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THE BIRTH!
April 25, 2005
The labor starts:
Today is exactly 1 week before my due date.
I went into labor early this morning last time, and thought it would be just too much of a coincidence for me to go into labor
again 7 days early... but, on Sunday night (Monday morning) sometime after 4am, I woke up with a slightly painful contraction.
After going back to sleep, I woke up again at 5am and this time it was every 18 minutes that I felt the contraction.
I made myself a sandwich, looked online for signs of start of labor, and at 6am told Bob that I was going to take a shower
and that I might be in labor.
The car ride:
We left at 6:55am. Bob had woken Brandon up
and dressed him. We called the midwife to tell her we were on the way, as well as Bob's mother. We got to
the hospital at 8:15 because of traffic. (Normally it would take us about 45 minutes). The ride was not nearly
as bad as last time, and Brandon got a little worried towards the end with my contractions getting stronger. I held
his hand so he would be comforted.
At the hospital:
They wanted us to use the main entrance, which was a little silly because there was no standing in front and
we had to park and walk to the entrance. In the middle of walking I had a contraction, and when it was done I picked
up my page to get inside. I sat down while Bob got a wheelchair.
Bob's
mother and younger sister were already there and immediately occupied Brandon so Bob could be with me. I was able
to undress on my own, unlike last time when I couldn't do anything because my body was like jelly. The midwife (Lynn)
checked me and I was only 4 cm
dilated, but the labor was about to progress quickly.
Lynn was great. She was very hands
on, unlike the head midwife (Lynn's boss) during my labor with Brandon. I did not like the position of laying on the
bed, so I leaned over the side of the bed. Lynn massaged my lower back every time I had a contraction, held my hand,
massaged my temples, and got me water to drink when I was resting. Lynn showed Bob how to massage me. Soon
I wasn't able to hold myself up, so Lynn had Bob support me from behind.
I had to pee, and when the next contraction came, I got on all fours on the floor and it was a much better
position than when I was leaning over the side of the bed. So I went back to the room and continued in that position
until Lynn had me go back on the bed. I was still on all fours, but upright. Lynn then had me squat while
she and Bob held me, so gravity would help the baby down, and she told me to push during the next contraction to see if that
helped the pain. It did. Lynn checked me and said I was ready to push. The heart rate was going down
a bit so they gave me some oxygen and she broke my bag of water.
The arrival:
After the next push or two, the baby's head came out and then when the body came out at 9:20am, Bob told me
that Danielle was here, which let me know that we had a girl! She was born only 1 hour after getting to the hospital.
Meeting the baby:
Lynn put the baby on my chest, and soon we heard her cry. Both Apgar
scores were 9, and when they did the measurements we were shocked. Danielle was the same length as Brandon and weighed
only 1.5 oz less than Brandon did. I was surprised that she was smaller since I thought that subsequent babies were
usually bigger. I had gained about 6 lbs more this time, although I was the same weight at the end for both deliveries.
Visitors:
Danielle's first visitors (besides her mommy, daddy, and brother) were
Bob's mother and younger sister Sam. When she was 10 hours old, she met Wendy's mom, dad, and Aunt Michelle, as
well as her cousin Paul and his girlfriend Suzanne. The next day, Wendy's Great Aunt Mei came to visit.
Hospital Stay:
My recovery was so much better this second
time. I didn't tear at all and was able to use the bathroom pretty quickly after delivering. I had such a great
experience at the hospital with Brandon, that I was worried that this experience could only be worse. They were building
a new maternity wing for this hospital, but it wasn't ready in time for Danielle's arrival, and I had heard that the old wing
was old, but it turned out better than I expected. I was also worried that I would have to share a room, but there was
a private recovery room available for $50 and it was worth it to have the private room. Although I probably wouldn't
have had to share a double room since there were enough, I didn't need to chance it. So, my stay there was also pretty good,
although I do prefer the first hospital. The food wasn't that great at all, and the portions were so small. I
needed to put salt on practically everything, and considering the nurse told me that I should be eating more than I did when
I was pregnant because of breastfeeding, they certainly weren't helping!
Danielle slept a lot in the hospital.
