I was fully expecting Brooklyn to arrive early if not earlier than Jackson because they say your second one comes early… well a WEEK past my due date I was anything but pleasant. I was ridiculously hot, swollen and irritated. I was extremely annoyed by texts and calls (sorry!) in fact I quit responding to most because it was a reminder that she was NOT here and I was wasting my maternity leave. I think I cried twice in frustration.
Wednesday morning I had a few contractions but hey this had been happening for weeks so who cares. We had an induction date set for Friday, so Jamie and I made plans for our anniversary dinner that night at 6:00. I was really excited to have a date night! I had also started packing and laying out clothes for Jackson's gymnastics class and Brooklyn's FSU outfit since we would be in the hospital for the game. I dropped Jackson off at school, went to Verizon and got a pedicure having somewhat painful contractions but I was talking right through them. I got Jackson from school, put him down for a nap, and decided to take one myself to see if the contractions continued (around 1pm). They actually woke my up every 10-15 minutes. In my mind I decided I could still make it to dinner and hey they might fade this has happened before. Some time around 2:30 Jackson got up and I called Jamie to tell him to come home in an hour or so. The contractions were getting more painful and I couldn't talk through them anymore. At 4:00 I told Jamie to get home I was in a lot of pain and the contractions were 8 minutes apart. When he got home he asked if he should take Jackson to the park so I could be alone (to not scare Jackson). I paused for a second and luckily decided to call my mom to get Jackson and have Jamie stay with me. At this point I was couldn't find any position that helped except being on all fours.. of course Jackson thought that meant he should jump on my back and help me :) My mom got to the house around 4:30? and took Jackson. At 4:45ish my contractions jumped from 8 minutes to 2-4 minutes but I was trying to wait that "whole hour rule" but by 5:15 I was in extreme pain and told Jamie to lie to the doctor we were heading in. We packed up our stuff and go in the car for rush hour traffic in which we hit every red light and got behind the bus… I was dying. I knew in the car they were coming so hard and fast that I probably wasn't getting an epidural.
Jamie dropped me off at the hospital (to park the car) and I waddled in with my body pillow, tears in my eyes.. the doctor immediately said put her in a room!! They never do that! Thank god they did! At this point I was "vocalizing" and moaning in pain. I refused to get on the bed. The nurse came in and said what's the birth plan? I screamed EPIDURAL. Then the doctor came in and checked me.. Wow the baby's head is low and your 8 cm. We can try to get you the epidural but I can't guarantee you will get it. Now I was transitioning so getting me to behave and do what they asked was next to impossible. I must have scared the nurse because she couldn't get the IV in three times. I finally told her I didn't need one and I was going to start pushing. Along with telling Jamie I wanted an epidural and I couldn't do it… probably a million times.
The pushing really scared me because I was going to push this baby out with no pain meds?! AHH I freaked out but one nurse got me in line and I began pushing. It was painful but felt much better than the contractions. Brooklyn was sunny side up so my back was killing me and laying on it was awful. And then an angel nurse came and got me pushing in a better position. Brooklyn eventually turned the right way OW! And out she came 10-15 minutes of pushing! It was painful and the ring of fire is true. But I DID IT! I immediately told the doctor that I didn't know why people would choose to do that! She laughed and said tell all your friends. Delivery the placenta wasn't bad at all. And when the Doctor checked for tearing I told her no stitches… haha but I didn't tear so yay! Her apgar scores were 9 out of 10 and she is absolutely perfect! She wanted to nurse right away and did for 3 hours after birth.
The nurses all thought I wanted a natural birth so they were amazed when I told them no! And my nurse said I would have delivered her in the car had she been facing the right way… We checked into the hospital at 5:55 and had Brooklyn at 6:55. Overall, it was pretty traumatic but I am glad I got to experience a natural birth, however, I do think birth classes or a doula would have been helpful!
After her birth I had some pretty bad tailbone pain and uterine contractions but other than that I felt great! I was up moving around and taking care of her. I don't know if it was the natural birth or because she's my second but I had an instant connection and love for her (Jackson's took a little time but mostly because everything was overwhelming). I was literally on cloud nine, it was a great feeling!
She went from being late to coming in with a bang! Everyone was talking about how we missed our anniversary dinner and how it will never be the same. And this is true but it was the best gift we could have asked for!
