The Friday before I went into labor, I lead a training for the teachers at my school, pausing every 10 minutes as my belly tightened up and made me feel super uncomfortable. Of course everyone kept asking me if I was okay and if this was the real deal. I reassured them I had over 2 weeks until my due date and I was sure my water wouldn't break in the computer lab that day. Luckily, I was right about that.
That Sunday night we had friends over for dinner and a visit and I was very uncomfortable the whole time. My friend, Erin, kept saying she thought I would have the baby soon. I was just thankful that the next day was the MLK Jr. holiday and I would be able to rest. Little did I know the next day would include everything BUT rest.
On Monday, January 17th, I woke up at 5:00a.m. with painful contractions that felt even more intense than the contractions I'd been having all week. More frequent, more intense, and now they were in my back too. I'd had back labor when I was in labor with Odin so I knew this was it, I was definitely in labor. We went about the morning, me stopping every 7ish minutes to breath through the contraction and Trav reassuring Odin that I was okay as I started to act a bit strangely. I managed to take a shower, blow dry my hair and even put on make-up. I knew there would be lots of pictures taken this day! At some point I realized I couldn't talk through the contractions and I didn't want to scare Odin any more than I already had. Let's just say I am not one of the silent-quietly-dealing-with-contractions girls. I'm just not. I have my rhythm to make it through labor and delivery naturally and it's not quiet. We finished packing our bag and a bag for Odin and Travis called his brother Doug and sister-in-law Sarah (both work at schools/universities so luckily they both had the day off as well). I tried to watch Regis & Kelly (I was now at the point where other people talking really annoyed me though) but I just thought a distraction would help. It didn't. During each contraction, Travis would rub/press on my back to help with the back labor. He was a saint.
Around 10:00am Trav convinced me we needed to call the midwives at the hospital. While on the phone with a labor and delivery nurse, I had a contraction. After hearing me, she asked, "Did you say this is your second child?" When I told her yes, she told me to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. We packed up Odin, got in the car, and headed in to Seattle. It felt like yet another longest car ride ever and I remember looking at every single person walking on the sidewalk, waiting to cross the crosswalk, or heading into a house, and thinking to myself; I hate that person. I hate that person because they have no idea how lucky they are to not be in the pain I am in. I know, really makes sense, right? Hey-I never claimed to be the most rational woman in labor.
We dropped O off at his aunt and uncle's house and headed to the hospital. In the parking lot, walking to the entrance, I had a contraction and couldn't continue walking. I wanted to lean on a truck parked in the lot and Travis told me to lean against him instead. For some reason this enraged me but I managed to grit my teeth and breath through it. I'm sure I had some choice words for my lovely husband.
We checked in and were sent to triage. I was not too happy there considering there were other patients in the room, separated only by a thin curtain. I couldn't believe these women were sitting around, having actual conversations with people. I was in pain and not able to keep quiet during contractions. There was much moaning involved but I tried not to let my voice go too high as I knew that wouldn't help and it led me to panic as well. The midwife checked me and said I was dilated 4cm and would be admitted. She was confident things would progress quickly which made me feel hopeful.
I got into my room and had a Hep lock put in (I tried to protest but didn't have the energy in me at the time to make much of a fuss) as the nurse asked me questions (seriously? you're asking about my family medical history? just help me get more comfortable in that tub!). I had help getting into the tub around 11:30am.
Someone started talking about lunch but the idea made me feel like barfing so I told Travis to tell the nurses I didn't care about food and could they please stop talking about it? I didn't realize at the time this was a good sign-they were confident the labor wouldn't last very long and I would be hungry after the baby arrived! I had managed to eat half of a waffle Travis had made for me that morning but that was all I could handle. I was given a giant water bottle with ice water which was absolutely delicious and exactly what I wanted. Travis also used the hand-held fan we had brought (thanks Mom!) which I knew I would want after using a similar one during labor with Odin.
I labored in the tub for an hour a 1/2 and started to feel like pushing. Apparently my water broke (I didn't even know it) and I felt like throwing up when I pushed. It took Travis, my midwife, and 2 nurses to get me out of the tub and into the bed. I was 8, almost 9 cm dilated but still had a "lip" of cervix left. Try not to push too hard they told me. Ha! Like I had control over it?! Anyone who has been in labor and felt the urge to push knows "trying" not to push is a joke. I wasn't doing it-my body way! I remember I kept saying, "I just want my baby. I want my baby." I was getting anxious but Travis was amazing and kept me calm, reassuring me I was doing great and I could do it and WAS doing it. That's all I needed to hear. I flipped over from being on my knees holding on to the head of the bed to being on my back and apparently all that movement helped get things exactly how they needed to be because after 3 pushes, our came our baby!
Those moments were very surreal. I had pushed for an hour and 1/2 with Odin so I couldn't believe everything had all happened so fast this time.
One of the nurses said something about "she" and for a second I thought the baby was a girl. I didn't believe her though, as I really felt like we were having another boy. The midwife said Travis he could announce our new baby and his eyes lit up when he told me, "It's a boy!" He was named Taran Ronald and placed on my chest immediately after his cord was cut-just like his big brother, Taran had a very short cord so we couldn't wait to cut it like we had hoped. The best part was how long we got to hold and gaze at our new baby-almost 2 hours before he even left our arms!
Those hours were amazing and the nurses left us alone with our new son before coming back to our room to weigh and measure him. 7 pounds, 3.5 ounces, 19 inches long-exactly like his big brother almost 2 1/2 years before! Taran was born at 38 weeks gestation at 1:28pm on Monday, January 17, 2011 after an 8 hour labor. How lucky we were to have such a healthy baby boy.
We called Odin to announce he was a big brother and he was so excited to find out he had a baby BROTHER (just what he wanted and had requested the whole pregnancy). He got to meet his new brother later that night when he came to visit with his Uncle Doug, Aunt Sarah, and cousin Leaf. He was more interested in asking why I wasn't wearing socks than he was in his new brother but he was sweet nonetheless, chomping on his Fig Newton and bouncing the giant exercise/birth ball around the room.
Later that night we had more visitors when Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Karl came to meet their newest grandchild. Travis ran over to the grocery store across the street to get us chocolate cake and we settled in with our new little guy. No one slept that night but we didn't care. And can I just say that labor after actually sleeping the night before versus labor that lasts all night long are two very different experiences? Wow. Someone later told me how lucky I was to have an "easy" labor. I think what they meant was "short" because nothing about labor is easy! At least from my point of view that is.
On Tuesday, a little less than 24 hours after Taran was born, we went home and the real adventure of life with two boys began.
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