I'm still working at Ruby Tuesday however now I'm the General Manager so that means I'm working more and longer hours. Usually put in about 50-55 hrs a week. And again, pregnancy isn't going to slow me down. I didn't miss a day of work, even with a UTI. I was pretty sure Mercy was going to come on her due date, but part of me thought she was going to be early cause I was showing fast. And I was big! I had 2 different people ask me if I was having twins. Not the nicest thing to ask a pregnant woman.
Unlike my first pregnancy, I did get morning sickness with this one. I didn't throw up a lot, maybe 10 times total throughout the pregnancy, but it still sucked. I didn't do much manual labor with this baby other than painting Grace's room purple. Mercy's room was already ready to go since she was taking over Grace's old room. I did however, play Just Dance on the Wii a lot and I guess it was pretty funny to see my belly shake. No pics or videos however cause I didn't want anyone other than my family to see it. I did have contractions early on, but nothing to worry the doctor so when one would come, I would just slow down for a minute.
I was due October 19th which was a Tuesday. I didn't care what day she was born but I didn't want her to come out on the 16th since that's my and Mike's anniversary and I wanted Mercy to have her own day. My last day of work was Monday the 11th and other than some mild contractions, I was pretty sure I was going to make it till the 19th. Needless to say, I did try some things to get mother nature moving a bit early. Heard that eating pineapple helped to soften the cervix so I ate a can one day at work. All it did was upset my stomach. We did take a drive out the canyon once, and that too didn't help. This baby was stayin' in till she was done cooking.
The week I had off of work before she was born I actually “nested” a bit. I got all my old Barbies out for Grace and cleaned and shopped. It was nice to not work and spend some time with Grace before her world got turned upside down.
When we took the Big Sister class (taught by Helen Hale, Paul's wife) I found out that Grace wouldn't be allowed in the delivery room. This changed up our plan a little. Now, thinking about it, I'm sure my doc would have been ok having her in there, but I'm glad she wasn't. It would have been hard to keep track of a toddler while focusing on birthing. Mike's dad was planning on coming up when I went into labor and Jamie was on-call as well.
October 19th comes and I have a doctor appointment. I weigh in (under 200 lbs!) and he checks my cervix and I'm at.... a 3. Really? A 3? That's what I was the week before. He asked if I wanted to be induced or wait it out, and I didn't want to be induced at all. So we decided that we'd schedule an appointment for the following Monday if she didn't come sooner. The doc also said she looked like she would weigh about the same as my first (about 7lbs). His nurse told me that second deliveries usually took half the time as the first so I was looking forward to an 11 hr or so labor. I went home to wait for something to happen. And I went to sleep disappointed.
I woke up the morning of the 20th and thought “if she's born today she'll have a 10-20-2010 birthday which is cool” and got over the fact that she wasn't born on her due date. I had been having contractions all morning but nothing consistent. There would be a big one and then 5 min later another, and then 20 min later the next. Nothing to get my hopes up. Comcast came out and set up our internet around 2 and Mike got home from work around 3. No contractions. Grace wanted to go to Willow park and I figured walking around the zoo could only help so Mike and I were discussing that when I felt a huge gush of liquid. At 3:30 pm my water broke, and when I say broke, I mean “Niagra Falls”. I'm pretty sure I swore (Mike says I did at least) and I scared Grace. I grabbed a blanket off the chair and shoved it between my legs while I screamed at him to get towels and the bag. I called Jamie and I honestly don't remember the conversation except it ended with her coming to get Grace. I waddled upstairs to sit on the toilet while I waited for Mike to get everything in the truck. I had some pads from when I came home after having Grace and thought that would work, cause well, it worked when my water broke with Grace, but it was kinda like plugging a hole in the Hover Dam with a bandaid. Jamie came and got Grace, I got in the truck (and realized I didn't have shoes on so Mike had to go back inside and get my flip-flops) and we headed to the hospital.
Our hospital is about 10 minutes away and thankfully school was already out or we'd be stuck in the insane traffic of parents picking up their kids. I had 4 strong contractions in the car on the way. I swore at every car that was going slow and at every red light. I was sure the baby was coming out NOW. Got to the hospital and can someone tell me why Delivery is on the 2nd floor?? Got checked in and headed to a room. Contractions still pretty regular and still pretty strong. The nurse in our room has to get me in the computers and of course the computer in our room isn't working so instead of switching rooms, they switch computers. Finally, I'm in, they get an IV in, monitors on my contractions and her heartbeat. My contractions are strong, but bearable. Mike heads home to change since he's still in work clothes. While he's gone I start really feeling the contractions and when he gets back I get my epidural (5:30 pm). It was amazing! And I Facebooked it and people made fun of me. :P
Now we just wait. I'm at a 4. I'm shocked that I'm only at a 4. Around 7 pm Mike's dad shows up and we decide to induce me to get my dilation moving. The epidural had slowed down the contractions. So they start the Pitocin and Mike takes his dad to our house (this is around 7:45 pm). Comparing things to the last pregnancy, we figure we have a while. The nurse comes to check around 8:30 pm and I'm at a 6 so she pumps up the Pitocin. About 30 min later I'm feeling the contractions. I shouldn't be, so I push the button and get an extra dose. Still feeling them 10 min later so I push it again. I swear I pushed that thing 4 or 5 times but I don't really remember. Then I notice that the monitor that's tracking the baby's heartbeat is pretty quiet. She must have moved but I'm nervous. I call Mike and he says he's 5 min away. I tell him to hurry, not sure why, but I feel like he needs to be there. The nurse comes in at 10 to check me again and Mike had just walked in the door. I tell her the heartbeat isn't tracking anymore and she explains the baby moves and when they move the monitor usually the baby moves again so she likes to wait. She checks me and her eyes bugged out! I was at a 10 and the baby was ready to come. The nurse wasn't! She told me not to push, she needed to call the doc and get the tables and things ready. Around 10:13pm I started pushing. We had been joking that the baby would be born at 10:20 on 10/20 and 7 minutes later when she came out, it was 10:20 pm. I only pushed through 4 contractions and she came out. Mike and I had an unofficial bet about how big she'd be. I said 7 lbs and some ounces, Mike said less than 7. When they put her on the scale she weighed in at 8lbs and 8oz!! So I was just having a big baby! The cord was wrapped around her head once, but she was ok and Mike got to cut the cord! My labor lasted 7 hrs from water breaking to delivery and I couldn't have asked for it to go any better. My beautiful Mercy Jo was born at 10:20 pm on 10/20/2010. They handed her to me first and I thought she looked just like Grace. Mike held her next and even though she was big, she looked so tiny in his hands. Dicus baby number two was just perfect!
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