The day started like any other. The sound of little feet running into my room. Then the squeaky, semi-asleep voice of big sister whispering "mama, mama". I felt her climb up onto the bed and say "hi mama". I was still very sleepy and not wanting to get up yet. So Char and I went to the living room and "rock rocked". Our daily routine continued on. I made some breakfast. Don't remember what it was I made. Could've been as easy as cereal, or as complex as toasting a bagel ;). We then hunkered down in the rocking chair for a little while. Charleigh was a little more cuddly that morning than normal and just wanted to sit with mommy. We watched some Bubble Guppies
(Char watched. I took a little snooze).
I left sister on the chair to finish up her show so I could take a shower. We had a midwife appointment scheduled to see how baby was doing. I hopped in the shower and about 5 minutes later saw the shower curtain being pulled away. Charleigh apparently wanted to join in! So I let her :) She jumped right in and started giggling. She loves taking showers with us-but rarely gets to. So this was a special treat. I held Char for a little while and we giggled with each other, talked to baby in mommy's tummy, and I couldn't have been happier with my two girls at that moment- thinking of what it was going to be like once baby sister was here. The pure excitement and joy that came to Charleigh's face every time we mentioned baby sister. And how she would pat my tummy and whisper "hi baby sisser" then kiss it ever so gently.
That is what melts a mother’s heart right there.
I climbed out of the shower, but Char did not want to, so I let her play in the bathtub while I got ready. We laughed and chatted while I put my make-up on and did my hair. Then we put our clothes on, jumped in the car, and headed out to meet Jon for our appointment.
At the appointment I was asked if I wanted to be checked-to see if labor was anywhere close to starting. I thought-sure, why not? But I didn’t want anything else. There were things they could do to “help” maybe start labor-but my birthday was the next day. Jon, Charleigh and I had plans to go hiking and spend the day together-and I didn’t really want to share or spend my birthday in a hospital!
(now looking back I don’t know what I was thinking-because I wouldn’t have wanted to spend my birthday any other way than with holding our newest addition in my arms.)
So the midwife talked to us for a while, asked how I was feeling, etc. etc. She found out it was my birthday the next day and laughed saying to relax and enjoy my birthday-giving me the hint that labor probably wasn’t close, especially since I was 39 weeks and with Charleigh I had been 6 days overdue! She checked to see what my progress was. I was a little (ok, a lot) bummed when I heard 1cm and 20% effacement. I was hoping I would be a little more than that (especially since I had been having pretty intense Braxton hicks for the past 2 weeks.) It was at that point that I came to the conclusion I was going to be late, again. And I came to terms with it. Another week at the least-and at the most 2 more weeks.
I can do this.
Wynnie- you were fine and cozy in there, and that was ok with me. Towards the end I was thinking you would come early-but that day I figured I was probably wrong.
So we headed out-dropped daddy off at work, then headed to get a carwash! Sadly daddy wasn’t with us for this one-but I was thankful that this time I wasn’t in labor like when we went right before Char was born. We went through the car wash, and I vacuumed all the seats and floors while Charleigh watched. She loves going through the carwash!
After that we drove home, looking forward to that nap time!. Well, Char decided to boycott a nap that day and it drove me a little batty. I was exhausted and wanted to take a tiny rest myself-plus I had been a little on edge all day for some reason.
(now knowing the reason was probably the onset of labor and hormone surges!!)
Everything was making me crazy! And throw a sleepy, cranky, 2 year old in the mix-not a great day!
I was counting down the minutes until Jon walked through the door. However, I did get some extra cuddles with Charleigh while I tried to rock her to sleep. But she kept opening her eyes and smiling at me-and I, of course, couldn’t resist but smile back. So we rocked for a while, then I laid in her room while she played with all her toys. (She actually was in a descent mood for not taking a nap that day!)
Then daddy came home! Yipppeeee!! He needed to go to the store for some dinner items. Char went with him, and I got a glorious 45 minute nap!! While laying down I felt uncomfortable, a little crampy, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t been feeling for the past couple weeks, so I just ignored it.
Jon and Charleigh came back from the store and we started on dinner. Sweet corn risotto, and my dear husband of mine bought a steak for him to eat, since I hadn't been a fan of the stuff for the past 9 months. Funny how pregnancy changes one's food tendencies. Charleigh played outside while Jon cooked his steak, and I stood over the stove stirring, and stirring, and stirring the risotto. We were in a little bit of a rush because Jon was taking me out to dessert that evening (or so I thought) for my birthday!
