Monday, October 03, 2016

And Then There Were Four...

I sure have neglected this blog over the past few years. I really have no excuse--I have the time. Motivation is really my biggest obstacle. Hopefully this will be the start of something new around here, I miss my little corner of the Internet where I can ramble uninterrupted and where many of you actually stick around to read it.

It seems fitting that the last time I wrote here was after Audrey was born, and I shared her birth story. It seems like it was just yesterday she made me a momma, and yet she has just turned two. Yes, I said TWO! And now here we are about to delve into Lauren's birth story. Life is funny like that. It changes so swiftly and time is not your friend. Sometimes I feel like all of the moments are passing me by so quickly that I simply cannot grasp them. But that is a topic for another day. For now you get to sit back and enjoy hearing about how little Miss Lauren joined our family just about five months ago. 

We always knew we wanted kids and certainly more than one kid. Like many others these days we didn't start our family till we were well into our 30s. Closer to 40 than 30. I was 35 when I got pregnant with Audrey and was 36 when she was born. We knew if she were going to ever have a brother or sister that we would want them close together because--let's be honest--I am not getting any younger. The timing just so happened to work out perfectly for us. While we didn't have confirmation till the week following Audrey's first birthday, I had that feeling I was pregnant. The timing was just what we wanted and so started the journey of my pregnancy with Lauren.

I was fortunate to have a fairly routine pregnancy with Audrey aside from a little blood pressure issues. I think because things went so well with that and her birth and my recovery that I expected the opposite this time around. Once again I was very fortunate and had another routine pregnancy that seemed much smoother than the first time around. Perhaps I was distracted with a 1 year old to run after but I really didn't have very many complaints, until the end of course when Miss Lauren had no interest in joining us.

At my 38 week appointment, I was 2 cm dilated and my Dr told me I had a "favorable cervix", thanks I guess. Ha ha! She told me that when I did go in to labor that things would go fairly fast. So I went home and spent the next week wondering if my water would break, or if every little ache and pain was contractions. I am sure I drove my friend Aimee absolutely batty with my non stop texts asking her if she thought I was having contractions, ha ha! My 39 week appointment came and once again Dr told me she liked my progress and things looked great and she suspected we could see baby any day. She was certain I wouldn't make it to my due date which was April 28th. It was April 21st, and the 28th seemed like a lifetime away. That following week I thought on more than one occasion that it was time, but sure enough every time contractions stopped and once again I was back to waiting. Before we knew it it was April 28th--my due date--and there was no sign of baby. I had my 40 week checkup that day and my doctor couldn't believe I was there. But there I was. Once again, things still looked great, I was doing good, health wise that is, physically I was MISERABLE! Baby had a strong heartbeat. That day our conversation was a little different than weeks past. That day we discussed how long I was going to be allowed to be pregnant. She advised that we induce on May 5th which was exactly one week passed my due date. 41 weeks. Of course we all said there was no way I would make it that far. But she scheduled me on the morning of the 5th. We left that day confident we would see her in just a few days. Lauren sure pulled one over on us because before we knew it, it was May 5th!

My pregnancy flew by. But that last week felt like it would never end. I think at one point I surrendered myself to the notion that I would in fact be this way forever. But the end was indeed upon us. We went to bed the night of the 4th knowing we would meet Lauren the next day. Putting Audrey to bed that night was a little emotional for me. Yes...I cried as I sang to her and prayed with her. She made me a mom, she changed everything for the better and has brought us more joy than I ever thought possible. That was the last night it would be just the 3 of us and it was a little bittersweet. I held her a little longer that night before I put her in her crib knowing her world as she knew it would never be the same. There was so many unknowns about how she would adjust to this new little baby living in her space. Would she be jealous? Would she feel less loved? Would she act out? Would she even like Lauren?

