Birth Story for Edith

I have been wanting to write down Edith's birth story, but finding the time is quite challenging.  I am noticing the difference when you have two kids versus one - even with a lot of help right now.  I am either holding/feeding Edith, trying to rest or trying to spend time with Eddie.  Overall things have been going pretty well as we adjust to having a newborn again.

Now on to the birth story.  I ended up not going into labor on my own, so I was induced on Thursday morning.  It felt very strange driving to the hospital and NOT being in labor.  I didn't quite know what to do with myself.  We got checked in and shown to our room and I literally was like - now what?!  Fortunately we had a really great nurse and I really liked the midwife who was on duty.  I had seen her earlier in the week for my check-up, so that made me feel at ease.  I was started with Pitocin around 8 am and I started having contractions, but they weren't super close together and they weren't painful at all.  They kept increasing the amount of Pitocin and while the contractions were closer together, they weren't to the point that I really had to concentrate on breathing through them.  I was making some progress, but for the most part, I felt bored during the day.  Around 3:30 the midwife broke my water.  That helped to keep the contractions more regular, but they were still continuing to increase the Pitocin.  I was able to take a little nap after that, which was nice.

I knew with this labor that I wanted to get an epidural.  I wanted to wait until I was further dilated, so I was waiting for another check from the midwife before I would agree to get the epidural.  One of the nurses convinced me to just get started with it.  I am glad that I didn't wait, because the midwife was busy delivering another baby.  I had a bad experience with my epidural with Eddie, so I was pretty nervous.  Plus, I was much more with it this time around, since I wasn't in super active labor.  The anesthesiologist that I had was great this time.  He was very business-like, but he understood my concern from last time and I think he was extra careful.  Right after I got the epidural, the midwife came and checked me.  By that point I was dilated to a 7.  She told me to rest and she would come back in an hour or two.  I didn't really feel like sleeping, so Uncas and I just talked.  About 2 hours later - around 9:10 pm, I suddenly felt a lot of pressure during a contraction.  We paged the nurse and when she came, the next contraction I had, I felt even more pressure.  The nurse paged the midwife, so she could check me.  The nurse was convinced that I would have the baby by 9:40.  Knowing how long I had to push with Eddie (4 hours), I wasn't convinced at all.  When the midwife checked me was only at an 8, but after a few practice pushes, I was dilated to a full 10.  


At this point I should mention that the midwife could not believe how much the baby was moving around.  She said in her 10 years of practicing, she had never seen a baby so active in labor.  This continued up until the point the baby was born!  I wasn't kidding when I talked about how painful it was for me when the baby was moving around inside of me.  I actually started the real pushing around 9:45 and by 10:09, little Edith was born!  She came out screaming (and screaming and screaming!)  Everyone was saying how big she was, but compared to Eddie, I didn't think she looked that big.  I was totally surprised by how much she ended up weighing!  I do not know how she could have fit inside of me!  I really didn't think I looked much bigger (if at all) than when I was pregnant with Eddie who was over a pound smaller!  


After she was born, I had her on my chest for a while.  I remember when Eddie was born, I was so exhausted, I actually had them take him away to get weighed and measured, but with Edith, I just wanted to hold and kiss her and look at her.  Right away Uncas and I called our parents to share the good news.


Shortly after the delivery, I ended up having a hemorrhage.  They were able to stop it quickly, but I got pretty sick and as a result, had to remain hooked up to an IV overnight to make sure I remained stable.  They closely had to monitor my Hemoglobin over the next day and by Saturday morning we determined that it was in my best interest to have a blood transfusion.  I wasn't super excited about this, but I knew it would be for the best in my recovery.  It was a good decision because I felt so much better by the next day.  

In many ways this labor was way easier than with Eddie.  It was half as long, I wasn't in very much pain, and I pushed way less time.  However, the time I was pushing, seemed way more intense - maybe because I was much more coherent.  Of course Edith was also a lot bigger than Eddie, so that could explain things too.  The recovery this time around, with the exception of my low iron (due to blood loss), has been way easier.  I am once again amazed at how quickly the body bounces back after childbirth.  Another thing that I have noticed is how much more laid back I am this time around.  Nursing has been way less challenging, although I think Edith is a better nurser than Eddie ever was.  I have also lost all of my weight gain from this pregnancy.  It's probably not shocking since at my heaviest, I only gained about 22 lbs (I lost weight the last couple of weeks of the pregnancy).  And given how big Edith was and how much fluid I had in me, there probably wasn't a lot extra.  

Things have been going well this first week.  Uncas had off all last week, which was great.  This week my parents are in town to help and the following week my mother-in-law is coming.  Eddie has been wonderful with Edith.  But he has been acting up towards everyone else.  The other morning I discovered that he was cutting molars!  Poor little guys is probably in a lot of pain, which might be part of the issue.  

And with that, I need to end this post because Little Miss Thing needs to eat!