Jumping in.
Our little afternoon bike ride on Tuesday, May 19th. I was huge, but biking was so relaxing.
After hoping and failing to get the hot human out of my bladder space and sleeping quarters before my due date (pictured above), my mom flew in from Utah on Wed, May 20th to either help out with the new baby or just help a pregnant mama move across town. I had an OB appointment that morning and according to my NP chances of going into labor soon were looking thin, as my cervix was not. She "stripped my membranes" as well as she could, but she said I was barely dilated 1 cm and she couldn't really do much with her short fingers (gross?) so it was more like an internal exam than anything. She said I was measuring a week behind and asked about my first baby's weight. I answered 7 lb 13 oz, and she looked surprised. I thought it strange since I had gained an extra 5 lbs this pregnancy and was pretty much the same size and much more swollen. At that point, we scheduled an induction for a week later and another stripping the following Tuesday. Argh. I was getting stressed and ANTSY.
I told this sad story to my mom, and unfortunately was able to go on the 2 hour ride to Moline to pick her up that afternoon. No labor danger here. We got Costco pizza and hot dogs on the way home (like we ate when I was in labor with Scarlett and later upchucked), stopped by our new house to be in the way of movers (sorry Bahrs!), and put a chicken wire fence around our new garden to block the cute bunnies that run this town who had chewed on our tomato plants. I love a long sentence.
Our cute garden at our cute new house.
We finally got the family home and Grandma had brought A-MAZING presents for Scarlett and I. Thank you mom! When we got our #1 bathed and put to bed, Brian and I headed out for a nice late night stroll around our neighborhood to walk the baby out. It was a really nice last date before we faced the world as parents of two sweet stinky creatures-- speaking of which, we saw a skunk scurry by our path, and they are kind of cute. We had a solid deep conversation arm and arm and it was lovely.
We came home to vomit in the crib. Hurray! Scar was crying and Grandma said it just happened moments before we arrived, thank goodness. We solved the problems at hand, and got to sleep in our hot oven apartment in my hot oven body.
The next morning, Brian left early to work, we all slept in until 9, and my mom gave me the motivation and support I needed to start packing and cleaning. We were busy bees and I tried to not be bummed that it was my due date and I wasn't in any pain besides disappointment . Then I started to feel some old friends in my special labor feeling area around 10:00. There weren't too mean, so I decided to work a little harder and really put some elbow grease into my microwave oven. At 10:30, I noted and stated to my mother that I thought these contractions were real...maybe, and had this little convo with Brian:
We were getting a lot of stuff into boxes and Scarlett was being cute and hanging out watching Wreck It Ralph. Brian came home to a hot leftover lunch we all shared, while I thought, hmmm...I'll probably throw this up later. It was yummy. Then Scarlett wanted to bike, so we all followed her around outside while my heart swelled with pride at how good she's getting with her balance bike and while my pelvis reminded me every so often that birth was coming. It hurt so good.
It was naptime around 1:00ish so we put Scarlett down for a nap and I was planning on going for another walk when Brian decided we could take the bus down and walk to L&D to check things out. At this point contractions were so painful they made me want to barf, but I was still expecting to be turned away at the hospital. We left sleeping Scarlett with Grandma and hopped on the Hawkeye Hospital bus.We joked about me throwing up or my water breaking and making the poor young ginger-haired bus driver having to clean it up; that would make a fantastic story, right?! Little did we know it very well could have with how fast things were moving.
Instead of sticking on the bus to go around to the closest entrance to L&D, Brian thought we'd be able to walk there and find it just as fast if we got off at the MERF (Medical Education Research Facility). He was pretty sure we wouldn't get lost. His lack of confidence in this matter didn't worry me, I was in no rush. When a contraction hit I wanted to stop, stand, shut my eyes, and breathe. Oh, and no touching please. When I'm in labor you can hold my hand and be cute in between contractions, but not during. Those are the rules.
We had to take a detour due to construction, but Brian's sense of direction was better than his limited area experience. I felt lost until we got to the right elevator. FYI there's a million elevators at the University of Iowa Hospital. We went up Elevator I, to give you an idea. I know that there's Elevators at least A-M. Holy huge hospital.
When we got up to the 6th floor to the L&D unit, we gave them my VIP info I had called in earlier, and they told me they were so full I'd have to wait for a triage room. Under the circumstances, I found the 15 minute wait to be depressing and rather annoying. I was anxious to see how much progress my thundering uterus was placing on my cervix.
They got me in a room around 2:00 and one of the Doctors introduced herself (luckily I'd met her before since I saw the whole OB group for my visits) and asked me questions about my first baby. After looking at me she said, "I don't think you're going to have that big of a baby this time around." I remember thinking, why does everyone keep saying that? She checked me and announced with authority "Seven.... seven and complete." I couldn't believe it! And then when another painful contraction came, I sort of could.
They asked me if I wanted an epidural, and I was all, "Yep, now's good." The anesthesiologist had googly eyes and a rather condescending vocabulary and spent 5 whopping contractions with me crouched over and wriggling to get the spinal catheter in. I believe she was a less experienced resident since there was another Dr. supervising, however I got the feeling she thought herself a needle expert with the way she kept ordering in frustration, "You need to push your back out, "Keep your head down" "Don't move." Oh, it was my fault that epidural wasn't in yet. So sorry. This was the absolute WORST part of my labor--those 5 contractions. Ow-ey. Brian wasn't a fan of her either, so my impaired judgement wasn't totally to blame for my opinion of her work. Everyone else was FANTASTIC! Especially my nurses.
After that fantastic medicine seeped in, I got a handle of myself and could quit going to my innermost pain reserves and just hang out with Brian for a little bit. At around 3:30 another OB came in to check me and told me I was 8 cm. Cool! They explained that they didn't like to check too often and risk infection so they'd be back in 2 hours until I felt like I needed to push.
Ummm...okay. I didn't remember that feeling with Scarlett's labor, but at around 4 I started getting really uncomfortable like there was no epidural anymore, and I puked neatly in the little container Brian handed me. It was gross. Brian gagged. I handed it over when finished, he handed me tissues and water. Good trade.
I said, "Well, I guess we'll call the nurse cuz this hurts real bad." The doctor came in and said I was a 10. The puke always does it, folks. We started pushing with some mean contractions, and 5 minutes later (4:40 PM) they laid a gooey, purple 7 lb 11 oz sweetheart on my chest. My birthing crew were all surprised that Alice was so big. I wasn't.
Not the best photo of her but the others showed too much leg for General Audiences.
I totally showered and did my hair right before we got on the bus. It was a good decision.
You're a little slice of heaven, Alice Janeen Green.
I'm glad everything went well. She's gorgeous!
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