Here's what happened...

Hey y'all!

As promised, here is the birth story of baby Amelia. It's actually pretty standard. I was having contractions all day the 13th and 14th, but nothing consistent or serious enough to warrant going to the hospital. About 7pm on the 14th, my contractions started getting more consistent, although not strong. I waited around the house for a couple of hours, and by the time I left, they were about 4-5 minutes apart, more or less. Duane, my mother-in-law/birthing coach, and I checked in, and the nurse confirmed what I already knew -- I was in labor! What I didn't realize is that I was already 5cm dilated.

I think at that point someone asked if I wanted meds, but I wanted to try without them. I took a bath in the HUGE hospital tub and sat on my yoga ball (yes, I brought my yoga ball -- my friend Amelia, who just had a baby the week before, mentioned it on her blog and I thought I'd give it a try. Thanks for the tip, it was very helpful!). My MIL did a great job helping me through the contractions (especially the stronger ones), but about midnight I had the strong urge to push, and no doctor had arrived! I think at one point the nurse said "don't push!" and I all I could manage was, "I CAN'T HELP IT!!!" My contractions were rolling one into the other, and silly me, I made the mistake of laying down on my side, which IMO, makes it more difficult to deal with than sitting up or walking around (although at that point I doubt I could've walked anyway). So, the anesthesiologist was called in, and he gave me the fastest epidural I had ever seen! It wasn't strong, just enough to take off the edge and help me relax a little. About 30 minutes later the doc arrived, and I delivered by 1:20am -- I was in the hospital less than 4 hours!

I'm kind of disappointed that I wasn't able to go the whole way without meds, but my recovery time has been much quicker than last time. I was ready to go home the next day, and the baby is doing great nursing. This baby has been easy.

The hardest part about this whole thing is watching my son. He's already had a huge upheaval in his life with the move, and now he has this new baby to deal with, one that's taking up a lot of mommy's time. He's been acting really weird... no that's not the right word... maybe erratic is better. He'll be sweet and loving one minute, and the next I catch him being mean to the dog; it's like he's taking out his anger in bizarre ways. This is the part of parenting I don't know how to deal with. So, for all you 2nd (and 3rd, 4th etc.) time moms, how do you respond to this? Ignore it? Treat him like normal, and use whatever punishments you've established in your house (time-outs, taking away privileges)? I've been making a conscious effort to spend time with him alone every day, without the baby, but obviously I have other duties around the house and I can't spend my whole day entertaining him. Any suggestions?