The Birth Tale .

If you're a birth story junkie like me, here ya go. I've finally got it written and documented. 

8 pm Sunday night May 19th my contractions became consistent. Six minutes apart. I had been having sporadic real contractions through out the day but they weren't organized so I didn't know for sure that I was going into labor. Still I started cleaning and getting out the last of the baby things. By 10pm I was sure this was happening and had it in my head that this would be a shorter process than the 16 hour labor of Chloe. I had heard that second labors were about half as long as the first, so I figured I would have miss Piper by about 4-6 am. So I prepared myself for a long night. Switching between the birthing ball, the bed, pacing, warm baths, and Adam putting lots of pressure on my lower back

 By 4:30am I was ready to go to the hospital. Contractions were 3 minutes apart. Having labored all through the night we were tired and ready for our little baby to come. They checked me and I was at a three. Exactly where I had been for the past week. I was so discouraged. I was in so much pain and had nothing to show for it. So we decided to go home and give it a few more hours and see what happens.

 By eight thirty I was in so much pain I just wanted to be admitted. I decided that if they checked me and I was still at a low number I would get an epidural. If I had progressed significantly I would pioneer on.. I had not. I was at 4 cm. It had been over 12+ hours of labor already!

 By 945 I had my epidural. It took perfectly this time, but it completely stopped my contractions. Three hours later at about 1pm in comes Dr Wells with the news that either I can wait and see if my body starts back up again and have a baby in five more hours, or I can have a little pitocin and have her within an hour. I chose the latter and with only a few pushes she was born at 2:17 pm. My doctor asked me to pull her out myself, which I did and loved. Instantly she was here. She came out screaming. One of the first things I hear was "you have a little red head". She lay there on my chest and I was so in love. She is beautiful and perfect. Piper was born Monday May 20th 2013 (on her due date) weighing 6 lbs. 11oz. (one ounce smaller than her sister) 19 inches long At 2:17 pm 

I always wondered what it was like for moms and dads of second, fourth, sixth etc. kids.. Did it ever become routine? Was is ever like "well here is another one.."?

I can tell you with for sure, no it does not. Piper Jane in my arms feels as new, and special to me as when I first met my Chloe. She is not "just another one". She is beautiful and breathtaking, and life-changing.

 Through out the evening Piper kept gagging and choking a little from the amniotic fluid that was still in her stomach. At around three in the morning that night she stopped breathing and turned dark purple I immediately pushed the button for the nurse. She ran in right away to help and rushed her to the nursery to work on her. I stood in the hallway watching as the alarm was sounding and all of the nurses were running into the nursery to help her.

 My heart dropped. What if they don't get her to breath? What if she went too long without oxygen? I started bawling helpless in the empty hallway of the postpartum ward. Finally after what seemed like hours a nurse ran out to get me and tell me that she was okay and that I can come see her. They had oxygen on her and they were patting her back to try to break up the fluid. They kept her in the nursery for a couple of hours and brought her back in to me with a syringe full of fluid and told me that they had pulled it out and that she shouldn't have any more issues. Luckily they were right. 

We were in the hospital for about 24 hours after Piper was born, then we went home with our little tiny newborn in hand. It's hard to wrap my head around being a family of four.. 
It's such an amazing feeling bringing a new life into the world. Adding a new personality to the family. We love this new little baby. We are soaking her innocence in. Loving our family of four.