Baby Two arrived!

Well, I did not really expect yesterday to go the way it did... but hey, I'm not complaining.

As I write this, a 9 pound baby boy is making sleepy squeaky noises next to me. He's a cute kid, and apparently was very, very ready to escape the womb when he finally set his mind to it.

Yesterday started out pretty normally. I took Cooper to daycare, toodled around the house for a while, and then decided to take my midwife's advice to "encourage labor" with some castor oil. Its yucky stuff, but harmless, and sometimes it can start labor maybe a day or two ahead of time. With 10 days behind me, I figured "why not?" so I made a weird castor-oil-banana-chocolate smoothie and went about my business (mostly, cleaning the house).

At about 10am I didn't feel so good... kinda just generally crummy. So I figured it was time to take a nap, and laid down. At about noon I woke up to two things- my phone ringing, and a seriously intense abdominal cramp. It didn't feel like a contraction- it just felt really unpleasant. The downside to castor oil is that it gives you diarrhea, and sometimes some bad cramping. Not the end of the world, but yucky. So I figured that was what was going on.

Off to the bathroom I went. After several more cramps, plus the effects of the castor oil, I decided to call back whoever had called me. It was my doula, Michelle. She wanted to see how I was feeling today. "I'm having some really bad cramps, its no fun." Michelle wasn't convinced. "You mean, you are having contractions? How far apart?" I was in denial. "No, no, these aren't quite right. They are waaay to close together for contractions, and they don't feel anything like the contractions I remember. Totally different. I think its just the castor oil side effects." She was dubious. She said she'd finish up her errands and come over in a short while.

I called Matt. "Honey, I feel crummy. Can you please come home? I'm not really in labor, but I feel gross and want you here." He said he'd be home in about 30 minutes.

So now its 12:15. These damn cramps are getting bad, and weirdly, they've become very consistently about 2 to 3 minutes apart and 30 seconds long. All of a sudden it dawns on me. Not only am I in labor, I'm in active labor. NOW. Big time. And I'm all alone in the house. This is trouble.

So I call my midwife's practice. Nurse Tina answers, and within about 30 seconds she pronounces, "Don't do anything. Just keep breathing. Get on your bed. We'll be there in 20 minutes. Try to relax."

The midwife pipes in "We'll be there right away. Just try to relax."

Now I'm in full blown ridiculous labor. I call Michelle again to try to tell her to hurry, but I can't even talk. She knows its me by the number, and can hear me being miserable while trying to talk, so she's saying, "OK Leigh, you are fine, just hold on, I'll be there in about 15 minutes. You're doing great. I'm coming really soon."

Matt got home around 1:20pm, thank god, and things were looking like a baby was coming right now. The midwife and her two nurses busted in the door about 15 minutes later- and the midwife immediately sat down next to me (I was headfirst hiding under blanket, trying not to explode or have a baby) and said "As I came in the door, it sounded like you are pushing. Are you pushing?" Me: "No! I'm fine! I can't be pushing yet! No!" I was like a 13 year old. Total denial. Everything is fine!!

Ooops. Within about 2 minutes (now about 2pm), I started pushing like crazy, and Michelle appears out of nowhere to apply cold washcloths and help Matt stay sane. After 45 minutes of frustrated pushing that seemed to be going nowhere, the baby finally passed under a particular bony arch (the same bone that Cooper got stuck behind for about 3 hours because he was at a funny angle). Amazingly, I could feel it happen, and my whole body remembered that now we were home-free (so to speak). He was born about 1 minute later in a big rush of shock and excitement. Matt almost missed it because it all happened so fast- he was busy trying to arrange for a ride home a few hours later for Cooper and had to hang up abruptly on a very confused friend and run over to my side.

But then we had this big new baby in the living room, crying very softly and snuggling into my chest. Oh my god! It was 2:46pm. What just happened? Didn't I just get up from a nap?

Everything else was textbook and hardly worth talking about. I have some pretty extensive stitches, but a nine pound baby can hardly be expected to pass through unnoticed, and I remember from last time that the recovery to comfort "down there" is usually quick. Baby's hobbies include snuggling, nursing, mewing, pooping and sleeping. He's kinda quiet, especially in comparison to his older brother's newborn "air raid siren" imitation that even made the nurses remark, "Wow, that kid is LOUD." But nope. This one is kinda quiet and mew-y, the way I always thought newborns would sound. Funny.

He's 9 pounds exactly, and 21.25 inches long. That's extra long, by the way. He assessed at 37 weeks, which means that he was in outstanding condition at birth and suffered no ill consequences for being past due date. In fact, it sort of confirms my idea that he wasn't past due at all. I never felt "past due" myself- I still felt totally fine up until like 9:45 yesterday morning.

We are finishing up choosing his name today, and will let you know.