I still have delusions of bringing this blog up to date, but I thought I’d better cut straight to the interesting part because this is a story people have been interested to hear.\u00a0 And truly, it is a crazy story.\u00a0 Not at all how I expected to bring my second daughter into this world!<\/p>\n
In contrast to my pregnancy with S, this time, toward the end, I was sufficiently uncomfortable that I was ready to be DONE.\u00a0 When I’d imagine how I wanted my labor to begin (as if anyone gets a choice unless they’re induced), I thought perhaps 7 am on a weekday would be a good time to go into labor.\u00a0 Not in the middle of the night (so I’d be about as rested as I could hope to be), but early enough that the baby would most likely arrive during regular business hours so my doctor could be the one there for the delivery.\u00a0 I like his philosophy on laboring and birth, and I’ve become comfortable with him, so I really hoped to have him as opposed to the OB hospitalist or whoever was on call.<\/p>\n
But I had no idea what I thought would happen this time.\u00a0 At my last (39 week) obgyn appointment, I was still 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced.\u00a0 Baby had been low for a couple of weeks, but I didn’t know how low.\u00a0 Basically not a lot had changed.\u00a0 (In contrast, at my 39 week appointment with S, I was 2.5 cm dilated.)\u00a0 He asked me then how I felt about being induced.\u00a0 I told him I got a sweep with my daughter and I was fine with that, but past that I really would rather avoid it.\u00a0 He said okay.\u00a0 I think he attempted to do the sweep, but he said he couldn’t quite reach (I believe him…I think).\u00a0 Many people will tell you how your second usually comes earlier than your first, and, while I knew these things could change quickly, here I was not as far progressed as I was at this stage with S, and who knows how long she would have baked had my doctor not done the sweep.\u00a0 So I was starting to wonder how much longer I’d have to wait for this child to come.<\/p>\n
Wednesday, November 5, I woke up at 7 am<\/span><\/strong> with my husband’s alarm.\u00a0 My first thought was like, okay, another night and nothing happened, oh well.\u00a0 I got up to pee and crawled back into bed with Pete (he hits snooze a time or two before he HAS to get up, and I generally get to sleep a little later on Wednesdays).\u00a0 It was then I started feeling what I thought maybe…maybe<\/em>…was a mild contraction.\u00a0 With S, labor began with pretty intense contractions that were about 2.5 min apart, so it was a pretty stark contrast.\u00a0 I knew it was possible to have mild contractions at random intervals for a while before real labor, so I wasn’t thinking too much of it yet.\u00a0 But if it was real labor, I was like yay this timing is perfect (after 7 on a Wednesday!) and getting started a lot easier and presumably more gradually than before.\u00a0 I snuggled on Pete for a short while before deciding maybe I should shower just in case it was THE day.<\/p>\n The hot water was very soothing, so in the shower I was feeling pretty good.\u00a0 I was pretty sure I was having mild contractions in there, but totally manageable.\u00a0 Pete came in, dressed and ready for work, and asked me if he should go to work or stay with me.\u00a0 I told him he could go to work, but I might be calling him away in a couple of hours.\u00a0 He decided to just stay home (thank God).\u00a0 After I got out of the shower, I was getting a bit more uncomfortable.\u00a0 Enough that I thought maybe I shouldn’t try to go into work, just in case.\u00a0 I sent the office manager at the office where I was supposed to work this text message at 7:49 am<\/span><\/strong> (pay attention to these time stamps!):\u00a0 Started contracting as soon as I got up this morning.\u00a0 Not sure if this is IT because it’s not starting as intense as it did with S, but I can’t work like this.\u00a0 So I’m calling in for today.\u00a0 I’ll let you know if\/when there’s news.\u00a0 Sorry!<\/em><\/p>\n Also around this time–I think Pete said his call log said 7:51<\/span><\/strong>—<\/span><\/span>he called my parents to come pick up S.\u00a0 Again, “just in case.”\u00a0 It was still quite a bit milder than it started with S, so while I was pretty sure I was in early labor, I wasn’t 100% it was going to keep progressing.