Around 12:30am on Saturday morning, June 19th, I started having contractions. They were roughly 8-10 minutes apart and not that painful so I didn't worry about it too much. I laid in bed timing them and sleeping when I could between them. At around 2am they seemed to be getting closer together, about 4-5 minutes apart and somewhat more painful but since I had already been to the hospital with contractions 2 minutes apart and that had been a false alarm I didn't worry about it. For the next 30 minutes I laid there timing them and as I got to the point that I couldn't really breathe normally through them I thought I should probably get up and call my midwife. I told her that they were about 2-3 minutes apart and getting quite painful so she told me to come right in. I thought Jake was already awake due to my restless sleep so I wasn't so calm in waking him. I think I pretty much startled him awake. We then packed the last few things that we needed and got Jessica out of bed. We got everything in the car and headed out for the birth center.
We got there around 3am and first thing they did was check me to make sure I was dilating and that it wasn't another false alarm. When she told me that I was dilated to 7cm I knew that this was it. So Jake called my mom and she headed up. Jake set up the pack n play in the room next to the birthing room and put Jessica back to bed. She went back to sleep surprisingly well.
I then got into the tub which is where I labored for the next 1½ hours. After being in the tub for that hour and a half my water broke and I started pushing. It was then that I realized that the tub was quite uncomfortable to be pushing in so after about 10 minutes I decided I wanted to get out and move to the bed. By the time both feet hit the floor I realized that the head was coming out right then. I was not going to make it to the bed so they got a birthing stool and got it under me as I was leaning on the edge of the tub pushing the head out. Once the head was out I got a bit of a break at this point and then with the next contraction pushed the body out. It really amazed me that the total pushing time was only 18 minutes.
There he was, Miles Truman Foster, born June 19, 2010 at 4:59am. He was born at a whopping 8 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long.
Jake went out to the other room to get the camera and saw that Jessica had woken up and was standing in her pack n play probably wondering why I was screaming so loud. So he brought her in to meet her new little brother. Our plan was if I went into labor at night we were going to have someone come over and sleep at our place so we wouldn't have to wake her but I am glad it didn't work out that way. It was nice having her there and getting to take pics of all 4 of us together at the birth.
My mom arrived 2 hours later to get Jessica and take her back to our house so we could have some time with Miles. As surprising as it sounds, by 10am we were getting in the car and heading home, which was quite different from when I had Jessica. I was in the hospital for a whole week with her. I guess the fact that he was born 3 weeks later than Jessica made a big difference.
So when I got home I did a few comparisons to when Jessica was born. Jessica didn't reach Miles' birth weight until she was 7 weeks old and her head was 3cm smaller then Miles'. What is weird to me is that even though Jessica was so much smaller it took 10 hours to birth her and only 3½ hours to birth Miles. I always heard that second babies are usually born quicker but I figured this one would take longer because he was so much bigger. I guess I was wrong.
My mom said that the whole time we were gone Jessica was watching the window saying "mama?" "dada?" and when we got there she started screaming in excitement.
I have to say I thought that my experience with Jessica being born in Australia was great but the experience of birthing Miles here was far better. I am really happy with our decision to have him in a birthing center instead of the hospital. I felt more like a woman giving birth instead of a patient in a hospital giving birth. What was also nice was that the midwife, Traci, wasn't telling me when to push or what I should be doing. She had more of a 'go with the flow' attitude. 'Just push when you feel like it'. It was really nice. Also if we had gone to the hospital we would not have been able to bring Jessica with us and since my mom didn't arrive until 2 hours after Miles was born we would have been screwed. I really don't think things could have gone any better than they did.
Miles is 1 week old today and things are going quite good. He is on a 3 hour feeding schedule and is eating for about 10-20 minutes at a time. He spends most of the day sleeping so far with a few awake times throughout the day. I can't wait until he regains the weight he lost after birth and I don't have to wake him up at night anymore to eat. It kills me to have to wake up a soundly sleeping baby just to have to desperately try to keep him awake long enough to eat, and once he is awake enough to eat I then have to try to get him to go back to sleep. I end up being awake at each feeding time for between 30-60 minutes depending on how long it takes me to get him woken up.
Jake has been wonderful this past week!! He has been getting up with Jessica every morning and letting me sleep in with Miles. This morning I got to sleep until 10:30!! Before today I couldn't tell you the last time I slept that late. He has also been doing laundry and dishes and basically being Jessica's main caregiver. It has been so nice having him home every day. I will be sad when he has to go back to work after next week. Jessica will be too I am sure. They have had so much daddy daughter time that I am sure she will wonder where he is. At least her grandma will be here to take his place during the day for a week. After she leaves I don't know what I will do. I guess it is all part of the adventure of having kids.
I can't tell you how happy I am! I have the best husband and the 2 most beautiful children I could imagine! I am truly living my life's dream!
]]>
