How It Happened

To begin with let me say one child is certainly not like the other, even when it comes to labor. I had such an easy and quick labor with Emma, she was even eight days early, so we were expecting a similar situation with Isaac. I had even geared myself up to think that he would come a few days early, needless to say, him coming 2 says AFTER my due date made for a very long 10 days. I certainly learned not to set myself up like that again. What made the situation even harder was, my mom was flying in a day after my due date with hopes that she would be here a week or so after Isaac was born, giving us a chance to get a schedule going before she got here. Naturally that did not happen either, but looking back I am glad she was here when she was.

The night she got here, the 13th, I was beginning to feel a number of strong contractions and wasn't sure if I was going to make it through the night before needing to go to the hospital. Luckily, I was still able to get a descent nights rest before we left. When I woke up Wednesday morning I noticed I lost my mucus plug, and while I wasn't having any real strong and consistent contractions I was still feeling something going on and told Michael to stay home from work and come with me to my weekly checkup. Sure enough by the time I got to my appointment and they checked me out, my blood pressure was high and I was already at 4cm with about 75% effacement. They went ahead and admitted me into the hospital, and we called Mom (who was at home with Emma) that we would hopefully be having a baby in the next few hours. Unfortunately it didn't go the way we planned.

Once I got to the hospital they did all sorts of lab work, got my pick line already to go, and put the monitors on me and let me be. For the next few hours I was able to walk around, watch some TV, drink apple juice, eat Popsicles and jello, and experience sporadic contractions. At around 3 pm they checked me again to find I was only around 6 cm, and that my liver levels were about 4 times higher then they should be. They then proceeded to tell me that because I had high blood pressure before I got to the hospital, it was normal at this point, and that my liver levels were high that they had no choice but to treat me as preclampsic. That means they would need to give me magnesium sulfate, a muscle relaxer, and then put a catheter in because they would need to monitor my urine every hour until I had the baby, and then 12 more hours after I had the baby. That news meant I would no longer be able to walk around, and that I would have an extremely painful catheter put in. (That pain was worse then anything else I felt all day, and cried to have it removed.) Once they started me on that nasty stuff I was beginning to feel a few more consistent and harder contractions and was sure that I must be making good progress. I was certainly praying that I was because at this point I was starving and really exhausted. At about 7pm they checked me again, only to find I hadn't progressed at all. There was absolutely no difference. I was devastated!! The next option was to ask how can we speed this up, because physically and emotionally I cannot keep going. The answer, to make it go as fast as possible, put in an epidural and give me petosen (sp?). This was a hard decision for me to make. I have a strong belief in natural child birth, by that I mean I don't use medication. I was fortunate enough to labor in a big bath tub with Emma and did not need any meds. It was an awesome experience, and one I was hoping to repeat. By taking an epidural I would feel like I had failed a little in my attempt to be so strong. However, after talking it over with Michael and the nurses it was the best thing to do at this point. First off the magnesium sulfate they had me on is actually the same stuff they give to women who are in preterm labor to stop them from progressing, so my body was trying to do two contradictory things at once, keep labor going and relax my muscles. Secondly, it had been a long day, I was exhausted and if I was suppose to push a baby out in a few more hours, without making any fast progressed, I was going to be toast. So, I opted to get the epidural, and give my thanks that there is modern medicine. Two hours after they gave the medicine I had already progressed to 7cm and was close to 100% effaced. They then proceeded to break my water, since it wasn't helping me anyway, and told me to call when I started feeling pressure. It wasn't 30 minutes after that I felt an immense amount of pain, and Michael could tell he needed to get the midwife. After a short 7 pushes, with every ounce of energy I could find, Isaac was born at 10:36pm! And boy was I glad.

So while things certainly didn't go at all as we were hoping and praying for, they ended up turning out just fine. Because my mom was here she was able to stay at home with Emma, keeping her somewhat on a schedule and into her own bed on time. I was more relaxed knowing that. And while labor didn't go they way I wanted, I am grateful that there is modern medicine, and I will just have to hope that I can go naturally with the next one. The most important thing was, Isaac was born healthy.

We are so grateful to have him in our home. Newborns bring such a special spirit with them. We all have been adjusting well. It was so nice to have my mom here for a couple weeks, and my dad here for a few days to help. It has made the transition easier for me. Emma has also done very well. She has been a little more hyper than normal, just so we remember she is around. But other than that she just wants to hug and kiss him, and be a little mother as much as possible. It is still hard to believe that we have 2 kids, what a blessing!

First bath

Apparently anything to suck on works for Isaac.

Opa and Isaac

Emma giving Isaac "hugs"

Our newest bundle of joy