We're not talking that kind of labor day, we're talking the kind where baby(ies) come shooting out of you or better yet are lifted out by some medical professional. Everyone likes a good labor story (centimeters, contractions, etc.), but this time we want to hear about the one that brought you into the Baby Bunching world. The one where you had to beg a neighbor to take Big Baby because Little Baby was arriving earlier than expected or the one where Big Baby had to be stashed with Nana (away from you for the first time) while you dealt with this labor game all over again.
Everyone loves a good birth story so we want to hear yours. Hope you all had a fabulous Labor Day weekend.
The H1N1 stars aligned for me the second go-around. After the terrible and, for lack of better terms, traumatic birth of my first son less than a year earlier, my new OB proposed a scheduled c-section. Because of the H1N1 scare, I could only have two guests during my entire stay at the hospital (no children under 18 either), and having the birth of my daughter set on the calendar took away so much stress.
We have no family near by and I was able to book my mom a plane ticket to help care for my then 11 month old (who I had never spent a night away from). I don't know what we would have done if I would have had to go into labor naturally. Not an exciting story, but to this day I feel so grateful it worked out the way it did.
Posted by: Amanda | Sep 07, 2010 at 03:08 PM
"At what point do I pull the car over and call 911?" This is what my husband was thinking on our way to the hospital for baby #2.
I had sent him to work that morning, despite waking up off and on during the night with contractions. They were sporadic, and I had been having Braxton-Hicks for a week (resulting in already being dialated 4cm). So off to work he went, and me and my big baby, aged 16 months, stayed home to do the laundry.
The contractions seemed markedly different at 10 am, so I tried to time them for the next forty minutes. In the meantime, I called my midwife, just to double check when would be a good time to go in, since a 5-minute spacing was probably not enough for a second baby already 4cm dialeted.
By 10:40 I was pretty sure this was the real thing. It took me all that time to figure this out because I didn't want to bother anyone, and since my first baby was induced and I never had to make the "Let's go to the hospital" call.
Unfortunately, time was not on my side. My parents had a 45 minute drive to come and watch the big baby. My husband had a 40 minute drive to come pick me up. Once everyone converged at my apartment, we had a 30 minute drive to the hospital.
Time dragged on and on as I waited for everyone to arrive and tried to act normal. I kept folding clothes, but it was getting increasingly hard to even walk from room to room with the frequency of my contractions. By the time I was headed out the door to the hospital, I couldn't even make it down a flight of stairs without having to stop to wait out the next crest.
I barely remember the ride to the hospital. My eyes were closed and I was focused on breathing and getting through it all. We arrived at the door just as a sweet little family (mom, dad, two kids and a new baby) was coming out. I pray I didn't traumatize them as I waited for a wheelchair to shuttle me in.
We arrived at the hospital around noon, and my husband didn't have to deliver the baby in the car. But almost. Our baby #2 was born less than half an hour later!
Posted by: Rachel O. | Sep 07, 2010 at 03:52 PM
Hehe just delivered my 3rd baby so it's nice to go back four years to my 2nd!
My first daughter Sophie was 10 months old when were blessed with our second pregnancy. Following an emergency C-section with Sophie, and given the closeness in pregnancies I decided to take the offer of elective C-section for my second birth. Little Sophie was scheduled to have a sleepover at her Gran and Pops, something she already loved doing.
Plans change however! In retrospect the change wasn't too drastic, but following a sickness bug at 37 weeks I went into spontaneous labour. At first I wasn't convinced it was labour as I had very little pain, but when I was examined at hospital I was already 5cm. We had called Gran to come and babysit Sophie at home, the hospital brought the C-section forward and Imogen was delivered that night.
I was offered the option of labouring & trying to deliver vaginally, BTW, but I chose the C-section instead...and waited until 3rd time round to go into spontaneous labour at 38 weeks, and have a VBA2C (vaginal birth after 2 caesareans)...our baby #3, Rebecca Mary, is 5 weeks old today! Not so closely bunched, but still a bunch :-)
Posted by: Natasha | Sep 08, 2010 at 08:09 AM
My second son was born 3 1/2 weeks early, just like my first son was. Both were born at 36 weeks, 3 days. We were lucky the second time around because my husband's parents happened to be in town and were able to keep our then 16 month old home, along with my then 10 year old stepdaughter. Just like my first baby, I was lying in bed, minding my own business, and my water just broke about 5:30 AM. We headed to the hospital, and I didn't start having contractions until I got the Pitocin. (Although now I wish I had refused it.) My son was born at 2:45 that afternoon. He was 7lb 13oz 21.5" long!! (His big brother was 7lb 12oz 20" long.) They are both beautiful and healthy, and even though there have been some tough times with kids that young spaced so closely, I wouldn't change a thing!
Posted by: Cheryl | Sep 09, 2010 at 10:20 AM