started right back up, August asked me what I wanted to do, I told him I just wanted to sleep. I certainly tried to sleep, but it just didn't work... August on the other hand slept like a baby. Finally sometime before midnight I started to time my contractions and over the hour I timed them they got closer together... guess I wasn't going to get any sleep. I woke August up around midnight to see what he thought we should do, I told him how close my contractions were and he fell back asleep... really I was having contractions about 4 minutes apart and he falls back asleep. Not sure why but I let him sleep, around 1 I woke him up and told him we need to decide what we were going to do... my contractions at this point were around 3 to 4 minutes apart. August I guess wasn't sure that was the truth (a winning uncomfortable wife I guess was enough) so he downloaded a contraction timer on his phone and timed my contractions and let me know that they were about 3 minutes apart... didn't I already tell him this. With the confirmation from his phone he decided to call our midwife and see what she thought. We had no clue which midwife was on call, we liked both midwives we saw but had a much stronger connection with Ann. She was there when I delivered Alyvia and knew how much we wanted an unmediated delivery and supported us 200% in that decision. As soon as I heard August say Ann's name I started to cry from relief knowing she would be there for this delivery too... God certainly knows what he is doing. Around 1:30am we called my mom to have her meet us to get Alyvia on our way to the hospital. In my mind, I was planning on my mom bringing Alyvia in the mornig, so she could be there when she became a big sister... we really wanted her to be there for the delievery. I was figuring a good 5 hours or so before I would even be thinking about pushing.
We arrived at the hospital around 2 and got escorted right to our room where Ann was waiting, she figured it was the real deal from what she heard from in the background when August called her. We also found out later that Kim had giver her the heads up after my appointment the day before that she would probably see us that weekend(once again why our midwives are awesome) She checked me right away and to our surprise I was already dilated to 8. My contractions were starting to get rather painful, they were about 2 to 3 minutes apart. I had a really hard time staying still enough for them to get the required heart rate read on the baby. I think I scare the phlebotomist for life, since I wanted an all natural delivery I didn't want to have an IV port started. Since, I didn't have an IV started the phlebotomist had to come and draw my blood, she would get ready to draw my blood and would have to stop because I would have a contraction. To help relieve some of the discomfort from my contractions I wanted to get in the bathtub, Ann said she needed to check me because I couldn’t have the baby in the tub and if I was dilated anymore I couldn't get in. Well guess what I was and she didn't feel comfortable with me getting in the tub.
I would love to tell you I was in complete control and relaxed perfectly through each contraction, but that wouldn't be realistic. Even if could have gotten in the tub I couldn't have made it there, I spent a lot of time on the floor in room. All my body wanted to do through the contractions was push. I never had the urge with Alyvia, it was such a crazy feeling, I couldn't control my body through the contractions. It amazing what your body know how to do things when we allow it too. I asked Ann to check me because I thought I felt something different down there, I was right our baby we getting really close to making his appearance. I made it to the bed barley and got on my hands and knees. I remember saying I couldn't push for 2 hours like I did with Alyvia, Ann reassured me that would not be a problem this time... I didn't believe her for one bit though, it couldn't truly be that different. I don't remember how many pushes it took, but no more than maybe 10 minutes and I pulled our baby out. It was an amazing feeling to be the first one to touch the him on the outside. I even got to be the first one to announce we were adding a baby boy to our family. The moment was so indescribable, I got to be the first one to hold our baby boy in my arms.
The atmosphere in the room was so differently than when Alyvia was born. The room became tranquil after he was born, no one was in a rush to cut the cord or take him to get weighted. Kanen James came into the world within about an 1.5 hours of being at the hospital, I guess he know how awesome it was out here and didn't want to wait He weighted in at 8.7 pounds and 21.5 inches long with a full head of hair and was as perfect as perfect can get!
I never thought it was true when they said each delivery was different... come one I'm the same women how different could they be!