As I was stirring the risotto I felt a little pop/gush come out-and onto my underwear. I looked at Jon with big eyes and said “woah, that was weird!” He asked me what had happened and I said I didn’t know. I thought it was weird, but that maybe it was just extra “stuff” from the exam I had been given earlier. So I went to the bathroom and put a pad on. In the back of my head I was thinking “this is what Jill said it felt like….and I think my water just broke…but it can’t happen tonight…I have too much planned for the rest of the week!” AND I had just gotten into the mindset that we weren't going to have this baby early!
Then I came out and kept stirring my risotto. Another gush-this time bigger. I was in complete denial, but still had to mention it to Jon. “Jonny, I THINK my water just broke. This isn’t just extra lube from the exam-I think it’s more than that.” My underwear and the pad were soaked through this time. As I went back to the bathroom something kept leaking out. I sat down and called my mom.
Me: “Hi mom….so….I think my water broke”
Mom: “What do you mean you THINK?”
Me: “Well, I’m not sure, but something keeps trickling out. But don’t come right away-it may not be my water.”
Mom: “That sounds exactly like your water breaking. I’m coming now.”
Me: “Ok…but I don’t want to you come for nothing. I’ll let you know what happens.”
Mom: “I’m coming now.”
Me, still in complete denial. Not wanting to go to the hospital because contractions hadn’t started, but probably needing to go to the hospital because that’s what the midwives said I should do as soon as soon as my water breaks. Plus I was group B positive and they needed to give me antibiotics before baby came.
Jon was in a mad fluster, running around doing last minute projects he said he needed to do. I looked at him and asked if we could still go out for dessert? ;) He gave me a “you’re kidding, right?” look and said "no". Oh well, it was worth a shot! I still wanted my birthday dessert!!
Jenna came over to watch Char Char while we got everything packed up to go to the hospital-meanwhile the gushing continued-but I was still in denial, thinking that once we got to the hospital I would have to come right back home.
Charleigh was a wild thing that evening, from not getting a nap and from having Jenna over (who she kept running to, grabbing her leg saying “come on, Jenna, come on!” wanting her to play in her room). Thankful Jenna was there to help distract the little nugget!
Jenna decided to leave for a little while to give us some last family time with Char. I wanted to put Charleigh down before we left for the hospital, one last time before we became a family of four. Charleigh and Jon took a walk outside (it was probably 9 by now-but she was doing so well we decided to be selfish and keep her up a little longer). They went to go see the moon (which was a full moon!-should I blame that for my early labor?) and she LOVED it. She wouldn’t stop talking about the moon once she got inside! Then it was time for bed. I wrapped my Charleigh Grace in my arms and rocked her to sleep…then rocked her a little more. I wasn’t sure how all this was going to work out-bringing another little one into the family. To be honest I had been an emotional wreck over it the past week. Fears swelling up inside me. How was I going to love another one as much as I do Char? I’m sure every mom goes through those fears at some point during a second pregnancy. It’s crazy business looking back and realizing that the worrying was all for nothing (like it usually is), and that God had his hand in it all (like he always does). So there I was, rocking Charleigh, watching her fall into a deep sleep. Memorizing all her little features, kissing her little nose and cheeks, and praying that the adjustment for her would be smooth. Then it was time to finally put her to sleep. I laid her down and snuck out of the room. It was at this time that I decided to wait a little longer before heading to the hospital. My water had broken around 6/6:30ish and it was now probably 9:20ish. No contractions, but I was achy and crampy in my lower back. I decided to just sit down and relax. It was then that my contractions finally began. They were about 3-5 minutes apart, and about 45 seconds long. Not super painful, but enough to slap me out of my denial that my water had not broken. Jon wanted me to eat something-so I said frozen yogurt. Probably not the best decision, but it sure was yummy! He made it there with a whole 5 minutes to spare before they closed. Good job Jonny!! During this time Jenna returned to watch Char through the night. When she arrived it was like my body froze. The contractions started getting further apart. I had heard of this happening, but didn’t think it would that evening since they had been coming so regular for the past hour/hour and a half. But they definitely slowed down while I chatted away. Then Jonny came home with my frozen yogurt-mmmmmm! Yummy yummy. I think I had been delaying going to the hospital…ok ok, I knew I had been delaying it. But now was the time to head out. It was about 10:45 and my mom was almost to the hospital anyway. I snuck in one last time to see Char Char, gave her a kiss, and whispered “I love you”.
