When I went to my OB appointment on June 14th, four days after my due date, I was about 3 cm dilated and 25% effaced. I hadn't had any contractions, and baby boy wasn't particularly low down. My doctor stripped my membranes, and I left with an induction scheduled for the 17th. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, but then around 7:00 I started to feel some slight cramping. I was hopeful but not convinced that it was the beginning of labor.
As the night progressed, the cramps became more intense. And because they came and went like contractions, I started feeling like this was, in fact, real labor. I was able to sleep well from 11:00 to about 1:30, and then I went to lay on the couch and just wait. I kind of dozed off and on, but it was definitely not a restful night. Around 5:00 I went upstairs to tell Daniel he needed to find someone to cover for him at work.
At that point, my contractions were about 10 minutes apart. So I packed the rest of the things we needed for the hospital and took a shower. I went back downstairs to lie on the couch and wait for Daniel to be ready. He ate breakfast and I ate a small Hawaiian roll. My contractions were then 6 minutes apart.
We got in the car to drive to the hospital around 8:15, and the first thing Daniel did was queue up the song "Birthday" by the Beatles. I actually laughed! It's on the second half of the White Album, so we also heard songs like "Mother Nature's Son" and "Cry Baby Cry." The whole album felt very baby-appropriate. As we drove, my contractions started coming 5 minutes apart and then 3 minutes.
Daniel bruised the speed limit a bit and made the normally 45-minute drive (which would have been even longer considering it was the morning commute) a little less long. I took a wheelchair ride up to the maternity ward, and they were ready for me (Daniel had called ahead). They checked me immediately, and I was 6 cm dilated and 50% effaced, which means all those contractions had been doing their job. I was quite pleased with the progress I had made.
I had tested positive for Group B Strep, so I needed to get antibiotics through an IV. But because I had allowed myself to dehydrate overnight, they had a really hard time finding a good vein. They poked me three times before it finally worked, and each poke involved a lot of digging around in my arm. I wasn't a fan of the added pain, especially considering the contractions were continuing to come every 5 minutes or less. But eventually they got it to work, and I got my antibiotic (which made my arm ache) and fluids.
Around 10:30, the anesthesiologist finally came, and they sent Daniel out of the room. The nurse, whose name was Mary Jane (MJ), was awesome and helped me relax through the process (which involved two contractions). I was really worried after my experience with Aubrey that the epidural wasn't going to work, but it did! And oh man, it was so nice. I hadn't felt that relaxed in months! I was actually able to chat with Daniel, text friends and family, and doze occasionally.
When I received the epidural, I was at 7 cm. And once it started to work, my labor stopped progressing. So around 12:30, my doctor came and broke my water. That got me to progress to 8 cm by about 1:45, at which point they decided to give me just a little Pitocin to intensify my contractions. It worked really well, and the epidural made it so I didn't even feel anything! Again, I just relaxed and waited.
Unfortunately, the nurse we loved so much, MJ, ended her shift at 3:30, which meant she was going to miss the birth. She was sad about it and said, "This always happens to me! I'm going to just barely miss it. You'll be having this baby in an hour." She then said she'd have the other nurses text her the details when he finally came. (As a side note, they did text her, and she actually came to visit us and meet Carter the next morning.)
Not long after MJ left, I start to feel the contractions just a bit. But because I also started to feel some pressure to push, we opted not to replenish the epidural. And sure enough, they checked me and found that I was at 10 cm! Then, for some reason (probably because I was in transition), I started throwing up. That was fun.
My doctor was called, and while we waited the nurse had me do some preliminary pushing to get the baby further down the birth canal. It was very stress-free pushing, which was nice. Then, after about 10 minutes of that--with some long breaks in between pushes because the nurse was trying to get everything set up and we weren't trying to actually get him out yet anyway--my doctor arrived and had me push for real.
After about five minutes of pushing, I felt Carter's head come out. Then with one more push, the rest of his body followed (at 4:32 p.m., just as MJ had predicted). The gasps and exclamations of "He's huge!" were very amusing, and everyone started taking bets on how much he weighed. The nurses lay him on my stomach, and he was dark purple. It freaked me out! Everyone started rubbing him down and waiting for him to cry, but he never really did. He made some noises, but he never full-on cried.
We did skin-to-skin, which was new to me but very nice, and the first thing I noticed was that he had hair! That was also new for us, haha. (Poor bald Aubrey.) And while I was enjoying this new, wonderful person, my doctor stitched up my second-degree tear. And this time, unlike with Aubrey, I didn't feel a thing! It was SO nice to be able to enjoy the moment and not feel additional pain.
Finally I let the nurses take him away to clean him, weigh him, and do whatever else they do. The verdict came back--10 pounds, 1.2 ounces and 21 inches long. And I guess when they had him on his stomach, Carter tried to push himself up on his hands and knees. The nurses all laughed and joked that he was trying to crawl away! Daniel then got his turn to hold Carter, and I started drinking some water. That was a bad idea, because then I threw up a bunch (again). Not so fun.
And that's it! The experience this second time around was so completely different from my first experience, and in the best ways! This labor felt much more textbook and was so much more relaxing and meaningful. While Aubrey's labor and delivery were a blur, I was very aware and present for Carter's. I'm incredibly grateful for that and, of course, for this cute, sweet baby boy! We are very blessed.
