Xander's story

Ryleigh and Alexander were both born in the same hospital room. And that is where the similarities of their births end. The second time around was completely different. And since people like to know these things I will share the story of Xander's birth.

I woke up Friday morning feeling like it would be THE DAY. I had contractions off and on, but nothing else except my gut feeling. I called Ryan around 8am to put him on standby so he could be prepared to rush home from work if need be.
I ran a bunch of errands that morning, and then had a doctor's appointment that afternoon. My doctor looked at me and said, "I'm guessing you have this baby tonight"... and then she sent me home. After my 20 minute drive home the contractions started in earnest. I started making the phone calls to Ryan, my mom, and his mom. After about an hour of making calls, and finally getting ahold of his mom to come take me to the hospital I finally arrived. Ryan got dropped off at the hospital and I met him there soon after.

We checked in around 4:30, talked with the doctor, and ordered my epidural. What a horrible experience that was! I was so looking forward to the sweet relief of the epidural. But it didn't work completely. My left leg went numb, and that was about it. No relief on my entire right side, and no relief in any of the important places! I spent 2 hours in excruciating pain (as is just so happened to coincide with the transition phase between 7-10cm).  The anesthesiologist couldn't figure out what went wrong. He spent his time jiggling things around and having me lay on my right side to try and get the numbness to go that way. Finally he decided to re-do the epidural. Thank God the second time around it worked fine.

After that came blissful numbness, and then it was time to push. 20 minutes later my little boy was born! All in all my labor lasted about 7 and a half hours. I'd say that was nicer than the 12 I had with Ryleigh, but it wasn't. I'd rather have 12 hours of numb labor, than 7 and a half hours of labor with no epidural!

The sad part was my mom didn't make it on time for the birth. She showed up about 20 minutes too late :-( But at least Ryan made it, my biggest fear was that he wouldn't make it from work on time.

Thankfully the physical recovery with this second baby is soooo much easier than it was with Ryleigh. I'm nearly pain free 4 days later. With Ryleigh it lasted weeks.And it's crazy cause Xander was 2 lbs bigger than she was!

The adjustment to having 2 kids has been a challenge, but thank God my mom has been here to help out. Next week, when she goes home will be the real challenge!