Other than being sick, it was a pretty normal pregnancy, I was watched a little extra towards the end due to how everything went down with Luke, but nothing crazy happened. I am very thankful for a safe pregnancy and a healthy baby. I was certain I wanted to try for a VBAC but was also scared about my decision. Doing what was best for the baby was the most important thing and I had to keep reminding myself of that. Her due date (August 21st) came and went and I was getting restless. The second pregnancy is so different from the first in that you know how upside down your lives will get when you have the baby. With the first, you are basically going in with no map or compass. But it is also bittersweet that your firstborn will not longer be the center of your world. There were days where I would cry for him, that it was now HIS world that was going to get turned upside down.
About 4 days after her due date, we scheduled an induction to place in 3 days (August 28th)- starting 1 week after her due date. I was getting worried that the longer she cooked, the harder it would be to get to do a VBAC. I know, First World problems. The night before the induction was so strange. Knowing it was the last time it would be just the three of us in our house. We took Luke out to a special dinner. Funny how things change- most people do one last fun date night with their husbands before the first kid, but with the second its about making it special for your firstborn, instead of the parents.
The morning of the induction seemed normal enough and we met my mom at the hospital so she could take Luke for the first 2 nights, before Aaron's mom took his the 3rd and 4th night. I was induced with Luke and knew that process could take a long time, especially when you haven't progressed one bit and have to start the labor process from the starting line. The first few hours weren't too bad, however those belly monitors sure are a pain, aren't they?
Hospital selfie!
Everything was going smoothly until the middle of the night and I just couldn't bear the pain any longer. For some reason the staff wasn't too keen on giving me an epidural at that point so I was given oral pain meds. They didn't help AT ALL. It was a rough night, lots of tears and I was getting very frustrated because I didn't seem like the nurses really thought I was in pain because nothing was showing on the monitors. But man, it was rough. Finally, in the morning around 8am I got an epidural. I swear thinking about the consequences of a flinch at the wrong time during when the epidural is placed is almost as bad as the labor itself, haha, not really! Cheers to those mamas who did it without pain meds- you are amazing.
The meds worked okay, however only one side of my body really got the pain relief and numbness. And then the vomiting, OH the vomiting. "hey dad, come on in, yeah things are going great, have a seat (Barfs into bag). Oh this? It's my barf bag, don't mind me...Bleahhhh..." My poor dad was horrified. I reassured him that I was ok, over and over.
Time went on and on and finally I started progressing. It had been a long 30 hours in the hospital and I was hungry since you can't eat once you are admitted. That little button they give you to give yourself more shots of epidural is AMAZING. That is, until it completely stops working and they have to give you 2 more epidurals because nothing was keeping the pain at bay.
As it got later in the evening, I had resigned tothe idea that I would be there another night without giving birth and I was convinced that I would end up with a C-section. I had one with Luke so the surgery wasn't scary to me, I just wanted a safe baby. Finally around 8:45pm the nurse said the magic words,
"It's almost time to push." WHAT, was this really happening? Because it was my second pregnancy, I didn't read the millions of books you do with the first pregnancy. I was pretty cocky that I knew what I was doing, when in fact, I had never 'pushed' in my life!
Lucky for me, it only took just over 30 minutes to push her out. Props to my husband who passed out when I got a bloody nose, but stuck it out and held my hand throug the entire birth! I felt unstoppable once she was born and she would NOT. STOP. CRYING. I was genuinely concerned that it would continue for hours. Thankfully, it didn't. Since having Luke, I had already forgotten how tiny babies are. SOO TINY! and SOO CUTE! Chloe Elizabeth Nelson was born at 10:05pm (8, almost 9 days late) weighing 7 pounds and about 20 inches long.
My dad and step-mom had popped back over to the hospital when Aaron texted everyone that I was getting close to pushing- they actually ALMOST walked in the room to me pushing. I would have DIED. Thankfully, they arrived just after the nurse left to go get the doctor so no one was exposed :) But since they were already there, they were the first ones to meet little Chloe. Sweet, Little Chloe.
Before we moved to the recovery room, she is less than an hour old here.
I was pretty apprehensive about taking care of a brand new baby- remember Luke's birth was Much different and he had to stay in the Special Care Nursery instead of with us- but she was amazing. She slept great and she loved to cuddle, just underneath my chin. The next morning I felt amazing. The recovery was So. Much. Better with the Vbac then my C-Section. When my mom brought Luke to meet his baby sister, she was amazed at how I was up, walking around and even able to pick up Luke less then 12 hours after giving birth.
We stayed in hospital as long as they let us, to get assistance with breastfeeding and so I could recover as much as possible before going back to our 2-story house and having to care for Luke AND a newborn.
Time to go home! She was so small!
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