Mothering two

Hailey Annette Franklin. Born Saturday, Feb. 21. 8 lbs 11 oz. 21 inches long.

I've got one month of experience of life with two kids. I am seriously humbled by how difficult it has been to adjust. I thought this would be so easy and natural. I had this perfect picture in my mind of how everything would go. I'd go into labor right around my due date. Breastfeeding would be so natural. I'd have so much time to teach Connor and get him on a schedule. We'd go to the park and do fun stuff during my maternity leave. Hailey would just sleep all day so I'd have tons of time to get anything I needed to get done. Ha. How ridiculous. Why didn't anyone tell me how crazy I was? And delusional. Lol

I guess I'll start with my birth experience and save the other delusions for another post. Lol

I so badly wanted to have the experience of going into labor on my own. I was induced with Connor and all throughout this pregnancy I thought for sure I'd go into labor right around my due date. I knew the date of my last cycle and always have had very regular cycles. So, I figured Hailey would be here no later than Feb. 14. She was due Feb. 11.

Feb. 11 came and went. My midwife offered to induce but I wanted to hold out. Then I went to my 41 week appointment. My midwife stripped my membranes (ouch!) And she thought for sure I'd be in labor within 24 hours. Just for good measure she scheduled an induction for Feb. 20. I had contractions but not painful ones and then nothing. I was feeling huge and miserable and just ready to be done. My hips had bothered me for so long and my whole body just ached. Feb. 20 got here. Into the hospital we went at 5 a.m. Stab me with a fork. Getting up that early when you're overdue pregnant is not fun. I think I slept like 3 hours that night. Went in and by 8 a.m. I was all hooked up and ready to go. They started me with a pill to soften my cervix. I was 1.5cm.

The morning of the induction

The pill started contractions and they monitored me until 10 a.m. and then started me on pitocin. Went all. Damn. Day with not painful contractions. Was checked twice and both times no progress. Finally at midnight the midwife I had seen my entire pregnancy came in. She stopped the pitocin and said she wanted me to try taking another one of those pills. I had to wait an hour to make sure I wasn't contracting too much and then I took the second pill around 1:30 a.m. I was still 1.5cm and hadn't gotten the epidural yet.

Then the real fun started. I started having very painful contractions within minutes. Then my water broke. I started throwing up from the pain and begged for the epidural. My nurse was awesome and got the anesthesiologist within minutes of me asking. I didn't even have time to go pee before he was in my room. He set everything up and it felt like it took an hour before everything was ready. As soon as my bed was raised so he could put it in I felt my water break more and water literally went everywhere. It splashed everyone's feet and Tommy said there was a huge puddle on the floor. Lol. Once the epidural was in, I felt so much better, but I could still feel the contractions and pressure but the anesthesiologist said that's how it's supposed to feel. I didn't feel anything with Connor tho, so this one wasn't as strong. Within minutes I felt a ton of pressure and my midwife checked me. Time to push. I had gone from 1.5cm to 10 in about 3 hours. It was crazy! I pushed for 5 minutes and I just remember saying I could feel her coming out and I didn't want to feel anything. Lol. Then she was here. It was the most intense experience of my life.

She instantly latched for breastfeeding and we did skin to skin for an hour before they checked her or anything. She was and is perfect. I had a slight tear that needed a stitch and my midwife took care of that while I awed at Hailey. All I could think was how much she looked like my Connor. (And I still see him when I look at her today. They're like twins.)

One day old, still in the hospital 

She was significantly larger than I anticipated her to be. My midwife estimated 8 pounds and I was hoping for 7 1/2. Connor was 7lbs 2oz. Hailey was almost 2 pounds heavier than him! I'm still amazed I was able to push her out in 5mins! I really didn't want go be induced, but I wonder how much bigger she could have gotten if I went to 42 weeks, at which point my doctor would have made me induce anyways. So at the end of the day, I'm glad I got induced when I did, even though Hailey didn't get to pick her birthday like I had hoped. We stayed in the hospital until the next day and then went home. Friends and family all got to visit which was nice, but I was excited to go home and rest. I was so tired from not sleeping more than a few hours over two days. 

Connor got to meet her in the hospital and he is such a good big brother. I couldn't possibly ask for more. Between these two amazing children, my heart is full. I love them more than I could ever express in words.