On our way to the hospital I had a couple contractions, but nothing intense, and still spaced out. We arrived at the hospital, met up with my mom, checked in, and got to our room. The nurse prepared me for an IV (because I tested positive for group b strep-and had to get antibiotics). Then she did a test to see if my water had in fact broken. And sure enough, the test came back positive! So we hunkered down for a long evening ahead. My contractions at this point had completely stopped. I was a little frustrated by this-and hoped that I wouldn’t have to be induced at some point-all the time wondering why my once consistant and strong contractions had all of a sudden stopped?! The nurse gave me 2 benadryl to try and help me sleep, which I thought was going to be easy since I had no contractions and was just waiting around. Once the hustle and bustle of the check in process was done and the nurse left me alone, the contractions started up again. I looked at the clock to see what time it was. I remember it being past 12 and saying “hey, it’s my birthday!” It then dawned on me that I was definitely going to have this little one on my birthday! I thought that was crazy. (And with all the paperwork they had me fill out-I realized I had dated everything 8-22-86, and not 8-22-13. Ha!) Crazy.
Well, my mom decided to go to the car to get some rest since things were moving slowly-and Jon busted out the chair sleeper. He was out in a matter of minutes. Leaving me to my thoughts-and realizing there was no way I was going to sleep-shouldn’t have taken that stinkin Benadryl! The contractions started up and kept getting stronger and stronger. I had to pee every 10 minutes it seemed, and everytime I got up a contraction would stop me in my tracks. I decided I couldn’t sit in the bed any longer and wanted a medicine ball. I labored on that for a while, and that was not so fun-but it felt better than laying in the bed. As I labored I remember looking up at the TV and watching Duck Dynasty. HA. I needed a distraction-and I guess this was as good as any-but soon it was over so I flipped the TV off. By now it was around 2 and the contractions were very strong and painful. Jon woke up to me moaning through a contraction and jumped up, realizing he had been out for a while! I labored more on the ball then had to climb back in bed to get monitored. It was about 3:30-and the nurse decided to check me. 3cm and 50% effacement. Complete let down. That was ALL!? With Charleigh I had been a 3-4 when I checked in (made me realize the bummer of having to come in early and not have the comfort of my own home to labor in for awhile) . And these contractions were way harder than any I had felt with her! That’s when I let go and said “EPIDURAL PLEASE!!”.
I went into this birth with an open mind about it all. Not saying I wanted it to go one way or the other. But wanted to have the option of the epidural. Looking back, I don’t know why I would think that I wouldn’t ask for the epidural while in that much pain and having the option of taking that pain away at my fingertips! Especially since I had tasted the sweet relief it offered with Charleigh! For some reason I felt I had something to prove and needed to do this all naturally. But I caved-and asked for the drugs! Who was I kidding?! And I was, and still am, convinced that having my water break made things way more intense and painful.
It took about 30-40 minutes before the anesthesiologist came-and those were some painful minutes! I think if they would’ve checked me again before the epidural I would’ve been dilated more, because those contractions were more intense than anything I have ever felt. During the epidural my mom came back into the room. The anesthesiologist did his thing-during which I had 3 major contractions. Not easy sitting completely still while having ONE contraction, let alone THREE! I thought I was going to die! But I knew the relief was on its way, and was going to be well worth it. The anesthesiologist stayed for about 20 minutes-chatting it up with my mom. We found out he grew up in Visalia, and so they went off on a little mini reunion of sorts-figuring out the people they knew in common. Meanwhile I am laying in the bed thinking “I thought I got an epidural…why can I still feel excruciating pain!!”. He said that the epidural wasn’t meant to block all pain, and that it couldn’t be directed in anyway. My right side was still feeling pain, but not in any way that it had been. My left side, however, was feeling every bit of those contractions! But because my right side pain was dulled a little by the epidural, the contractions were so much more manageable even though I felt complete pain in my left side. I had some relief, yes, but I was still having to breathe through each contraction-and it still hurt like a mother!! With my last epidural I couldn’t feel a thing! With this one I could still move my legs, still feel. However, the pain on my right side was definitely less significant than what was happening on my left. It felt like I was being stabbed, kicked, punched, all at once everytime a contraction came.
Around 6:50 am the nurse came in to re position my monitors. She decided to check me-and that’s when all hell broke loose! She said I was at a 10, but that they might want me to labor down for a little before I start to push. She then asked if I had any pressure, and I said no. I didn’t have any urge to push, just feeling the contractions a lot.
( I was given my own button to push for more epidural medicince to be injected in when I thought I needed more…I think the max you could do in an hour was 3…I’m pretty sure I hit that button 10 times!)
As soon as she was done checking me a contraction came and I felt the strongest urge to push! I yelled “I’m ready, I’m ready! I have to push! I can’t stop!” But the nurse told me I would have to breathe through the urge to push (which, let me tell you, is no walk in the park). They called the midwife and told her to get down there asap! I don’t know how many contractions I had-but it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do physically. My body was telling me to push this baby out, but I couldn’t! Argh! Then baby’s heart rate dropped significantly and people started rushing about. I’m not to clear on the details, seeing that all my focus was on keeping this baby from coming-but I could tell the nurse was worried. She made me switch positions-which gave me excruciating pain-but no one seemed to care-they were all focused on baby (which seeing now was the best thing possible!) but at the time I wanted people to help my pain gosh darnit! ;) They gave me oxygen to help with baby’s heartrate.
