Thursday morning we woke up, dressed for work, and started our day as usual. I had a "holiday lunch" at my school in which parents are invited and it's a pretty big deal for the parents and kids so I dressed up and was ready for my turkey and banana pudding! I definitely had a feeling that morning though and told Evan that I thought we shouldn't make the trip to Charleston for Christmas at this point (Wren would be at most 10 days old on Christmas day if she was born that morning) and also that I felt that we would meet her by the weekend.
At school, I was nesting all morning - I got grades put into the electronic gradebook, papers straightened up to send home, etc. I was definitely nesting. My doula, Rachel, texted me to tell me she had a very vivid dream of my labor to which I responded that I hoped it was vividly quick and painless! As lunch approached, many of the parents were very sweet and were coming up to me expressing their congratulations. I told a few of them that I had a feeling it wouldn't be long and that I may not be at school tomorrow, eventhough at that point I hadn't had anything more than the mild braxton-hicks contractions I'd felt all morning.
We ended lunch, went out for a quick recess, then came in for SSR (30 minutes of silent reading). Rather than conference with the students as required, I spent that 30 minutes nesting some more. After SSR, we had writing and I was so excited to teach one of my favorite writing lessons. It was 1 o'clock at this point and as I began the lesson, I realized I was having a few stronger contractions. I did a quick teaching of the lesson and then allowed the kids to work independently while I hopped out of the room to make copies of morning work for the next day. Before the kids left for their specials (they last an hour and the kids go straight home afterward), I told them that I thought I may not be there tomorrow and we went over their routine for the next day. I dropped them off at specials and stopped in at my principal's office to tell her I was having contractions, was going home, and I needed them to find someone to cover my car duty.
I left school around 1:40, called Evan, called my Mom, and called my doula on the way out. By the time I got home at 2, my contractions were considerably stronger. Evan arrived home about 5 minutes after me and at 2:40 we decided it would be a good idea to call my doctor's office. Our nurse advised us to call back in an hour with another update, so we bided our time by straightening up Wren's room a bit, and packing the car. Oakes was going to be picked up from daycare by my cousin so we also got his overnight bag packed and put on the front porch for them. By 3:30, we were ready to call the doctor's office again - my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and were getting more intense. They had us come in for a quick exam (rather than send us to the hospital for triage).
My last "belly shot" before leaving for the doctor/hospital.
We arrived at the doctor's office at about 4pm and were hooked up to a non-stress test to measure the fetal heart rate and the contractions for about 15 minutes. Once they established that we were having regular strong contractions, the doctor (Dr. R, the pregant one who is on-call on Thursdays and was not too excited about my Hand-Foot-Mouth due to her pregnancy) did my cervical check and I was 5cm dilated. We were on our way to the hospital!
At the hospital, we headed straight for L&D (I need to applaud Evan's speedy driving and superb non-valeted but up front parking!) and were ushered into our requested water room for birthing. I think it was my very first contraction in that room in which I leaned over a chair for support, and my water broke. With meconium. Again. The meconium was certainly different (less green than with Oakes' and more brown) and the nurses informed us that it meant a NICU team would be present. Boy, we knew those familiar words. This all happened at 4:45pm.
Our doula, Rachel, arrived moments later and the nurses hooked me up to another non-stress test to make sure Wren wasn't experiencing anything out of the ordinary. She was healthy and once they put in my hep-block for a possible IV if needed, I was allowed to labor freely thoughout the room. I began by laboring leaned over the birthbed but realized that tensed up my shoulders quite a bit so we then changed to me sitting on the birthing ball leaned over the bed. They ran water in the tub for me (which again, I never got to even use - sigh - but the sound of the water running was pretty good white noise for me at that time) and I began feeling the urge to bear down with many of the contractions. Dr. R arrived soon after and informed me I was already 7cm. This was so hopeful to me as I knew that I it was moving quickly.
At 6pm, Dr. R checked me again and said I was 10cm, 100% effaced, and while Wren was STILL at station -2, I would be ready to push. I'm pretty sure my off-color cheer let everyone know that I was definitely ready to push! I was allowed to push while kneeling over the head of the bed, with my back to the room (very similar pose to how I was laboring) and we only had to push for about 25 minutes before Wren made her debut at 6:29pm.
The birth was so different than Oakes. I felt a bit removed with my back facing everyone as I didn't actually see Wren arrive, though I felt it much more than with Oakes. They whisked her away to let the NICU team inspect her in the room and all was well - praise the Lord! I birthed the placenta and Wren was cuddled on my chest, finding her way to my breast.
The mother-baby unit was also a completely different experience than with Oakes as we weren't tethered to machines and when Wren cried, monitors weren't beeping. We didn't get a whole lot of sleep that first night and on the second day we actually were tied to monitors as Wren's bili-levels came back high.
So we are home now with some still high bilirubin levels. We've been to the pediatrician's office daily for checks and it's slowly coming down with the help of bili-lights and a bili-blanket. Since we are continuing to go down, we get a slight break from appointments and get to go back on Friday morning for our next bili check and hopefully we'll receive some great news.
On a side note, Oakes became potty trained over the weekend as he spent it with Oma and Opa and they were on a mission. :) Today was the first day he stayed in his training pants all day with no accidents!
Finally, I have to give a huge shout out to my most favorite person in the world, my husband. Anyone who knows him well knows he doesn't like to be in situations in which he doesn't have control. And labor/delivery is definitely one of those places. So from his speedy driving skills (and running yellow lights, to boot!) to his calming music he put on for me in L&D, he definitely deserves a "husband-of-the-year" award. Now he just has his next out-of-his-control challenge: infanthood.
One of Wren's very first photos.
(And a very informative sheet of notes in the background - so glad Evan got this shot!)
Our sweet girl, just a few days old.
