Introducing….
Miss Audrey Rose
(Four months later…)
After birthing Elliott I remember thinking, “I don’t know how people do this more than once. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” And then, somehow, time fades those memories and you are willing to do it again.
Honestly, during the first year of his life, I thought that we could be happy with just one child. That first year is tough, especially the first 6 months. But then, you start sleeping through the night, and you think — this isn’t so bad. As Elliott was developing into a little person, it was getting more and more fun. So around 16 months, we started talking about adding another. By October, we were expecting. The pregnancy was uncomplicated (all the tests were showing normal/healthy). I had all the usual stuff (queasy in the beginning, heartburn, constipation, fatigue), maybe slightly worse this time around. Early on I decided I wanted to wait to find out the sex. Eric struggled with this, but ultimately went along with it.
Starting at about 35–36 weeks, I was mentally preparing myself for an imminent labor. We kept having “one last” of everything. But then 37 weeks came. Then 38, 39, and 40. I had an ultrasound at 39 weeks because I was measuring small/stopped growing, but they confirmed baby looked great and was likely 7+ pounds. I went to acupuncture a couple times. Started climbing mount tabor. At 41 weeks the midwife said it was up to me if I wanted to be induced. We looked at the calendar — coincidentally the dates lined up with the month of Elliott’s birth (24th was a Saturday, 25th was a Sunday). The weather was calling for near 100 °F temps those days. I asked what midwives were scheduled and liked all of them. So we decided to schedule the induction for Saturday. My parents took Elliott Friday night so Eric and I could get our things together for the big arrival.
We went in at 11:30 am. I was 2-ish cm dilated on arrival. I took my first (and only) dose of misoprostol at 1:30 pm. The afternoon was lazily spent hanging out, watching tv, snacking, walking around the hospital. I started having frequent contractions (>3 in 10 minutes), but they weren’t very strong. After 4 hours, I was still only about 3 cm, but contractions were too frequent to redose with miso. We discussed breaking my water (awkwardly while in the middle of doing cervical check), but decided to wait. It was a very difficult situation to be in…on one hand, I wanted to be efficient and have the baby quickly. But physiologically, there was no rush: water was intact, baby looks great on monitor. So I wanted to let my body try to take over as much as possible. We got dinner and walked around some more. Finally around 11pm, we chatted with the new midwife that came on. She checked me again and there was no change, so still not candidate for more miso. We discussed breaking my water, but she felt it would be better to wait (didn’t seem like my body was ready). So we went for a walk again. This time, things really ramped up. When we got back to the room, I started having really strong contractions. I went to bathroom and realized I had passed my mucus plug. Then I started leaking fluid with contractions. When the midwife reappeared, I was naked on all 4s on the bed, moaning in pain. “Oh, I see things have progressed,” she said.
I got into the bathtub. I labored there for about an hour, squeezing Eric’s hand with each contraction, trying the breathe the baby down. When I’d had enough of the tub, we moved back to the bed. I started having rectal pressure. She checked and I was 10 cm. At this point, I’m screaming with each contraction. The midwife suggested I try nitrous oxide. The contractions were coming so fast and hard, it was hard to calm down enough to breathe into the mask. But once I finally did, it made a huge difference. I felt like I could work with the midwife. At one point she coached me: “I know it feels good to scream into the mask, but it’s not helping. You have you use that energy to push.”
They got the birthing bar out so I could squat at the end of the bed, which Eric has coined my “power position” because that was how I got Elliott to come down. Within one push, the baby was starting to crown. They laid me back, and she was out a few minutes later. Daddy got to announce, “It’s a girl!”
She laid on me for a long time. I had only a tiny tear (no stitches). They gave me pitocin to help with clamping down uterus (precaution given my low platelets). This caused some really intense cramping, for which I took some oxycodone. But all was well. It was such a relief for the labor to be over and meet our baby girl.
She was born at 3:50 am. 6 pounds, 12 oz; 19 1/4 inches
We were up in mother baby unit by shift change. Grandma and grandpa came up with Elliott for a short visit mid morning. The rest of the day we just hung out in the room and tried to nap. We smuggled in a beer that we shared while watching the timbers game that night. We headed home late morning the next day.
Compared to all of the business and issues around Elliott’s birth, it was very quiet and laid back for Audrey’s. We felt like there was a whirlwind of people throughout his time in mother and baby unit, while this time around Eric just stood around wondering, isn’t anyone going to come and change her diaper?
A few free meals later and we headed home the next day. We had the first night to just the three of us, and then had Elliott back in the house the following morning — the whole family back together again.