Although Danielle latched on very well, she didn't want to eat too much and took a while to pee, just like Brandon did
when he was born. During her bath, I saw her pee and was very happy! She passed her hearing test. She was
pooing a lot of meconium. I don't think Brandon pooed this much meconium, but then again, I didn't change his diaper
at all until after she got home with Brandon. Any time I was done nursing Danielle, I would ask the nurses if they needed
to see either of us, so they wouldn't bother me while I tried to sleep.
Since I wasn't nearly as exhausted or in pain
and was able to get up and about later that night, taking Brandon to the nursery for tests and a bath, I decided that
I could leave the next day and only stay one night at the hospital. I definitely did not want to do that the first time.
Check out:
On Tuesday, Bob and Brandon came around 4:30pm while Great
Aunt Mei was visiting. Bob packed everything away and I was able to take a shower and eat the dinner buffet before going
home. The Pediatrician had checked Danielle out, and Lonnie, the midwife who delivered Brandon came to see me, although
she didn't examine me but just talked to me. Both gave their ok to discharge me. The funny thing was when we finally
went out the doors of the maternity ward, the alarm went off and we were worried that maybe we still had on some kind of security
device, which would have been cool to see their security system working so well, but it turned out to be some kind of a fire
drill.
It was great bringing Danielle home. She is sleeping
in her bassinet while Mommy sleeps with her in Brandon's room, and Brandon is sleeping in his car bed in Daddy and Mommy's
room with Daddy. I can eat whatever and whenever and the food is good. I also don't have to worry about being
disturbed. The first 2 nights at home, Danielle was not letting me sleep much and preferred to be walked around while
carried, but now that Mommy's milk has come in, she is sleeping much better, although she has her days and nights mixed up!
Thursday night she woke me up every hour to feed and now she decides to sleep during the day although I am waking
her up every 3 hours since she weighed 5 lbs 4 oz at the doctor's on Thursday. Friday she slept a lot and during the night
my breasts were so full and hard from the breast milk coming in that I wanted her to wake up more often, but she slept 3 hours
each time before waking up to nurse. I had to pump some milk to alleviate the discomfort of my breasts, and it was good
I did that, because on Saturday, Bob fed her the pumped milk so I could sleep more. Saturday Bob also brought her and
Brandon to get some blood work. Danielle needed to check for jaundice. But after that, Danielle is eating well,
sleeping a lot, and the breasts are adjusting and not engorged anymore.
Brandon is so wonderful with Danielle. I was worried
he would be jealous but he's been great and loves her. It's helped that Bob is around and will be for another week to
play with Brandon and pay attention to him. When Brandon met Danielle at the hospital, he immediately started kissing
her and called her his "baby sister." When she cries, he says "baby crying", when she's nursing he says "baby
hungry", and she's sleeping he says "baby nap". He's always saying"hi baby". He constantly wants to kiss Danielle,
saying "kiss baby", and even held up his train James and said "baby have it!" On Saturday, I saw 2 of Brandon’s 2 stuffed animals
that he used to sleep with in with the baby in her bassinet. Brandon placed them
in there because she was sleeping! When we put her in the bouncer, Brandon will pull up the Elmo chair and sit next
to her!
One funny thing is after changing Danielle's diaper for
several days, when I changed Brandon again, he seems so huge now! His butt and legs are so big!
Comparing the babies:
The amazing thing is how similar
Brandon and Danielle's journey has been. Both babies dropped the same day (33 weeks, 49 days to go), I went into labor
around the same time, with the start of slightly painful contractions and both delivered 7 days early! Both babies were
19 inches and Danielle was 5 lbs 13 oz, which is 1.5 oz less than Brandon was, and my brother in law says that they are actually
the same weight with Brandon's genitals taking up the extra 1.5 oz!
Look at the incredible
similarities between Brandon and Danielle!
|
Brandon |
Danielle |
| Week baby dropped: |
33 weeks (49 days to go) |
33 weeks (49 days to go) |
| Duration of labor: |
About 7.5 hours |
About 5 hours |
| Week baby delivered: |
39 weeks (7 days to go) |
39 weeks (7 days to go) |
| Start of labor: |
3:50am |
sometime after 4am |
| Time of birth: |
11:13am |
9:20am |
| Length: |
19 inches |
19 inches |
| Weight: |
5 lbs 14.5 oz |
5 lbs 13 oz |
| Wendy's weight: |
145 lbs |
145 lbs |
Click here for more pictures of Danielle!
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