Let me first say that I feel like such a slacker! I haven't posted much at all this pregnancy and sort of feel bad that I was so detailed when pregnant with Dillan, but I let this pregnancy slip past and was more than happy for it to be over.
The 40weeks and 5 days (yes, she was late...like her brother) went by pretty quick and was uneventful. Routine tests all came back normal and I was healthy for the duration of my pregnancy. I was not Group B Strep positive this time, so that was a nice bonus!
I was due May 17th, but my OB really expected me to go early as this was my second child. I on the other hand pretty much figured anywhere from May 1st-May 20th. This resulted in a lot of "was that a contraction" moments.
May 17th came and went. As did the 18th, 19th, 20th...you get the point.
I had been having braxton hicks contractions for the past month or so and at my 40wk appt was only about 2cm and 80%. My OB kept offering to strip my membranes, but I resisted. I wanted to give my little peanut until 41 weeks to make her big move. At 40w4d I had an ultrasound in my OB's office and had to schedule a Biophysical profile at the hospital for later in the week. I had one of these with Dillan. It's an hour, or more, of laying on your back with monitors hooked up to you and the baby. They are looking for a certain number of movements in a set amount of time. Not to mention they get a nice fat copay and get to bill my insurance for the "specialty service". Luckily I didn't need the appt since baby girl wanted out the next day.
Those of you who know me well know that my husband works overnight. He works 8pm-6:30am Sat through Tues. I went into labor on a Tuesday.
4:08am was my first timed contraction.
I downloaded a nifty contraction timer and was able to keep very accurate tract of my contractions.
By 4:30am they were 10 min apart and intense. I called Mike and told him to leave work now. He's only 4 miles away so he was home pretty quickly.
By 5:30 I was prepping to leave for the hospital. For me this meant I was propped in my glider leaning forward over the bed while Mike called L&D and my OBs office.
We left the house sometime around 6:30. It was all a blur.
I do remember wanting my pillow, ipod, wallet, phone, and camera with me at all times. We (meaning Mike) left the camera in the car when Dillan was born so I wasn't taking any chances this time around.
I don't think we hit nay traffic, then again I had me head buried in my pillow with my hood up and some Linkin Park playing to take my mind off the inevitable pain heading my way.
We got into the parking garage just before 7, my contractions were about a min apart by now, and while Mike got me a wheelchair my body finally caught up to what was happening and up came the handful of dry Cheerios I had munched on at home (ironically to help keep from getting sick on an empty stomach). After 10 min of trying to get off the ground and into the wheel chair, we were on our way to L&D. But first we had to get through security. Mike needed a badge and a reason to go up to the unit. I obviously had my reason slowly descending into my birth canal lol.
After what felt like forever we were on our way up to L&D. We got in and the ancient registration lady couldn't have been slower. I was in the hallway outside the registration room since my chair wouldn't fit with the desk and Mike in there. Not sure why she needed all the info she did, I was already in the system!
A midwife was at the nurses station nearby and noticed that my contractions were about a min apart. She backed my wheelchair up, much to the protest of the registration bitty, and took me to triage. The first thing I said was "I don't want to have this baby in triage like I did with my first". Everyone assured me that there was plenty of time and I would get a room. Ha...boy were they about to be surprised.
Triage was a blur. They checked my cervix and I was 8cm 100%. Mike came in before I got my HepLock type thing thank goodness. The IV tech nurse was too pushy for our liking. I told her I don't do well with needles and she needed to use the smallest one available, which she did after switching her original choice out with another nurse. She wouldn't listen though when I told her that I couldn't hold my arm still because I was in the middle of a contraction. Then when it had passed, she wasn't ready and had to wait until after the next one. Geesh...you'd think they'd listen to their patients more often.
The next step was to move me to a room for delivery. This was not a far move. Triage was on one side of the nurses station and my room was on the other. Somewhere between the two I felt the urge to push. Of course I was told to wait until I could be checked in the room.
Anyone who's been in that stage of labor knows that waiting to push is damn near impossible. There's a human being trying to force its way out of your body!
