Thursday morning after dropping Juliana off at school, I mixed 1 Tbsp of Castor Oil with 1/4 c of orange juice and downed it. It was around 9:30 am. After making a few trips to the bathroom (but not excessive, thank goodness), and making sure to drink lots and lots of water, no contractions were starting. I took an afternoon nap (a practice I had been doing all week in preparation for any possible labor to start at night), and got dinner ready for when Brian and Juliana came home from school and work. Knowing I'd be in the hospital for the next couple of nights, I gave Juliana her bath and read her books, taking time with the bedtime routine, trying to cherish our last evening without baby #2 on the outside. While reading her stories, I started feeling some contractions, but figured it was Braxton Hicks again. The all knowing internet had told me that if Castor Oil was going to start labor, something would happen within 4-6 hrs, and this was 11 hrs later, so I doubted it was anything. After putting Juliana to bed, I started feeling like there was some regularity to the contractions, so I quickly downloaded an app to start timing them. They started around 8 pm, they were coming about every 5 minutes, but they were only lasting 30 seconds or so. I was waiting for the characteristic 5-1-1 (every 5 minutes, lasting for a minute, and persisting for an hour). I called my parents around 8:30 pm (they were on their way to stay with Juliana while we were at the hospital for the induction and for the few nights of recovery and monitoring. They anticipated they'd arrive around 11 pm, and I told them I was experiencing contractions.
Around 9 pm, once I knew Juliana was asleep, I headed into the shower since I wanted to be "fresh" for whatever happened next, and figured if I could stay home until 11 pm, then we'd head to the hospital. Mom and Dad got here much earlier than expected (10:15 pm), and we sat around and chatted and watched TV for awhile. At 11 pm, I called the phone number I was told to call before heading to the hospital to let them know I was on my way. I was transferred to 3 different people who had no clue what I was talking about and said to just come in. At 11:15 pm, I started getting the shakes and thought that perhaps I was hitting transition. I basically forced Brian to grab our stuff and get in the van. Mom thought they were going to send us home because I was acting so cool. Once I got into the van, though, things definitely changed. I was extremely uncomfortable and kept complaining to Brian about the pressure. He said he kept an eye on the clock and was figuring the contractions were lasting around 90 seconds. Inside my head I kept hoping I was at least at 6 cm, and I was going to ask for the epidural. We got to the hospital at 11:30 pm, and pulled up into the valet waiting area while we got me checked in. I was now at the point where I had to stop walking to get through contractions. When we got up to L&D, I signed paperwork at the desk, and someone showed us to the triage room. She asked for a urine sample (which was extremely difficult to do, let me just say...), and if I'd change into the hospital gown (I asked if it was alright if I just kept my clothes on, a skirt and tank top, and she sort of snubbed me and said whatever I wanted...). After the urine sample, I thought I was going to throw up, so Brian dragged over the trash can so I could lean over it while I sat on the bed. I asked if he'd get someone to come check me, and he went to the desk and said I was done with the urine sample, could someone come? But apparently they weren't in any hurry.
I told Brian he could go take the keys to the valet guy, and no sooner had the door shut behind him than my body started pushing and I started groaning/screaming. I thought my water had broken, and suddenly everyone was in my room. They helped me into the bed and checked me (baby was at +1), and quickly wheeled me into the L&D room. Then they asked me to move onto the bed in L&D (what a joke!) as my body is pushing baby out, and contractions are coming on fast and fierce. After a few contractions, I was determined to get onto that bed (although in my head I was wishing they'd just carry me over onto it because I seriously could not move), and that's the point when Brian made it back into the room. Shortly afterwards, our second daughter, Henley Claire, was born at 12:04 am on Friday September 4th!
She was born inside her amniotic sac, covered in meconium. The OB on call was in amazement, she'd never seen a baby born inside the amniotic sac before! We were able to do kangaroo care for a long time before one of the nurses cleaned her off and she received an APGAR of 8/9 (just like big sister). She was 6 lbs, 2 oz (just 3 oz shy of big sister's 6 lbs, 5 oz), and 19.75 in long (again, just shy of big sister who was 20.25 in). Because everyone was doing so well, we actually were able to go home Saturday morning around 11 am! It was a labor, delivery, and recovery that I had always hoped to have, and yet it took me completely by surprise. I had so many "tools" for getting through labor pains from our birthing class with Juliana, and I was waiting for the characteristic transition steps to get through labor, and yet none of those things really happened. It was just something that I did, and couldn't believe from start to finish it was 4 hrs! Thank goodness we live 15 mins to the hospital and not 45-60 mins like we did in Pittsburgh! My recovery was pretty much immediate, and I've had to remind myself to take it easy and not over do it.
Anyway, and now for the pictures. We were surprised by her very full head of hair (I really didn't have heartburn which is supposed to be correlated with hair?), and big sister Juliana is absolutely enamored and thrilled by Henley! She's not even upset that we didn't name her Tarzan :-)
Callie! She's perfect!! Congrats!!
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