2:30AM on February 19 my water breaks. And it wasn't like an Am I sure that just happened? event, my water leaked all night long. But I had zero contractions and so the doctor on call said try to go back to sleep and wait to go into labor and call the office in the morning if nothing changes. Sean and I sat in the living room watching mindless television until about 5:30AM when I decided to crawl into bed with Dylan while I waited for active labor. He was already awake when I entered his room and I scooped him up and told him that Baby Katie was going to be born today. Dylan smiled the hugest smile and hugged me. And then we both fell asleep again until 7:30ish. Sean had been asleep on the couch and when we all woke up I noticed that his face was grey. As I prepared to hop in the shower and call the doctor Sean said that he wasn't feeling well.
Sean hasn't gotten sick--except maybe once or twice due to a few too many drinks back in our younger days--in the seven years we've been together. I've never known anyone else with a stronger stomach. So for him to say that he wasn't feeling well was serious business. Before we left for the hospital he had gotten sick four times. Perfect timing.
My father in law showed up to stay with Dylan and I still had zero contractions as we arrived to the hospital at 9:30AM and were quickly checked into the same room where I delivered Dylan! My midwife Jenny showed up and checked me. It turns out that my water had broken but only my outer water (there are two water bags?) and the baby was still in the inner water which is why I had zero contractions. So Jenny broke my water for me to kick start labor. I was already dilated to 4cm. When she checked me an hour later I was already 5cm. I felt great for a while and was progressing so quickly that I suddenly doubted whether or not I needed an epidural at all. I waited until about 3:30PM when the pain was so unbearable that I told the nurse to call the anesthesiologist. Poor sickly Sean had been sleeping on the uncomfortable pull out couch trying not to get sick as I labored on a birthing ball while watching the news. The pain was so bad by the end that I could barely read the scroll at the bottom of the TV screen, life just wasn't making sense.
The nurse called for the epidural and checked me again. I was 6cm. Within minutes my legs were numb from the pain and I went from a very sweary sailor to a happily drugged woman. Sean and I turned on Better Connecticut and I tried to take a nap. At 4:15 I suddenly felt like I had to poop. I called the nurse because I was surprised I was feeling anything at all and she said the pressure was the baby ready to come out. I had gone from a 6 to a 10 in forty minutes.
My midwife showed up ready to have a baby and within minutes Katie was born.
But this is my favorite part of her labor: I delivered my own baby Kourtney Kardashian style. Jenny told me to reach down and grab her as she was being born, so I pulled her onto my chest. I delivered my own baby. Our 8 pounds 2 ounces baby.
This labor was so easy compared to Dylan's birth. His lasted 21 hours with 2 hours of pushing. I was only in active labor with Kathleen for seven hours with 15 minutes of pushing. And by day two I was in almost no pain at all.
So far Katie has been a very easy baby, sleeps all day and rarely cries. We are so in love and can't imagine how we lived without her.
I'll be posting daily photos of her over HERE. Welcome, little one.