It was Monday, March 26, and I was finally done with everything for my doctorate degree. My thesis was turned in, all the final formatting changes were done. I had sent the final pieces of data to my mentor for the resubmission of my paper. With everything complete, I was ready to enjoy the last few days of rest before Kenley's due date on March 30. I had a nice, quiet, relaxing day and loved every minute of it!
Sometime during the evening, I started feeling contractions. I have been having Braxton-Hicks contractions regularly for weeks and even though once before that I might be starting labor. These weren't painful, but they were becoming more regular. We got Miss T to bed and started to think about the plans we might be making that night for babysitters.
By 10:00pm, my contractions were about 6-8 minutes apart, but they still weren't painful. We figured B should get some sleep and I would start calling for babysitters to see who could come over. I got a hold of our friend Kathleen, who nannied for T last summer, and she said she would come right away. I got comfortable on the couch and tried to take my mind off the contractions.
Well, that worked so well that my contractions went from being 6 minutes apart to 13 minutes apart by the time Kathleen arrived. Sweet girl, she hung around with me for an hour, but the contractions became less frequent and barely discernible. By midnight, I sent her home, thinking that it wasn't going to be tonight. I went to bed, having not felt anything for over 30 minutes.
At 1:30am, my water broke. Just like with T, once my water broke, my contractions were fast and painful, about 2 minutes apart. Knowing how little time we had, B called Kathleen to come back and I called our neighbor to stay until Kathleen could get there. Withing half an hour we were at the hospital getting admitted. Between contractions, I informed the triage nurse of my status and they brought me right to a delivery room.
For about an hour, I dealt with the contractions, but I could feel them becoming more back labor than regular and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up. We made the decision to have an epidural. I did this with T too as her labor was all back labor. I remember with T how completely numb I was from the waist down and how I wished I could experience the delivery more, but without the pain. The anesthesiologist must have been able to read my mind, because while the pain was gone, I could still feel each contractions and very quickly I could feel a lot of pressure to push. I informed the nurse of this, and then another nurse, and again. When they checked me, it was clear I was ready to push and Kenley arrival was imminent.
With three pushes, Kenley's cries were heard and we were overjoyed. I was able to feel her head, shoulders, and legs come out. It was the perfect amount of sensation and the most ideal delivery I could ask for. She was placed immediately on my chest, all slimy and beautiful, her blue eyes taking in the world for the first time. I cried out of relief and joy.
At 4:37am, Tuesday, March 27th, after 3 hours, 7 minutes of labor, our beautiful daughter was here! She measured 18 3/4 inches long, and was 5 lbs 13 oz. She nursed right away, like a champ, and we were able to spend a good amount of time together before she was taken to the nursery for a thorough exam. We were the proud parents of a second healthy little girl!
