I recently learned of this rumor that labor can be much quicker for the second child.
Um. What? Yes, please!
My memory of my first son's delivery is kind of weak. It makes me regret not blogging about the birth story, and now I understand why people do it. So, I'm going to tell you about it.
The Thursday night before he was due, I mentioned to my husband over the phone (after he asked) that I though I was having contractions, about a half hour apart, but they aren't very long or regular. I had a doctor's appointment in the morning, see. They'd tell me more then.
He was in Vegas for an intensive training program. He had been there for the past four months, and had a few weeks to go until graduation. We were led to believe that I needed to be on my way to the hospital to hop on a plane home. We were also planning to induce the following week – Thanksgiving week, when he had a break – if the baby didn't come before then.
He called me in the middle of the night to see if anything had changed. Of course, I was sleeping. So I didn't know. He found out how early he could fly home the next morning. He did not sleep. He did book a flight.
The next morning, the NP checked me. I was dilated 1cm, maybe half effaced. She swept my membranes and said, "See you next week for that induction."
My mom and I hung out until lunch time, when we left to pick up my husband for the airport. We stopped for Indian food. I was definitely contracting.
We hung out, tried to nap... around dinner time I was getting uncomfortable and we started timing the contractions. Around 9:30 (I think?) we went to the hospital. Still just 1cm. We walked the halls for a couple of hours. Just 2cm. As I was filling out my discharge papers at midnight to go home and labor more, my water broke. ("Um, either I just peed myself or my water broke," is what I said.) There was meconium in the amniotic fluid, which made it all extra gross and meant the NICU team was going to be there when the baby arrived in case he had swallowed some. Like I said, gross.
The rest is kind of a blur. There was the bathtub, pictures of the dog, and eventually a request for an epidural, which was kind of magic. I tried "sleeping." The nurses kept moving me around to keep up the baby's heart rate. Around 4:30 I woke up with an irresistible urge to push. The nurse checked me and laughed – she could feel his head! So I had to not push while the doctor was called, while the doctor went to change out of her collegiate sweatshirt and into scrubs. Three contractions later he arrived to a giant audience of the doctor, nurses, NICU team, residents, med students... perfectly healthy.
The next part is a blur, too. Something about a placenta. I remember my husband sleeping a lot. I did wake him up to check to see if the baby was still breathing. Breastfeeding wasn't really working out. I eventually got pretty tired. We went home Sunday.
I remember being achy and sore and groggy for a while. And now it's more than 2 years later.
My hope for this birth (assuming he's positioned properly and will arrive without complications) is that I go into it rested. That the water breaking part happens early in the day. That maybe this time I'll have the strength and support to tackle it without the epidural, only so that I can recover more quickly for the sake of First.
The base hospital has a new natural birthing room. Maybe this resource plus the "rumor" that second labors are faster will be what I need to do it.
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