For those of you that have wondered where I have been, it's this insane place called Maternity Leave. And since my laptop has been broken forever and I didn't want to write any posts on my phone and I was spending "quality time" with my family... I haven't updated. But, I'm back! Hi!
My last post was on September 8th, and that is the day I learned how to successfully induce labor. I just had to resign myself to the fact that I was going to be pregnant forever. I had to completely give up all hope that Brown Sugar was ever going to be born. I did that with my blog post that morning. And I had done that in my heart the day before when I talked to my boss and decided to come back to work the day after labor day, because all I was doing was wasting my paid leave. Though it was nice.
So, for those of you interested in how Brown Sugar's birth went, just look at part two of Hamburglar's birth story. I was all like, "same birth, different day." Or something.
But really, I was at work on the 8th of September. Being all super pregnant and past my due date. Posting pictures of myself in my lab coat on Facebook, wondering if I would have to go up a lab coat size since I was going to be pregnant forever. My stomach had been tightening regularly throughout the morning, but I just figured it was Braxton Hicks or something. Then, around one, I was in the break room chatting with a coworker who also has two kids and she was telling my about how she went into labor at work with her second. While we were talking, I noticed my stomach doing weird things and she said, "I think you're having contractions." So, I started timing them. They were coming about every five minutes and were lasting about a minute. After talking with her a few more minutes, I decided I should probably leave work. So, I sent a few emails, got everything ready in my lab for me to be gone for a while, changed into my street clothes, told my boss I was "feeling birthy" and hopefully wouldn't be back at work until November, then I left.
I called Mr. Adventure on my way home and told him I was pretty sure I was in labor, but I would call him back to confirm it in a bit. (He was less than two months in at a new job, and they didn't want him to leave to be present for the birth of his son, for some reason). And I called him back about ten minutes later, before I even made it home. Hamburglar was at day care, so it was just me and the dogs at home, who I promptly sent outside and I took a shower, braided my hair and did my makeup (all exactly like my first baby).
My labor never really got as intense as it did with Hamburglar. And I was more present. I was really deep in transition when we went to L&D the first time, and I had no idea where it was or that I had ridden in an elevator. This time I was so present. I remember filling out the paperwork and signing it and I was able to read it! I was having regular contractions, but it was different and better this time. Mr. Adventure parked the car and got to L&D right when they were taking me back.
We arrived at the hospital around 3:45p. I let everyone know I had a history of fast labor, and that I was delivering with the laborist on call. I scribbled my birth plan on a 3x5 card before we left the house (For me: no drugs, no port, early discharge. For Brown Sugar: No hep B vaccine, no circumcision, early discharge) with some in-case-of-emergency stuff on the back (in the result of a c-section, dad goes with baby, skin to skin and breastfeeding ASAP with me, etc). They brought us back and put us in one of the eval rooms. They wanted me to pee in a cup, and while we were standing in the bathroom and she was writing my name on the cup, my water broke. I let her know that and told her that, with Chumby, it was 25 minutes from when my water broke and he was born.
Because of the amniotic fluid and meconium (which is pretty normal for babies born after 40 weeks) my pee-in-a-cup didn't look normal. I was trying not to freak out when I looked at it. So, mostly I just avoided looking at it. My contractions were getting more intense and no one had checked on me in several minutes. I was about to send Mr. Adventure out to get someone when our nurse came back. (Mr. A was great giving me water, keeping me hydrated, and not touching me. Which are the things I enjoy during labor). We went to the labor room. I was chatting in between contractions. They were never able to get a full twenty minutes of the baby on the monitor because of my contractions, which were continuing to intensify.
Pretty soon after moving to the delivery bed, I told the nurse I was pretty sure I was going to have my baby. She told me I wasn't. After my next contraction I told her I was pushing. She said, "Wait!" and I guess she slapped some emergency button to get people in there. I don't know how many times I pushed before the baby was out, but she's the one who caught him. And, it turns out, there was a room full of people who had poured in when she hit the button, but I didn't notice. NICU was on standby in case baby boy had aspirated meconium, which he didn't. So, Brown Sugar was born at 4:31p on September 8th, weighing in at 8 pounds, two ounces (a full 6 ounces smaller than his brother! That's, like, a serving of chicken breast, if you're still following a faux infant cannibalism meal plan).
After I was moved up to the maternity ward, Mr. A went to pick up Chumby from a friend's house (she picked him up from day care and fed him dinner). Then brought him back to the hospital to see me. He was really excited about his baby brother and totally loves him.
So, there you go. I've had two labors that lasted about 3 hours each, with the last hour being the most intense. Mr. A is an awesome birth partner. And I have two healthy boys. I swear, Brown Sugar has already tripled his birth weight in the past seven weeks. Dude likes to EAT.
And that's all I have time for today. But, just so you all know, two is better than one. And maternity leave was much more fun this time around.
