In Harmony

They say subsequent pregnancies are tough, and subsequent labors are easy. But they never tell you how much easier the second baby ends up being. Its not that S was not an easy baby, its just that we were not experienced parents when he was born.

In my 3rd trimester, I had a tough winter with both S and me falling sick almost every month or so. And the gestational diabetes was not helping either. I was looking forward to my leave, only to realise that I was not even going to have my study to myself. I have a really hard time when my personal space is invaded. And then S fell sick yet again. He slept with R and me a couple of nights, and as he got better we moved him back to his room. It was as if all our preparations for the baby were coming undone, by things which were not in our control.

Early Friday morning I felt some contractions, so I woke up R. He rushed off to the garage to fix the car-seat. Something I had been pestering him to do for weeks. He was gone for over an hour, didn't check on me even once. I still joke with him that I could have had a baby while he was gone. Anyways, I got my bag packed. My contractions were really mild, and they were 5 minutes apart, lasted 1 minute and this went on for an hour, basically the 5-1-1 rule. I didn't remember it being so painless, but I figured "maybe this is how it is the second time around". I called the helpline. They told me to go to the hospital after an hour.

I was waiting for the nanny to show up. And S was super clingy to me. Though we had prepared him for our hospital visit, he was not too happy. I called my parents and sisters to let them know I was going to head to the hospital. S had a doctor appointment so we got a friend to take him to the doctor's with the nanny.

Strangely enough the contractions stopped when we were driving, but I never gave that another thought. At the hospital, they confirmed that it was a "false alarm". And we were asked to go back home. I felt like a fool. A second-time mom is supposed to know what labor feels like. I felt bad that we got a friend to take our son to the doctor's.

That night my contractions started again. More intense but quite irregular. I went to bed, and timed the contractions. I didn't want to make the same mistake again. The contractions were intense, but further apart. And then by morning they started coming quite regularly. And then in the morning, called the nanny - made sure she was coming that Saturday. Called the helpline again. And then decided to head to the hospital after the nanny showed up.

We reached the hospital at 9:30am or so. I was 5 cms dilated. I was glad I was to not go back home. We were checked into a room. My nurse had had lasik done, and so she got another nurse to put the IV needle on me. That nurse didn't do a very good job and I was poked again. My OBGYN was on call, and I was thrilled that I wouldn't have to deal with a "new" doctor. Well my IV needle wasn't put properly, so my nurse tried it again and this time it worked. The third poke got it right. I had a sinking feeling that maybe it wasnt going to be as easy as the first labor.

I was perched on the bed, and R was keeping a wary safe distance. He had had me shout at him during the first labor. Well, he got shouted at this time as well. Sometimes I would get off the bed and rest my head and shoulders on the bed. The nurse was always checking in as well. Actually she was the one who recommended the new position where I was sitting on a chair and leaning and resting my head/shoulders on the bed. After about a couple of hours, I had this mad urge to push. We paged the nurse and she checked that I was 9.5 cms dilated. I think my water had broken as well. And she told me to wait, as she had to page the Dr. I remember her telling me that she could deliver the baby too, but she just wanted the OBGYN to be around. I wanted to die. I had this urge to push, but I also knew that it was going to hurt like hell. I really wanted to be someplace else. I think it was pretty much soon after that, that I was on the bed and I pushed. I could hear my Dr talking me through the pushes, and I had a hard time following what she was saying. I think it was the third push or so when S-jr came out. No major tears, and not many stitches. R didn't want to cut the cord, but he couldn't take his eyes off our beautiful little girl.

And it was just wonderful after that. She latched on and nursed in the labor room itself. We called our respective parents/siblings, and then we were wheeled to the post-partum room. One thing that struck me was that S-jr looked just like S. And I couldn't have been more happier. The nurses told us that we were the last ones in and the first ones out of the labor rooms that day.

My little baby, my sweetest little thing. You have brought harmony in our lives.