What a life God has blessed me with. My growing family is truly a gift.
My second child, Aubrey, was born to us 8 days ago. The entire family is doing well. My first daughter, Ansley, loves Aubrey, although she might be showing a little bit of jealousy through her tantrums. So we've been giving Ansley a ton of undivided attention. Aubrey is very healthy and well - she's a very calm baby who loves to eat!
And for those parents who are expecting their second, these two statements held true for us:
- Two babies is not twice as hard, its to the second power.
- If your first baby is fussy, the second one will not be.
Finally, here is the story of Aubrey's birth:
Monday, July 16th was a normal work day for me. I was on a 8:00am 2-hour long conference call. During the conference call, my water broke ... at work. I quickly went to the bathroom, cleaned up. Thankfully, I had a long t-shirt that covered my behind and walked out of the office hopefully unnoticed. Although I didn't have any contractions, I drove myself to the doctors office.
During the visit, the doctor stated that I could wait it out until I had contractions or she could induce me. The first thought that went through my head were the Pitocin contractions from Ansley's birth. I told her that I would wait it out and scheduled an induction for two days later (Wednesday) in case contractions didn't come. She checked me for my current dilation, and I was still dilated at 4cm just like the last visit.
Monday and Tuesday went by - and I still had no contractions. On Tuesday night, Ryan and I took Ansley up North to stay with Grandma and Grandpa since our induction on Wednesday was scheduled for 7:00am. Good thing we did that, because at 3:30am - my contractions started. At first, I thought it was baby just moving around a bunch - but then my belly started hurting. I called the doctor, and the doctor told me to come in.
Even though I heard that second babies come fairly quickly, I told Ryan to stop and get some breakfast at Quick Trip since the contractions were still 15 minutes apart. I was having cravings for chocolate donuts with the contractions 🙂 A few minutes later, the contractions started coming more fierce and got a lot closer. It was a 20 minute ride down to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital, the nurse checked me and found that I was 7 cm dilated and 80% effaced. We were put in the SAME room that I birthed Ansley. How amazing is that?!
I told the nurse about my last go 'round about how I wanted to birth naturally. She said that based on what she saw, she said I could possibly do it with this one. I said, "No thank you, and bring on the epidural."
The anesthesiologist came in about an hour later and gave me the epidural. After that, it was smooth sailing. All I felt was pressure, no pain - it was a totally opposite experience than with my first baby. Both Ryan and I were in good spirits, and not worn out. Everything was smooth. My obstetrician told me that her goal for baby's birth was for us not to miss a normal meal - which meant that the baby would come by lunch. She also said that she would not have to induce me.
About 8.5 hours later, the nurse checked me and I was at a 10. She told me to do two practice pushes through two contractions. The nurse saw the head, then immediately called the doctor.
The doctor came in and told me to push. I pushed as hard as I could. After two pushes through one contraction, baby's head came out. She told me to do two half pushes, and the rest of baby arrived.
Aubrey Ann was born at 12:04pm. She was 7 pounds, 15 ounces and 19.5 inches tall.
Here is munchkin number two:
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