Jared Jacob is born.

Merry Christmas! I'm engorged!

So, Wednesday night, I went to bed feeling pretty sad and disappointed, and cranky.  My contractions slowed down and I was actually able to get a really good night's sleep.  Well, about 5-6 hours, but I slept like a rock.  Woke up at 6, got ready again.  Tried to have a good attitude about everything, but was still nervous that nothing would happen at the hospital again that day.  Drove to the hospital in the dark, got there at 7:30.

Heather checked me not too long after we got settled into our room.  She was pleased to report that I was dilated to a 2 and around 50% effaced; said that it was enough progress to start the pitocin.  I got hooked up to IV's.  We had a really sweet, awesome nurse named Nancy.  She's worked in Labor & Delivery at Bronson for 18 years.  Very nurturing and friendly.  She started my IV at 8:30.  We were kind of watching Water for Elephants but it was dumb and eventually we started walking around because I wasn't noticing any contractions.  They have to start you out on Pitocin pretty slowly and up the dosage every half hour.  We walked for probably a half hour or more and I was starting to notice regular contractions.  Heather came up to check me again and I was already at 3cm and 80% effaced.

Things happened pretty quickly after that.  While she still had her hands up there checking me, she announced I was dilated to a 3, and told Nancy, "Hand me an amniotic hook! I'm going to break her water!"  Jake and I were both surprised and asked, "Right now??" and she said yup, and did it!  This was at around 10:30.  The water was clear, no meconium like when Lila was born.  Nancy told me that I could get an epidural at any point after that, and if I wanted to order one, I should be aware that it might take 30 minutes for the doctor to get there because he was in a C-section and there was one other woman ahead of me to get one.

I really should have known to order the epidural right then, but I thought I'd see how long I could make it without one.  Just like with Lila, as soon as my water was broken, the contractions became A LOT more intense and painful.  I labored on a birthing ball for a little while, but then had to go to the bathroom, so I ended up laboring on the toilet for quite some time, because THINGS GOT CRAZY.  I was getting 9 mL/hr of Pitocin, and the contractions picked up and were very painful, coming every 2-3 minutes.  I hadn't planned on laboring for very long or being in that much pain, because with Lila as soon as I ordered the epidural, the anesthesiologist was there (it was in the middle of the night, though).  After not too long, it became clear to me that I needed the epidural, so we had it ordered and the nurse told me it might take a half hour, but it actually ended up being around an hour.

I didn't really have to labor very much with Lila, so this was new to me.  I didn't want to get any narcotics because of the way they made me feel when I was in labor with Lila.  I eventually did ask the nurse to turn the Pitocin down, and once she did, they became more manageable, but for the period of time when the Pitocin was at 9 mL/hr, I experienced a lot of pain.  Jake stayed with me and helped me focus, reminding me to breathe and encouraging me and being there for me.  It got to the point where even in between contractions, I couldn't speak or keep my eyes open very well.  It was miserable and awful.  I didn't know how I was going to make it much longer.  I really tried to stay strong and tell myself that I was strong and I could do it.

Finally though, the doctor came in with my epidural.  I was so relieved just to see him.  He explained to me possible side effects and risks and I couldn't even respond to him most of the time, I couldn't speak.  Jake answered questions for me.  The doctor asked how tall I was, and when I said 5', he asked, "Are you sure you're not stretching that a little bit?" lol.  They had me sit Indian style, which was hard to do in my condition, of course.  The epidural stung a little bit (I don't remember getting my epidural with Lila), but relief soon came.  He gave me the test dose and my legs started going numb, which apparently is a sign that something didn't go quite right.  Instead of being given an epidural, I was basically given a spinal because the needle pierced through the membrane instead of staying inside of it.  So I was extra numb, which was just fine by me.  I immediately felt relief, could breathe and talk and open my eyes and even smile.  I thanked the doctor a few times (Jake and I think that anesthesiologists probably like being thanked a lot) and said, "I can't imagine why anyone would choose not to have an epidural!"  Really.  I went from being in the most awful pain of my life to instant relief.

