My contractions started coming fairly regularly on Thursday afternoon, not super close together or intense yet but more consistent than the contractions I had been having before. I had a doctor's appointment that day and my doctor was very pleased with the progress I had made in a week and said that we could have this baby any day if I stayed active. I did as much as I could muster around the house that evening and the next morning, but my contractions were still inconsistent, ranging from every 2 minutes to 20 minutes, depending on what I was doing and varying throughout the day. I thought that 2nd babies are supposed to come faster than 1st babies and my labor could pick up very quickly. However, Taryn was obviously not in as much of a hurry as I was. We went ahead and sent Zane to stay with his Mimi & Papa Bear on Friday night, just in case. At 3am Saturday morning, I decided it was time to go to the hospital. Surely with all the contractions, my body must be progressing along and I just knew she would come fast once things got going. Zane came only a few hours after we got to the hospital with him. We went in to discover that I was still dilated to the same number I had been on Thursday afternoon. After watching me for a while, they determined that I was progressing but slowly. My doctor gave me the option of staying and getting some pitosin to help speed things along or getting some pain meds and going home to sleep for a few hours, knowing that I would be back and probably have her sometime before midnight. We opted for pain meds and sleep. It was a good choice. I was knocked out for about 4 hours at home, got a shower in and a decent lunch and got back to the hospital when the meds had worn off at about 2 pm. They decided to admit me at about 3 or so. Unfortunately, there was only one anesthesiologist on call and he was tied up so I had to wait another 1 1/2 to 2 hours before I finally got my epidural. Then, they had to sit me up in a weird position and give me some pitosin because she was at a weird angle and my contractions had gotten irregular. Unfortunately, right at the end, something went wrong with my epidural and it started wearing off. Let me just tell you that it was pretty miserable and leave it at that. Tommy was wonderful and stayed right by my side, holding my hand and wiping my tears through it all. Once she was ready, I didnt have to push for very long. My doctor barely made it to catch her in the last 10 minutes or so. It was a very different labor experience than my super-fast, smooth, epidural-working experience with Zane, but still so worth it in the end when I laid eyes on my beautiful baby girl. She is completely healthy and my recovery has been a breeze for the most part.
Zane loves his baby sister and has really done about as well with everything as you can expect from a 2 1/2 year old. He wants to hold her and kiss her face and he talks to her like we do, "Hey sweet girl." etc. The 2 year old boy part comes in that he wants to hang on the pack and play and bump it to try to touch her while she is sleeping or force her paci into her mouth, with the best of intentions of course. Thankfully, we paid for daycare for the whole month of May so he has been able to go to school during the day, keeping some normalcy for him and giving Daddy and me time to get to know Taryn and rest some. I have until this Friday to take advantage of that. Then it will be me and both kids, all summer long. As nervous as I am about that, I am really looking forward to it too. We will stay busy with activities for Zane and I will adjust to juggling them both, I am sure.
I can't believe it has only been a week since she came into our lives! Life will never be the same.
Overflowing with blessings,
Crystal
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