Birth Story

Yeah, that's right. Rae is 8 days old, Little S is napping and instead of me doing something even relatively productive (or napping) I'm going to write Rae's birth story before I forget it. I'll probably hate myself for this come 5 PM.

We had to be at the hospital by 7 AM to start the induction.  Fortunately, we knew this was coming and had this day planned out for months. We dropped Little S off with my parents and headed to the hospital. He had no idea what was about to happen. And I'm glad it happened like that. I never wanted there to be any sort of sadness on Little S's part.  I didn't want him to be at an age where he would remember me having another baby and resenting me, or his sister, for it.

So we got to the hospital and they asked me ten million questions about my medical history.  "Do you smoke?" No. "Do you drink?" No. "Do you have family history of (insert 39 different conditions I've never heard of in my life)?" Uh, no? "When was the last time you ate a dozen cupcakes in one sitting?" Yesterday...

After they finished the background information they got my IV in. I'm not a huge fan of needles. I don't really think anyone is, but I'm like, seriously grossed out by anything that gets inserted into my arm. Plus I have the worlds tiniest veins, which means I usually end up getting stabbed by the nurses about 12 times before they finally get it right. But my nurse got it on the first try.

After about 20 minutes my doctor came in and ordered the pitocin (Which if you're unfamiliar with inductions it's a drug that simulates oxytocin in your brain and makes your body start contracting. Science). I've heard pitocin induced contractions are pretty unbearable, but even after 2 hours on it I was just barely feeling any cramping. But I knew it was coming so I went ahead and asked for an epidural.

I didn't get an epidural with Little S so I really didn't know what to expect. All I knew was that they take a huge needle and insert it in between the bones in your spine. Which is pretty freaking terrifying. Big S got to wear this super sexy scrub hat and had to sit in a chair far away from me while I clutched onto my nurse while the anaesthesiologist did the epidural. And I was of course shaking like a leaf, which IS NOT exactly that best when there is a person attempting to get a needle EXACTLY in the right spot, otherwise he could PARALYZE YOU. But alas. I am not paralyzed. And it hurt for about 2 seconds and then it was over. Seriously. Get the epidural. It's not that bad.

Then my momma joined us (on her birthday!). We watched Jim Gaffigan and Parks and Recreation and I took a nap. That's right. I took a freaking nap during labor. My labor with Little S I spent about 5 hours crying and hunched over in pain thinking I was about to die. GET THE EPIDURAL. I'm telling you, it makes labor a cake walk. Other than the fact that you can't have cake. Which sucks because I was STARVING. And then Big S comes in with a bag of Fritos and starts chowing down while I give him the side eye. I would have given him a swift kick to the knee, except I couldn't feel my legs...

My doctor came back and checked to see if the baby was coming any time soon around 2:30. And she said probably not. And that she wouldn't expect me to have her before 7:30 at night. Aw poops. Then less than an hour later I could tell something was happening and called the nurse. Sure enough, 10 minutes later at 3:50 PM Raelyn Joy Becker was born.

And started screaming immediately. After 30 seconds of her on my chest they took her away to be checked. They had diagnosed her with Inter uterine Growth Restriction so there were quite a few doctors in the room. After about 4 minutes of her being gone, she was still screaming and my doctor said "You hear her crying? Raelyn is fine. That is not the cry of an unhealthy baby." And those were the most amazing words I could have heard at that time. After all the months of stress and worry about my baby girl, she was finally here. And she was healthy. But they did show me the 2 vessel cord, which was pretty gross. I mean, it's amazing because it was this tiny little umbilical cord that was giving her life. But still. It was disgusting.

Then I finally got her back. And I could really look at her. And I saw she looks EXACTLY like Little S. Which means she looks EXACTLY like Big S. I swear, I'm just the incubator for Big S's babies. Thank goodness Big S is attractive...

This is Little S (and a TERRIBLE picture of me).

And this is Rae.

Then after 2 days in the hospital, we got to go home. And Little S could not have cared less about Rae. He also could not have picked a worse time to vomit all over our living room. I've never seen so much vomit in my life. Nor do I ever want to see it again.
But by the next morning he was all smiles to see his sissy.

And now he's back to not caring. Which is fine. I'd rather he ignore her and act like she's not there than to attempt to pick her up or something. Well, he ignores her except when I'm nursing. And then he says "OH NO MOMMY! OH NO! MOMMY! NO!" and attempts to pull my shirt back up. Which is kind of hilarious.

So how's being a mom of 2 under 2? Well, so far I feel like all I do is change diapers and feed children. It's like a constantly rotating schedule of poop and food and sleep and crying. BUT then there are the small moments of bliss. When Little S will lean over Rae in her car seat and say "AW! Rae." and give her a kiss. Or when he yells "MY BABY!" when he first sees her in the morning. THOSE are the moments I live for.

M