Let's see....it all started at 3:25am Sunday, October 2nd. We had gone to Angie and Korey's the night before to hang out, grill and let the kiddos play. Kaden and Riley LOVE each other! And they are finally at the ages where they actually play together - not just in parallel - so it's even more fun! We got home from their house around 11, but it took me until midnight to get Riley to sleep because he was all keyed up from playing with Kaden. He had also napped really late afternoon, so that wasn't helping matters! Anyway - Riley to bed at midnight, Kelly and I watch one recorded show and lights out at 1am. At 3:25 I woke up thinking I just had to make my usual bathroom trip that was pretty common at this point in my pregnancy. But then I heard Riley crying, so I went to check on him. I ended up laying in bed with him from 3:25 to about 5am.I slept off and on, but I had indigestion really bad - in fact, the first time my ENTIRE pregnancy! I also thought I was having gas pains or stomach cramps, and I correlated all of this to Angie's SINFUL and infamous BLT dip she made. It's freaking DELICIOUS, and I always EAT too much of it so Saturday was no different than any other time she makes that dip! Throw in some Fritos and you have the makings of indigestion and stomach cramps! At 5am, I got up to go back to my bed. When I got up, I noticed that my pants were a little wet - not A LOT wet, but a little. Just enough that I *thought* it was sweat because Riley and I are like a furnace and an incinerator so together that equals HOTTER THAN HELL! and *maybe* I know this is gross, but maybe a leaked a little pee. So I go change all my underwear, pj pants, etc at least pausing for a moment to question if this is my water breaking, but I envisioned it being like the movies and gushing - although my Dr had told me it hardly ever happens that way.
5am-6:30am - I lay in my bed - there's no more wetness, but I'm still having those cramps a little bit. In fact, I'm having them and they seem to be coming somewhat irregularly, but we'll say between every 5-10 minutes - I'm just timing them by my bedside clock at this point. And trying to decide if I'm going to wake Kelly up or not. I think I knew once I woke Kelly up there was no turning back, and I didn't want it to be a false alarm so....I waited until 6:30 when I felt like there was definitely something happening, and I say to Kelly - I think it may be time, and he was like "Time for WHAT?! Time-Time?!" And just like I had envisioned it, I think he jumped out of bed without using his arms and just landed on both feet! Now mind you - I also had NOT packed my hospital bag! I know..my Dr had told me I might want to pack it the Thursday before at my appt when he also told me that I wasn't progressing at all. Dr. Gunby and I had also discussed what my doula had told me - her approach was I labor at home until my contractions were 5-1-1 meaning 5 minutes apart, 1 minute long for 1 hour - that is supposed to indicate you are transitioning from whatever the first phase of labor is to the "active" phase so it typically means you are 5cm's dilated. She even said - if your water breaks in the middle of the night, put a pad on, go back to bed and call me in the am. Well...I sort of figured Dr. Gunby might not agree with that approach, and I figured much like the pilots of our planes - I'm paying Dr. Gunby for the 20 secs of "oh sh*t" this isn't going according to plan, so I should follow whatever his advice was over the doulas!
So...around 7am, I start tracking my contractions with my iPhone app! Yes! There's an app for that! I have an entire other post I'm going to do about all the apps I leveraged for this pregnancy though! I also decide I should call Dr. Gunby. I dial his office number and I hit 1 because I'm in labor...and nothing...the phone just hangs...I call back - now the line is busy! Okay...I decide I should at least pack my bag, then I'm going to take a shower and get ready - yeah...get ready?! Get ready for what?! After I spent an hour getting ready..well longer than that b/c I was having to breath through contractions every few minutes at this point. I told Kelly I wasn't sure what I was thinking I was getting ready for! It's like I was getting all showered up and ready to go workout because I'm thinking back to my long labor and 2 hours of pushing with Riley! I did call my Mom b/c she was supposed to come to stay with Riley. I also tried Angie and Talana, but since they had both gone to the A&M game the day before neither of them were answering that early.
9am - Call my doula - I also emailed her my contractions from my iPhone app so she can see how they are. When I call her - I ask what's more important - the frequency or the duration of the contraction b/c mine were already closer than 5 minutes apart, but they were about 45 secs not all the way to 1 minute yet. She was almost condescending, and says to me - I want you to put the iPhone down and just relax through the contractions - I can tell how you are talking right now that you are NO WHERE NEAR to having this baby! You wouldn't be able to talk to me on the phone, etc. I did NOT listen to her on putting the iPhone down, but I figured - she knows what she's talking about - this is why I hired her!