I had the shakes for a while and was pretty exhausted, but felt so much better.  Not too long after I got my epidural, my mom and Emily arrived.  Mom was kind of sad to see me in that condition, so I'm glad she wasn't there when before I got the epidural, she probably wouldn't have liked that.  Heather was soon there to check my progress and I was at a 9 and that we'd have the baby there in an hour.  And then soon after that, I started to be able to feel pressure and some contractions, so Nancy checked me and said she could feel the head!  She guessed that he'd be out with a few pushes!

I wasn't going to have Emily be in the room when I had the baby, but changed my mind and decided she could stay.  I kept thinking that pushing would be similar to how it was with Lila--very strenuous, exhausting, vulnerable.  But this all seemed so easy... I couldn't feel anything and I felt really relaxed, so told Emily she had to stay up by my head.  Soon, they had all the equipment ready and they got me ready to push.  I really couldn't feel anything.  They told me when I was having a contraction, and so I would push, and I couldn't feel anything.  I thought that I really wouldn't like an experience like that, but it was actually pretty awesome.  I was talking and relaxing in between contractions.  It took maybe 4 contractions to get him out.  We'd heard a while ago that the average push time for a second baby is 6 minutes, and really hoped that it would be true for me, and it was... he really did slide out.

It was really exciting when they could see the head--Jake said, "He has dark hair!"  That was really exciting for me and I laughed just thinking about it: a child that looks like me!  Jake "caught" the baby with Heather's help.  He said the cord was wrapped around Jared's neck once.  And then he put him on my belly and I cried and my mom was crying and we were all so happy.  He was tiny and perfect and beautiful, a head full of dark brown hair.  Jake cut the cord.  This is all something we couldn't do with Lila because she had meconium in her amniotic fluid.  It was very happy and exciting.

Delivering the afterbirth and everything was a lot better this time too.  Not anywhere near as painful or traumatic as when Lila was born.  I did tear a little bit.  I think Heather said I have three stitches.

Anyway, Jared.  We are completely in love with him already.  At first, I couldn't stop comparing him to Lila, how he reminded me of her and how he didn't.  But now I just love him so much, just for the sweet baby he is.  He was born at 1:49 pm and weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 20.5 inches long.  A tall guy for weighing so little.  As soon as he latched on and started eating, I was in love.  He's just so sweet.  He's a good eater already--latches on perfectly and gulps the milk down.  He likes pacifiers sometimes, which is good... hopefully that means he won't have eating issues like Lila.  He's SO skinny and tiny.  The little baby we never had :)  It's funny to think that Lila weighed 2 pounds more than he did at birth.  It looks like he's got a dark complexion like me and that his eyes will be dark.  Right now they're like a dark gray.  I think it's funny to see Jake holding such a dark baby and knowing that it's his... must be like me holding Lila.  He's a quiet, calm baby like Lila was, except not as alert.  Lila was awake A LOT when she was born.  We looked through some of her newborn pictures and she almost always had her eyes open and was so alert.  Today he's had more awake moments and he is just so sweet, he likes looking at me and he even "smiled" a few times.  His eyebrows remind me of Jake, and something about his face reminds me of Sam too.  He only cries when he's getting his diaper or clothes changed--he hates that--and when he's really hungry.  He's good at burping and has had lots of poopy diapers.

Our time at the hospital was nice, but I'm definitely glad we decided to stay just one night.  We didn't get a lot of rest with nurses coming in all the time to check on us.  Jared had to have his blood sugar checked every time he nursed, which I hated... they had to prick his foot.  Poor guy.  But his numbers were great.  Our nurses were great again.  I remember with Lila feeling so grateful and indebted to them, for taking care of me when I was such a giant mess.  This time I was still grateful but it didn't seem like as big of a deal, and actually this whole experience has just felt so much less overwhelming than it did the first time.  I was surprised at how natural everything seemed when he was born, how I just loved him right away and how it feels like he's been here forever.