I got up to take a shower and shave my legs. You never know when you'll have a chance to feel "normal" again. The contractions got stronger, but I distracted myself by folding laundry with Josephine and eating breakfast. I decided to call the hospital and let them know what was going on. They said to come on in, given that it was my second baby. I finished up packing our hospital bag, which seemed to take forever because I had to stop every few minutes for a contraction.
We finally got all ready to go around 8:30 and I leaned down
to give Josephine one last hug and kiss as my only baby. I lingered for as long as my contraction
break would let me. I wanted to remember
when she was my *only*, my full heart and soul, my everything. I have known this whole pregnancy that one of
the hardest parts will be the inevitable change in my relationship with
Josephine. Not that “change” means bad...it just means change. She gave my baby belly a kiss and said bye
bye. She quickly realized something
unusual was happening and started protesting that we were leaving. She definitely had a sense that mama was
about to experience something “big”, even though she wasn't quite
sure what that “thing” meant.
Contractions mercifully slowed a bit during the drive to the
hospital, which is nice because the car is the worst place to labor through the
pain. A small part of me worried that
this meant the contractions would cease by the time we got to the hospital and
they would send me back home again to labor some more. Thankfully, as we checked in to triage in the
Labor and Delivery floor they picked back up again and I was confident this was
the real thing. They monitored me and
the baby for about 4 contractions before deciding that I was indeed in labor
and could be admitted. Then the doctor
on-call checked my cervix. At first she
couldn't quite tell what she was feeling and wasn't sure I was dilated at
all. Matt started preparing to console
me when she gave the bad news. But then
she recognized it as a bulging bag of waters and announced that I was 8 cm and
we'd be having a baby in the next couple hours.
We were both very surprised that I was so far along, and I was very
thankful that this meant a very good chance we could try for a vaginal birth.
When we went into triage I met the charge nurse on duty,
Kathy. I recognized her immediately as
the same nurse who had prepped me for Josephine's c-section. In all my memories of that day, the care I
received from Kathy was always a bright spot.
She seemed like the one person who really saw what I was going through
and named my emotions for what they were.
I finally had a chance to tell her how thankful I was for her care.
They quickly ushered me into a room to meet my nurse, Amy, and
began to put in an IV in my arm. It felt
like this took forever, but I just leaned over a table while she worked on my
arm. Matt went to warm up a rice sock
for comfort. It's hard to say how much
time passed, but it didn't feel like much to me. I was trying to take the contractions one at
a time, knowing that with each one I was closer to the end. I kept focusing my energy down and relaxing my
pelvis to open. I felt like everyone in
the room was asking me what I wanted.
How I wanted to labor, did I want to be in the tub, did I want
music... But really at that point I had
no opinion. I just wanted to focus and
have someone rub my back. I think the
only request I made was to dim the lights.
I started feeling an urge to push, something I remembered feeling with
Josephine when my water broke. I felt a
small trickle down my leg and let Amy know that my water had broken. At about 10:45 Amy checked me again, and
there was a gush as my bag of waters completely ruptured.
Very quickly I felt the urge to push. We got into a rhythm with the pushes. They were completely exhausting and now I understood why they call it labor. I mostly remember being really hot. Matt and I often talked about childbirth being similar to skinning a mountain or peak on skiis. You know its going to be tough both mentally and physically, but the only way to finish is to take it one step, or push, at a time. The pain won't stop until you get to the top. But once you get there, the view is going to be unforgetable and the ski down is amazing. I kept picturing the last part of a climb we did on Interglacier on the side of Mount Rainier and that was how I made it through the painful pushes. Well, that and a little bit of screaming.
Matt caught him as he came out and immediately put him on my chest. He said very quietly, "you have a boy!" We were both pretty shocked as we were both sure it would be a girl. Ira started crying right away and I joined in with him...both tears of relief and happiness. He was born at 11:48am, weighing 7lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long.
We took some time choosing his name because we weren't prepared for a boy! After a while Ira Jack came out as the right one. Ira comes from Matt's great great uncle on the Gibson side, and Jack is after my grandfather on my mom's side.
Josephine and my mom were able to come have dinner with us that evening and meet Ira. Josephine was very sweet with him and insisted on sitting on the bed with me and Ira. It was a very sweet moment to have our whole family together for the first time.
We left the hospital about 24 hours after Ira was born. They weren't pushy about it, but we were ready to go home. I felt absolutely amazing compared to the pain I was in after my c-section with Josephine. I couldn't believe I was already up and walking around. Not that there was *no* pain, but it just didn't compare. Plus emotionally I was on a pretty big high. Those childbirth hormones are an amazing natural drug. After my experience with Josephine's labor I was left wondering if my body was meant for childbirth...if I could "hack" it. Now I feel proud of my body and mind that I could have a successful natural, med-free childbirth. I'm also proud of Ira for being such a willing partner to experience it with me.
Welcome to the world Ira Jack. We're so happy you're here!
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