Cooper's Birth

On the other hand…. I did NOT love being pregnant with Cooper.  I was SO hungry the first few weeks, and then extremely nauseous until about 17 weeks.  The funny thing about the start to both of my labors is that my husband and I had eaten at our favorite hibachi place the night before!!  I think it must be something in the pink sauce!  The Friday that I went into labor with Cooper, I had just put Tyler down for a nap.  My husband was at work, of course.  I just sat down at the computer, hit send on an email, and literally 2 seconds later, I felt that same pop – but this time at the bottom!  I ran to the bathroom again, but this time I was not so lucky about the mess!  Luckily, it was not on any carpet!  Again, a HUGE gush of water flooded into the toilet.  I hadn’t been contracting at all (that I noticed!), so this was a huge shock to me.  I was 38+5 when my water broke.  I was not expecting this yet!  Unfortunately, my phone was in the living room.  I sat on the toilet a few minutes, trying to calm my nerves and let more amniotic fluid drain out.  I did a mental nurse check – did I feel the baby move?  Yes.  Did I feel any cord hanging out?  No, thank God.  Was the fluid clear?  Yes, definitely.  Ok. (As a nurse, I felt very guilty about forgetting any of this when my water broke with Tyler.  But, that labor was VERY different and fast.  I was thinking as I SHOULD have been thinking at that time – a pregnant woman – a MOM – who was in labor.  This time, I had been a nurse 2 years longer, and I wasn’t actively laboring, so I COULD think those things!)  

When I felt like I could walk to the living room, I got up, dripped all the way to the living room, leaned over the couch as far as I could and grabbed my phone.  I think I called the answering service first, then my husband.  He immediately packed up his stuff and headed for home, but it was Friday afternoon about 3:15 or so… in Atlanta.  Then I called my parents to come take care of Tyler.  Meanwhile, my midwife was trying to call me back, but kept getting the busy signal because I guess I was trying to make and receive phone calls from my panicked husband and parents (Dad: “It’s Friday afternoon!  Is Joseph going to get home in time?!  Do I need to take you to the hospital?!”  Seeing as how Tyler came pretty quickly for a first-time baby, and my mom and sister both have a history of VERY fast labors, this was a real concern of ours!)  Finally, I get off the phone and see a text from Amanda: “call me”  When I called her, she said, “Now you know better than to get on the phone after you page me!”  We decided I should go ahead to the hospital for the whole fast-labor-family-history concern that I just mentioned.  My parents arrived at my house first, and my husband shortly after that.  I guess he went upstairs to get our stuff, or change clothes or something.. I don’t know what he was doing, but my mom and I were standing outside, and I was wiggling my hips back and forth with the contractions, wishing he’d hurry up and come on!  I did not want to have this baby in the car on 285!!  I felt a lot of back labor, but I was not having strong, or consistent contractions – everything indicative of Cooper being OP (or sunny-side-up – NOT the optimal position!)  Since I wasn’t in hard-core labor like I had been with Tyler, I remember the car ride pretty well.  I was uncomfortable, but I think it was more stemmed from anxiety.  

Anyway, we got to the hospital sometime around 4:30.  Renata came in to get me admitted, and since I was standing, leaning over the bed (which I had raised up to my desired height), she offered telemetry monitors for me, so I could be free to move around in the room.  I graciously accepted and continued to labor, standing for the admission, and then walking around the room for a while.  This labor was SO different from my first.  Eventually, I started to get a little more uncomfortable, so I decided to go ahead and get an epidural, because I was still convinced this labor was going to just take off!  Around 8, Amanda checked me, and I had not made any change from what I was when I was admitted.  I REALLY didn’t want to have any Pitocin – I didn’t have any with Tyler and I just really wanted to avoid it if at all possible.  I asked for more time.  We tried putting my leg up in a stirrup, but by 10 PM, my contractions were coming every 8-10 minutes.  I pressed my nurse call bell, and said to go ahead and start the pit.  Sarah started me at 2 milliunits/hour (our standard starting dose) and never even increased it.  After an hour, I was complete and ready to push. Pushing went very smoothly again this time, and Cooper was born at just 3 minutes after midnight on Saturday.  Interestingly, I remember SO MANY more details about laboring with Tyler, but Cooper’s delivery is the one I remember the most.  I remember having that rush of, “Oh my God!  My baby!!” when I first saw him and heard him cry.  I remember asking Amanda if he had an extremely long cord because he moved so much and flipped around so much early in my pregnancy.  He did end up rotating, and he came out the “right” way – OA, and not sunny-side-up.  But as a result, his little face was VERY bruised and swollen.  He weighed 9 pounds, 1 ounce, and we were completely flabbergasted to see his RED HAIR!

~Shared by Lauren K