Elisabeth Jane

My son was born on an unusually warm 65* day in early January. my daughter was born on an usually cool 65* day in mid-June.

Elisabeth Jane made her way into the world in an incredible fashion Saturday, June 20th at 8:38 pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs 12.9 oz and 22.5." Taller than her brother and a whole pound heavier!

I woke up to brown spotting Saturday morning, and experienced some mild period like cramping throughout the morning. I decided maybe we'd have a baby int he next few days and it would behoove me to wash the carseat cover and cradle bedding. After I put Andrew down for his nap, I headed to the townhouse to help Andy do more packing. I was pretty sure I was having some contractions, but nothing worth timing, and all easy to talk and walk through. Really nothing worth thinking about. We ran out of boxes and I headed home a little after four, with plans to rest, in case things picked up during the night. best to be well-rested and all.

Around 5:00, the phone rang and I got up to get it, but instead, felt my pants fill with amniotic fluid. I went to the bathroom, legs squeezed together, and just sort of stood there. i was home alone with Andrew and my dad, my mom was at a party and Andy had driven a load of stuff to his parents. I ran upstairs wrapped in a towel and asked my dad to please get all the stuff in from the car my water had broken. Oh, the look on his face!

I went upstairs to put on clean pants and a pad, and answered a call from Andy. He freaked at the unexpected news and started to race home, My dad called my mom and I talked to her. I told her not to worry about hurrying home, my contractions were still pretty weak. I called the midwives at 5:40, and got called back at 6:00. I told her contractions were 4-6 min apart, very mild, in fact i was having one now! She told me to go eat something and see how I felt in 30 min. By 6:15, things started more feel more intense and i was thinking about leaving. We ended up leaving around 6:40. I spent the 45 minute ride in the pouring rain in the back seat of my FIL's FJ Cruiser mostly on my hands and knees. By the time we'd gotten a mile from the house, I was timing my contractions at 2 minutes apart.

We arrived at the birthing center and were in a room by 7:30. I was checked at 5 cm dilated. I had to stay on a fetal monitor and contraction monitor for 20 minutes which was pure hell. I sat on the birthing ball hunched over the edge of the bed. The fetal monitor was digging into my belly. I wanted up soo badly! After that was finished, I headed to the bathroom. the toilet had handles on the sides, so I labored squatting over the toilet holding those handles. I was so hot i ended up peeling off the robe, then my ring and watch, then my bra. I turned the shower on, to get in in between contractions, but everytime I went to move, another hit and I had to stay on that toilet!

The midwife had finally come in (she happened to be next door delivering my friend's son for the first while of my labor!) and told me to let her know when I felt pressure like I needed to poop. I said, oh, I have that now. She asked that I get in the bed for a check. I made it there and started to crawl on, and was on my hands and knees when another contraction hit. And there I stayed! She kept asking me to roll onto my side, so she could get a better view, but there was no way in hell I was moving! she eventually determined there was just a lip of cervix left, think about opening up, and the baby coming out.

Before I knew it, I was pushing. I felt like I wasn't making any progress, but then I felt the Ring of Fire of crowning! I never felt the contractions during this, just that I needed to push to get rid of that pain. I would take a breath and bear down as my own strength would allow. I don't know how many times I pushed, or for how long, but her head eventually came out.

Then all pain stopped. I swear there were no more contractions, but I still had to get her body out. I am pretty sure once Andrew's head was born, the rest of him just shot out with a wave of fluid, but this one, I still needed to work on. Since I didn't feel any contractions to push with, I was really concentrating on bearing down and pushing, it wasn't happening naturally and with the flow of my body! A few more pushes, some lovely squirts of fluid, and at 8:38 pm, less than 4 hours after my water broke, she was born! They kept telling me to talk to my baby, greet her, welcome her, but all I could do was breathe and relax now that it was over!

I lay down and she was placed on my chest and cleaned up a bit. She smelled like cookies or bread or some sort of baked good! I nursed her for the first time and she went to town! After some time, she was taken and measured, bathed, weighed, and dressed right in our room. The midwife repaired the small tear I'd gotten along my old episiotomy scar. Just 1 stitch. I was majorly sensitive down there and every anything moved, i got the shivers.After I was all cleaned and stitched up, I got the shakes so badly! It was weird.

We were left alone for a bit, calls were made, texts and twitters sent. My poor in-laws showed up around 10-10:30 when my mom left. Andy had called his mom when we left for the hospital. My FIL was up visiting his dad, about 3 hours away, and had just started to head for home. She chose to wait for him to get home before heading to Rhinebeck (about a 45 min drive for them). No one expected it to go so fast, so she ended up missing the whole thing! I felt bad for her, she was so thankful to have seen what she saw with Andrew, i wanted to be able to let her see a full birth this time!
I feel so very different this time... amazing, actually. Recovery has been so easy. My perineum isn't as sore, I assume cause its less stitches. I was able to get up and walk around so quickly, no passing out on the toilet, no dizziness like last time. I loved the birthing center. People weren't all up in my business, checking me and the baby over a million times a day, in and out all the time like at the hospital. the only time I was asked if I wanted drugs was after I said something whiny in labor! The OB who came to check my on sunday, and the midwife who checked me out monday merely spoke to me and asked how I felt, and that was it. Ellie was the only one to get examined. We were given a special meal Sunday night, options including steak and shrimp scampi. Served with champagne or wine! We had our fancy dinner as a family of four.

Andrew is doing amazingly. I will probably eat my words soon enough :) He's been very off-schedule as far as sleeping and routine for nearly a week, and his behavior has reflected that. Since she was born, and since I came home, he was acted in the overtired way. Yesterday was normal sleeping, so today he was much better behaved. He loves his baby sister, and wants to hold and hug and kiss her. When Andy is outside playing with him, he wants me and Baby to join. there doesn't seem to be jealousy at all. This may change when its just me at home with him!

Pictures from the early days