Finally at 10:13am, I follow my Mom's advice and have Kelly call Baylor thinking they can page Dr. Gunby for me since his office phone continued to do the same thing. Luckily for me, Dr. Gunby was right there at the hospital so I talked to him. In his true Dr. Gunby fashion (imagine this 65 yr old man that's seen and heard pretty much everything when it comes to childbirth at this point, he's also the Director of OB at Baylor Dallas) says to me - Misty, why don't you come on in like we talked about since you're pretty sure your water broke almost 6 hours ago. My Mom is finally on her way at this point too.
So Kelly gets Riley up and gets him dressed, then loads the car. I'm guessing we left our house around 10:50-11am. Sometime during Kelly loading the car, he comes by me in the rocking chair in our room and I say to him - if I were at the hospital right now - I would SERIOUSLY consider the epidural. Now...this SHOULD have been my "ah-ha" moment, but I was oblivious! The reason it should have been my "ah-ha" moment was because when I had Riley - the FIRST time I said I'm not sure I can do this if it gets worse than this was when I hit 9cm's. And my doula then told me - you're there. Once you hit 10 there is relief because you get to push. And she was right. However, I wasn't in the mental state to be "reflecting on my previous birth" at this point. I'm also having the overwhelming need to go to the restroom - at this point - it's just #1, but I literally stopped to have a contraction and pee in EVERY bathroom in our house as we made our way to the car! Granted..my Mom isn't even close so we tell her to just meet us at the hospital, and have no choice but to take Riley with us. I did say to Kelly - let's just drive by Angie's house and drop him off - Angie's notorious for not checking her phone that often, but I knew she was home. Thank GOD Kelly said - no WAY! We are going right to the hospital!
So in the car, I lay the seat back and I'm breathing through the contractions and still hitting the button on my iPhone app to measure them - I'm thinking I'll be able to show that to Dr. Gunby when I get to the hospital. So when I lay down with Riley at nap or bedtime, I'll do this fake deep breathing like I'm sleeping...you know just breathe in and blow the air out like in cartoons. So as Kelly is driving literally 95mph, Riley is saying - "Mommy sleepy Daddy! Mommy sleepy!" In between my contractions which I think are coming every 2 minutes at this point and lasting about 1 minute - I'm giving Kelly his next set of directions to get to the hospital. I'm also totally talking myself through letting the contractions do their work..I can literally feel the waves of them pushing down - something I read recently about this new trend of hypno-birthing - focusing on the work the contraction is doing instead of the pain. I guess it worked! :) And I didn't even take the class!
We make it there. Park in 30 minute parking. As I get out of the car, I can barely walk...I didn't think of it this way at the moment, but I think it was because there was a HEAD between my legs! LOL! I waddle very slowly, still breathing through contractions to the check-in desk. I also was overcome with this overwhelming desire to go to the restroom #2 this time! As we are checking in, the lady is asking me my social, how much I weigh (to which I said -I'm not saying in front of my husband!), then I tell her - I need a room, we're going to have to do this later! She senses I'm SERIOUS as Ling-Ling or Ming-Ming would say on Wonder Pets and a nurse comes over and walks me to a room - Room 117 ironically - the room Kelly and I saw on our tour of the hospital back when we had Riley! :) I go directly to the restroom - the nurse tells me - don't push too hard to go to the restroom - that may be a baby there and not poop! I know...gross! I did remember people telling me they had this overwhelming desire to push when they needed too, but again - no "ah-ha" moment for me "in the moment". I go to the restroom, then I take my own pants off as I'm walking to get in the hospital bed so the nurse can "check me". As she's about to check me, I remember saying a prayer saying PLEASE let me at least be 8 cm's so I can convince myself to go through with natural childbirth.
I swear she barely checked me..and then she says - OMG! You're complete (10cm)! DON'T PUSH!!! Let me get Dr. Gunby here - you're ready to have this baby! She hits a button and the next thing I know there are like 10 people in the room and FINALLY Dr. Gunby. They ask me if I care if "students" observe my birth...to which I'm thinking - they've already seen my spread eagle..what the hell?! WTF?! Now you have to remember...Riley is with us - my Mom still isn't here! Dr. Gunby checks me and says "Misty, 2 pushes and we'll have this little boy here."
