a Return and a Birth

It has been nearly two and a half years since my last blog post. I don't know how all those mommy bloggers do it. The thing is, I miss having a blog. I don't care who reads it, but I like the record that it has become for my life. I want to get back to it as a sort of online diary. I have such a poor memory, but there are so many amazing moments that I would love to remember. Hopefully getting back to blogging will help.

The first thing I want to capture for memory is the birth story of our second baby.

It took seven months to get pregnant the second time, but it wasn't as difficult as the first time around because this time I expected it to take a while. I didn't want to find out if the baby was a boy or girl because I thought the surprise would help make a second pregnancy more exciting. I had a strong feeling it was a girl though. Coming up with a name was even more difficult this time around, partly because we tried to find both a boy and girl name we liked. Michael came up with Naomi about three weeks before my due date, and I liked that it was normal yet not popular and that it means "pleasant." Michael liked that she would have all the vowels in her name full name. For a boy, I really wanted Oliver, but Michael wasn't fully on board and we didn't have a middle name.

Ten days before my due date, my in-laws arrived to help out. That was also the first Sunday of my spring break from school. My brother-in-law and his wife arrived that Tuesday to visit as well, so it was a full house. Unfortunately, it was also a house full of the norovirus. Somehow, I didn't get sick. Praise God! At my 39 week appointment that week I was dilated 2cm, and I started having random contractions throughout the week. I was also trying to spend every free minute finishing the yearbook and grading research papers as both needed to be completed by the end of spring break. Friday, March 20, I spent several hours grading the last of the projects and having moderate irregular contractions at the same time. I had hoped to see Insurgent that Friday night, but with everyone getting sick and the grading hanging over my head, I decided we should all stay home. I finished my grades by 8pm, and the contractions also subsided. After watching a little TV, we all went to bed. At about 1:00am, I woke up with a painful contraction but went back to sleep. Ten minutes later I woke up with another one. I continued to fall asleep and then wake up to a contraction about every 10-20 minutes the rest of the night. I kept waiting for them to get closer together, but there were times where I wished I could go to the hospital and get an epidural because they hurt so bad. That should have been my clue to call the doctor or even just head to the hospital, but I kept waiting to reach the 5 minute mark between contractions because I didn't want to get turned away in the middle of the night. Just before 6am, Joel came to our room and woke Michael up. He heard the way I was breathing and asked if we needed to go. I got up to go to the bathroom, had another contraction and then another one right after it. I said, "Yes! Grab the bags. I'll meet you in the car." He quickly woke up his parents, handed Joel over and grabbed our stuff. I was running out the door trying to hold back my screams. The contractions were coming every minute; there was barely time to recover from one when the next one would start. I knew there wouldn't be time for an epidural and only hoped there was time to get to the hospital. I felt like it was a scene from a movie with Michael speeding and me screaming. We must have reached the hospital by about 6:20am. A guy in the emergency room rushed out with a wheelchair and hurried me to triage. I remember feeling so grateful to have made it into capable hands and for the nurses who were coaching me to breathe through each contraction. I was not prepared for this. In triage I was already 9cm, so they rushed me to labor and delivery. Somehow my doctor made it in time and showed up shortly after we did. I told her I felt ready to push, so she broke my water and told me to go for it. After just a couple pushes, the baby was out and they were telling me she was a girl. I was so surprised and elated that my feeling was right. Naomi Grace was born at 6:52am on March 21 weighing 6lbs. 11oz. She was so much smaller than Joel when he was born. I couldn't believe how tiny her little hands and feet were. With all the adrenaline pumping through me, I couldn't stop shaking for an hour after she was born, but I held her close anyway. I was shocked how fast it all happened and how different it had been from my first delivery. The immediate love and amazement was the same though. I am so thankful to God for this little miracle.