On Sunday, August 8 (our anniversary), I woke up in the middle of the night with contractions. They continued coming about every 5 minutes all that day, but didn't get much stronger. Just continuously ouchie.  By Tuesday evening, August 10, around dinner time, I started feeling really sick to my stomach and the contractions were a little more frequent than 5 minutes. I also started getting the chills - something I hadn't had all summer long! I went upstairs to put on a flannel shirt, and then decided to lay down in bed as well. Phil started supper with Natalie, and after dinner came up to see what had happened to me. He figured I had gotten distracted with the computer and had just decided not to come down for dinner. Then he saw me all curled up on the bed. So he decided, and I agreed, that we should go to the hospital to get checked out. By the time I got there, the contractions were coming pretty regularly, but my cervix still hadn't changed much. After over an hour of observation, my doctor told me I could either stay, or go home and rest. I was in early labor, but it was going to take awhile still, so I decided to go home and sleep. Plus I wanted to get Natalie to bed. 

The next day, Phil took off work and we went walking ALL day. We went to the mall and we went to Inniswood, and just walked. My contractions got very painful while I was walking. Around dinner time, we decided to go on to the hospital. As soon as we got in the car though, my contractions pretty much stopped. Now we were on pins and needles and getting very frustrated. We went home. The next morning, I woke up and the contractions had started again, about 5 minutes apart. Sometimes they'd go to 10 minutes apart, but the strength seemed to be getting worse. By lunch time, I decided to call my doctor and find out if they thought I should go in to get checked again. More than anything, I know I sounded downright exhausted and frustrated on the phone message I left. They called back in the middle of the afternoon and said since the contractions got worse when I moved around, I should go ahead in and get checked again. Phil finished up some work, and around 4 pm, we left to head back to the hospital.

When I got there, they checked my cervix and found out that it had changed a LITTLE bit - still not too much, but some. I was a little more than 3 cm and about 70 percent effaced. So, I went walking for an hour. Through the hour, the contractions began to get really painful, but only while I walked. If I stopped walking it was okay again. This was kind of a nice time. My mom and sister met us there, and for about half the time Natalie walked around the hospital grounds with us. She started to get a little antsy after awhile, so then she stayed in the L&D waiting area and played with them while Phil and I kept walking. After an hour, I went back into the triage to get checked again. I also found out that my favorite doctor, Dr. Parks, was once again on that night. (She'd also been there on Tuesday when we had come in.) As much as it frustrated me throughout the pregnancy that I didn't have Dr. Teague this time, I actually liked it during labor and delivery because my doctor was there the whole time and not just showing up to catch in the last few minutes! When they checked me, they found I had dilated to about 4, so yay! They were letting me stay.

I was admitted at about 6 pm.  It was decided that the first thing done would be to break my water, and then after that start some Pitocin to get labor really going. Pitocin was an evil drug for me during my labor with Natalie, so I was really hoping to avoid it this time. I told them that I would prefer to wait a little while after breaking the water, to see if labor would pick up on its own. I really doubted it, though, knowing how nothing seemed to work that way during my labor with Natalie.

