Oh hello long forsaken blog! A couple years and a new baby later, it's probably time for an update. I spent both pregnancies obsessed with reading other people's birth stories. It would excite me for what was to come, and I would imagine what my story would be. I don't know that I plan to keep up with this blog, but I loved going back and reading details of Ryleigh's birth, so I thought I'd document Kellan's as well as it was amazingly perfect and I don't want to forget it.
It really all began in January of last year. John and I started causally debating another child, decided we should give Ryleigh a sibling, but didn't have any official timeline. In April, we decided to go for it. In May, I got the double lines, and it was official-we were doing this again! I waited with bated breath for the awful nausea to set in. Week 4 came and went and I felt great. Week five hit, and there it was in all its miserable glory. Like my pregnancy with Ryleigh, this continued well into my 21st week before subsiding. Pretty much the main reason we will be a two kid family. I really don't enjoy those first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Anyway, despite feeling sick nonstop, the pregnancy was picture perfect. In July, at our NT scan, we got the happy news that we were expecting a little boy. I could have sworn it was a girl based on how I felt, but was beginning to have a sneaking suspicion it was a boy based on how hungry I was all the time, despite feeling nauseas. It was weird. My due date was Jan 28th, and we all kind of assumed he would arrive early to mid January. Before we knew it, mid January came and went. At my 39 week appointment, I was not dilated at all, much to my disappointment. At my 40 week appointment, just two days before my due date, I was still not dilated, but the doc was able to perform a membrane sweep in the hopes to get things moving. He told me I wasn't favorable enough for an induction at that point, instructed me to make my 41 week appointment but doubted I would make it to the next week. At this point, I was trying everything to get the baby out, even though I knew it was all silly and probably nonsense. When I look back and think of all the ridiculous stuff I made my husband do I laugh. Despite the yoga ball bouncing, walks, squats, walking with one foot on a curb and one foot off-I must have looked like a mad woman, spicy food eating, reflexology foot massages, nasty Olive Garden dining, raspberry tea, evening primrose oil, clary sage, and gosh there's more, there was no movement. All the wondering and thinking "ok this could be it" at every cramp and twinge was pretty exhausting. We were all on high alert. On Super Bowl Sunday, 4 days past my due date, I started having some good contractions that felt different. I was on my feet all day, as we hosted a small get together at our house. I opted to do all the cooking and cleaning that day in hopes it would get things going. I went to bed that night thinking it could be going down, but woke up in the morning, still very much pregnant and everything I had been feeling the day before was gone. I had my 41 week appt that day and knew my induction date would be set for the next day or two since my doc doesn't let his patients go past 41 weeks. While an induction wasn't initially my favorite idea, I began looking at the bright side- at least I would know the date ahead of time so we could prepare, it eliminated a chance of a false alarm and being sent home, it wouldn't be a middle of the night dash to the hospital, so we would at least be going into it rested. Although my water broke with ry, I wasn't in active labor when I got admitted, so I was still kind of induced. I knew my body responded well to pitocin and had no reason to think it wouldn't this time as well. On Monday my doc was quite surprised to see me, performed an exam, and told me I was *maybe 1.5 but almost all the way effaced and that he was on call the next day, so to head in
at 8am for D Day! I literally skipped out of the appointment singing "Our son will come out tomorrow" Annie style to john on the phone. February 3 would be his birthday! I was still getting a 23 in his birthdate (a lucky number of sorts). I couldn't be happier! John, who was home with Ryleigh at the time, ended up taking the day off so we could get things ready and have one final family day as a threesome. I don't remember much about what we did that day, but I remember feeling so relieved that the end was in sight. I hardly slept that night, and we got up much earlier than needed and had a nice coffee and breakfast together before sneaking out of the house. We got checked into our room by
9:30 and found out that our friends who were due a few days after us had just had their baby a few hours earlier at the same hospital. Our babes would be sharing a birthday and we would have roomies in recovery! How cool! My IV was started and about an hour after that my doc popped in to say hello and check me. Still the same- 1.5 cm. He ordered he pitocin and advised I could get my epi whenever but suggested I do it sooner rather than later bc the pitocin would get things going and I could be in pain pretty quickly. Plus the anesthesiologist had a c section in an hour and would be tied up for a while. I needed no convincing and opted to get it then. Within five minutes I was prepped and it was in. The doc came by again around
11:30 and broke my water. Such a weird feeling. John and I just hung out watching Netflix. My parents had Ryleigh and we advised that it was a good time to visit since things could move quickly. They came by around
12:30 ish and brought lunch for John. At this point I was feeling some pain despite the epidural. John checked the monitor and confirmed I was having some pretty strong contractions. The nurse upped the epidural and noted that my contractions were indeed strong considering I was only receiving the lowest dosage of pitocin. I was receiving it at one and it goes up to 30. The plan was to increase it every half hour but she never needed to increase it beyond a one. We sent Ryleigh home to take a nap and right as they left, the nurse said she wanted to check me (this would be my first cervical check since before the induction began). She noticed my contractions were one on top of the other and when she checked me, lo and behold, I was complete! This was
at 2:30pm, three hours after the pitocin began and my water was broken. John ran out the room to catch my parents and tell them not to leave, and just to let ry snooze in the car since no one thought it would be long. They had me wait to push since my nurse was at lunch and my doc needed to get over to my room. When everything and everyone was ready to go, I began pushing. He was basically hanging out in the birth canal because he was born on the third push! They say second kids come quick but this was no joke! Had I not had a scheduled induction, he probably would have been born on the side of the road! With Ryleigh, I was really out of it from something they put in my iv to relax my body and make me sleep. This time around, I was totally coherent and remember every detail. I also was able to hold him right away. Ryleigh was whisked away bc she had trouble breathing. He was weighed and his weight was exactly what I had predicted that morning: 8 lbs 3 oz and 21.5" long! He was huge! At least huge compared to his itty bitty sister. I felt really good physically and wasn't in much pain. I did have a small setback when I had to get up to go to the bathroom for the first time. It took me a few tries to be able to walk without passing out, and I did throw up, most likely a side effect from the epi. Once I got sick, I felt a million times better and was able to get wheeled up to recovery. We stayed next door to our friends, which was really cool. After more visits from family and big sis, we called it a night. We were able to leave the next evening since we were seasoned parents and needed little guidance from the nursing staff. That was awesome. I couldn't wait to get to our own bed and be reunited with our girl.
Kellan has been a dream baby and has fit right into our family. He sleeps through the noise and chaos in our house and is such a mellow little guy. He eats constantly and is huge! Ryleigh has adjusted amazingly and is at a perfect age to become a big sister, in my opinion. We love our little guy and feel complete!
