Since I only wrote one blog in the entire duration of my pregnancy, the least I can do for this poor second child is get her birth story down before I forget it! And yet even that is taking me forever - this is probably the fifth time I've sat down to type this. Maybe I'll get further than the first paragraph since both kiddos are napping!
Saturday (January 11) I could tell I was having contractions but they weren't organized into anything regular and I slept comfortably all night. Well, as comfortably as a ginormously pregnant lady can sleep. When we got up Sunday morning, I debated whether I should go to church or not, but since Ben had to go, and I didn't want to be home by myself in an emergency, off we went! John Piper happened to be guest preaching at our church and so the place was packed. Hudson and I sat in the back on the floor with his little friend Jack and his mommy. I reinstalled my contraction app on my iPhone and kept tabs on them throughout the service. They were still all over the place - sometimes 10 minutes apart, sometimes 8, sometimes 15 - and not painful.
By the time church was over, I was (per usual) starving and ready for lunch! As I drove (we had separate cars because Ben had all his camera gear), I noticed that the contractions were getting closer together. Still not enough to keep me from chowing down on some delicious McDougalls chicken! At lunch we talked about if we should call our parents or not, and if/when we should tell them to come down from St. Louis. We finally texted them to let them know they should get their bags ready but not head out just yet. Ben wondered if we should stay in town (we were already very close to the hospital), but I wanted to go home - we didn't have our bags or anything anyway. I could tell Ben didn't think I should drive home but seeing as how we had two cars I insisted. I kept hitting start/stop on my contraction app as I drove home and by the time I got all the way to Franklin they were closer to 6-7 minutes apart and happening more consistently.
When I got home I packed up the rest of our bags and we tried to pin down what we would do with Hudson. I went to lay down for a little bit and when I did that the contractions slowed down to 9-10 minutes apart, but at the same time they got longer, lasting closer to a minute each time. We told our parents to go ahead and come on down, and that way even if she wasn't born that night, someone would be here to be with Hudson regardless.
About 5:30 I got up and started walking around. When that happened the contractions got very sporadic again: 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 8 minutes, 3 minutes. But they definitely didn't seem to be going away and the intensity/duration of each one was similar and increasing. It was a bit frustrating but we called the on-call midwife and after talking with her and reviewing our first delivery experience, we decided we should go ahead and come in. Our friends Elliott and Kadie came over to be with Hudson until the grandparents arrived - we are so thankful for them! Hudson loves them and so it worked out perfectly.
I held Hudson on my lap and told him we were going to the doctor so that baby sister could be born, and that she would come out of my tummy so she could live with us. It was so bittersweet to hold my first baby and know that everything was going to change! I don't think he really cared too much - he just wanted to go upstairs and play! About 6:30 or so, we finally left for the hospital.
As Ben drove I tried to make a playlist of music to listen to during labor and delivery (turns out we would never get to use it) and texted updates to our families and friends. I didn't know what would happen when we got to the hospital but I was just relieved I wouldn't be having my baby at home or in the car! When we got to Vandy, we were able to go straight up to L&D since it was still during regular hours. (When you come in after 9pm you are forced to go through the ER, which is what we had to do with Hudson.) This ended up being a huge blessing because I didn't have to wait in the ER triage to be admitted. I don't think I would ever have even made it upstairs to give birth if that had been the case!
The nurse at check-in actually asked me if I had come in for an induction - I guess because I didn't look like I was in labor. I think she was dubious but I explained that one of the midwives was meeting me so she went ahead and got me into one of the L&D triage rooms. She got me hooked up to the monitors so I could start my 20 minutes. Lori, the midwife, came in a few minutes later and we chit-chatted. She watched the monitors while I had contractions and said everything was looking good. She went ahead and checked my progress and I was at 4 cm. I admit I found this discouraging! My contractions were still 4-5 minutes apart and 1 minute or so long, but I was able to breathe through them and shake them off pretty quickly after the fact. Lori said we could go home if we wanted, or get a nearby hotel room. She also offered to stick around for an hour and check me again. I chose that option! After my experience with Hudson I did not feel like it was wise to leave the hospital, and I'm very glad I didn't! Lori left us to relax and walk around. I turned on the TV so I could watch the Golden Globes - funny, because earlier that day I'd joked with my friend Heather about that very thing. (We don't have cable at home so I was saying the only way I would be able to watch was if I went into labor and got to see it in the hospital. My joke came true!)
About 8:15 I decided I wanted to get up and walk. Ben and I just walked circles around the maternity ward. We kept passing one nurse who was charting in the hallway. Every time a contraction came I would just pull really hard against Ben's arm until it let up and we could keep going. I wasn't paying attention but I think they were probably 3 minutes apart at this point. We headed back to the room so we could meet up with Lori and get checked again. I was still at the same point, only about 4-5 cm. Now I was really frustrated because I was very clearly (at least to myself) in labor so why wasn't anything happening? She suggested we wait another hour or so and she could come back and check me again.