Then, I saw the light! My midwife walked through the door! Wahooooo! She got everything ready-meanwhile I’m laying on the bed huffing and puffing through more contractions (I’m still in shock that my body didn’t just push her out!!). Jon told me to take deeper, longer breaths( he was worried about me hyperventilating)-and he got an earful from me! I couldn't, or else the baby was coming out! So don't tell me how to breathe!! (I didn't actually say that, but boy was I thinking it. I just gave him the "shut your mouth and don't tell me what to do" glare. Safe to say I think he got the point).
And then it was go time! Allison (my midwife) had me do a couple pushes before one of my contractions. Not sure why-but I wasn’t going to have her explain at that moment! I was just happy to get some relief and push! She had me laying on my back, legs in the stirrups-but there was no grunting, no pulling my legs past my head like a circus act, etc. Allison brought such a calm presence into the room that I just looked her straight in the eye the whole time. She brought a peace to the entire experience, to which I'm more than great fail for. I gave a couple pushes with 2-3 of my contractions and she coached me when to slow down/push less, so that baby could ease out. Allison asked if I wanted to feel the head coming-I quickly shook my head no and gave her a look like “come on, let’s get this show on the road!” I could feel baby coming with each contraction and push. Yes, it hurt like crazy, but I also loved that I could FEEL! With Charleigh I couldn’t feel a thing-couldn’t tell of my progress while pushing. With this baby I could actually tell I was making progress. Eventhough I was in pain, I would much rather feel than be completely numb like I was the first time around. So with those pushes I had one last contraction where she didn’t have me push at all-and out came her head! I knew this because my mom and Jon had such an amazed look on their faces and huge smiles. And then I felt the rest of her come into the world. At 7:18 am, all 6 lbs 3 oz of her was finally here-my beautiful baby girl; laying on my tummy and looking all around and this brand new world of hers. Our sweet, sweet Wynnie Joy.
*The name had been chosen quite early on in the pregnancy-but we hadn’t decided on a spelling for it. I liked Wynnie. Jon liked Winnie.*
I finally looked up at him and said i or y? Without hesitation, not taking his eyes off of our baby girl, he said y.
Wynnie it was!
The best birthday gift I could ever be given. I had been afraid to share my birthday with anyone-but now I couldn’t imagine her being born any other day. What a special bond we will share!
My eyes were blurry from tears that just couldn’t be stopped. I looked up at my Jonny and he had tears running down his cheeks. Another beautiful, healthy baby girl! And she was so tiny! I knew as soon as they laid her on me that she was smaller than her big sister. And she had so much hair!! I cuddled her and reveled in her beauty with my mom and Jon while they “fixed me up downstairs” ;)
At the time of the birth I didn’t realize, but apparently the umbilical cord was trying to come out before baby. This is why her heart rate kept dropping significantly-and they even brought a group of people in to attend to her in case she needed it. I had noticed a lot more people in the room before I started pushing-but at that moment I didn’t care if I was broadcasted on national television…this baby needed to come out! I am so thankful for Allison being calm through it all, as well as the nurses, and coaching me on what I needed to do. I had no idea how serious things could have been-but that, of course, was probably their goal. And in the end, when she came out, they laid her on my chest and all was well!
Another sweet, glorious, miracle laying on me. How very blessed Jon and I are with these two precious girls of ours.
Charleigh came in later that morning to meet her little sister. I almost broke down again-my sweet two year old looked so big. I was now a mommy of two, and I felt an overwhelming joy fill my heart.
Thank you Lord for your blessings on our little family. Thank you for my husband, who is always by my side-looking out for our best interests, guiding us by your word and wisdom. Thank you for the strong willed, blue eyed little girl you blessed us with two years ago. Thank you for our newest member of the Foley family-quiet, laid back, tiny little sister. I can already tell how different their personalities are-and it amazes me! God, you are so very good, all the time. Help me to sing your praises often. Help Jon and I to raise our children in the way you want-to help them develop into strong women of Christ-with hearts that yearn for you.
Wynnie Joy-we are so excited that we were chosen to be your parents. We promise to love you with all our hearts, to teach you the best we know how, and to say I love you often. I can already tell you have a quiet spirit, and a kind heart. You are very observant, and love to sleep (well, for now) ;). We are excited to see you in the role of little sister-and to watch you grow with your big sister Charleigh. We love you so very much sweet baby girl.
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