Just when I thought November was pretty uneventful for us, my water broke on November 25 and our second daughter, Sophie Laine Sherwin, was born on November 26.
I set a deadline for myself to have my Christmas shopping done by Dec 1 (my due date was Dec 7). I was Christmas shopping, alone, on November 23 when I felt a gush. I immediately thought, “oh no, I think my water broke”. I called Chris to let him know what happened and that I was going to find a washroom to check. I slowly walked through the mall (nervous that if it was my water breaking I’d end up with a huge puddle at my feet) and finally found a washroom about 10 minutes later. It turned out to be my mucous plug. With Aurora I lost my mucous plug when my water broke so this was new to me. I called Chris back to let him know, and that night we researched what that meant in terms of the onset of labour. I read it could be hours to weeks, and I was 38w so wasn’t as anxious as I was in that washroom.
In the middle of the night on November 25 I felt a gush when I changed positions. Then that morning I felt another gush while standing holding Aurora. I was concerned my water was leaking slowly. Luckily I had an OB appt early that afternoon and the OB checked to see if it was amniotic fluid; it wasn’t. She said it was normal discharge for that point in pregnancy (38w2d). At about 5:45p I had another gush while cooking dinner, followed by another, and another. I told Chris I thought it was my water breaking but didn’t want to seem like the boy that cried wolf as I thought it was that just 4 hours earlier and it wasn’t. He asked if I wanted to go to the hospital to have it checked and I said no, I’d wait it out. I continued to make dinner all the while the leaking increased in frequency and amount. I knew at this point it was in fact my water breaking. I used the trick I used with Aurora and put a size 5 diaper in my underwear so I could somewhat function while this was going on. I called my sister Danna to give her the heads up as she would be taking care of Aurora while Chris and I were at the hospital, and she was also my secondary couch if need be (and then my sister-in-law Alex would have watched Aurora). I decided to eat dinner, call the hospital, then call Danna back to giver her an update. When I called the hospital around 7pm contractions still hadn’t started. The triage nurse told me to go to the hospital around 9:30/10p if nothing happened, but in the meantime to do a lot of walking. By the time I got to my Danna’s house it was close to 9pm. I still hadn’t had any contractions. I put Aurora to bed and decided to go for a walk with my sisters around the neighbourhood to see if the contractions would start on their own as I didn’t want to be induced like I was with Aurora. I was angry at my body for not starting to have contractions on its own since it seemed I was going down the same road as I did with Aurora. I decided to do lunges while walking which seemed to only cause muscle soreness and fatigue. Finally at 11:20p I had my first contraction. After that the contractions came sporadically and the duration and intensity varied. Sometimes they were 20 minutes apart, sometimes 7. Sometimes I could talk and laugh during them, other times I had to tune everyone out. I called the hospital again around 1:30a and informed them of what transpired since my first call. The nurse actually got angry at me that I hadn’t gone in like she told me and told me to go in then…so I did. My sisters drove Chris and me to the hospital and we arrived around 2am on November 26.
I was checked by the doctor in Labour and Delivery around 2:30a and was 1cm and I believe the baby was high. I was moved to a birthing room at 4:30a. My nurse asked me if I wanted an epidural and at what point and I told her yes but wanted to be checked to see how far along as I was as I didn’t want to get it early and seem like a wimp. At that point the contractions were painful but manageable. I was 2cm and 60% effaced. The anaesthesiologist was next door doing an epi and I was given the option of getting it then. I agreed to that because really, why be in pain if I didn’t have to be? I got the epidural at 4:50a, and I did not remember it being that painful with Aurora. The pressure was incredible. I had a contraction while getting the epidural and tried my hardest not to move; it’s hard to say which hurt more, getting the epi or the contraction. Once I had the epidural I was in heaven! I couldn’t feel a thing. The epi took better this time than it did with Aurora as with Aurora I was still in pain and pressing my top up button fairly frequently. I was given oxytocin at 5:20a because my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and they wanted them to be 2-3 minutes apart. At this point I tried to sleep but feel I really only rested and closed my eyes. It certainly didn’t feel like I slept. Around 6a I was experiencing a lot of pain. It started on my left side and moved to my entire lower abdomen as well as my thighs. I was having difficulty breathing through the contractions, and felt it would be helpful to kick my legs whenever I was having a contraction. Chris had to keep reminding me to breath through the contractions. At some point I was given an oxygen mask because baby’s heartrate was extremely affected by the contractions. My nurse said to give my top up button some time to kick in and if in half an hour I was still in pain she’d get the anaesthesiologist. She also checked my progress and I was 4cm dilated. My nurse ended up having to get the anaesthesiologist and around 6:45a my epi was increased. I was in heaven again once that kicked in. At 7:30a I was told I was fully dilated but they wanted my freezing to wear off a bit for pushing. My nurse also left at this time as her shift was over; I was disappointed she wouldn’t be there for the birth as we got to know and liked her. Very shortly after my nurse left, the doctor came in and told me to hold my legs and start pushing. I couldn’t feel a thing and so just told myself to push like I did for Aurora At 7:43a, after approximately 5 minutes of pushing, second daughter was born! Chris watched the whole thing and once the baby was out he looked at me and said, in a shocked voice, “it’s a girl”. My response: “really?????” I was so sure we were having a boy. I tried looking through my legs to make sure he was right. We hummed and hawed over her name for a bit as it was between Sophie and Madison, and ended up naming her Sophie Laine. Sophie weighed 7lbs 13oz (heavier than Aurora), measured 19.5” long (shorter than Aurora), and her head circumference was 35cm (slightly bigger than Aurora).
When Aurora met Sophie that morning, she was instantly in love. She was very excited and giggling, beeped her nose a lot and asked for “up high”s (high 5s), and even sang Happy Birthday to her. She calls her “Dophie” which now seems to have become a nickname for her. It was great to see Aurora so welcoming of her little sister. I can’t wait to watch them grow up together and hopefully be the best of friends.
We had a few issues during the first week, breastfeeding, possible jaundice, but all is going well now. In the first few weeks Sophie was a very sleepy baby and rarely cried, which is the opposite of Aurora, and I often had to wake her to nurse (which contributed to the concern about jaundice). After visiting a breastfeeding clinic (three times) things are going better with breastfeeding and Sophie had passed her birth weight by the time she was 10 days old. She’s also more alert now and while she still sleeps a lot during the day she does have long wakeful moments in the middle of the night (which I'm not fond of).
It’s been a big adjustment going from a family of 3 to a family of 4. I find it hard to divide my time between both girls, and decide who to go to when they both need me at the same time. Getting out of the house in a timely fashion is a rarity. And I have to do most things, baby-wise and in general, due to Chris' health. I'm exhausted. But luckily Aurora is quite independent and not at all jealous of Sophie, and she loves to read so we snuggle and read a lot while I’m breastfeeding (or watch Yo Gabba Gabba).
And now for photos:
Our first photo with Sophie
Peeking over my shoulder
Sticking out her tongue
Our first family of 4 photo
Fast asleep and swaddled at the hospital
Going home
Sporting a handmade knit hat by a friend of mine (I tried to knit one as well but that didn't go so well. It's still not finished.)
Aurora and Sophie holding hands while both having a drink
Going to see Santa on December 2
Belly progression collage
Fast asleep
Our pretty girl
(Christmas post to come)