\u00a0 That’s probably slightly insane on my part, but it was just so different.\u00a0 I got a text from my mom at 7:56 am<\/span><\/strong>: Love you, Angel!<\/em>\u00a0 I replied, Love you!\u00a0 Still not sure it’s the real deal but wanted to be ready. \u00a0<\/em>She replied, Good thinking.<\/em><\/p>\n Sort of a side note, in the weeks\/months leading up to this labor, I’d been thinking I really wanted to try again at a natural labor.\u00a0 I had tried it with S, but after about 10 hours (my best approximation since I couldn’t see a clock), they were going to give me pitocin because I’d been stalled at 8 cm for a while, so at that point I opted for the epidural.\u00a0 I’d had almost no break in between contractions for a while and seemingly no progress to show for it, so I was frustrated.\u00a0 Not that I doubted it would be, but the epidural was amazing.\u00a0 I’m sure the pit played the greater part, but I kind of wonder if just being able to relax helped things along as well.\u00a0 After S’s arrival though, I continued to have mixed feelings about having had the epidural, but I no longer found it to be such a bothersome option.\u00a0 This time, I thought I’d try seeing how long I could go without it, but not beat myself up if I had one.\u00a0 I thought since I made it 10 hours before, if I could make it that long again (or hopefully less), I’d have a baby in my arms.\u00a0 On the other hand though, I knew just how nice the epidural could be.\u00a0 My tentative thinking going in was that if I went into labor in the middle of the night, I’d be quite a lot more likely to have the epidural so I could rest up before baby came.\u00a0 That was one of the hardest parts before, being completely drained of energy before the marathon of caring for a newborn even began.<\/p>\n Anyway, even in this early stage of labor, I was thinking, let me have that epidural, how nice would it be to be totally relaxed and chill, all smiles and not having broken a sweat when the child comes into the world.\u00a0 Maybe under those circumstances I’d even allow visitors in the labor and delivery room. (LOL)<\/p>\n Shortly before 8<\/span><\/strong>, my parents arrived to pick up S.\u00a0 She came into the bedroom to hug and kiss me bye, and she was so excited about meeting her baby sister that day.\u00a0 I was hugging her and kissing her but also kind of trying to temper her excitement because I didn’t want her to be crushed in the event it was a false alarm (a pretty remote chance at this point though).\u00a0 It was just starting to get a little more intense too because I think I remember trying to get her on her way before she saw me having another contraction.\u00a0 But they were still less intense than they were at the onset of my labor with her.<\/p>\n After my daughter left, things picked up FAST.\u00a0 I had put this contraction timer app on my phone to have ready when contractions began, so I tried using that.\u00a0 I was buzzing around the house trying to do last-minute stuff.\u00a0 Like I thought I was going to do my makeup again (ha…that plan was abandoned quickly).\u00a0 So between being distracted and the contractions picking up in frequency and intensity, I had a hard time keeping up with my phone.\u00a0 Eventually, I gave up trying altogether because I was too busy laboring to hit the dang button.\u00a0 Best I can determine though, starting at 8:01<\/span><\/strong>, contractions were about a minute and a half apart (with the range being 00:59 to 1:59 in duration before I stopped timing).\u00a0 Somehow, at 8:10<\/span><\/strong>, I managed to text the office manager again to say, This is the real deal<\/em>.\u00a0 By now I think I was really<\/em> wanting the epidural, haha.\u00a0 I remember looking at the screen, a little too out of it to form complete thoughts, but I was halfway like whoa this is going quick…and halfway like no way, this just started a few minutes ago.<\/p>\n At some point, the contractions starting bringing me to my knees in pain.\u00a0 Right after I had gotten dressed, (TMI warning) I started squirting (sorry, gross description but best I can come up with) a small stream of amniotic fluid with each contraction.\u00a0 So I ended up pulling my pants right back off.\u00a0 Once I dripped blood on the floor, and once again on toilet paper.