I'm pretty fuzzy on a lot of the times that things happened from this point on, but I'm going to approximate. They broke my water at about 7 pm. Within just a few minutes, labor started to really pick up. I started having contractions every couple minutes, and they were getting stronger. It was so much different than last time, though. I finally found out what was meant by "relaxing and focusing between contractions". The last time, with Pitocin, there was NO "between contractions" - it was one long, unnaturally painful contraction. This time, I actually was able to relax a little, talk to everyone, and watch a little TV (sort of - all I can remember is some animal program on PBS that I thought Natalie might like.) Up until this time, Natalie stayed in the labor room with me. That was really nice being able to have her there. She was so cute. She had "assigned" a chair to everyone. Grammy was supposed to sit there, Daddy there, Aunt Nanny there, Natalie there, and Mama was in the bed. If anyone changed chairs she'd get upset and make everyone go back to "their" chair.  I started to feel the pain in my hips and back, so I got out of the bed and moved to the rocking chair. Nan took Natalie and they went home to our house. (This was her first time without both mama and daddy home with her at bedtime, and she did wonderfully. She went right to bed after reading stories, brushing her teeth and praying. That was one of my biggest concerns with when I was in the hospital; how Natalie would do with bedtime.) We turned on my favorite Matthew Ward CD (really soothing music and the a lot of the words are right from Scriptures), and I just sat there and rocked, rocked, rocked, and during each contraction I focused on the words in the music and on the photo of Natalie that I'd brought. They came in to check me, and I had dilated another cm, so we decided to hold off on Pitocin for another hour! Yippee! The pain was actually pretty manageable - so much different than my first labor. And there was no vomiting either! I mean, they DEFINITELY hurt, and I had to really breathe through each contraction, but the difference was that I had a little break between each one coming, so I could relax and prepare for the next one. About an hour later, the nurse came in to check me again and I had dilated again to almost 7. On my birth plan (which so far had been almost completely been going as I had hoped) I had said that I might want an epidural, but I didn't want it to be offered until I was at least 6 cm dilated and a good labor pattern was established. So the nurse asked me, "do you want your epidural now?" I thought about it and decided, well, yeah, sure. Why not. It was such a calm decision this time, which was not at all the case with my first labor! I felt like I could probably get through the rest of this without the epidural, but labor had been going so easily and fast up to this point, well, why not skip the really painful part that I knew would be coming? It also helped that I wasn't afraid of it nearly as much this time. Having scoliosis as a potential complication scared me last time, but it turned out just fine. The anesthesiologist came in, they got me all prepped and then put in the epidural - between contractions! (There was no such thing last time; I had to summon superhuman strength to stay VERY STILL last time in the midst of contractions.) After that, I laid back comfortably on the bed, and within the next few contractions the pain started subsiding. WOOHOO! It was great. I went from very manageable contractions, to just starting to get painful, to uh, they're starting to really kind of hurt, to not painful again!

At about 11:30, I started to feel a lot of pressure. Phil put in a Hillsongs CD to play praise and worship music; the same CD we listened to as Natalie was being born. They checked me again and I was about 9 cm. I felt like I was ready to push, but they wanted me to wait a little longer. They said I could probably get the last bit of cervix gone with just a couple contractions, but my doctor was in the middle of a C-section.  I started to get increasingly glad that I had the epidural, because I was having to breathe through each contraction even being numb. The pressure was very intense - much more than with Natalie. (I started to think that maybe the nurse from the week before was wrong, and he was a little bigger than 7 pounds...) I don't think I could have waited if I hadn't have had the epidural, because it was all I could do to not push, even with it. I'm very sure that if I hadn't had the epidural, Ethan would have been born on the 12th. About an hour later, my doctor was out of the surgery and I felt like I COULD NOT wait a contraction longer. Not even breathing through them was helping anymore. I thought for sure that this baby's head was already pushing out. The pressure was so incredibly intense. The nurse checked me, and I was complete, but still just a little rim left, as she put it, "it's as soft as butter". With the next contraction, she was able to push it out of the way. Then we did a practice push. This time, I knew how to push already so I started moving him down right away. Unlike with Natalie, though, with each contraction he didn't continue to come out on his own. I had to really push hard. This baby was going to be big.  After a couple contractions, my doctor came in (along with a resident and a med student - I was the entertainment that night apparently) and got me all prepped. After a few more pushes, I saw his head and it was ROUND! I thought for sure that it would be pointy-headed, like Natalie was, especially because he'd dropped down so early and I'd been walking around his head for so long. Nope, it was very round, and there was lots of dark hair. The entire labor was so very, very easy this time, but pushing was much harder. After a few pushes Natalie really did just keep coming out on her own, but with Ethan I had to put a lot of effort into each contraction. Still, I only pushed for probably a little less than a half hour (I'm not certain because since Natalie had been born there was apparently a new rule put in place that we couldn't video tape until after the actual birth, not during. Mom clicked it on though, right as he was coming out, so we got the important part. Probably for the better, too. The only part I don't like on Natalie's birth video is listening to me push. :-) ) I pushed for probably around 10 contractions.