We arrived at the hospital shortly before 7 am. We were sent to room 316. Hey, wait a minute--that seemed familiar! Indeed it was, 316 was the exact same room Audrey was born in. What are the chances? It's a fairly big labor and delivery unit, we couldn't believe it. My check in process with Audrey was so different. My water broke at home, when I arrived at the hospital I was put in triage. Baby was monitored while I had to give a urine sample to confirm that my water had indeed broke. Then I was assigned to a room and all set up. With Lauren it was just showing up and letting them know I was there for a scheduled induction and sent right along to my room. By the time we were settled in, gone through all the paperwork and I was hooked up to an IV etc it became a waiting game. Because I was Group B Strep positive (Google it) I would need antibiotics all through labor and delivery to help protect me and baby from infection. They wanted me to be on my second dose of antibiotics before I delivered. Given how dilated I was etc the decision was made they wouldn't induce till around 11 am. My nurse Gayle (who was so awesome, by the way) allowed me to get dressed in my clothes and unhooked my IV and allowed Chris and I to take a walk and head down to the cafeteria for breakfast. We were instructed to be back up in my room no later than 10:30. It was 9:30 or so and I was starving so the idea of breakfast was very exciting.

We made it down to the cafeteria, ordered food. We sat down to eat--and not 5 minutes into it and suddenly I was overcome with a significant pain. When another hit me fairly quickly after that I looked at Chris and told him I was fairly certain I was having contractions and we had better head back upstairs. All the way back to the elevators I had to keep stopping every time another contraction hit because they were so strong. So funny, A week overdue, at the hospital for induction and prior to those contractions there had been zero sign of labor and there I basically went into labor on my own in the cafeteria. Go figure! We arrived back in my room and I was hooked back up to the monitors to check on baby and to monitor my contractions, and sure enough they were strong and fairly close together. I had planned all along to have an epidural and Gayle my nurse advised me if I wanted one to get it ASAP. So we called for anesthesiology to come up and get me set up with the good stuff. The anesthesiologist was the greatest guy and made me feel super at ease by chatting and making me laugh. Before I knew it I was all set. Once I started feeling the effects of the epidural I thought to myself wow this is really working because all of a sudden I could no longer feel those contractions. I was impressed. Turns out I couldn't feel them because they were basically gone. Ha ha! Somewhere in between my epidural and being given the Pitocin they broke my water. Which let me tell you was the worst. If I could choose I would choose having it break like it did with Audrey in one massive gush all on its own. Having it broke for me while I laid there and it slowly trickle out over time was the worst feeling. I would almost say it was the worst part of the entire labor and delivery with Lauren. Just EW! I ended up having a little more medicine being put in my back and before long the decision was made to go ahead with starting the IV with a small amount of Pitocin to get things moving. The midwife came to check on me and said, "you're almost there, one contraction and we will be ready to go." So in went the medication and sure enough within minutes my contractions had returned and just like she said we were ready to roll. It was 2:34 PM and Gayle said to me, "you're going to have this baby before 3!" I thought she was messing with me and I told her she had better not be lying. LOL! A handful of pushes and 14 minutes later Lauren was born at 2:48 PM. I couldn't believe it, compared to 7 hours of labor and an hour and a half of pushing with Audrey here was Lauren just like that! If Chris had blinked he would have missed it.

In fact, things went so quickly Gayle decided to check me and when she did she was like "Uh Chris, I need you to hit the call button and tell them we need Jabke (midwife) in here RIGHT NOW" in the calmest, sternest nurse voice you've ever heard. Lauren was coming. NOW. She then assured me if she needed to she would catch Lauren! Jabke arrived and was taking her time getting prepared not realizing the fast pace at which things were progressing and Gayle was like "we need you over here NOW," Gayle told us after that normally she would have gone out to get Jabke herself but she could see Lauren's head an knew that she was going to be born NOW!

41 weeks we waited for her and there she was. All 9 pounds 3 ounces of her. She was perfect. We were in love all over again. This perfect little human that we created, There aren't enough words to describe how thankful I am for her and her sister.









 Audrey has loved Lauren since the minute she set eyes on her. She helps me with diapers and so on. Now that Lauren is getting older she loves to watch Audrey play and she is always smiling and laughing at her. Audrey asks to hold her on a regular basis but she is usually done after about 1 minute. LOL! She will just throw her hands up and say all done. We were afraid of jealousy but it really hasn't been an issue. We have made efforts to keep Audrey's world as normal as possible and her routines just as they always were, I really think this helped her. But honestly from day one it was like she was thinking "oh okay, you're here now. cool, now where's my snack!"

They both bring us such joy and my cup overflows every time I see them smile. We are truly blessed!

1 comment:

Cupcake Blonde said...

What a beautiful birth story! Thank you for sharing.