Two weeks ago today

He's only 2 weeks old, and already he's officially out of all of his newborn outfits.  How does that happen so fast???  I only had a few newborn outfits, so I guess it's a good thing, but... STOP GROWING ALREADY!  Except, keep growing, because that's what you're supposed to do, Connor.

Two weeks ago today seems like forever ago already.  What was life like before I had 2 littles?  I don't really remember.  How do they grow so fast?  I'm not really sure at all.  How do they take up residence in your home and your heart with such instant permanence?  It's a beautiful miracle.  How bad was labor and delivery?  I already don't remember, and the pay off is SO worth it!

If you're not into birth stories, here's where you should stop reading - I get it.  Birth stories aren't interesting for everyone, despite how dear to my heart this story may be.  If you're interested in what life was like for us 2 weeks ago when Connor joined the world, read on...

I mentioned in a post, maybe even my first post about Connor that things didn't go like I'd planned at. all.  In order to explain that statement, I have to start about a week and a half before Connor was born.  It was a Tuesday, and I was at work.  My throat was really scratchy and I had the constant urge to cough, but I had a lot to do and other than a scratchy throat, I felt fine.

That night I slept horribly and had a tiny fever - I felt so bad first thing Wednesday moring that Chase stayed home from work to take care of Lily so I could rest, and to take me to my 37 week checkup with my doctor.  I was feeling pretty good by the time we got to the doctor.  I just felt really tired, but everything looked really good.  Dilated to 3cm.

Wednesday night did not go well at all.  I woke up at one point with a fever of 102.  All I could think was, "I can't be sick and go into labor!"  I went back to the doctor on Thursday (exactly 1 week before I went into labor with Connor) and tested positively for Influenza A.

If you've never had Influenza A, count your lucky stars!  I've had it twice in my life, and I count them as among my very worst days - I thought I was dying.  My whole body ached so badly that I couldn't sleep for more than about 45 minutes at a time (if I was lucky).  TV wasn't interesting, I couldn't concentrate to read, I didn't want to eat or drink, but knew I needed to because I was still eating for 2...  It was bad.  My doctor put me on Tamiflu - an amazing drug that helps ones body get through the flu faster.  Bless it!  And bless my husband who stayed home Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to take care of Lily and me.  He was amazing!

By Friday evening I was feeling much better, but Lily was a little warm.  She spiked a fever at 5:30pm (right after every doctor's office in the area closed, of course.), so the next morning we took her in and had her tested for the flu.  Fortunately it came back negative, so we decided to wait out her symptoms and let her body fight whatever it was fighting.

She ran a fever all the way through Monday evening at which point her fever broke and she seemed to be doing much better.  We spent Tuesday and Wednesday around home getting things cleaned, washed, and put in order.  Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment and ultrasound, but I'll explain that later.

Then Wednesday evening, I felt extremely exhausted.  Chase, Lily, and I all ended up napping in our bed before Awana that night, and Lily and I stayed home - I just couldn't pull together the energy to go!  I finally went to bed that night around 11, and felt like things were changing.

Thursday morning (March 27) I woke up at 3am to the sound of Lily's cough.  I went to check on her, and she was burning up - fever of 102!  I got her dosed with Tylenol and settled in bed again, and a contraction started.  I went to the bathroom, and it was clear that ready or not, things were going to happen today.

I went back to bed and started timing contractions - they were 7 to 10 minutes apart as long as I laid still, and they weren't very intense yet.  I dozed between contractions until Chase woke up at about 7:30.  I told him he wasn't going to work that day.  He tried to tell me about some meeting he had, and then I said, "Well, you're not going, because we're going to meet your son today."  Then it all clicked and he got excited!

As soon as the doctor's office was opened, I called in and got an appointment for Lily - I did not want to bring an infant home to a toddler with a fever!  Next, I called my mom and asked if she could follow us to the doctor's office and then take Lily home with her after that.  She agreed.

By 10:30 we were sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office - my bag, Chase's bag, baby's bag all packed in our car ready to go to the hospital.  Lily's bag packed in Grandma's car ready to go home with her.  We'd waited there for like 30 minutes when a nurse came in to tell us that Lily's doctor had gotten called to the hospital on an emergency and wouldn't be back for a while.  Would we like to wait or see someone else?

This is where I went into a contraction.  I asked the nurse to wait.  And then I told her I was in labor and we'd like to see someone sooner rather than later.  Her eyes got big.  She asked if I needed a wheelchair, or if I needed a ride to the hospital.  I said, "No.  I need to take care of my daughter.  Once that's done, then I'll go to the hospital."  She turned and we got called back to see someone else very quickly.

