It is so crazy to me that we now have two children (and under TWO!). Labor and delivery is such a beautiful process to me and its a process I spend my entire pregnancy picturing and thinking about and preparing for. So here is our second baby's birth story!
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| The evening of February 7, 2015. |
The morning of February 8, 2015 (her due date), I woke up at 5:30 a.m. with some cramping. The cramping started to get pretty intense and timeable, so I decided I should get out of bed. For the previous two weeks we had be staying with my parents in Topeka to be closer to my hospital and Kinnley would already be with my mom, so we were downstairs in my sister's room. I went to the bathroom and had a bowel movement and the cramping was continuing at 6 minutes apart. Around 6:00 a.m. I woke Zach up and told him we should head to the hospital. My contractions were getting more and more intense and closer together. I went upstairs and got my mom, so she could come downstairs with Kinnley. Zach decided that while my contractions were about 5 and half minutes apart that he should install the baby's car seat, ha! We finally headed toward the hospital, about 20 minutes away. My contractions were still very manageable and I was able to breath through them. When we went to get off the turnpike, the attendant was across the lane talking to another turnpike attendant. They were laughing and finished their conversation before she came over to take our ticket and money! It was very frustrating to Zach, but all I could do was laugh. It's all part of our special girl's birth story.
We got parked and in to the hospital and when I got checked in they decided to admit me (obviously). I had to sign some paper and I ended up putting the date on the signature line and signing on the date line, all while I was swaying back and forth through a contraction. We met our first nurse who was the absolute sweetest. I got changed and laid down in the bed. When they checked my dilation I was at 7 cm, my water had yet to break. My doctor arrived very shortly after I did. He came in and sat and talked with us while I was still breathing through contractions. I would just close my eyes and breath through them and then go back to talking with Zach and my doctor. They were both very impressed that I was still joking between contractions. Dr. Johanning informed me that another doctor would be in to observe the birth since he was still new at this hospital. He joked that he had actually attended more births than the doctor who would be in to observe him. My water still hadn't broken and I was about to 8 cm dilated. We talked about waiting for it to break or letting my doctor break it. While we were talking I said "I don't think we have to break it." Dr. Johanning replied, "That's fine, its your call." and I said, "No, I mean it just broke!" HA! So that started to speed things up. I had to turn over on to my side for about 15 minutes to get the baby to turn. I had to do the same thing during Kinnley's birth and that is when my contractions started to get really painful. The same was true for this birth. It worked very quickly to help my labor along. I started to feel like I needed to push so I informed my doctor and the nurse. He asked me to try to breath through those contractions and not push while he gowned up. I was able to breath through the first one but by the second one I was pushing. There is something about those contractions that just take over your body and you can't control the pushing. Ten minutes of pushing and our baby girl arrived. Anniston Mae was born February 8, 2015 at 9:48 a.m. weighing 8 lbs and 11 oz and 20 inches long. My mom was able to run up to the room and make it in right before Anniston was born, so she was able to attend both births! Kinnley and my step dad and my sister were waiting down stairs and came up not long after she was born. While my doctor was cleaning me up and I was enjoying some skin to skin with Anniston, I told the attending doctor about how he was saying he was more experienced than she was. The whole room burst out laughing. It was really the atmosphere of the whole birth experience, light and fun and laughing and calm and I couldn't have imagined it more perfectly. When Anniston came out, the first thing every one said was "WOW! She's big!" and we expected her to be since Kinnley weighed 9 lbs 11 oz. Needless to say, we were surprised when she weighed in a whole pound less! One of my favorite parts of the day was Zach coming over to me while the nurses had her on the warming bed and telling me that Anniston has the cutest dimples!
We are still so in love with her and her dimples and big sister couldn't be more thrilled. We knew it would be one of two ways, that she would either have nothing to do with her or she would be in her face and over-loving. Kinnley is definitely a lover, she is always giving hugs and kisses and loving on her little sister. I cannot wait to watch their relationship grow!