So I start to channel my inner - "poop push" - that was the missing ingredient with Riley. My doula had told me 1 month before my due date to focus on the muscles I used every time I went #2 - those are the muscles you use to push the baby out - NOT your abs or doing crunches like people think.
I think I said to Kelly as we were waiting for Dr. Gunby to get there I just want him OUT! NOW! Then it happens....1st push - Conley's head is here! 2nd push - his shoulders are through and he's fully arrived at 11:30am! I don't remember the intense BURNING like a blow torch sensation because I didn't have that with Riley due to stretching b/c I pushed for 2 hours so the stretching happened over time. But WOW! However, the burn was totally worth it because just like with Riley - no tearing! So I literally had no trauma from either of my births, which was something that freaked me out to think about during both my pregnancies! I still can't believe we were that close to his arrival and that I did it in 2 pushes! Last time it took 2 hours!!! Luckily, 2 nurses came and took Riley to watch TV so he wouldn't have to be scared for life from seeing his little brother born! LOL! I think my Mom & sister got there at 11:33 just after Conley was born! And my doula missed the entire thing and made it there at 12 something. Kelly said he even watched this time...and didn't pass out since it all happened so fast! :)
We opted to store Conley's cord blood and tissue, so we did that - I breastfed him for the first time...then I stood up went to the restroom and put the same pants back on that I came in then they took us up to our maternity room by 2pm. All in a day's work! :)
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| One of Conley's VERY first pictures! |
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| Another first after we were up in our maternity room-GiGi's holding him. |
8lbs 10oz - yes, almost freaking 9lbs!!
20.5" long
So he was 1.5lbs BIGGER than Riley and 1" shorter. He may be our linebacker! It'll be interesting to see as he grows up how he compares to Riley. We won't be able to compare really until 6 months due to all the breastfeeding/growth issues Riley had in the beginning.
Since Conley didn't have any complications at birth - we noticed he screams WAY louder than Riley did! And he breastfed like a CHAMP - now I know Riley was effected by his tongue being tied, but I had NO idea what a strong latch felt like since he was my 1st - Conley's latch was as strong or STRONGER than Riley's at his FIRST nursing versus Riley at 4 months! Wowzer!
Riley got to come back in and meet Conley almost right after he was born, but in being like Father like Son - he was more interested in the crackers and cheese snacks they gave me than his new little brother. Then my sister was there with Jayden, so he wanted to play with Jayden. Amy ended up taking Riley and Jayden to my house to watch them for the afternoon, then GiGi went to stay with Riley and take him to school the next day. Our plan was to not interrupt Riley's schedule at all - send him to school each day - try to minimize the impact to his life as much as possible. But of course, GiGi let him sleep in day 2 and that is the kiss of death to send him to school when you've let him sleep in because then there's NO way he's taking a nap and it's like giving him a "Go directly to timeout card" for the entire afternoon if not day. So he stayed home the day we came home from the hospital. He was SCARED to death of Conley the first couple of days..mainly because the only time Riley paid any attention to him was when he was crying - so his opinion was - Conley cries a lot Mommy! When I asked if he wanted to kiss him, he shook his head no so hard and fast I thought he would for sure give himself whiplash!
By day 3 though - Riley actually started to say out loud - "I like him". Below is the video to prove it!
So for now...he's a keeper as far as Riley's concerned! We'll see how long it takes for Riley to want to banish him back to my belly! :) Kelly and I are trying hard not to constantly be saying "Watch out for Conley, this and that about Conley" so as to not make Riley feel like Conley has completely turned his life upside down. I'm also trying to make sure I get to spend time one on one with just Riley and I each day so he doesn't feel like Conley stole me away from him. Especially at bedtime, which was mine and Riley's special time to lay in his bed together and read books and say his prayer. So far so good...and I know I'll live to regret saying this out loud much less putting it down in writing, but I REALLY can't believe how easy #2 is compared to #1. In fact, I feel like I owe Riley an even BIGGER apology for the psycho things I did with him! Bless the 1st child's heart! Everyone says the 2nd child gets robbed - I say they are the lucky ones to not have to endure all the things we Mom's put the first child through! Seriously!!
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