So it all started on the 19th of November. I was one day over due and in full on depression mode at my Dr's appointment. He stripped my membranes and stretched my cervix. He tried to tell me that I would start cramping soon and I would hopefully be in labor within 24 hours. I didn't believe him and I think he sensed my doubt, because he said it would be "soon" over and over.
It was GIS day (just Google it if you really wanna know, and you do) so we went to the library to admire some sweet maps. After the long 3ish block drive from the Dr's office to said library I was in a fair amount of pain. I blamed it on the strip and silently cursed Dr. Monroy for doing it. I mean I asked him to, but I was past my due date and I think that over due women can say or think or do whatever they want. The world owes them at that point. So he was cursed.
After the library Chad took me to get some food, and we headed to Jason and Kelsey's house. We had fun catching up, I was positive nothing was going to happen and Carson would be way over due and I would be in the hospital on Thanksgiving and I wouldn't get any turkey, but more importantly, I would miss out on the one day of the year I can cover my entire dinner with gravy in honor of the pilgrims.
We went home and I was having some pretty intense cramps. I thought that it was because of the Mexican food so I laid down in bad and snuggled with Chad and Brisa and took a nap for a couple hours while they watched X-Men. I woke up and felt a million times better so I made a mental note never to go back to that restaurant and ate some chili. Looking back I am realizing that that was an odd choice seeing as I thought I was having cramps because of the Mexican food, but I was over due and living by a new set of rules. (see above)
After dinner I went to bed early because I was exhausted from my action packed day. I hadn't moved that much in weeks. so even though I was only out and a bout for a few hours I felt like I had run a marathon. I was deep into dream land when I dreamed that I peed my pants. I remember waking up and thinking that was random, and I fell back to sleep pretty much immediately. A few minutes later I dreamed I was peeing again. and woke up covered in liquid. I sat there half asleep feeling so embarrassed, then I woke up more and realized that my water had just broken. I woke Chad up and to my surprise he said "oh" and rolled away from me. I know the second baby isn't quite as exciting, but I thought he would muster up a little more than that. I don't think he realized what was happening until I turned the light on and started pulling back the covers to see if I had ruined our sheets (odd I know, but I like my sheets. They are fine.) I ran to the bathroom in my undies and was shocked to see that my mom was still awake, sorry you had to see that mom! Turns out it was only midnight. I sat on the toilet and listened to my mom and Chad discuss the next move. My mom stayed home with sleeping Brisa and Chad called the hospital to tell the we were on the way, but he called the first Sierra Vista Regional Medical Hospital that came up on Google which he learned is in Arizona. The great staff over there reminded him that we live in California and he quickly called the right hospital to tell them we were on our way.
I didn't have any contractions until we were halfway there, and then they were 3 minutes apart. I got admitted and hooked up to all the machines and waited "patiently" for the drugs. Carson's heart rate was dipping after every contraction, so I had to try laying in every position imaginable until I found one that he liked. At 4 am a beautiful angel walked into the room with a giant needle. I was still as a statue while I got my epidural. So still that the nurse asked if I was feeling my contractions because there were a lot of them and I wasn't even flinching. I am the type of woman that likes to labor silently so that I don't disturb my sleeping husband on the couch next to me. It's crazy, but during my contractions I would literally think to myself, "He's tired, don't wake him up with your screams of pain" you know because the last thing you would want to do while in labor is make your husband suffer, am I right ladies?
When I was done giggling and if my memory serves me correctly, asking Chad for a pet Pegasus I fell asleep. I was woken up by my nurse at 6:30 and she told me Carson's heart rate was dipping and that he had pooped, which could be a sign of distress. I panicked a little to myself, but I did my best to act like it was completely normal when Chad woke up and saw me with my oxygen. Again, I'm not sure why I try to down play it all for Chad. I usually try to go the opposite direction so I can get some sympathy out of the guy, but I guess Labor Megan is just more selfless than everyday Megan.
At 7 am the nurses did a shift change and I got a new nurse and she checked to see if I was dilated and realized that I had actually gone backwards in the dilation department. While she was checking me she discovered that Carson was not planning on leaving the birth canal empty handed. He was bringing my catheter out with him, and it was preventing him from sliding down. She fixed the placement of the catheter and had me do a practice push to see if he would slide into position at all. He did and so she went to get all the delivery tools ready. At around 9:30 it was time to push and I was feeling defeated before I even started because I pushed for 4 hours with Brisa and I was not looking forward to doing that again. I think that this was about the time I started crying. I was ready to give up before the first push. Then my nurse told me to stop crying and that it would be much faster this time as long as I wasn't a wimpy pusher. At this point my epidural was starting to wear off and I could feel the contractions and the unmistakable urge to push. I never felt any of that with Brisa and I think that may have been a small part of the problem. Well that and a million other things, but that's another story. I was just getting into a rhythm and was mid push when my nurse told me to stop pushing and wait for the doctor. I was shocked! It had only been about 20 minutes! The doctor took about 5 minutes to get there, or at least it felt like 5 minutes, although I think that time passes slower when you are crowning and it feels like your baby is about to rip his way out. When the doctor got there I pushed a couple more times and he asked if I wanted to feel the head. I declined because ew, and continued pushing. And then I met my baby boy after less than 30 minutes of work!
So that's about it. Carson is perfect and healthy. He was 9 pounds and 19.5 in long, but still came out way easier than Brisa. I guess you could say Brisa blazed the trail for him, I know I say it. But after such an easy labor I'm actually considering having a third, maybe, someday, maybe. But until then I will enjoy my off season. :)
