Mallory's birth story

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. :) It is pretty bizarre to be back here again with a newborn (though I mean that in the best possible way). Right now I have a load of baby laundry in the dryer, and all I can hear is all the snaps on the clothes banging around the drum. Total sense of deja vu.

Anyway, my water broke around 2:30 on Monday afternoon, while Chad was out running errands for Liam's birthday party. I called him on his cell phone to let him know. It was lucky he even had his phone with him - I think we had both been on such high alert for so long that we had let our guards down, and I don't think he believed me the first time I told him why I wanted him to come home. I started having contractions within about half an hour of my water breaking, and they picked up in intensity a lot faster than they did with Liam (YAY!) By 4 we had called Chad's parents to ask them to come get Liam, and we left for the hospital shortly after 5. I was still thinking of last time, and how I'd made zero progress upon reporting to the hospital then, even though I'd been having contractions for 12 hours. I was really hoping to not repeat that.

As we walked in the revolving hospital door, Chad asked me if my position on the epidural had changed, and I said I still wasn't planning on having one. We went up to the maternity wing and the same nurse we had with Liam was still on duty at the desk. She knew we were supposed to be back for the induction on Tuesday morning, and when she heard I was already in labour she said they already had a room set aside for us the following day, so there was no waiting time in triage. She asked up front whether I was planning to have an epidural or not, I said no, and the subject never came up again. Which I think was good - it would have been a lot easier to take had it been offered, but it never even really crossed my mind to ask for it.

Needless to say, things moved a lot faster this time around. In some ways my labours were pretty similar (i.e. the puking, and the fact that the same nurse had to blow a bunch of veins again so that it took 4 tries to get the IV started) and in some they weren't (the gas seemed wonderful this time, and last time I hated it; I also had a lot more back labour this time around). I know time is supposed to dull memory, but I honestly do think this labour was more painful than Liam's. I don't know if that's because it was so condensed, because I don't really remember how bad it was with him, but I can say now that if I'd had Mallory before having Liam, I'd have been a lot less sure about not wanting the epidural for baby #2. It was wonderful having the whole process, from first contraction to last, over in less than six hours; but it provided very little time to regroup between contractions. There were long (at least to me) stretches when there was no break between contractions and I thought I would lose my mind. I remember the nurses asking questions at these times and being unable to comply with their instructions or even answer until the contraction ended.

During the first couple of hours at the hospital, progress seemed like it might be slow again, but the last hour was super quick and I felt the urge to push long before I expected to. I never had this feeling with Liam, but there was no mistaking it this time. It took about the same number of contractions/pushes for Mallory to be born, but it went by much quicker because the contractions were on top of each other. My first thought upon seeing her was how much she looked like Liam (right down to the big swollen nose). To me, she looks exactly as he did at this age, except that (a) her hair is straight instead of curly and (b) she has Chad's eyes and Liam has mine. In other words... she is the spitting female image of Chad. Heaven help us.

Warning... TMI part of the story: although Mallory came out super fast, it took a long time to deliver the placenta, and it came out in bad shape. As a result, Dr. Bailey expressed some concern that I might have retained some fragments and might be facing a D&C in the near future. They told me to watch out for any flu-like symptoms or for my milk not coming in as signs. I think we are out of the woods now... I was not exactly looking forward to another hospital stint this week.

So... there you have it. We spent Monday and Tuesday nights at the hospital, and came home early Wednesday morning. Mallory was pretty drowsy, which has been nice for us - I think Liam missed us while we were gone, and her sleeping so much is allowing us to spend some good one on one time with him. But she's coming around now, so the real fun begins. :) She is feeding well and is back up to 8 lbs as of today. Liam is doing great (so far - I realize this might not last). Whenever she is out of his sight he asks where she is. He hasn't woken up at night when she cries yet. He likes getting up on a stool next to her change table to help change diapers. He also repeats things he hears people say... he is always commenting on how small her hands are. I don't think he came up with that one on his own. :)

I have had another good recovery (again, so far) - no damage, no need to be sewn up again afterward. The afterpains have been excruciating at times, but just as the books predicted, they eased up after the first 48 hours. Thank goodness!!

Today is Liam's birthday so I'm off now to play trains with him. We got him a train table and wooden track set and so far he's loving it. There is such a huge difference between a newborn and a two year old!!