I am pleased with James’ entry into the world. He waited until my last day at
work to come and I didn’t have to wake up a neighbor in the middle of the night
to head to the hospital. I really wanted to be at least 37 weeks along, which I
also got to have. My parents had hoped James would wait another week or two so
that they could be the ones to help David and me with Neil (I wouldn’t have
minded waking them up in the middle of the night), but they were in Utah for my
brother’s wedding this Friday (which will be in his fiancé’s parent’s backyard
with only a few family guests).
Tuesday morning I woke up to a wet spot through my underwear onto my bed sheets. I told David that maybe this meant I had broken my water (I didn’t think I had wet my pants, but, who knows!), and we got Neil ready for daycare like we do every morning. We also packed our bags for the hospital and packed an additional bag for Neil to take to daycare so that David’s sister could pick him up and care for him while we stayed at the hospital. Then I did a few extra things like loading the dishwasher so that we could come back to a clean home and David watered our budding garden in our backyard.
When we got to the hospital they verified my water had broken. They recommended I start antibiotics before they would try to do anything to help labor progress (I had tested positive for group b strep at a routine prenatal appointment 2 weeks before). I had had some contractions Monday evening and then some in the early morning Sunday, but none that I knew about Tuesday. I can’t remember the exact time they started inducing me, but I want to say it was in the evening maybe around 6:00p. (After a full day of just hanging out and relaxing at the hospital). The contractions started becoming more consistent about an hour later and maybe a little before 8:00p I got the epidural administered to take the edge off the contractions.
Before the epidural I would stand and bend over for each lower back contraction. After the epidural I couldn’t stand/walk around, so I laid down and a half hour later they checked my progress (I was an 8). I kept moving around on the bed to be more comfortable and was surprised to find that I liked and could still do various active labor positions even with the epidural. While I was moving onto my hands and knees, I heard the big crash of my water gushing out (to this point it had been a slow leak). My nurse helped clean me up and I labored for another hour. When they checked me after that I was ready to go. I told them that I could feel how low James was and that I could feel James getting lower. They told me we could wait a bit to push, so I did, but then I wanted to push during a contraction, so they called the doctor in. James’ head was very crowned while the doctor got ready and I didn’t even really push. When the doctor gave me the clear little James came right out and let out a big scream. James was born at 9:51p, a day shy of 38 weeks and on Cinco de Mayo! He was 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long! I was very surprised (and grateful) by how quick my second labor was compared to my first. The doctor checked me out and told me I didn’t tear at all and would likely have a smooth recovery. Yay!
We hung out as a family— David, me, and James— for a couple hours and headed over to postpartum. James did great, met his big brother Neil over video chat, met his grandparents (who had just left to Utah for my brother’s wedding) over video, and he also met other family members over video, and the following night we went home. It was good sleeping in our own bed last night and caring for little James. Later today we will pick Neil up from David’s sister’s home so that him and James can meet in person. (Neil's birth story)
Tuesday morning I woke up to a wet spot through my underwear onto my bed sheets. I told David that maybe this meant I had broken my water (I didn’t think I had wet my pants, but, who knows!), and we got Neil ready for daycare like we do every morning. We also packed our bags for the hospital and packed an additional bag for Neil to take to daycare so that David’s sister could pick him up and care for him while we stayed at the hospital. Then I did a few extra things like loading the dishwasher so that we could come back to a clean home and David watered our budding garden in our backyard.
When we got to the hospital they verified my water had broken. They recommended I start antibiotics before they would try to do anything to help labor progress (I had tested positive for group b strep at a routine prenatal appointment 2 weeks before). I had had some contractions Monday evening and then some in the early morning Sunday, but none that I knew about Tuesday. I can’t remember the exact time they started inducing me, but I want to say it was in the evening maybe around 6:00p. (After a full day of just hanging out and relaxing at the hospital). The contractions started becoming more consistent about an hour later and maybe a little before 8:00p I got the epidural administered to take the edge off the contractions.
Before the epidural I would stand and bend over for each lower back contraction. After the epidural I couldn’t stand/walk around, so I laid down and a half hour later they checked my progress (I was an 8). I kept moving around on the bed to be more comfortable and was surprised to find that I liked and could still do various active labor positions even with the epidural. While I was moving onto my hands and knees, I heard the big crash of my water gushing out (to this point it had been a slow leak). My nurse helped clean me up and I labored for another hour. When they checked me after that I was ready to go. I told them that I could feel how low James was and that I could feel James getting lower. They told me we could wait a bit to push, so I did, but then I wanted to push during a contraction, so they called the doctor in. James’ head was very crowned while the doctor got ready and I didn’t even really push. When the doctor gave me the clear little James came right out and let out a big scream. James was born at 9:51p, a day shy of 38 weeks and on Cinco de Mayo! He was 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long! I was very surprised (and grateful) by how quick my second labor was compared to my first. The doctor checked me out and told me I didn’t tear at all and would likely have a smooth recovery. Yay!
We hung out as a family— David, me, and James— for a couple hours and headed over to postpartum. James did great, met his big brother Neil over video chat, met his grandparents (who had just left to Utah for my brother’s wedding) over video, and he also met other family members over video, and the following night we went home. It was good sleeping in our own bed last night and caring for little James. Later today we will pick Neil up from David’s sister’s home so that him and James can meet in person. (Neil's birth story)
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