I woke up at 12:30am to go to the bathroom. I was up again at 1:40am for the same reason. This time I was starving and realized I was also having contractions. I laid in bed for almost an hour playing solitaire on my phone before getting up for some food. Standing in the kitchen, it occurred to me that I should time my contractions and see if they were consistent. With Lucy, my water broke, so this whole experience was very different. After an hour of having contractions every 6-7 minutes, I called the OB. The on-call midwife called back and advised me to wait until they were 3-5 minutes apart before going to the hospital. She kindly suggested that I take a bath and relax or maybe go back to bed so as to not speed things along since it was the middle of the night. She was very sweet and didn't want me to be exhausted for labor. But I was convinced this baby was coming last Wednesday, remember?! So the idea of slowing labor down seemed crazy! Despite that, I followed directions and laid down, waking Paul to tell him this was the beginning!! As I laid my head down I said, "Oh! And Happy Birthday baby!" Laying down did not achieve what the midwife had hoped because my contractions were now about every 4 minutes.
I decided to get up and shower. Yes, vanity took over and knowing we'd be heading to the hospital soon, I wanted to be clean! Contractions still every 4 minutes...yippee!! They weren't very painful yet but they were long and consistent. Shelly came over at 5am to stay with Lucy and we left shortly after for the hospital. At 6:02am I cheerily told the nurses that we were in labor. Unfortunately, when they checked my progress in Triage at 6:30am I was only dilated to 3.5cm and being in the hospital slowed my contractions to every 5-7 minutes. I was so very ready to deliver that I felt a little deflated. The midwife I'd spoken to earlier suggested that I walk and see if we progress any. So Paul and I walked....and walked...and walked.....until about 8am. At some point one of the staff members told us that x number of laps around the delivery floor was a mile. Based on that (a number I can't recall right now), we walked at least 3-4 miles total that day!
The midwife checked on me at 8am and I was at 4cm and 90%!! Yeah for being admitted...and more walking! Again my contractions slowed to every 5-7 minutes apart. It was in this moment that I realized I'd probably rushed our arrival at the hospital and could have labored longer at home. But I was also feeling some apprehension because this labor was already so different from Lucy's. When my water broke with her, it was a very clear sign a baby was coming in the near future. Timing contractions wasn't hard but knowing when they became noteworthy was a bit more difficult.
Dr. Miller arrived about noon and offered to break my water since I was still having consistent contractions but was still at a 4 and 90%. After she broke my water, the contractions slowly started to increase in intensity, length and frequency. By 1:15pm I was beyond ready for the epidural. (Early in the pregnancy, Paul and I had an "epidural conversation" where I mentioned that I might try to deliver with no epidural. The common opinion is that second babies come faster than the first (albeit not always) so my mantra was "if Sophie comes really quickly, an epidural might be kind of pointless"...ha!) I had been walking and standing since we'd arrived so while I had my IV line placed, I hadn't been connected to the IV fluids. In order to have the epidural administered, I needed to have an entire bag of IV fluid first. I never had any fears about labor but in the midst of some really intense contractions I was flooded with fear that Sophie was coming really quickly and there might not be time for the epidural. Suddenly I wished I'd had a different mantra the past nine months.
Despite the fear, the anesthesiologist arrived just before 2pm and at 2:01pm the epidural was doing a great job. At 2:20, Dr. Miller said I was at a 6!! Our wonderful music minister/friend came for a brief visit and to pray with us. He left about 2:40pm and within ten minutes I was feeling a marked change in pressure.
Dr. Miller checked me again at 3pm and said, "Let's have a baby!" We were at a 10 and 100%! I pushed through three contractions and at 3:18pm our Sweet Sophie Marie was born. When they placed her on my chest I noticed that she was kind of blue but all I could do was smile and say hello to my perfect daughter. Her cry was instantly her own--she sounded distinctly different from her sister. It wasn't until later when we were introducing her to our family and telling the story, that Paul and I realized how blue she really was. During delivery, the cord got wrapped around her neck and it was too tightly wrapped to be removed while she was partially delivered. When she was delivered she was wailing so we didn't really have a chance to freak out about her coloring. We were blessed to have a physician who didn't panic either.
Our family flooded the room to meet the newest member and it was such a precious moment to introduce Lucy to her baby sister!
Day 1, I accepted a lunch invitation....only the Creator of Heaven and Earth knew that on Day 1375, I'd be celebrating my husband's 40th birthday in labor with our marvelous Sophie Marie!
We were fortunate to go home the following afternoon. My mom, sister and niece were at our house with Lucy when we arrived. While Lucy was captivated by Sophie the day before, I'm not sure she fully grasped the concept that this was our baby. When we arrived at the house and she saw us holding the carseat with a baby inside, she squealed, dropped her jaw and started giggling. It was just the welcome home I needed.
We recently heard Dr. Ken Hemphill do a guest sermon at our church discussing why it is essential for Christians to attend church rather than worship from the gym, work or the bike trail. Not to undermine his work and eloquence but the basic "take-home" message was this: God's glory is like a puzzle and I am but one piece. We cannot fully see the GLORY of God without seeing how he works in the lives of others--the other pieces. I love this image! And the more exciting part is that even though I experienced all the events on Day 1375, it's only in writing it down and sharing it now that I fully see His glory in the birth of my daughter. How exciting is that!?! We get to see more of God's glory by witnessing it in others and in the telling of our own stories--there is always more!!
That my friends, just like my children, is both miraculous and marvelous!
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| Photo by the talented Jamie Ray |
