Having a child is such an amazing experience, moment, achievement, and crazy time, that I wanted to put into words Maysie's birth story before I forgot some of the good parts! First off, I loved being pregnant, both with Piper and then with Maysie. I was always very comfortable, just bigger. We knew very early that I was pregnant, within about a week. It was neat to see the first ultrasound, when Maysie was only about 2 weeks in my belly. MUCH earlier than we were aware of our first one on the way. We were going to be going to Martha's Vineyard for a week vacation to celebrate the wedding of my cousin. I made a onsie for Piper that said "Big sister to be", and put it on her the first night when we were all together. It was really special to see the expression on my mom's face and my grandparents who picked up on the announcement right away. Brian told his parents who had just heard that 2 of their other children were expecting also! Yikes! The pregnancy when way too quick. I had no problems, except my stupid asthma was horrible. After a couple trips to the pulmonary specialist, I was told that it should get better after I give birth. I was expecting to make it to 40 weeks, as I was late with my first. However, I didn't make it till March 5th. At 3am on February 26th, I woke up with some contractions, that I hoped were Braxton Hicks. No such luck. I times the contractions, which seemed to me about 10 minutes apart. I kept trying to fall back asleep, but the pain kept waking me. I went and played around on the computer, but the contractions seemed to be getting closer. At 6am I woke up Brian and said that I think this might be it. He got up with a start! I told him that I would take a shower and then call my midwife office. I think I still hoped the contractions that were now 5 minutes apart would stop and it was just a false alarm as I was still a week early. I called the midwife's office and they recommended that I come in at 8:30am, instead of my 10:30am appointment I already had. I called my mom and asked her to come down. We decided to drop Piper off at daycare on the way to see the midwife, as my mom wasn't going to make it through Boston traffic before we had to leave. When I dropped off Piper, I let the teacher know that I was in labor and that Piper's Nana would be picking her up in a little bit. I got to the doctor's office and saw my midwife. She checked me and I was dilated to 4.5 and 100 percent effaced. She said that they would monitor the baby a little bit and then send me over to the hospital. The contractions weren't too painful, but they were regular. The nurse at the office made fun of me because I had my work clothes on, as I thought I would head to work if it was a false alarm. We decided to meet my mom in the front of the daycare to say by to Piper on the way to the hospital. I asked my mom to wait out front. We got there and everyone knew I was in labor. My mom said that she was so excited that she went in and told everyone and then came back outside. We said by to Piper and sent them home to our house. Brian took a wrong turn close to the hospital and made a u-turn while asking if we could change the name we had chosen if we have a boy to "Zack". In between contractions, I said no. The woman in labor wins. :) At the hospital, we signed in and were sent to triage. We weren't in there for too long, before they moved up to labor and delivery as they were cleaning the duct work and they didn't want to irritate my asthma. This was good, as the last time we were in the triage I was pregnant with Piper and her heart rate dipped.
Brian was always adamant that we were having another girl, but I really thought we were having a boy. I had hoped Piper would have a little sister close in age, as my sister and I are about the same age apart. I wanted her to have what my sister and I have.
We got into the labor and delivery room at 11am or so. The midwife, Rachel, was very sweet as was my nurse, Donna. The nurse said that she would break my water once I get my epidural. I explained that with my first, the epidural didn't take at first, so I was a bit worried about this one. The anesthesiologist was very confident that things would be ok. She even commented that the tattoo on my back made it easier to place in the epi because it was centered so well. Well, if I wasn't supposed to feel my lower legs and feet, all would have been fine. Several anesthesiologist's came in to try and figure out how to make me more comfortable. During this process, the midwife broke my water, expecting that my epi would take effect soon. Not so. They ended up having to take out the epi and putting in a new one. This time she went higher on my back, and it worked! Yea. At 2:50 I finally felt some relief. I immediately felt pressure like I had to pee, and the midwife checked me. I was ready to push. I was hoping to relax and enjoy my epi for a bit, but the little one had other ideas. Three pushes and the baby was out. I remember asking "what is it?", and it was a girl! The cord was wrapped around her head, but she was fine. She came out so quick, we were all a bit surprised. What a wonderful experience again...........We are so grateful that we have 2 healthy girls. We named her Maysie Garland. We liked the name Maysie (I convinced Brian of this) . He picked the spelling of the name and Garland after my Grandfather.
I can't wait for a couple more!