\u00a0 I showed Pete the blood on the TP and I think he kinda sorta panicked.\u00a0 I told him that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I knew things were moving.\u00a0 Pete was loading up the car with the stuff we’d had packed and ready to go when something in me clicked (I still don’t know what) that we might not make it to the hospital.\u00a0 I called out to him from the bedroom to call an ambulance, which he did promptly.<\/p>\n I wish I knew what time he called 911.\u00a0 It doesn’t show in the logs on his phone, either.\u00a0 But I’m pretty sure it was after<\/em> I abandoned any efforts at logging contractions on my cell phone app, and the last contraction on there ended at 8:18<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 After that contraction (the one that made me ask for the ambulance), I was like Pete, never mind, it’s okay, we can make it.\u00a0 I was afraid I was being a wimp or something.\u00a0 THANK GOD he was like uhhhh no.\u00a0 Next contraction hit, and I was on my knees again.\u00a0 By now I was screaming.\u00a0 Not like horror movie screaming, but something a little more primal.\u00a0 I really, really, reallyreallyreallyreally did NOT want to be a screamer.\u00a0 Even at that time, some part of me was completely embarrassed because I’m just not a super vocal person and making any kind of noise would have been embarrassing.\u00a0 But the sounds just come out.\u00a0 I remember I kept saying, “OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod,” too.\u00a0 Which isn’t at all in character for me to say “Oh God” as an exclamation.\u00a0 Prayerfully, sure, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t totally said in prayer, though I am so thankful God’s hand was on the whole ordeal!<\/p>\n I managed to get my pants back on before the EMTs came.\u00a0 I was somewhat aware of Pete being on the phone with 911 until the ambulance arrived.\u00a0 He was on speaker, so I could hear as the operator kept asking him stuff to keep him occupied, like questions about big sister.\u00a0 For a second, part of me was like, “Yeah Operator, I know what you’re doing, he’s fine, leave him alone so he can pay attention to me.”\u00a0 Ha!\u00a0 But seriously I didn’t care that much because I was busy.\u00a0 At one point I started toward the bathroom just to clean up, and Pete and the operator were like, “NO, NO, do NOT go to the bathroom!!!”\u00a0 I told Pete I’m not going to the toilet (I’m thinking they were afraid I’d give birth on the toilet because 1) I thought the sensation was poop instead of baby–except I did not think that, or 2) the toilet is a place to “let go.”)\u00a0 I kept saying no I just want to clean up!<\/p>\n The ambulance arrived quickly.\u00a0 I remember being incredibly, incredibly thirsty and asking Pete for a cup of water.\u00a0 He started to hand me the glass when another contraction hit, and I wanted nothing to do with it.\u00a0 After the contraction was over, I tried to take a sip, but it was still hard to do anything else besides labor.\u00a0 Then the EMTs had the gurney inside, so they helped me onto it.\u00a0 I remember the cold air felt so good when we went outside.<\/p>\n The EMTs introduced themselves as Meg and Megan, but Meg was kind of the one directing the show from the back of the ambulance.\u00a0 She had said before we left the house that she’d need to check me (meaning my cervix) once we were in the ambulance.\u00a0 I said okay.\u00a0 We got in the ambulance, and I really can’t remember what all took place right when we got there.\u00a0 They asked Pete if he was going to follow, and he said he wanted to ride along.\u00a0 They said okay, but he’d have to ride up front.\u00a0 They told me some stories about some dads who got a little physical when things got crazy, so they were just trying to keep things under control.\u00a0 I remember sending Pete back in because I was worried about not having my purse (which had my ID and my insurance card).\u00a0 I can’t remember what they did with me after I got in there.\u00a0 I think first order of business was getting my pants down.\u00a0 They never got around to checking my cervix, and we were on the road.<\/p>\n I had at least a couple more contractions, and it was tough to get through them.