I was 39 weeks
on Monday April 20th. I had an early
appointment scheduled and the doc and I had some ummm…plans. Must we really say membranes here? Let’s just
say it quickly and keep moving. She
stripped my membranes. Onward…since
this worked with Marin, I felt pretty confident things would start rolling
along soon. I started to feel some
cramping around 4 pm, but it was pretty irregular, so I didn’t pay much
attention to it. My neighbor Whitney
texted me to see if Marin and I wanted to come over to play. We sat in her
backyard while the kids splashed in the water toys, Marin covered in water and
sneaking her first sip of diet coke because hello possible CONTRACTIONS HERE. Whitney
and I talked and drank diet coke with “Ooh yay I’m feeling another cramp!”
interludes. Andy got home from work a
little early that day, so Marin and I said our byes and headed in. By six o’clock the cramping had tapered off,
so I had resolved that our little lady had decided to extend her stay.
Then to my
surprise, the cramping started again just as we were wrapping up dinner. They
were a bit more uncomfortable but still irregular, 3 minutes apart then 7
minutes apart, etc. I decided to call the on-call doctor around
8:00 pm to get her thoughts about whether or not this was labor because I
didn’t want any rushing–to-the-hospital type of situations. She told me that it didn’t sound like active
labor because the contractions weren’t frequent or consistent, but that we
could head to the hospital if we wanted.
I told Andy what she said and of course, you know, with visions of
having a baby on the highway dancing in his head, he was pretty much in the
“Get in the car now” mode. BUT, I really
hate being at the hospital and wanted to labor at home as long as possible if
it was actual labor, so I decided to just keep timing the cramps for another
hour to see what happened. And there it
was…by nine o’clock they were 3 minutes apart.
I knew our drive to the hospital was going to take about 40 min. and
that second babies usually come a little quicker, so I told Andy it was
time.
My parents were
at our house within ten minutes. We gave hugs and kisses to Marin and told her that she would get to meet her
baby sister soon. We walked out to the car with all of our bags in hand. And
here comes one of my favorite moments.
Our neighbors, Whitney and Stevie, happened to be getting home as we
were walking to the car. They saw our
bags and were like, “Wait. Wha?! Is it happening?!” We told them we were headed to the
hospital. Stevie asked if they could
pray for us real quick. They put their arms
around our shoulders and the four of us huddled in prayer, contractions
happening through it all. They prayed
for a safe delivery, a healthy baby, and they prayed for our daughter by name
(some of the few people we actually told the name). They prayed she would be a light for the
Lord. You ever just feel like heaven’s
listening?
We thanked them
for sharing in our joy and for praying for us. Then we hopped in our car. I’m always really nostalgic about the car ride
to the hospital, with both of our daughters’ births. We talked, drove slow, and breathed through
contractions and butterflies. It’s a car ride we could never have wrapped our
brains around when we were the Megan and Andy who had just met, exchanging
numbers and wondering what would come from this relationship. Then all of a sudden there you are together,
sitting in this hushed moment just before you have your second child.
We checked in at
the labor and delivery counter around 9:45.
They told us it would be a short wait while they prepared a room. I had forgotten how perplexing the labor and
delivery waiting room is. I mean, there is the guy restocking the vending machine and
the family eating McDonald’s right next to LADY IN LABOR. Oh, hello.
They called us
back around 10:30. We settled in. Our nurse Katherine was so kind and peaceful.
Peaceful is important, friends. When she checked me I was already 7 centimeters
dilated and 90% effaced! I remember being shocked that I could be that close to
10 centimeters and not be in any real pain yet.
The doctor came in and we decided to go ahead and break my water to get
things rolling a bit quicker. Andy would
laugh at how easy I just made that decision sound. The reality is that I was in
full fickle hormonal paranoia mode and my doctor’s knowledge and years of
experience were no match to my Google doctorate. Also, was it really necessary to make me use my remaining
brain cells.
After breaking
my water, we put in the request for the epidural because we figured things
would start moving pretty quickly…which they did. My contractions started feeling more intense,
to the point where I couldn’t talk through them anymore. Thankfully the anesthesiologist walked in soon after that, just as I was entering the “throw up pain." He told me that he had one person ahead of me
but for some reason they weren’t ready yet so he came to me first. I could not have been more grateful that he
let me skip in line because only a few minutes after he put in the epidural I felt like I
NEEDED to push. I told the doctor with
urgency, “I really need to push! Can I go ahead and push!?” I never felt that
with Marin because I couldn’t even feel my ear lobes during my labor with her. So, yeah, it was go time. Andy was so calm and encouraging, just
telling me every contraction that I was doing a great job. Poor guy was simply rubbing his thumb on my
hand at one point when I looked at him like…if that thumb rubs my hand one more
time. It’s okay; we laugh about it
now.
Then, at 12:39
am, Brite Wren entered the world. Her
cry was quiet and her eyes were alert. The
doctor layed her on my chest. I couldn’t
tell if it was something in me that felt more confident this time around or if
it was her, but her entrance into our lives felt like a whisper, seamless, like
she had always been ours.
We love you, Brite
Wren. Our hearts leapt at your first
breath and will for each one after. We
are honored to be yours.
