As many of you know, I don't have any siblings. The whole idea of a family with more than one kid is a bit foreign to me (well, not really that foreign, but it's just not my personal experience, you know?) so the sibling thing is interesting and mysterious and full of unknowns. One thing that everyone tells me is how different siblings can be, even before they're born and during the birth process.
This couldn't be more true already! From early on, I had a feeling that This One was a girl, mainly because I felt really differently than I had when I was pregnant with Chickie-- much more nauseous, etc. Once that stage passed, though, the pregnancy became much easier than Chickie's in many ways-- I had more energy, I gained much less weight, I had very little back and hip pain, I stayed really active, etc. A lot of this probably had to do with my body being "used" to being pregnant (i.e. less to stretch out this time), and a lot of it can be chalked up to life with a very active toddler.
But when Chickie decided to come into the world, that was that. I woke up in labor with contractions about 15 minutes apart, and my labor had this beautiful progressing arc that resulted in a baby being born about 17 hours later. It was really great-- I woke up with contractions, and everything just kept going from there. There were never any doubts or second guesses or anything.
Not this time. We have officially hit the 5-day mark on false alarms, considering that they started on Monday morning around 4 and it's now 9 on Friday morning. The intensity of said alarms has been building, to the point where I had a few really painful contractions about 7-8 minutes apart in the middle of the night last night. I had a couple episodes like that, but then just random ones here and there. The random ones here and there thing has been going on for 5 days, although I *have* been having more episodes of painful contractions, and the painful contractions have become more painful. But still, nothing consistent.
And really, I shouldn't get frustrated about it, because it's not in my control, but I'm totally getting sick of this routine. Mainly, I'm getting really tired physically because I tend to have my most painful contractions when I'm lying down and trying to sleep! Grrrrrrrr. Also, I'm just super preoccupied about what's going on because of what it can all mean in terms of Chickie and who will take him out of the house and for how long and what time of day it is and will he need to come home and go to bed while I'm in active labor, etc. It's had to focus on ME and what's going on in my body when everything external is also very uncertain.
Apparently, this kind of thing is very, very normal, especially with second babies-- apparently, a lot of the "pre" work gets done ahead of time, and that's why second labors are typically shorter (which adds even MORE stress for me, because I feel like when it really kicks in, it'll really kick in, and I'll have to deal with the Chickie situation really quickly), so while it's nice to know that all is normal, I am aching for some closure.
I am really trying to be patient and relax, but man, it SUCKS. Ah, the joys of learning to let go... again and again and AGAIN.
2 comments:
Hey Divya, just wanted to say it was the same for me! Labor with Alex was straightforward. Water broke. To the hospital we went! With Iris I had to write down contraction times, etc. And I hear you about the difficulty of managing a toddler at the same time and having to be ready at the spur of every moment. I just wanted to let you know the Philadelphia Lampes are rooting for you and cheering you on every step of the way!
thanks, sarah! yes, from what i understand, this type of thing is super common (albeit still totally freaking annoying) with second babies, so i'm just trying to mellow out and not look at the clock and try to forget about everything. we'll see how it goes! thanks again for the support :)
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