\u00a0 Meg told me to breathe, and I remember thinking yes I’m breathing while I scream lol.\u00a0 (Really, it’s not like I was panicked at all, or even super tense as far as I was aware, but I do wonder what contractions are like for people who are like ohhhh just relax through them.\u00a0 What.)\u00a0 I focused my breathing a little better and made it through.\u00a0 On one contraction though, something else in me clicked and I announced that I had to push.\u00a0 I really don’t even remember what sensation made me think this or say it.\u00a0 Instinct is an amazing thing…it’s like my body knew what to do and it even made my mouth move.\u00a0 Meg looked down and saw the baby’s head.\u00a0 She called up to the front, “Step it up or pull over!”\u00a0 Megan, now in the driver’s seat, replied, “Your call!”\u00a0 (I didn’t remember her reply, but Pete was up front with her, and I think that’s what Pete said she said.)\u00a0 We pulled over.\u00a0 I remember thinking, okay, this is it, I’m gonna have my natural birth, haha.\u00a0 At this point, they let Pete come around so he could be there with me.\u00a0 (Poor guy, I know he would have wanted to be by my side through it all, and it’s just now dawning on me that he could only really be there at the very end.\u00a0 But I’m so thankful he could be there for that.)<\/p>\n Meg said, “Okay, on this next contraction, you’re going to push.”\u00a0 It was still excruciating, but it did help–a lot–to have something to do.\u00a0 It did not take much effort at all to push out the baby’s head.\u00a0 With S, there was pushing for maybe (best guess) an hour and a half.\u00a0 There was counting and various techniques and I hoped I was doing it right.\u00a0 This time, there was not a lot of thinking.\u00a0 Just doing.\u00a0 And it took seconds, not minutes or hours.\u00a0 Once the head was out, the relief was instantaneous.\u00a0 But I still had to get the body out.\u00a0 Body came out with the contraction after, which was even easier.\u00a0 Time of birth: 8:40 am<\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 I found it kind of interesting: before you go into labor, you think pushing a baby out…of there…is going to be the most painful part.\u00a0 Because it’s kind of hard to imagine doing it until you actually do it.\u00a0 Yeah it hurt, but it is NOTHING compared to the contractions.\u00a0 If you can make it through the contractions, you’ve already made it through the hard part.<\/p>\n I started laughing and I said, “I just gave birth on the side of the road!”\u00a0 Meg said, “Actually, we’re in the Walmart Neighborhood Market parking lot.”\u00a0 I laughed.\u00a0 Less than a mile from my home.\u00a0 The whole thing was just so absurd.\u00a0 It makes for a funny story, but really I’m glad it went so smoothly for both of us and I didn’t have any risk factors.\u00a0 With S, it was fairly uneventful too, but there was a fair bit of bleeding from a couple of arteries and they kept asking me if I felt like I might pass out (I didn’t).<\/p>\n Anyway, they waited for the cord to stop pulsating, then they clamped the cord.\u00a0 Even in the back of an ambulance, Pete got to cut it, so I was really glad about that, and I think he was too.\u00a0 Finally they placed her on my chest.\u00a0 Love.\u00a0 Then Pete got on the phone with my parents.\u00a0 I asked him to put it on speaker.\u00a0 That was one of the funniest and craziest calls I think we have ever made.\u00a0 I think I’m the one who said something like, “Hi, Dad.\u00a0 I just gave birth in an ambulance in the Neighborhood Market parking lot.”<\/p>\n Pause.\u00a0 “You did not.”<\/p>\n Laughter from inside the ambulance.<\/p>\n Baby cries out. Meg says something like, “Hello sir, this is Meg, I’m a CoxHealth EMT….”\u00a0 Dad puts mom on the phone (I think…I think that’s what he said…this part is a blur to me).\u00a0 They were shocked, but convinced!\u00a0 I think they were thinking…we just picked S up maybe 45 minutes ago!\u00a0 Yes, that would be right!<\/p>\n The placenta was in no hurry to come, and it was time to start back to the hospital anyway, so we went on our way.\u00a0 They assured me that everything was okay, but they were putting on sirens and lights to get us there quickly (and get the placenta out, though I don’t think it had been long enough to actually worry).