the new addition: a tale of two (completely different) labors

ok i know it's been a while since i have posted. ok a while is an understatement. but in my defense, i spent the past 9 months in the bathroom. my body hates hormones! i expected it though this time around since i was just as lucky with my first pregnancy. if it says anything at all, my all-time favorite preggo book is called 'pregnancy sucks'.

on august 11th, his actual due date, eliot david was born. it was a surprise for two reasons...only 5% of babies are born on their due dates AND tyler came 10 days early (so i was prepared for maybe even having a july baby!). this labor was definitely faster and way different, just like everyone said it would be. with tyler, i had contractions from wednesday evening until we finally went to the hospital friday at lunchtime. he wasn't born until saturday at 3:10am. it was long and slow and i pushed for 3 hours! eliot on the other hand, i had on and off contractions for weeks but nothing regular. at my ob appt on the 10th at 3pm, there was still no progression. around 6pm i felt contractions enough to start writing them down. i was up all night. they came every 20 min... then 11... then finally around 5am they started at 5min apart. at 630 i called the dr and she said to come in. i guess i shouldn't have waited, but in my defense the contractions felt way different. with tyler, it felt like my whole uterus was contracting and pushing down. with eliot, they started low, moved up to my bellybutton, and then wrapped around my back- and felt like death. they were so different i wasn't even sure i was in real labor for a while! anyways, i called my mom and she came down to watch tyler until i was admitted into the hospital. by the time we left the house the contractions were 4 minutes apart. 20 minutes later by the time we got to the hospital, they were every 2 minutes. it was going so fast that while we were in the car i had my mom wake tyler up to come down right away instead of waiting. by the time we got from the parking lot to triage, they were every minute. i was already in transition! they checked me in triage and i was already 5cm. the contractions were so close together that the next one would start before the first was finished. and it was all back labor- it felt like he was pushing out of my spine. NOTHING prepared me for this... not even having gone through labor before. by the time we got to a birthing room, which was not long at all (enough time to take blood and get me the heck out of triage), i was 7cm. it was excruciating. the anesthesiologist came in minutes. (this is way different with tyler, where i spent hours in triage and just waiting and waiting for someone to feel some type of sense of urgency that i was having a baby!). the epidural helped and the guy gave me an extra something for the back labor. got scared for a minute when my bp and his heartrate dropped when i switched sides but once i switched back it was ok. 

eliot was born at 11:10am, after (to my shock and delight) 6 minutes of pushing and only 3 rounds of pushes (again with tyler it was 3 hours!). he was perfect. the next shock was his hair! there was so much and it was so long we all couldn't believe it. then came his weight. 8lb 9oz! a full 1lb 2oz heavier than t. 

tyler was the first to come in. he officially told eliot what his name was and we spent some time together before the other guests came in. we are so lucky to have such perfect little boys. 

now i'm just waiting for this compression neuropathy to work itself out without having to pay any co-pays...

brotherly love at the hospital

8/29, after his bath. can you even stand it?!