So I am a couple of days late on sharing this story. Our youngest had her second birthday on May 28th! We celebrated by camping in the woods with no service! So without further ado, here is the whirlwind of events that helped bring our beautiful second baby girl into this crazy world.
A little precursor of events…
We had moved into a new home and were in it for about 8 months, when we had the first thaw of Spring. It was a dramatic and quick thaw, and it poured rain…..this lead us to learn that our gutters aimed right into our window wells! Lucky for us we were already renovating the bedrooms in the basement so we were able to catch it before it flooded too badly. Fast forward to May, 9 months pregnant working rigorously to finish the bedrooms in the basement so that we could move Kyler downstairs and finish the nursery for our baby. Now, at this point we did not know what we were having, as we decided to keep this one a surprise since we had a girl and a boy already, our little tie-breaker. So there we are on Memorial Day weekend, painting and putting finishing touches together when we hear a *gurgle glub glub. Oh joy, that’s our main sewer line backing up into our basement! We rushed to try to vacuum it up and shut off the water. I was devastated. (With it being a holiday weekend, we had troubles finding any plumbing company that was available. We went ahead with a company that could snake it for a temporary fix, even though we were not fond of them, but that’s another story.)
We were a week out from baby’s due date, and I had been up and down the stairs all day long carrying out buckets of water and drying floors. Night quickly approached and I went to bed exhausted. At about two in the early AM I began to get contractions. With all of my previous pregnancies I got Braxton Hicks contractions very frequently. At this point I assumed that’s all it was and tried to go back to sleep (okay, I knew it was more than that, but I was in denial). I was not ready for baby to come! My house was in ruins, and no fix in site due to the holiday! I got up and drank some water, again thinking it was nothing and deciding I was just dehydrated and water would help. It did not. I rolled and walked for about 2 more hours trying to shake it off. I finally decided these were in fact, the real thing (and in hindsight, probably my fault for self inducing due to the stress and stair climbs 🙂 ), and began to put my hospital bag together. There I was, tears of despair falling onto baby clothes as I shuffled them in the bag, hoping it was not time but also sad that when the kids woke I would be gone. One thing they don’t tell you about having a second or third child, is the guilt you feel bringing another sibling into the picture, and that they might feel a little less loved. I gently woke my husband and told him it was time.
Another side note
An important one at that, just to add to the chaos. At about 7 months pregnant, we had learned that our OB was moving from the office he was a part of to start his own practice. This meant that during the transition he couldn’t see us temporarily for licensing reasons. The office he was leaving wouldn’t tell us where he was moving to, but luckily we found out on our own.
Okay so back to D day, on our way to the hospital. Daylight is breaking and it’s about 6 in the morning. We make it to the hospital, which was undergoing renovations at the time, so I had to waddle my ass, in full contractions down a long hallway and up an elevator to the birthing unit. Why didn’t I just accept a wheelchair ride you ask? I’m too damn stubborn I suppose! I got to the room and got all hooked up. I really wanted to do this one un-medicated, so I kept fighting through each contraction. It got to the point that I didn’t know if I could take that level of pain for however much longer it might take, so I said I might want one. The nurse was really supportive of me wanting to go natural and she said that’s fine but do you want to see how far along you are dilated just in case? I said yes and when she checked she let me know that there was no more waiting and we were ready to go. Lo and behold, right as the nurses were prepping in walked my doctor! It just so happened that the day I went into labor was the same day that he started with his own practice. As soon as he walked in BAM! Major contraction. My husband greeted him and they started chatting. As they were catching up I had another MAD big contraction, when I felt my water break and, was that the head? So husband and doc were chatting in one corner, a nurse in the other corner trying to prep, and me on the table with what I was 99% sure was a head making its way out and I say, ‘I think I feel the head’……. nothing. Again I say ‘I think I feel the head’. Taylor finally goes ‘What? The head?’. The doctor comes to check and gasps and says it sure is! Then he asked Taylor if he still wanted to deliver (he helped deliver our previous baby). As he was asking I had another contraction and I could not hold back, this baby wanted out! The doctor did not even have time to glove or gown up, only Taylor had gloves on and with just one push, out came this bound and already very determined child of mine.
The calm after the storm, as they say
I can’t even tell you. I sat there so overwhelmed, after having just felt the entire birth, watching Taylor hold our newborn. I was so, so anxious to know what we had. I hear our doctor say, “Okay dad what is it?!”. Taylor says, “It’s a girl!”. There he was, holding her in the light, so perfect. She was our largest baby at a perfect 6lbs and 12 oz. My whole labor was only about 5 hours, and I only had to push once. I really couldn’t have asked for a better labor. And the cherry to top off this crazy day! There was another woman who was a patient of our doctor who scheduled an induction so that their baby would be the first baby of his new practice, and guess who beat ’em? That’s right, our little June bug miss Harper June Hillman! Born May 28th.