Anyhoo...I get into the room and am told I need to transfer myself from the gurney to the bed. This was one of the most difficult things I had ever been asked to do and after getting into the delivery bed I couldn't move from my hand and knees to my back. I said screw it and asked if I could deliver in this position, knowing that were my OB in the room she would have suggested it anyway. I was checked again and given the green light to push, from my current position. After two pushes the person in charge (i honestly couldn't tell you who the hell was in the room doing what) decided that if I flipped over on my back that she'd be out in no time.
I did so as soon and as quickly as I could. On the next push I felt what others described as the "ring of fire" and Mike remarked about all the hair our baby girl had. She was out about 30 seconds later. The cord was sort of draped over her shoulders, behind her neck. Luckily it wasn't in front, but it did cause a bit of an issue for cutting so Mike wasn't able tot do it this time.
The cord ripped a little near her stomach and they called a specialized pediatrician to take a look after it was clamped. It didn't need stitches, but was tied up with some sort of string. Her apgar scores were good, 7 & 9. She was 8lbs 3oz and 20.5in long. Almost the exact same size as her brother.
This was all happening while I delivered the placenta and got my small tear repaired. I only needed a few stitches (soooo much better than Dillan's birth!) then I was able to hold and nurse my baby girl.Right about now enter the on call Dr from my practice...she missed everything by about 10 min lol. ((Side note- There's a big flag in my file at the OB's office now that says should I have any more children the OB on call is to leave for the hospital when I call that my contractions have started!)
I asked what time her time of birth was and was shocked to hear 7:35am. We checked into the hospital at 7:05am!
For some reason hospitals measure the duration of labor from the time your water breaks. Well, my water broke while Raegan was on her way out so the hospital has my duration of labor as being 2 min!!!
I was moved to the Mother Baby Unit pretty quickly and we took turns holding/ cuddling/ admiring our new baby and calling everyone to share the news.
Mike stayed with me until late that evening then went home to shower and put Dillan to bed. He came back and stayed the night in our room. No one sleeps much in a hospital unless you're in a coma or on some serious drugs. You sleep even less when you have a new baby and a husband who snores VERY loudly right next to your uncomfortable bed. Boy was I glad that babies sleep a lot in the first few days. I had to nap whenever I could since actual sleep was almost impossible.
Mike stayed a good chunk of Day 2, but slept at home to try and make sure we both got rest. Yeah...big mistake lol. Baby girl had other plans and was up either crying or nursing for about 6 hours straight. I knew my milk hadn't come in yet and she wasn't getting anything by hour 2 so I requested a pacifier from the nursery to try and satisfy her suck reflex. She wasn't a fan. I then called Mike out of desperation and was decided that she should get some formula to supplement until I was up and running in the dairy department.
The nurse brought a 4 pack of the ready made Similac. That stuff stinks!!! And it must not taste very good because baby girl was not happy and spit most of it back up. At some point she finally passed out and I was able to get some sleep.
Mike came back the next morning and we got everything packed and ready to go . I was healing well and Raegan showed no signs of jaundice so we were headed home sometime that day. My OB and the pediatrician gave us a clean bill of health and we were finally on our way home with baby #2.
It was a surreal feeling knowing that a few days earlier I woke up pregnant for probably the last time and now we were on our way home with our much anticipated daughter!
Life is good.
When my son was about 4mos old my mom bought me the Beaba Babycook so I could give him homemade baby foods. We had already decided to skip the traditional cereal/ oatmeal/ baby puree route and start with some fresh fruits. The cereals are basically empty calories, and come on...have you ever tasted them?!?! Eww. 
Filling the tubes would have been easier if I had a large funnel type object. But working slowly kept the mess to a minimum. 
The trick is to apply even pressure and keep the plunger as level as possible. This keeps air from forming a bubble under the plunger. 
If counter space is a premium in your kitchen as it is in mine, not to worry. The whole setup is self contained in a neat and compact package. It could easily be stored in a cabinet as well. 
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