This post is now
4 weeks 8 weeks in the making. Well, I guess I shouldn't say in the making because that implies that I have put any effort into it prior to this very moment (and once prior) and, quite frankly, I have not. This whole one kid to two kid transition is kind of kicking my butt. Not in a, OMG what the hell was I thinking kind of way, just a, hmmm ... this is quite a bit trickier than I imagined.
Anyone that knows my little family knows that Z was a dream child. So, despite Charlie being a great little baby, he is still much more difficult, which is only THAT much more difficult now that I also have a two year old to tend to as well. But {slowly} things are starting to stabilize and I feel as if I have a little more control.
And, with that longer than necessary intro, I suppose we should rewind a bit to the grand entrance of my fabulous little boy - because really, he is pretty amazing and he has truly made our family perfectly complete. And, no, that's not just the sleep deprivation talking ;)
To truly start this birth story I should probably confess, we totally planned an elective induction. I did not share this with many people in advance because, quite frankly, I did not care for any commentary on the subject. My Dr and I made the decisions, together, to induce just shy of 40 weeks (39 weeks and 2 days to be exact). Given my previous delivery history with Z and current pregnancy status (basically flawless and no cause for concern) with Charlie, Dr. Layton felt no need to wait until after my due date to discuss scheduling an induction. We decided on Wednesday, May 27 at 5am (SO EARLY!).
The day arrived and, with Z already tucked in at my in-laws, I called the hospital at 3am, as instructed, to verify they were still able to take us at our scheduled time. They couldn't. Thus, starting our anxious waiting to be called in.
Around 9am Dr. Layton called and said it was unlikely we would be called to come in that day and asked us to come in for some outpatient induction (membrane sweeping). After leaving his office, we decided to walk around a nearby shopping center (yay Target!), grab lunch and just wait for either labor to start or the hospital to call. Neither happened. Then, at 5am, the hospital called and told us to come in as soon as we could, because they were ready for us.
At 7:30am, after checking in and getting situated, etc. they started the Pitocin. I, naively, thought labor would start immediately and we would meet our son very son. WRONG. We sat around and waited for several hours, watching movie, after movie, after movie. At some point during the waiting the nurse came in and said Drs tend to come in at either the start or end of their lunch to break their patient's water, so we should expect him between 12 and 12:30 or not until 1:30 or 2. It was the latter.
The process was short but oh so painful. In fact, it would wind up being the most painful part of my day. Once he was done I didn't feel like it worked. But they said to give it a little bit and if it, in fact didn't, he would come back in. I wasn't a fan of this option because I was already so bored waiting.
The contractions were coming and going, but not consistent and not nearly as painful as I remembered with Z. In fact, not really painful at all. So I switched it up and sat on the birthing ball to see if I could help things along.
After a few hours, it was decided my water did not break and they would call Dr. Layton. It was then that I asked for the epidural which I had already signed off for and had been asked if I wanted a few times. I wasn't in pain enough at that point to need it, but he was absolutely not messing around down there again without some pain meds in my system. So I got my epidural and they called Dr. Layton. At 5:30 he broke my water and that's when the active labor began. Still not as intense as I remember, but that's probably thanks to the epidural that was much more effective this time around.
After 2.5 hours of active labor and 20 minutes of pushing, Charlie was finally here. Similar to McKenzie, we started seeing his heart rate drop and they had to put me on oxygen. Then, unlike McKenzie, a few things were mentioned that made me worry the day may end in an emergency c-section. First, although I was almost fully dilated, he hadn't dropped down into the birth canal so they thought he might have cord wrapped somewhere - not something a laboring mother wants to hear. And second, once he did drop, he wasn't straightening out and, if I heard correctly, he would not be able to come out if he didn't correct himself. Luckily, he did and we had a successful delivery, outside of an operating room.
As I mentioned before, the epidural seemed to be much more effective this time around because I didn't feel everything with the same intensity I had with Z and wasn't nearly as aware of his placement during delivery as I was with her. Which could have been a bad thing for my recovery if not for Dr. Layton and his skillful coaching to avoid excessive tearing and ended up with just a first degree tear requiring two small stitches. While it may be TMI, I figure, if I'm going to share, I may as well share it all.
So there it is, our handsome little Charlie Scott was born May 28th at 8:33pm weighing a healthy 7 pounds, 13 ounces - almost a whole pound larger than his sister. He had healthy lungs (as he demonstrated by screaming almost the entire first hour of his life) and showed no signs of jaundice. I am not sure if this can be attributed to delayed cord cutting - which we didn't really plan, it's just how the moment played out after he was born - but I am so happy we didn't have to go through the whole bilirubin treatments and testing like we did with Z.
Speaking of Z, because we wanted to have the golden hour just the three of us, as recommended by the hospital, it would be pretty late for her to come down to the hospital. So, we decided to wait until the next day to have them meet. But when she did finally meet him, she instantly loved him. Watching them meet was just so special. She was a bit concerned for me though and insisted on seeing my feet for whatever reason. Once she saw them and was able to climb into the bed with me she felt better about the whole situation and believed me when I said I was ok.
This was such a special event for our, now complete, family. The similarities between McKenzie and Charlie's deliveries paired with the distinct differences makes me think this was just a glimpse of what is to come for our little family. I can't wait to watch them grow up together and watch them develop into their own people with similarities and unique features, just like their entrances into this world.
** If we are friends on Facebook, you know that Blogger totally glitched out on me after writing this and deleted everything I had written (and more) on my second sitting. So, I had to go back and rewrite the entire thing! I am not as happy with this version - and I apologize for that - but I am sleepy and anticipating this little one to wake from his uncharacteristic early evening slumber at any minute, so it will have to do. Again, sorry, if it's not quite up to par. I really liked how my original one turned out.
