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| Elliott at 3 days old |
Kyle and I had been planning on having another baby since Isaac turned one, but when we discovered in April that we were going to have Baby #2 at the end of October, we were surprised. Who knew it would happen so soon!
Since Isaac had been born exactly on his due date, I was expecting the second baby to come on time or a little earlier. In the end, he showed up a day late (his own perfect timing!) at 10:22 p.m. on October 28, 2019.
The second time around was nothing like the first, when I experienced two nights of unproductive contractions followed by 12 hours of the real thing. This time there was hardly any indication that a baby was coming at all until he got here!
I went to the doctor at 1:00 p.m. because my water was (very very slowly) breaking. She confirmed it, and sent me right on to the hospital, thinking I would need to be monitored from the get-go. I wasn't having any pain at all, and I was so mad because I was sure I would be sitting in a hospital room all night doing nothing. (I was expecting a repeat of what happened with Isaac.)
So we got to the hospital around 3:30 p.m., did all the check-in things, and got settled into a room. I was bored because nothing much was happening, so Kyle and I went outside to walk around. However, once in the fresh afternoon air and the sunshine, things started picking up. It was about 5:00 or 5:30 p.m., and every time a contraction came, it was a little stronger than the one before. Then they got to the point where I couldn't talk through them at all.
Back in the hospital room (around 6:30 or 7:00), I put on my iTunes "Party Mix" from 2010 and we started using all our tricks from Isaac: TENS machine, birthing ball, and lots of focused breathing. The whole time I was in shock that things were progressing so quickly, but Kyle was right with me at every step, telling me it was all going the way it was supposed to.
When the midwife came a few minutes later, she gave me the OK to get into the birthing pool, which was exactly what I wanted to do. Sinking into that warm water was such a relief from the intensity of the previous contractions. The overhead lights were off and Christmas lights were strung up for mood lighting, making the soulless hospital room much more cozy. The two nurses accompanying me were kind and supportive, and Kyle, who had joined me almost immediately in the pool, was a physical and emotional rock throughout the entire labor.
All in all, I think I was in the tub for about two and a half or three hours before Elliott was born (time ceases to mean much while you're in labor). It was definitely uncomfortable towards the end, but luckily the pain seemed to peak and never got any worse.
Right before it was all over, I had a flashback to Isaac's birth: five people telling me five different things about how to breathe through pushing, and the no-nonsense doctor sternly telling me to lay on my back during delivery. This time, the midwife hardly said anything but encouraging phrases, telling me I knew what to do and I could do it. As it turns out, I did. Without any intervention at all, Elliott Wilder came into the world and turned our little family into a family of four.
