With Brooklyn I wasn't very sick. In fact, I think I only puked 6 times total through the whole pregnancy. Lily was a different story. I puked when I woke up, when I went running, when I smelled our neighbors cooking...etc. I was also more tired, had more headaches, gained more fat, ate more chocolate and cereal, and felt more aches and pain. On a positive note, I carried Lily higher than Brooklyn so I never had to wear maternity pants. I was able to walk into the hospital to deliver wearing the same jeans I wore the day I found out I was pregnant! That was cool. Also, I grew up a little between pregnancies and wasn't as weirded out by it this time.
When it comes down to the actual delivery, nothing was the same! A few weeks before my due date (February 22) I found out I was already dilated to a 4 and 70% effaced. The next week I was dilated to a 5 and 90% effaced and still not in labor. So, the doctor told me to check in to the hospital on February 12, to have my water broken because she was worried if I didn't, I would end up having the baby on my living room floor!
Kevin and I walked into Edward's Hospital at 4pm on February 12th feeling happy and healthy. We were laughing and joking and snuggling in the elevator. We teased with the nurses (who all thought Kevin was the funniest man alive), got dressed (or undressed I suppose), and waited for the doctor to come in and do her thing.
The one bad thing that happened was when they came to start my IV, they found out how hard it is to stick someone who's veins have been trained to run and hide! I told them I was a hard stick so they sent in their best nurse. After she missed twice, they sent in the anesthetist. He tried 4 more times before he finally got me. Then they taped me up real good and named it the golden IV. Several other nurses came in just to see it!
Between the IV and blood draws, I received 13 shots before I left the hospital. The bruises got even worse than this but this is what my arms looked like the day after they put in the IV. Ouch!
Any way, as soon as they got some antibiotics in me and a little fluid, they sent the anesthetist back in to start the epidural. I still wasn't in bad pain but they were going to break my water and knew it would hurt after that so they wanted to get it started. He hit a vein the first time and accidentally numbed my whole body and made me really itchy from the inside out. But then they got it fixed and all the happiness came back!
After the epidural was in, the nurse left the room to tell the doctor and to get a catheter for me. Kevin and I started watching the Olympic opening ceremonies and about 5 minutes later I noticed the contractions were coming back and they were really hard and low.
Hmmmm..."Hey Kevin, did I knock out my epidural on accident?"
"No. It's still there."
"Huh. I think the baby is coming out then cause it hurts real bad and real low. I feel a lot of pressure."
"Should I get the nurse?"
"Nah. She should be right back."
Just then the nurse came back in and took one look at me and said, "You look like its hurting. I recognize that face. Let me put in this catheter and then we'll check you out." She went to put in the catheter and immediately pulled back and said, "Wow! In all my years of nursing this is a first. There's the head! I better get the doctor but first lets see if its a false alarm. Give me a practice push." I did what she said and she started shouting, "That's enough! Its for real!" and then she went to get the doctor.
Well... long story short, the doctor came in, I pushed through 3 contractions while we all watched the Olympics, the baby came out with a giant swollen head, the doctor kept saying "Wow! that's a big baby", the nurse kept agreeing, they gave Lily a really bad outie belly button while trying to rip her cord off from around her neck, the baby cried, Kevin and I said, "Wow! That was fast!", and then... they handed me my bruised up, red faced, swollen little Lily! And I loved her right away!
Because of the nature of the whole delivery, Kevin and I were still in great spirits. We joked some more with the nurses while they were cleaning Lily up and had a good laugh when everyone was in shock that I had a baby that weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 inches long. (If they only knew the amount of chocolate I consumed during this pregnancy, they wouldn't have been surprised at all!)
Kevin was instantly comfortable with Lily since Brooklyn already helped him overcome his fear of breaking new babies. He took some pictures and got some good snuggles in, and then it was my turn.
We gave Lily lots of love and then sent her on her way to the Nursery so we could get some sleep. She was born at 9:22 pm but we didn't get to our new room until midnight, so we were pretty wasted!
The next day, Kevin's mom brought Brooklyn to the hospital to see her new sister! She had flown in the night before. 1 hour after she found out we were going to have the baby, she was on a plane and arrived just in time to help us with our preparations and watch Brooklyn while we were at the hospital. THANKS MOM!
When they arrived, Brooklyn was more interested in the bathroom amenities than her new sister, but after she and Lily exchanged gifts she decided her new sister wasn't too bad.
She gave baby a pink duck (that she later took back) and a little rattle. She also shared many hugs and kisses with her new sister.
She thought about things for a little while and then decided that we could bring Lily home if we really wanted to.
After all...once the swelling in her head started going away, she was pretty cute!
So naturally, we brought her home! I've been healing REALLY quickly since we left the hospital and Brooklyn is adjusting to her new sister quite nicely. Now that you have the scoop, I'll start working on getting some pictures of Lily, post swollen head, so you can see how cute she really is!
