Differences

Me the morning before I delivered Marie

Me 2 days before I delivered Trey

Marie at 7lbs 8 oz

Trey at 9 lbs 10oz

Our first picture with Marie

Our first picture with Trey

Marie in her car seat on her way home

Trey in his car seat on his way home

Sibling Snuggles

Our Sweet Angel

Best Morning Snuggles Ever!

So for those of you that are interested...

I had my regular weekly check-up on Tuesday, April 12th. By this time, I was still only about 1.5cm dilated (no progress for the past 3 weeks). My doctor had asked me about induction and I had told her I was not interested in induction. I was about 1.5 weeks away from my due date and she said she didn't think the baby would be coming any time soon (at least not within the next week). Since Trey was such a big baby (9lb 10oz), she didn't want me to go past my due date and have the chance of delivering a 10 pounder. So she casually said, "Let's just have this baby on Thursday." I was like, "This Thursday???" "Sure, why?"

So after some thought and deliberation, Deo and I decided let's just go ahead and get induced on Thursday, April 14th. We figured the chances of us having to get induced anyways was probably pretty likely, and this way it could help us plan for work and Trey better.

Thursday, April 14th we woke up at 5:00am to get ready to head to the hospital. Trey was surprisingly in a good mood when we actually woke up him because we had been telling him he was going to have a pajama party at Auntie Julie's. So he got to stay in his PJ's when we dropped him off. We got to St. Joe's for our 7:30am induction. It was a very different experience walking in and checking in for the birth of our baby. Waiting in the waiting room, walking back to the room with no labor pain, knowing when we leave with it would be with out new little one. After the long and grueling "check-in" questions, our doctor came in, put on some gloves, and broke my water. Wow...that was fast! They next hooked me up to my IV and started the pitocin.

About 30 minutes after the pitocin started flowing, I started to get some contractions. They started pretty frequently about every 5 minutes. About 2 hours into it, they were coming more frequently, about every 2.5 minutes, and started to come on stronger, but still manageable. I knew I had wanted to get an epidural but they had a scheduled c-section that day so the doctor wouldn't be available to administer it from 11:40am until after 1pm. By about 11:00am, I basically had to decide if now if I wanted it or couldn't get it until after 1pm. The pain wasn't that bad, but not knowing what was in store over the next 2 hours made me nervous so I opted to go ahead and get it started. And good thing I did.

The epidural was administered, and working, at around 11:30am (after the first stick didn't work). Around Noon, I convinced Deo to go get something to eat because he hadn't had anything to eat all day. The last I was checked I was at 4.5 cm so we figured we still had some time.

Around 12:30, I started to get really bad contraction in one specific spot on my right side that would shoot to my back. After not feeling much of the contractions after the epidural, I started to get worried it was wearing off. I started pumping the medicine in with no avail. I finally called my nurse in and told her what was happening. She did a quick pelvic exam and told me the reason I was having such bad contractions was because I was 10 cm and ready to push. I started to cry, not feeling ready to deliver this baby. I thought I had at least a few more hours. I called Deo and luckily he was just walking back into the hospital after a quick bite to eat.

Deo walked through the door, the doctor followed shortly after. I got in position. Deo was making some joke and I started laughing and my doctor said, "whoa, wait...you're going to laugh this baby out." I three contractions (9 pushes) and Marie was welcomed into this world at 1:36pm.

Marie Ann Diaz
7lbs 8oz
18.5 in

So Close yet So Far

This arrival of this baby seems so close yet still so far away. I'm inching in on my due date (which is just over 2 weeks away). It doesn't seem that far away, but each day seems to be getting longer and longer. I'm trying to hone in on my maternity instincts as well as utilize my experience and skills from the last pregnancy, to try and predict when this baby will make her arrival. Shortly after going through labor with Trey, I remember thinking, "I will definitely know when it is time next time around," yet it's crazy how quickly you forget what it really did feel like.

I think it's especially hard this time around because I have been getting crazy Braxton Hicks and lower back pain probably for the last 3 weeks now (increasingly this last week). I never had any Braxton Hicks with Trey, which is why for the first part of labor and I actually thought it was false labor for a few hours. I had hopes that the increase in these false labor pains would mean that she would be maker her arrival sooner than later, but realize that may not always be the case. For one, I'm not really progressing at all "down there." My doctor put it so kindly when she checked me last time, "geez, someone should tell your cervix this is your second baby." My sister-in-law said that with her last one, she felt like this for the whole last month.

I'm still having weird nervousness that our little girl with come out as a brother, since we know the predictions are never 100% accurate. I really don't care either way but just more so that I don't have a boy name picked out. Deo has basically removed himself from the name picking process since he claims he had full dibs on Trey's name, but I would still like his input. I think it's just a way of avoiding making a decision rather than giving me full decision making authority.

That's all to report right now. We'll see how the next couple of weeks goes!