And at 1:21 am, Ethan Alexander was born into the world! My birth plan was followed even after this; they didn't do an episiotomy on me (I did rip a little, but it was just a first degree tear), they allowed his cord to remain intact for a few minutes, and they didn't put the ointment in his eyes until after those first two hours together were over. I also really liked that all the triage was done right in the room with us- they didn't have to take him away from me. After getting all cleaned up, they gave him to me and he latched on and started nursing right away! There was no playing around with it - he went right to business! (And hardly stopped for the next two days either - that boy was determined to get his milk flowing as soon as possible!) He weighed in at 8 pounds 7.6 ounces, and 19.5 inches long. They told us 20 inches, but 19.5 was what was written down so, who knows for sure.

Since he was born on Friday (the 13th), our laugh about him coming in with the Olympics turned out to be true. Though I didn't labor DURING the opening ceremony, the 13th was the day of the opening ceremonies! (No, I don't see this becoming a trend for the next one; I don't see it happening within the next 2 1/2 years next time!) He also came in with Hurricane Charlie, which caused a lot of damage that day all over Florida. Good thing we hadn't planned on Charlie being his name!

Natalie met him for the first time the next morning. Her first words were (and still continue to be; she still says this all the time) "Ethan out Mama's tummy! Doctor took baby out!" I tell her that the doctor helped take the baby out, but mama did most of the work!

The recovery has been slower from this labor, but I think it's just because I have another child who keeps me on my feet a lot more than I was with Natalie. It's hard to get your own body healed up when, along with sleepless nights, you can't sit still during the day! The labor itself was very easy and even enjoyable, as much as can be said about such a thing. The biggest thing I remember thinking from right after the birth was, "that was it? It's all finished? Wow!" Looking back at my photos from Natalie's birth, it looked like I had just gone through a war, but this time I felt like I could have jumped right up and walked out of the hospital that night. Of course, that's how I felt but that's not how it was. Several hours later, the nurse came into my room to help me go to the bathroom for the first time, and as I stood up out of bed, I fell back over back into the bed. She had to help me take every tiny step into the bathroom. (Phil doesn't remember any of this; he was zonked out on the fold out bed by this time!) Even by the time we checked out on Sunday morning, walking was still painful. I think the difference was the pushing phase this time. It was so much harder, so even though I had the epidural so I didn't feel it so much, I'm sure it was much harder on my body. My lower back hurt so bad for several days after.

Going home was much less traumatic this time. We were excited to get home and get things as normal as could be expected. This time, I didn't have any stress about being at home with the baby. (Last time, the first night I had a complete breakdown by that evening, because I felt so panicked at being home with this baby! At that time I felt like such a wimp, but I since learned that it is completely normal to have the first night home be less than joyous.) 

Now, a little over two weeks later, we're just trying to adjust to our new normal. It's odd; sometimes I look at Ethan and (I'm being completely honest here, so sorry, Ethan, when you read this in the future) it's hard to think of him as more than a demanding stranger, an interloper into our happy trio. And then in the very next moment, I look at him and feel such a strong love for him and a familiarity with him, like he's always been a part of our family.  I know I felt that way about Natalie when she first arrived - so it doesn't worry me that I have these mixed feelings now. With time and as we get to know Ethan more, he'll become just as Natalie is, which is a part of us that I can't imagine our world being without.