\u00a0 I think that was one off of Pete’s bucket list: ride in an ambulance with sirens and lights (bonus that no one was actually having a medical problem<\/em> to necessitate it).<\/p>\n When we got to the hospital, we went through the ER entrance.\u00a0 While we were waiting for the elevators to go up to 5th floor for labor and delivery, we were chatting with the EMTs.\u00a0 Somehow it came up that we were THEIR first baby delivery!\u00a0 They were like, yeah aren’t you glad we tell you that now?\u00a0 <\/em>Haha.\u00a0 Well yes probably.\u00a0 I had sort of assumed that they would have done it before at least once.\u00a0 But all things considered I thought they did great.\u00a0 They will always be memorable to us, but I think there’s a good chance we’ll be memorable to them also.<\/p>\n When we got up to L&D, some woman who was leading the way (swiping her badge to give us access since it was Cox EMTs and Mercy hospital) was like uhhhhh we have a baby.\u00a0 LOL.\u00a0 Let me tell you, it is a little weird to go into L&D with a baby already in your arms!\u00a0 We had quite the story to share with the nurses.\u00a0 We had to clarify that I wasn’t actually shopping at Walmart when it happened…that’s just as far as we got!<\/p>\n When my Dr walked in the door, the look on his face cracked me up.\u00a0 He said something like, “Way to cut out the middle man.”\u00a0 They were talking about how I hadn’t delivered the placenta yet and wondered if I’d need help.\u00a0 I couldn’t tell if he did much of anything to help it along, maybe he did.\u00a0 I saw an IV bag labeled “Oxytocin,” but I didn’t pay attention if they ever hooked it up.\u00a0 But it was also around this time that I started feeling some contractions again that felt like they might actually do something (still not bad though, but maybe it’s all relative).\u00a0 (The rest of this paragraph might be a little TMI for some readers)\u00a0 I think the Dr helped guide it out at least when it was “right there.”\u00a0 But I remember him telling the nurses that I could have done it.\u00a0 After that, he stitched me up for a second degree tear (once I was numb enough…eep!) and I was good as new (well, almost).<\/p>\n My doctor joked in L&D (and again the next day when he came to see me) that I’m the most educated patient he’s had give birth at Walmart.\u00a0 The second time, I asked him if he’s had many patients give birth at Walmart.\u00a0 Turns out I’m the only one (imagine that, haha).\u00a0 It did surprise me a little though that I’m his first patient to not make it to the hospital (at least not anywhere on hospital grounds).<\/p>\n We got to have our “golden hour” of cuddling the baby skin-to-skin and nursing (she was awesome).\u00a0 Pete got to call his parents.\u00a0 He told them it started after 7 and baby was here by 8:40.\u00a0 His mom was like, poor Erin, a long labor.\u00a0 Pete was like no, you don’t understand…. 7 AM<\/span> to 8:40 AM<\/span>.\u00a0 And then it started processing.<\/p>\n Daddy got to hold the baby girl (he was chomping at the bit to hold her) while I signed some paperwork.\u00a0 Then they got her stats: 6 lbs 5 oz, 19″ long.\u00a0 Weight is about what we expected (they estimated 6 lbs 3 oz by her due date, but she was 5 days early), but I was surprised she was that much shorter than her big sister, who was 21.5″ at birth.\u00a0 I did somewhat predict a kiddo shorter like mommy though, so we shall see!<\/p>\n Incredibly thankful that it was a positive experience when there were so many what-ifs that could have changed things dramatically.\u00a0 What if Pete had gone to work?\u00a0 He would have missed the whole thing.\u00a0 What if we hadn’t had my parents get S when they did, or what if my dad had taken a few minutes longer getting there?\u00a0 S would be traumatized.\u00a0 What if I hadn’t asked for the ambulance?\u00a0 Pete would have seriously been catching that baby on the side of the road somewhere.\u00a0 What if I were GBS+ or otherwise somehow high risk?\u00a0 So many things.\u00a0 Thanking God things went so well.<\/p>\n Feeling very blessed to be a healthy mommy with a healthy little tiny.\u00a0 It’s a day I’ll never forget, even though I can still hardly believe it actually happened!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I still have delusions of bringing this blog 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