I probably don’t need to say this again but it is OH SO NICE not to be pregnant!

The few times we have left the house since Eloise was born, people always ask us how things are going with the second baby. Is it easier? More challenging? What’s the deal? I think the biggest thing that makes it easier is that we are a lot more comfortable this time around. We haven’t taken [...]

The contractions went on for literally hours at an insane intensity. At some point, my legs were completely numb and I felt like a helpless beached whale. Each time they moved me from side to side, I implored them to be careful with my legs as if they had never done this before. My cervix was not thinning and dialating as fast as they thought it would/should so at some point, they called the doctor and he recommended they give me some pitocin.

I questioned this logic. Like the breaking of my water, why did I need pitocin if my contractions were already crazy off the charts? The nurses kind of agreed so they said they would put it on the smallest dose available. Again, I felt I had somehow signed away my ability to make decisions regarding my birth process and gave in, not knowing if I even had an option not to comply.

I honestly don’t know that the pitocin did anything because the contractions continued like before, crazy close and off the chart. I have heard others talk about watching the contractions on the monitor and finding some humor in the fact that they could not feel them but I cannot say I was as light-hearted about the process. The one good thing (okay, two if you count the fact that I was not in pain) about the epidural was that it allowed me to get some much needed rest. Since we had not slept much the night before and since it was now looking like Saturday night was going to be long as well, I knew I needed to sleep. So I did and Andy said I appeared to be doing so quite peacefully.

When I wasn’t sleeping, there wasn’t much else I could do. They wouldn’t let me eat even though I was starving, which I understand since especially in the case of a VBAC, there is a risk of it turning to a c-section which I would not want food in my stomach for. I drank some soda and juices and it gave me the worse heartburn. I longed for an Oreo milkshake!

A 2011 study on the California program (California and New Jersey are the only two states with paid leave programs), funded exclusively by worker contributions, found that employers overwhelmingly report positive or neutral effects of the program on productivity, profitability, turnover, and employee morale.

Now that I have reprinted almost the entire article, it’s probably clear that this is one of few issues I get fired up on.

As I wrote almost two years ago, we learned from Andy’s Norwegein friend that Norway’s policies on maternity and paternity leave are such that between the two parental leaves combined, they get nearly a PAID year off of work. They have recently increased the amount of paternity leave so employers will be less inclined to favor hiring a man, since women have the potential of needing to take maternity leave. I believe they said with each child the woman gets nearly seven months maternity leave followed by nearly four months of paternity leave for the man. Then, after that is over, they have laws about how to reintroduce the child to daycare. The first day, they just take the baby there for an hour and then leave with the baby, just to get the child used to the new environment. Then, the next couple of days, they leave them for two hours and then pick them up. This easing in process lasts two to three weeks and the time the woman is away from work during this time is again, paid.

A few photos from Eloise’s birthday, Sunday, May 1st, 2011.

As Andy knew it would, it all worked out well and I soon found myself in a wheelchair holding Eloise in her carseat being wheeled to the hospital exit. Even though I was thrilled to be leaving the confines of a hospital room and bed, I am sure as any new parent can relate, I felt a lot of anxiety about leaving the hospital responsible for the welfare of such a tiny baby. I remember feeling almost exactly the same with Belén.

The safety net of everything is going to be okay is removed as soon as the glass doors swing open and the wheels of the chair roll over the threshold to the hospital bump…bump. A wave of panic came over me like, “I cannot believe they trust me to take this little human home and take care of her.” She is still not pooping and peeing. She spits up all of the time. What if I don’t know the right thing to do? What if she chokes on her spit up? And then there is this other adorable two-year-old to take care of. Not to mention the wacky post-delivery pregnancy hormones an actor in the scene as well.

It all added up to a major wave of self doubt and anxiety that nearly brought me to tears.

Miss Belén came to visit us in the hospital again yesterday. It was so good to see her it literally brought tears to my eyes. We are missing her! She has been a trooper staying in different homes, knocked off of her routine and without mom and dad around.

It’s been an interesting morning and we have learned a lot about expectations for baby’s weight loss and the number of dirty diapers in the days after birth and what happens when you are not falling within the bell curve norms. Probably a story for when I have a keyboard but in short I made friends with the lactation consultant and made her our advocate and things are definitely looking up.

I have spent a lot of time thinking and analyzing this entire hospital experience. If I wasn’t such a contingency planner knowing what I know now, something like a birth center is really appealing. Eloise’s birth would likely have ended up in a hospital regardless of where we started though so it’s kind of a moot point. My kids apparently like being born in hospitals. As the OB who delivered Eloise proclaimed, “It’s a good thing you were not a settler because you would have been left behind.”

Yesterday afternoon, Eloise started coughing up what the nurses and doctor think is amniotic fluid in her stomach ingested during labor. It’s always so freaky when something goes wrong with such a tiny human being, especially when you are their parent. The coughing seems to have mostly subsided which is a huge relief. Hopefully she has coughed all of it up.

We had her sleep in the nursery last night and just be brought to us for feedings as we didn’t trust ourselves in our overly tired state to take care of her if she was choking and we didn’t hear it or something. Then again, I consistently woke up about 10 minutes before they brought her to me so I think my motherly instinct would make sure she was okay despite any level of fatigue.

It turns out they mean business when they say the child has to pee in the first 24 hours. She hadn’t and the doctor wanted to give her formula. I fought the issue as I really don’t want to introduce a bottle or formula at this stage and they agreed to Pedialyte in a syringe to ensure she is not dehydrated. As we finished the first syringe, she presented her first very wet diaper.

We got to the point where contractions were more intense and about 7:30 minutes apart around 3:30am. Auntie Erin was called to come stay with Belén and Andy packed our bags in the truck. Then contractions slowed down and even stopped for a period of time. A nice respite that allowed me to get a [...]

Today is Eloise’s due date and I am 40 weeks pregnant. I am not sure if Eloise was just waiting for this day to come or if it had something to do with the two acupuncture appointments Wednesday and Thursday or the third and final membrane stripping Friday around noon, but we finally have progress of the uterine kind. We are not headed to the hospital just yet but I am having contractions lasting about 45 seconds each about 10:30 minutes apart.

They hurt.

Andy appears to be sleeping sounding through them.

That is about all I am going to say right now. Wish us luck! Maybe our little girl will come on her due date!