We are beginning to get to know him more every day. One of the first things I noticed is that, just like in our 3D ultrasound that we had done, he loves to keep his hands in front of his face. In the hospital, they kept trying to swaddle him with his arms trapped, and he would fuss fuss fuss until we got his hands free. They'd go right to his face. He doesn't suck his fingers or thumb much; he just likes to have his hands over his face, just like they were during the ultrasound. Ethan is a much noisier baby that Natalie was. Since I now only have experience with one girl and one boy, I can hardly make generalities like "it's because he's a boy", so I see it as just a difference of personalities. Ethan grunts a lot, in his sleep, as he's falling asleep, as he wakes up, and during feedings. When he nurses, he grunts and gulps a lot, so unlike Natalie, I have to make sure I stop and burp him very frequently. (When I tried to burp Natalie, more often that not I'd get one of two results - either there would be no burps after rubbing and patting her for over 10 minutes, or she'd throw up the entire feeding. After awhile I finally gave up and hardly ever burped her - she just didn't take in any air while breastfeeding, so she didn't need to be burped.) Ethan, on the other hand, gulps air all the time while feeding, and he is also a messy eater. He likes to turn his head this way and that while feeding, or also nurse just long enough to get my milk going, and then he opens his mouth and lets the entire mouthful run out, along with my now well-flowing milk. It just gets everywhere!  Whereas I used lots and lots of spit up cloths with Natalie to catch her projectile vomits, now I'm using them just to catch all the runoff during feedings. Overall, Ethan seems to be a pretty happy baby and fairly content with whatever is going on. Even when Natalie insists on sitting so close to him that she squashes him, he doesn't often complain. He does seem to have a little fussy time every evening, just after we wakes up from his late afternoon to dinner time nap. (He sleeps great, usually waking just once for a feeding, between 3 and 8...unfortunately that's PM not AM...) I've found that when he does get a little fussy, he likes to be rubbed on his back and side. It usually calms him right down. He also likes the baby swing, which Natalie never liked at all. At night, I'm getting by, using the Boppy to support him under my arms and five pillows to prop me up enough to sit up to hold him yet still fall into some semblance of sleep. He hasn't figured out the joys of nursing laying down yet - maybe it's just because he's still so (relatively) small; I didn't get it going well with Natalie until later either. Hopefully we can get that going before long. It was so nice to be able to feed Natalie in the middle of the night with hardly waking up. Right now though, I spend most of the night sitting up in bed. Ethan also can't stand to have ANYthing in his diaper. If there's the littlest bit in his diaper, he fusses to be changed. Phil's been doing most of the night changings, which really helps me. We have a changing pad and all the supplies on the floor of our room, and when Ethan wakes for a feeding, he's either changed before Phil gives him to me, or midway through he fills up his diaper and needs to be changed before there is any chance of him settling back to sleep.

It's been really hard; harder than it was when Natalie was a newborn. Not only because of having another one to take care of and because of my body still needing to heal, but also because last time, Phil was still working out of an office here at home in those early weeks. He didn't go into the office where he currently is until about a month after Natalie was born. He still "went away" to get work done, but he was still home. I didn't realize, and I'm sure I didn't fully appreciate it at the time, how much that helped! :-)  Overall, though, I am enjoying these early days a lot more than with Natalie. I'm making a mindful effort to enjoy it more, because this time I do know how quickly the time passes, in retrospect anyway, and how after the first several weeks you come through it and realize you missed so many important things while just hoping to make it through past the current stage. I'm trying to not hope for the next stage to arrive so soon this time. I guess that's what happens lots of times with second children, which is why "they" say that you are more relaxed the second time around. I know he'll eventually sleep more than two hours at a time. I know he'll eventually start making other sounds (and too soon, talking!) to let us know his needs instead of just crying. It also helps that this time, I can tell the difference between his cries. As Phil says, there's a definite "hey! hey! hey!" sound to some cries, and other times it's just a tired cry that I know he needs to be put down to fall asleep. (And yes, sometimes on his own - he loves to be held most of the time, but there ARE a few times here and there where he really does just want to be put down to fall asleep. And he does!)

And now, for better of for worse, we're a foursome!