Thursday, 24 July 2008

• The Story of Baby #2

  by Mama Monkey

  
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  So I wrote about the birth of our first child and can't just stop there (just in case the day comes that my kids find this stuff, I wouldn't want them thinking that I loved one more than the other ). Here goes.

  I got pregnant with Monkey2 when Monkey1 was about 2 and 1/2 years old. YEAH! So excited! The pregnancy, as with my first, went along flawless...with one big change. I LOST weight instead of gaining it. At least at first, I did eventually start to gain weight but was actually about 10 lbs lighter immediately after having my second son than I was before I got pregnant. I don't know, but I'm not about to complain.

  Oh, and there was also the question when I was about 5 weeks pregnant of whether or not it could be an eptopic pregnancy. It was either that or my appendix....turns out it was my appendix and I ended up having to have surgery to have it out. That could be a whole other story in and of itself though, so we won't go there.

  I was ready for another crazy long labor like I had with my first, though hoping for a much shorter one. I guess I kinda got something in the middle.  I started having contractions sometime early Thursday morning. Early enough that it woke me up. I called my mom to warn her, as she was going to be taking Monkey1 when the time came. Then I went about my day normally...or as normally as I could. I cleaned up the house some so that would all be taken care of when I had to leave (and would therefore be clean when I got back with new baby). I went for a couple of walks in an attempt to speed things up...but it may have slowed it down instead, making me wonder if this was the REAL thing. Things didn't speed up much and, after supper, I called my mom and told her it looked like we would be good to go for the night.

  This is where it actually gets a little fuzzy for me. I hate to admit it, but I don't remember as much about his labor and birth as I do with the other two. Oh well.  I think my mom may have come that night and picked up Monkey1 just in case we had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night, but I am really not sure. I honestly don't even remember if we went in that night or not until the next morning. Isn't that awful of me?

  Well, however it happened, we were at the hospital on Friday. This time, things all looked good for me an the baby. I was able to walk around, after a brief period of monitoring. My doctor was actually there this time and we had already talked about the option of a waterbirth. She had said it was a very relaxed thing. You give birth to the baby in the water and then you can choose to hang out and pass the afterbirth there also or you can choose to get out and do that part in the labor room. It wasn't a decision that I had to make then, we would just see how things went. So, as soon as they said I could, I was in that tub.

  I loved being in the tub. It made moving around/changing positions so much easier and almost effortless. You just kind of float to where you want to be. I was originally going to push in more of a squatting position, but your body has a funny way of making its own plans. When I felt the need to push I was lying on my back in the tub...and that is how the baby came out. My doctor had challenged me to push this one out faster than the first. The first took 15 minutes...the second took 14.

  

  That is where the calm part of this story stops. Suddenly, the water around me was very red and my doctor (normally an extremely calm woman) suddenly had a strong sense of urgency in her voice. The idea of being able to pass the afterbirth in the tub went straight out the window. It was 'K- get your picture quick and get her out of there.' So I was quickly taken back to the labor room where I found out that the amount of blood in the water was not normal (I just thought it looked like more blood than it was because blood spreads in water). They put a shot of pitocin in my thigh and started an IV. When the pitocin in the thigh was not working well enough, they also put some in the IV. I also got to experience the joy of internal uterine massage (not something you are missing out on if you have not had it done) - simultaneously with external uterine massage. It was more painful than the birth itself. I remember crying to my husband and telling him to make them stop. I did get to hold my new baby boy during all of this though. He was able to nurse (and they encouraged it) since that would help the uterus clamp down. (In the meantime, he also managed to poop on me - you know that first sticky, tar poop.)

  Well, the bleeding finally stopped - though all the pitocin caused me to continue having contractions for more than a day after giving birth. Monkey2 was born on Friday, June 27, 2003 at 12:56pm. He was 8 lbs 7 1/2 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. I even ended up in the same room I was in when I had my first. All in all, it, too was a good experience. Thanks for reading my forever long birth story.

  Would you ever consider having a water birth?  If you've had one before, was it a good experience?

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