By 8:45 things were different. I didn't want to walk or sit up or talk anymore. I just laid on my side with my eyes closed and with each contraction I had Ben push down hard on my hip. Something about that counter-pressure helped me get through. I would breathe and try not to cry and I remember just wiggling my feet really fast until each one was over. I tried to breathe in time to the chorus of a song I had in my head - "Lord, Let Your Glory Fall," by Matt Redman. It just repeats: "You are good, you are good, and your love endures." This helped me for a little while. Suddenly on one contraction I felt this very distinct POP. It was so strong I almost felt like I could hear it! "Something happened, something happened," I told Ben. "I think my water broke!" There was no gush or anything, I suppose because I was laying down on my side. Ben stuck his head out the door and got help. Lori came back in and confirmed that my water had broken and I was now at about a 6 ("ONLY A SIX?!?!" I thought!) and they would go ahead and admit me and get me down to a delivery room.
I was excited to hear that one of the rooms with the birthing tubs was available and somehow managed to joke that I hadn't gotten to be in there but five minutes with my son. Somebody said I'd get to enjoy it more this time (I didn't). The contractions were coming fast and furious now, but it felt really relaxing when they wheeled the bed down the hall. Sort of like a baby in the carseat - I didn't want them to stop moving! I sort of wished they could've just pushed me around and around until she was born! They pushed me into the delivery room and Ben and I realized it was the same room where Hudson was born. I started crying, just overwhelmed and thinking back to that moment. Lori started filling up the tub and meanwhile I started the seemingly overwhelming task of crawling from the gurney into the actual bed. The contractions were so strong I didn't want to move! After what felt like forever of me saying, "Just one more and then I'll go" I somehow managed to get over there and then I was stuck on my hands and knees. I read later that this was one of the worst positions for people having extremely fast labor, but I was frozen and couldn't move!
I wanted to push so badly and they kept telling me to wait because I still wasn't fully dilated. The contractions were so strong and fast and the urge to push was so great that I just felt overwhelmed and afraid. During the contraction I was yelling - not screaming, but yelling "ahhhhh" and crying and asking "help me, please, help me." I don't know what I expected anyone to do! After it was over I would realized that I sounded silly and start apologizing. Lori kept telling me to breathe it out and bizarrely it really helped me to blow through my lips like a horse snort type of sound. In a nutshell: transition is really weird and makes you act kinda crazy. The poor anesthesiologist had come in and was sitting in a chair by my bed (where I was still stuck on my hands and knees) and going through the whole spiel they have to give even though I very clearly was about to have this baby sans medications. I think she was trying to help distract me and she commented on my sailboat necklace that was dangling from my neck. "That's very pretty. Do you like sailing?" "IT'S FOR MY SON," I snarled at her. (After it was all over, I thought that I should find her and apologize but everyone insisted to me that it's their job to see people at their worst.)
Finally my arms got really tired and they convinced me to turn over and lay/sit on the bed. After another monumental effort I did it and then, the best part (so far): time to push! This was SUCH a huge relief after all that time (okay, not really very long) of feeling that urge. PUSH. "Her head it out!" PUSH. "Here she is!" Ben caught her (with an assist from Lori) and they put her up on my stomach. Hair! She had so much hair, all dark! And chunky cheeks! It was 10:16pm. I was in sort of a daze: 6 cm to holding my baby in just over an hour. Mostly I was just grateful that runaway train of a labor was over and my girl was out!
After a bit, Ben cut the cord and we got her wrapped up and weighed. 8 pounds, 15 ounces - another shock, since Hudson was only 7-10. Guess she knew she needed her winter coat to brave this bitter polar vortex! We were finally able to say her name, which I had pondered over since the very day I found out I was pregnant: India Ruth.
Just like with Hudson, the grandparents miraculously rode into town just a few minutes after she was born. They got to see and hold her and then went on to our house so they could be with Hudson in the morning. We moved to our postpartum room where we met our nurse for the evening - the same woman we had passed on our walk just a couple hours earlier. She was surprised to say the least to see me wheeling down the hall with a baby in my arms!
In comparison with Hudson's birth, India's was more difficult, even though it was (even) faster. Hudson's, while quick, seemed more like a steady progression where I was able to stay focused and calm. India's was like that for a while, but after my water broke, the aforementioned "runaway train" analogy best describes it. Everything was so fast and so strong that I couldn't get on top of it and I was just along for the super-intense, kind of scary ride. I am so thankful to God for Ben and Lori and the nurses who helped in bringing "little sister" into the world.
I can't believe I made it all the way to the end before the kiddos woke up! Quick, let me throw up some pictures - a reward if you read all the way to the end of this novel. :)
