Pregnancy is SOOOOO different the second time around as a stay at home Mom! No matter how many times you've thrown up that day, how tired you are, how swollen your feet are, or how bad of a headache you have you still have a tiny little Princess that wants/demands your attention! This continues and becomes 100x harder at the end when you are in early labor for 2 weeks! I had contractions on and off for almost 2 full weeks. I had the same types of contractions with Ava and went into L&D twice, only to be sent home. This time around I knew that it was just early labor and I had to continue to stay active to keep progressing. Luckily, Ava was ready to help me stay active! Lol! Contractions picked up so much the week before I was due that my parents flew out a little early because chasing Ava while having contractions every 5-7 minutes was getting to be too exhausting and I wasn't getting much sleep at night so the days were long.
The day before I went into labor we decided to drive to Sanata Cruz and hang out on the beach. If your going to have contractions all day you might as well do it on a beautiful beach! The 100 yard walk through the sand felt like I had just run a marathon and kicked my contractions up to every 6 minutes. The whole drive home I told Peter tonight might be the night! After we put Ava to bed Peter, my Parents and I watched a movie (Non-Stop) and I sat on the birthing ball. I was having terrible back labor so my Mom rubbed my back and I just tried to focus on the terribly written movie. By 9pm the contractions were back up to every 10 minutes and not as painful so we went to sleep. I took a Unisom and had the best nights sleep I had gotten in months! The next morning at 7am my water broke! I told Peter Alice was trying to win favorite child award because she let me get a full nights sleep in before the crazy labor cycle begun. We took one last family photo as a family of 3. The next time we walked through that front door we would have 2 little girls.
The feelings of leaving your home to go have your second child are so bittersweet. It was so hard for me to leave Ava knowing that she would no longer be my only little buddy. She and I did everything together and the dynamic was about to change. But at the same time I was so excited to meet sweet Alice and so thrilled our family was expanding!
As Peter and I drove to the hospital my contractions became a lot tougher. I knew she would be here soon! We checked into the hospital and this snotty Nurse said "Honey, are you sure your water really broke?" I stood up for her and the giant puddle on the floor and the wheel chair helped confirm my story. So off we went to get hooked up to the monitors! The first thing I told my nurse was that I ABSOLUTELY wanted an epidural. With Ava I asked too late and so I knew without a doubt that I did not want that labor experience again! I was about 5cm dilated so she went ahead and got me in line for an epidural. About an hour later the Anesthesiologist came in to put in the epidural. He left and I laid back into bed and as I was talking to the nurse I told her I didn't feel well. All of a sudden my hearing and vision started going out and I knew I was about to pass out. I came to and I was on my side with another Nurse yelling at me to focus and breath. My BP was 60/49. The Anesthesiologist came running in and gave me a shot of epinephrine. This all happened right as my Mother was arriving. She walked in as I was passing out and they told her She had to wait in the hallway. I cannot imagine seeing my child, who is about to have my grandchild, passing out and not being able to stay in the room! Luckily, as soon as I was awake Peter ran out to tell her I was ok. My BP bumped back up to 100/70 and everyone calmed down. The hospital Dr came in to check on me about 2 minutes later and as I was talking to her I felt like my heart was about to explode. I told them my chest felt tight and then the vision and hearing started going out again. In those few seconds I was absolutely terrified that when I woke up I would be in an OR and they would be taking Alice out. I knew that this was not normal and they would not allow the baby to be in there if her heart rate dropped at all. This time my BP was down to 58/40. I woke up again with the same head nurse yelling at me and a giant oxygen mask on my face.
Apparently every time I laid on my back after the epidural it's position along with Alice's head position were cutting off blood flow therefore causing my BP to drop. So for the remainder of my labor I had to sit on my side. After they figured that out I had 0 issues and things calmed down for the next few hours. During both fainting episodes Alice's heart rate did not jump or fall. She was completely unfazed with Momma's BP issues!
Epidurals are a wonderful thing. My Mom, Peter and I just hung out and talked from around 10am-1pm. Around 1pm I told the Nurse I started to feel some pressure. She checked and said I was 8cm dilated so not quite time yet. Then the epidural machine started beeping indicating it was out and needed a refill.
About an hour later I noticed I could really feel contractions and my legs. I know with epidurals you aren't supposed to be able to feel or be able to have full control over your legs. I tried to ignore it but about 30 minutes later I was clutching the side of the bed every 3 minutes in terrible pain and could feel every single contraction. The nurse came back in and I told her the pressure was terrible, I felt like I needed to push and something is wrong with the epidural. She said she'd call the Anesthesiologist but it was shift change so the new nurse would meed to check me. She checked and I was 10cm dilated and Alice's head was about 1 inch from coming out. She told me not to push. UM.... WHAT? If you have ever birthed a baby you know when it's time to push you cannot NOT push! All of a sudden 3 nurses came in, the baby nurse came in, and my nurse was yelling that they needed to call the hospital Dr because it's possible my Dr may not make it in time. 3 minutes later my Dr rolled in. She put on gloves, threw her hair back and ran over. She said I needed to push. I pushed for a solid minute and then told her there was No way I could push again for 3 hours, like I did with Ava. She looked up and said "Katelyn, the head is half out!" WHAT?! With Ava I pushed and pushed and pushed and she's telling me with 1 minute of pushing she was almost here!? So 2 more giant pushes and Alice had made her grand debut! She arrived at 3:45pm was 7lbs on the dot, 19 inches and had a full head of hair!
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She nursed right away and gave us the sweetest cuddles! Our family has been forever changed in the best way by this sweet girl. She rarely cries, smiles all the time, and LOVES to be cuddled. I thought Ava was an easy baby but Alice is even calmer. God has truly blessed us with the 2 sweetest girls in the world!
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Later I asked my nurse about the epidural and she said it either moved and was in the wrong position or my other nurse forgot to turn it back on when she refilled it. So next time with baby #3 I really need to make sure I have this epidural thing under control!