Lily got put on an antibiotic for the start of an ear/sinus infection, and Mom took her home.  Chase and I put gas in the van, grabbed lunch for Chase, a Gatorade for me, and made our way to the hospital.  We walked in, and I told the admitting nurse that we were going to have a baby today.  I told her she could try to send me home, but I'd just stay and walk because my baby was coming.  She watched me go through a contraction, and then checked me straight into a room (no triage!  Hurray!)  She was great - I was at 5cm.

She got me checked in, put in my IV, and I got in the hot tub.  (I don't know how women labored without them!  Oh my gosh.  SO my favorite place to labor!!!)  It was about 1 or 1:30 by the time all that was done.

I labored in the hot tub, on the birthing ball, and walking the halls for the afternoon and into the evening.  At one point, my doctor called and offered to put me on Pitocin or to break my water to get things moving faster.  I said thanks, but no thanks.  The difference between laboring with one's water in tact and without it is... I can't even describe the difference.  It's just so much more manageable with water in tact!  For those of you interested in going without pain meds, that's my best advice - labor as long as you can with your water in tact!

I took about 2 -3 hours per centimeter, so it was a long labor even once I was in the hospital.  By midnight I was at about 9cm, and I really wanted to get to 10 if I could before they broke my water.  Chase was a champ, but so tired, and Laura, a friend who came along for the ride, was also exhausted.  Strangely, I had the most energy of anyone in the room (save for my nurse).  I guess that's what adrenaline does for you...

At 1:30am on Friday morning I was at 9.5cm, and it was time to get things moving or I wouldn't have had energy to push this baby out.  My doctor broke my water at 2am, and it took 2 hours of trying different positions, and working with that last .5cm to get it to go away.  And let me tell you (again), laboring without water is a whole different ball game!  We finally got to 10cm around 4am and then the pushing started.

It's weird, but pushing feels so good when you've just had to breathe through contractions for so long!  You at least feel productive... until your baby crowns.  Then everything just hurts!  Anyway, it took an hour to push out baby boy, but I had a great team around me to encourage me.

Baby boy's size was always a question, through the entire pregnancy.  At my 20 week ultrasound he was measuring in the 90th percentiles in almost all of his measurements - he was actually measuring 2 weeks ahead.  So we'd done an ultrasound on Tuesday, 2 days before I went into labor, and it estimated baby boy at 8lbs, 2oz.  My doctor did the ultrasound because she wanted another look at his size.  However, we also discovered that I had quite a bit of amniotic fluid.  So because of how much fluid I had, we didn't think he was that big.  My guess was 7lbs, 6oz, I think.

Anyway, there was a point when I was pushing at which my doctor got a good look at baby's head.  She looked up at Chase and asked how big the ultrasound had estimated baby.  Chase told her 8lbs, 2oz.  She responded, "Huh."  At that point, I think she knew he was bigger than that...

At 5:06am on Friday, March 28 (exactly 30 months after his big sister), Connor entered the world.  I was glad that this time I knew that after his head was out, I needed to push again.  I didn't know that with Lily... I figured the head was out, the body should just sorta come, right?  Not so.  If you're getting ready to be a mama, know that you have to push the baby's body out too, ok?

Grand total labor time:  26 hours.

I said that it wasn't what I'd planned at all.  The only thing about the labor that wasn't what I'd planned was that last .5cm taking 2 hours to go away!  Otherwise, it was really a great experience (except for the pain...).  We had great nurses, a safe delivery, my doctor did the delivery, and everyone healed up pretty quickly.

It was all the things surrounding the labor and delivery that weren't what I'd planned.  I didn't plan on being deathly sick a week before I went into labor.  I didn't plan on missing big things at work because I was sick and having a baby.  I didn't plan on having to decide whether it was ok to bring my toddler to the hospital to see her new brother because she had run a fever that morning.  I didn't plan on her having to stay away for a day after we got home because she was still running a fever off and on.  I didn't plan on having a lingering cough while I was in labor.  I didn't plan on having an 8lb 12oz baby!

But those things we don't plan are what make each story unique, right?  All in all, I am SOOOO glad we are here, today, 2 weeks later.  It is a blessed thing to be safe, home, happy, and growing.

PS - It doesn't matter, and to each their own - you have to do what you have to do when you're birthing a child.  But for those wondering, both my labors were pain med-free, which is what I wanted.  However, if you want an epidural or any other kind of pain med, you have my full support!  I'm not here judging - believe me!  Labor and delivery, no matter how you go through them (vaginally, c-section, pain meds, no pain meds, emergency, home birth, whatever) is not for sissies.  It is a life-changing experience, and each woman has the right and privilege of pursuing it in the way she wants.  Much as my husband would have rather I'd had pain meds, I'm so thankful that he supported me in laboring the way I wanted to labor and stood faithfully by my side the whole time.  I hope each of you have that same kind of support - that is what will make the most difference in your experience.