It's funny how different it is being pregnant with Brennan than it was with Quinn. Maybe it's that it's been almost 4 years since I had him so I don't remember much about it, or maybe it's that this pregnancy is just different. There are so many things people say about your second pregnancy- You will know what you're doing this time, you will show sooner, you'll feel kicks earlier- and most of these things have proved true for me. But there has been one big difference.... I have NO idea what to expect this time around.
In the last weeks before I had Quinn, I felt like my body was failing me. I never felt Braxton Hicks Contractions. I never felt him "drop". I never dilated. My body just didn't do anything. I never went into labor. I had just assumed that when he was done cooking in there, my body would know what to do and everything would just happen on it's own. Maybe it would have happened on it's own if I had waited longer, but at the rate I was going it didn't look likely.
A few days after my due date, I was induced so that Jared and my mom would be able to be there for the delivery. When I was admitted into the hospital, I still had not dilated or had any contractions. They put me on pitocin, and then gave me some drugs to help me sleep (it was the middle of the night). I slowly started having contractions, but I never really was awake enough to pay attention to what they felt like. The next morning around 10:30, they checked again to see if I had dilated at all and STILL NOTHING! Finally they decided to break my water, because clearly my body didn't want to do what it was supposed to. It was so frustrating feeling like my body was working against me.
Things finally started moving after that, they gave me my epidural right away, and I dilated fairly quickly. At around 3 pm, it was time to start pushing, and at 3:14 after only a few pushes, Quinn arrived! Thank goodness my body knew how to do something right! He was a VERY healthy 8lb 8oz baby! I could not for the life of me understand why my body never went into labor on it's own, because CLEARLY he was ready! If they had waited the normal 2 weeks after my due date, I would have had a 10 lb baby!
After being induced with Quinn, I guess I just always assumed my next pregnancy would be the same way, and my body wouldn't know what to do on it's own. When people say no two pregnancies are the same, it is SO TRUE! This time around, I can actually feel my body preparing for labor. I have been having noticeable Braxton Hicks Contractions for about 4 weeks now! At first I thought maybe it was the baby stretching. About a week ago a light went off in my head, and I thought, are these contractions? I've had a baby before, and yet I have no memory of what contractions feel like! It's like I'm a first time pregnant woman again! After being reassured that they were BH I felt a lot better, but that was the moment I realized that I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know what was supposed to happen because it never happened with Quinn. I'm just now realizing that I will probably go into labor on my own this time, which will be a completely new and terrifying experience for me! I will actually have to time my contractions, have a hospital bag packed ahead of time, rush to the hospital, etc. And even though I'm scared because of all the uncertainty, it feels pretty dang good knowing that my body knows what it's doing this time around, and is preparing for it ahead of time.
Mariasha
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