Birth Story Week: #2, in which I don't quite make it into the labor and delivery room

As baby number seven's due date fast approaches, I figured I ought to do a Birth Story Week of all six births so far. See here for Birth story number one!

If you are a male person who reads my blog (hi Dad!) you might want to consider skipping this week. There may be rushing fluids and wooziness.

Here's birth story number two:




My second labor started quite pleasantly. Again it began on my due date, but this time I had had a full night's sleep, eaten breakfast, and had just finished loading the dishwasher when I had my first contraction. That's Betty for you. She's quite considerate.

It was about 8 am when it started. I didn't want my husband to miss work if this wasn't the real thing, and I tried to tell him he should just go in and I'd call him, but fortunately he didn't listen to me. Again my water didn't break, again with all the blood.



Again my contractions were shorter and farther apart than the book said they would be, and they seemed easier than they had in my labor with Jack. So, I tried to settle in for a full day of labor.

Then I had one big massive contraction that I am convinced took me from a 2 to an 8 in one go. In the middle of said massive contraction I got out of bed, demanding that we needed to go to the hospital right then. My husband thought people should probably wait until they are not actually having a contraction to go to the car, but what does he know, right?

Eventually we did get out to the car, around 11:30 am, and arrived at the hospital about 10 minutes later. Again, the nurses station was not impressed with our arrival and everyone had something to finish saying or typing before she could look up.

Then, they took me into the exam room and I had the baby right there on the metal exam table with the on-call OB because my doctor couldn't get scrubbed up in time. Hah. That showed 'em.

Baby number two, four hours of labor (faster than the marathon I ran while unknowingly 2 months pregnant with her!), also 7 lb 8 oz.

After watching Dumbo, nineteen-month-old Jack had really been hoping that the new baby would be an elephant. But it turned out that a little sister was an acceptable alternative. Seeing the joy in his little face greeting the new baby is an image that will stay with me forever and ever.




And I went home that evening again, because I still don't like hospitals.

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