Delaney Piper Frost

I'm once again way past due on this, but I needed to get it down before it starts to fade away...be prepared, it's gonna be long!

Like most pregnant women, once I hit that magical 37 week mark where they tell you it could happen anytime and start checking to see if you are dialated, I started every trick I could think of to NOT be pregnant for another 3 weeks. And when I went to my ultrasound and doctor appointment on Friday, March 19th at 37 weeks and they said I was barely 1 centimeter dialated and my baby already weighed 8 lbs 15 oz, there was no way I was waiting around another 3 weeks. Of course, the doctor wasn't interested in inducing me that very second like I asked, but he did give us a few tips to try and speed things up. So the rest of that weekend was spent doing lots of walking, eating spicy foods (Buffalo Wild Wings has worked wonders for me BOTH times now!) and a few other things I won't mention here...lol. But I think it was laughter that did it.

On Sunday evening after a long trip to the park with Brayden, I took a walk with our neighbor Heather, her dog Gracie, Brayden and my mom up to the baseball field in our neighborhood. Heather had just bought one of those sticks that a tennis ball goes in and you can fling it really far for the dog to chase and she got a mini version for Brayden to use. So we were up there getting ready to leave with me waddling along behind my mom and Brayden with Heather and I decided to give Brayden's stick a try to see how far it would go. Well, apparently my aim when throwing balls on sticks is not too great, because it whizzed right by my mom's ear, so close we could see her hair move. I thought I was dead for sure (I'm still laughing hysterically thinking about this) because I would have really knocked her out. I was only about 6 feet behind her and whipped it as hard as I could. When we realized she didn't get hit, we laughed so hard. So so so very hard I could barely stand. We laughed the whole way home and right before the house I had a really hard contraction. But only 1 big one and that was it. So I went home, spent some extra time cuddling Brayden that night. Got a long hot shower and actually emptied and repacked my hospital bags because the weather had gotten so much warmer.

Time for bed and I'm still feeling great. But I can't sleep. So I lay there tossing and turning and trying to get comfortable, which is impossible and getting up to pee every 15 minutes. Around 1:30am I roll over for the 10,000th time and feel a big pop. I run for the bathroom and yep, my water broke! Brayden was in our bed and I'm whispering for Andy to get up and let him know it's time. I go into Brayden's room and sit on a towel on the floor to call my mom and the doctor. Andy calls Mark to come over and watch Brayden. Then I head back to the toilet to sit and wait to go to the hospital. At this point I am feeling no pain and having a great time! I'm happy and excited and ready to go! Brayden starts to wake up from all the lights on and running around Andy is doing. My mom shows up and Mark comes soon after. Brayden is laying on our bed yelling in, "Mom, whatcha doin in there? You going potty?" Then he realizes my mom is here too and he's out of bed and running around. So much for being quiet and keeping him asleep. Andy gets the bags in the car and Mark shows up and it's time to go! We head to the hospital at around 2:30am with me still laughing and no pain at all!

We get to the ER and they tell me I'm the 6th one to check in that night in labor. We head up to Labor & Delivery and get all settled in our room. They check and I'm still only 1 centimeter but my water is definitely broke so there's no going home now. At around 4:00 they let me get out of bed and walk for a bit to try and get the contractions started because I'm having a few, but very light and not painful. This is such a different experience from Brayden where I was in pain for days and get to the hospital having horrible contractions! We spend an hour walking the halls and they finally start to pick up and get painful. When we go back to the room at around 5:30am they check again and I'm about 3 centimeters, which is enough to get my epidural! I spend the next 45 minutes getting pumped with fluids and waiting on the anesthesiologist. This was the only time I was in any major pain and it still doesn't compare to what I felt with Brayden. Contractions have picked up to 5 minutes apart and getting stronger. They come to give me my drugs and all is good again. I did feel more pressure with contractions this time so I knew when they were happening, but the sharp pains were gone. They roll me over on my left side and we try and nap for a while since I'm thinking this will take the rest of the day. My mom goes off to make some phone calls and get something to drink. It's about 6:30am at this point.

At around 8am, after spending my nap time facebooking and texting everyone, I start to feel some pressure. I tell the nurse and she says she will get the doctor to check me and see how things are going. I send Andy to find my mom but she shows up right then and I let them know I'm ready to push. Dr. Cirucci comes in around 8:30 to check me and I'm having a lot of pressure and I'm 10 centimeters! It's time to push! The nurses get me ready and tell me we are going to start practice pushes. They aren't sure I'm completely 10 yet and think it will be a little while. There is another woman right across the hall that is about to deliver too. I push for about 10 minutes and she is right there and ready to come! The nurses scramble to get the bed ready and find the doctor. We hear the people across the hall cheer as their baby is born and the doctor runs into our room to catch Delaney! Once the doctor was in the room, one more push and she was here! I was shocked at how fast it went! I pushed 2 1/2 hours to get Brayden out and she was here in about 15 minutes! She was born at 9:04am on Monday, March 22nd, 2010.

Right before she came out, I hear my mom say "Oh my goodness" and wonder what this is about. Well, Delaney came out with a full head of curly dark hair! That was such a shock since I was expecting her to look just like Brayden. She also came out with the cord wrapped around her neck but everything was just fine. I had very little to no tearing this time and only had 1 stitch. I was up and walking in about an hour after having her.

Also, this time I decided to give breast-feeding a try and she had a great latch and fed very well right from the start. We were moved back to our room and got settled in for the next couple days.

To Be Continued...