I started getting false labor contractions around 34 weeks pregnant. I'd have periods of 1-2 hours with contractions three minutes apart. I knew it wasn't the real thing...but in my mind I assumed that the false labor must have been progressing my cervix and that it wouldn't be too long until baby was born! I was so wrong! I stayed at 1cm dilated for another five weeks and another six false labor episodes. One of the false labor periods was so painful it was bringing tears to my eyes and contractions were two minutes apart. It lasted eight hours and I was SURE I was in labor. So I called over a friend at 2am and went to the hospital. Turns out I was still dilated to 1cm and that I was just dehydrated! They made me drink a ton of water and the contractions disappeared. I was so embarrassed and disappointed because I thought the baby was coming but he wasn't. The baby was taking me on such an emotional roller coaster!
Baby ended up staying happily inside my womb until my induction day. My mom and Grandma Lewis arrived Thursday night to watch Charlie while I got induced. I was supposed to go in on Friday at 5am but they called my at 4:30am and said they were too full so the induction got pushed back until the evening. It ended up being kind of nice I got to spend that morning with my mom and grandma around the city. We went to the Ruby Slipper for breakfast and drove around the French Quarter. At 5pm Scott and I went to Oschner Baptist, the hospital near our home, and checked in. It did feel a little strange how planned it all was. They gave me an IV and started me on an oral cervix ripener. Scott and I watched a few shows and I tried to sleep but they had me hooked to so many monitors I couldn't get comfortable. Around 2am they check my cervix and I was still dilated to 1cm. I couldn't believe it! I thought for sure I would've dilated a bit. They tried to put in a foley balloon catheter to help dilate me but they were unsuccessful. They asked me if I was planning on an epidural and I said yes. They then suggested I might get it soon and so they could put in the foley catheter without causing me pain and the epidural might help relax my cervix. I agreed and got the epidural. The anesthesiologist was a nice old man who had a family of boys and he was excited we were having our second boy. As soon as the drugs started to work I felt so much more comfortable.
With Charlie's birth I had an excessive amount of water retention and swelling so I was nervous this time around the same thing would happen and I asked the nurse if they could limit the amount of IV fluids they gave me. They were awesome about it and only gave me fluids when I needed them which helped with the swelling. Unfortunately, it also made it more difficult for my body to adjust to the epidural medicine and I almost passed out a few times due to low blood pressure. They had to give me some nausea medicine.
As soon as the epidural was complete, the doctor came back to put in the balloon catheter but said since the epidural started working I'd dilated to 3cm and didn't need the catheter anymore. I slept through the night and in the morning Scott and I enjoyed a few games of jeopardy and a few naps. Dr. Jeansonne checked me around 9am and I was only at 4cm. I had to get the epidural adjusted a bit because one side was significantly more numb than the other. Around noon I told Scott to pause our jeopardy game because my contractions started to feel painful and I felt a bit sick. I took a short nap, about thirty minutes, and woke up in extreme pain. I started shaking and crying and called the doctor in. She said I was at a ten and ready to push! I was so surprised because the last time she checked I was at 4cm and I didn't expect to be ready to push. I felt slightly disoriented from my nap but they got the room ready and the anesthesiologist gave me an extra dose of drugs because of my pain. I started pushing at 1:45pm. I only had about 4 contractions of pushing and Franklin Scott Brimley was born at 1:54pm. It was so fast! I felt the baby slip out of me and they placed him right on my chest. He was covered in the cheesy vernix caseosa but he looked so healthy and perfect--and so pink! They let him stay with me for a while before taking him away to weigh and measure him. I got to nurse him for the first time and enjoy his sweet little face. He had a perfect apgar score. He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long. The nurse was very impressed with him umbilical cord, said it was one of the healthiest she had ever seen! I'm not sure exactly what that means but was happy to hear it anyway. Dr. Jeansonne delivered the placenta and stitched up a small periclitoral tear. She was reporting the tear to her nurse and Scott and I heard the name and both looked at each other and winced. Haha.
It took a few hours for the epidural to wear off enough that I could walk and be moved to the mother baby unit. I don't remember much right after the baby was born because I was so exhausted. I do remember seeing Scott hold and rock him for the first time and thinking that Franklin had my eyes.
Everything was so uncomplicated and straightforward. After a nights sleep I felt much better and all day on Sunday I took tons of photos of Franklin and soaked in his cuteness. I was so enamored with him! He has a tongue and lip tie and a storks bite on the back of his neck, just like Charlie! I can see similarities between Charlie and Franklin but Franklin definitely looks a bit more like me, which I love. Franklin had a bit of jaundice but it cleared up on its own because he nursed so much. We got home from the hospital on Monday morning. It was so sweet to let Charlie meet Franklin. He was gentle and loved holding him. Over the past few days he keeps bringing Franklin his bottle and binky. My mom and grandma kept Charlie for a few more days so Scott and I have been able to spend some relaxing time together with Franklin. His tongue and lip tie have made it extremely difficult to nurse and we are in the process of trying to get them released and do some mouth exercises to help improve his latch.
It's felt a bit different bringing home a second baby. Less stressful and less novel but still so fun. Franklin fits in perfectly and I feel so curious and excited to see the kind of boy and man he becomes. We love him!
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