Claire's Story

Here's a long post for posterity. Since I was showing no signs of going into labor anytime soon, I decided to try all the tricks I could think of on Friday the 24th. Cindi had offered to watch Kaitlin for me, so I took the opportunity to get a pedicure and get my haircut. I told both places that I was overdue and so they should rub my head/feet in whatever way they could to put me into labor. The pedicurist did not listen, I swear she was barely tickling my feet - probably a language barrier there. My hairstylist did a great job though and gave me a 10 min scalp massage which was wonderful. I felt great after an afternoon of pampering. My parents arrived to spend the weekend with Kaitlin that afternoon and that night we tried the Johnny Carino's trick again, this time I got the red wine though. When I tried it last week I didn't get the wine - I felt a little guilty out with my toddler and being hugely prego ordering it, especially since we were there at the family dining hour of 5:30 and there were randomly tons of people there who I thought would disapprove. Friday night Claire was extremely active in the belly before bed, but I ended up sleeping the best I had in weeks.

I woke up Saturday morning around 6am with some cramping. I didn't think much of it though and just went back to sleep. I started having light contractions around 9am, but again, I didn't think much of it. I must preface this with the fact I was convinced I would have a long labor like I did with Kaitlin, and I didn't want to get up to the hospital too early and be stuck in that bed watching Gatorade commercials for 20 hours like last time. So I didn't even mention anything to Scott or my parents because I didn't want them all up in my business asking every 5 minutes if I was ok. I went for a walk around 10:30 a couple times around the block, just to make sure things were moving along, and sure enough my contractions were getting stronger, but still very far apart and sporadic. Scott and I went to the store around noon to pick stuff up to grill for lunch, at which point I told him "Well, I'm pretty sure I'm in labor." He was like "What? How do you know?" and I filled him in. We got back and grilled burgers and ate lunch and I told my mom that I was in labor, who in turn told me NOT to tell my dad. Ended up being a moot point because Scott told him as soon as they got in the car to go run some errands after lunch. I put Kaitlin down for her nap and went to try and lay down myself. I think I laid there from about 2 to 3pm, never really sleeping because the contractions were pretty strong at that point. I never got out a watch and timed them, and for some reason I had it in my head that they needed to be 2-3 min apart before we left for the hospital, and mine were still about 4-5 min apart. So at 3:30 I got in the shower and told Scott we should head to the hospital soon, as they were pretty freaking painful and coming on a lot more regularly.

We left for the hospital at exactly 4pm. I was kind of sad that I didn't get to say goodbye to Kaitlin, but I thought I might not be there when I was putting her down for her nap so I made sure to read her some extra stories and cuddle her just a bit more. We got to the hospital at 4:30 and (this might be TMI for some of you) I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom one more time before I laid down. I went in there and almost sat down and then thought, "No, this doesn't feel right." Cut to 2 min later when I'm on the bed and the nurse is checking me and says "WHOA, her head is RIGHT THERE." Ok, glad I'm not on TLC having my baby in the toilet. When she checked me I said "Please just tell me I'm more than a 2" and she goes "Ok, don't freak out, but you're more like an 8." YIKES! At this point I'm flashing back to what Christine had just told me Jen said about her birth with Ava - that she should've gotten the epidural. It's not so much the getting to 10 cm I was concerned with since I was already almost there, it was really the after part that I did NOT want to feel. Moms you know what I'm talking about - the 30 minute stitch up part. Sick. So I said "Yes, if we have time let's do the epidural" and then it was a mad rush to get everyone in there in time.

In the meantime, Dr. Ryder came in and broke my water and we found out Claire had pooped already. Her heartbeat was good and strong though and Dr. Ryder did a great job making me feel comfortable that it wasn't going to be a problem. They did have to call in the NICU team to be there to suction her in case she had breathed any of it in, so that was a bit worrisome.

Then the anesthesiologist arrived and man, are all anesthesiologists weirdos or what? He was a foreigner and just overall a strange duck. It took him about 20 min to get the damn thing in, all the while I'm pretty much yelling at him because I was going through transition at this point and being bent over is not what I wanted to be doing. Keep in mind I don't think I had said 5 words since we had left the house, I was doing much better with the pain by being quiet and just focusing. At one point I reached back to hit him because all his poking was hurting so bad. He just could not find the right spot, and went into some story about how "Sometimes with larger women, it is hard to find the right spot," and I'm thinking "What the heck, is he calling me fat right now?" and then one of the nurses goes "But he's not talking about you of course." Scott said when that happened one of them looked at him and mouthed "Wow." Finally I said "Should we just stop and let me push?" because I felt like I needed to and the nurse went into some schpiel about how "I can't make that decision for you" all the while the anesthesiologist is frantically muttering about trying one more time. Not a very pleasant experience. He finally got it in and I got to lay back for a few minutes before it was time to push, although the medicine didn't really kick in until then anyways. That was better than it was with Kaitlin though, where I felt like I got way too much medicine and I got so sick afterwards.

Anyways, judging by the time on the texts Scott was sending out, I pushed for less than 20 minutes and then our Claire Bear was here! Dr. Ryder had to cut the cord because they needed to get her quickly over to the NICU team, but Scott got to look and tell me "It's a girl!" which was very exciting. We were both thrilled and I think a little relieved, seeing as how we still hadn't decided on a boy name! They cleaned her up a bit and suctioned her, but it was all clear so she was free to come over and see me. It was nice to get to nurse right away and have some time just holding her, since with K I was so sick they took her away and I honestly don't really remember much of the time after she was born. This time I felt like a million bucks! I think the key for me was to do as much of it at home so I wasn't stuck in the bed not progressing.

Everyone got to come into the L&D room and meet Claire before we got moved up to our room upstairs. I got to announce the name which was fun. Kaitlin was very excited and crawled right up in the bed next to me and looked down at Claire like she'd known her forever. She even told me "That's baby Claire," as though I didn't know. She gave her tons of "besitos" and hugs and was just the sweetest little girl in the world. She freaked out when it was time to leave though, which broke my heart. She wanted me to come with them and was just crying so hard. I think it scared her to see me in the bed with the tubes everywhere and not being able to get up. She did a lot better when she came to visit later, and told me "Mommy has to stay at the doctor." Sweet girl, she tries so hard to understand.

Overall, this birth was much easier and more pleasant than Kaitlin's - probably something to do with the fact that Claire was a pound less and was actually facing the right direction. I'm so glad I decided against the induction and let Claire come on her own, exactly 23 months after her sister. It was a very special day.