This is the birth story of our second child born on September 15, 1997.

The pregnancy was pretty typical and very similar to the first although I had more morning sickness this time around. I never did vomit but felt sick everyday for about two full months. Was I ever glad when that was over. I still remember how awful I felt during those months and how I couldn't decide if eating food made me feel better or not eating food made me feel better. Neither one helped. The only cravings I got during the pregnancy was one time when I had to have some Wendy's french fries (when I had morning sickness) and a few times I had to have a Pepsi (I usually don't drink soda pop). Weird...The rest of the pregnancy went fine except that I was way more tired during this pregnancy trying to keep up with my two-year-old. That was the only downside, not having as much energy as I needed for everyone.

Besides anticipating the new baby's arrival we had a lot of other things going on. During my eight month of pregnancy we decided to put our house on the market and sell it so that we could build a new house. I hoped that our house would take a while to sell so that we could stay in the house until after the baby arrived. Our house sold in three days! So we decided that we should go ahead a move before the baby arrived. I quickly rented us an apartment to live in while our house is under construction, decided which stuff to move to storage and which stuff we should move to the apartment--all in the few weeks before my due date. Believe it or not, we actually closed on our house and moved all our stuff right before the baby arrived. Talk about hectic. All the work moving is probably what helped get the contractions going.

Around the thirty-eighth week I began to feel more consistent Braxton-Hicks contractions. During the thirty-ninth week we began to get excited about the contractions and my husband started timing them. They would come and go but we had fun anticipating "is it time yet?" Now that we were settled in to our apartment I felt ready for the baby.

On the morning of my due date-September 14, 1997-I thought that I felt a small trickle in my underwear but didn't think much of it. I went on with the day as usual. My husband's business was displaying a booth at a Home and Garden show so he was gone for the whole day. I took our daughter shopping for a whole list of stuff we needed and returned home in the afternoon. My husband returned home that evening at about 7pm, we had dinner and my husband went to bed. He was very tired from working at the show. My daughter and I came to bed about an hour later. At about 10pm I had a couple of contractions then felt a trickle in my underwear again. This time it was more than that morning. I was pretty sure it was my water breaking because of the amount. I woke my husband up and our daughter, who was sleeping in our bed, woke up as well. We started scrambling about the house getting our stuff together to leave for the hospital. I was very surprised that this was the way I was going into labor. Our first labor was induced and we were scheduled for induction with this pregnancy on Friday. I thought for sure this labor and delivery was going to be different from the first (C-section) and I was very excited. My husband told our daughter "mommy is going to have the baby." While I was sitting on the toilet with water gushing out our daughter walked up to me, put her hand on my big belly and gave my the sweetest smile. I will never forget that moment. It was very sweet.

We took our daughter to my sister's house and headed for the hospital. We were given a birthing suite and since it was around midnight and I was only dialated to about 2cm I was told I could get something to help me sleep and we would start the Pitocin at 6am. The sleeping pill did not help much and I woke up with each contraction. The Pitocin was started at 6am and I began having more steady contractions that were still not real painful. The problem was that the nurse on duty who started the Pitocin basically made me stay laying in the bed on my left side with an oxygen mask and told me I had to hold the fetal monitor just so on my belly because it was not staying in place by itself. Needless to say this was very uncomfortable and that makes even mild contractions harder to handle. I hated the fact that I could not get up and move or walk.

The Dr. finally came in at about 8am and we talked about how we should handle the situation. Since my first delivery was by C-section I was really going for a vaginal birth this time. We talked about waiting for an epidural longer this time to avoid the possibility of the epidural interfering with labor as they say can happen. We decided to wait until at least 3-4cm before I got an epidural. The Dr. also said that I should be out of bed so that I could stand up or sit in the rocking chair. Boy, was I glad he said that. I wanted out of that bed so badly. I sat in that chair for what felt like forever. With the shift change we got a new nurse who was great. The only problem is that she kept coming in and turning the Pitocin up and as she did this the contractions got stronger and more painful, much more painful. My husband was great. I couldn't have lasted as long as I did without him there with me the whole time. He helped me find techniques to get my mind off the pain. He was the only person I wanted in the room with me. Me one else could have made me feel better or more safe than my husband. Labor and delivery really make you realize how important your partner is to you. The contractions were so painful I was moaning in pain (which I would never have thought I would do). I finally told my husband that I could not take the pain any more and he coached my along for about 45 more minutes. He knew how badly I wanted to have a vaginal birth and that it was important that I hold out for as long as possible. Finally when I really couldn't take it any more the nurse gave me Fentanyl in my IV which relaxed me so I could deal with the pain (even though I could still feel the contractions). This helped for a while.

At about noon the nurse said that I needed to get back in bed and lay on my left side and she hooked me up with the oxygen mask. The baby was having some distress and did not like the position I was in. At about 1pm the nurse checked me and said I was 3-4cm dialated which was surprising since I thought I would be a lot farther along than that. The Dr. said I could have my epidural. This was good because I couldn't have gone on any more. I felt like my body had almost completly shut down. If an epidural wasn't available I think I would have told someone to just hit me over the head with a rock and put me out! After the epidural I was so exhausted I slept for a while. That's all my body could do at that point. After a little rest, I finally talked with my family who was in the waiting area.

I continued to dialate for the rest of the afternoon. The Dr. checked me at around 5pm and said I was at 7cm (great news!). An hour later I was still at 7cm and another hour later I was still at 7cm. The Dr. told us that the baby was slowing down in movement and that my cervix was starting to swell and since I had been at 7cm for about 3 hours he didn't think I was going to dialate any more. This is exactly what happened with my first labor, I stalled at 7cm. He knew that I was going for a vaginal birth and he knew I was disappointed with the news. After a few tears we decided that another C-section was what we were going to have. I felt like I had given it my best shot and the baby's well-being was most important.

At 7:46pm our little guy joined our family weighing in at 8lbs 10oz. When my husband saw that it was a boy he couldn't even get the words out he was so excited. He was really hoping for a boy since we have a daughter. He shouted "it's a Kobe, it's a boy!!" and you could really hear the excitment in his voice. I felt like the luckiest woman around. Kobe was beautiful and healthy and we were so glad to finally have him with us.

Kobe is doing great and is breast-feeding like a champ. His little sister adores him and tells everyone that he is "my baby". She loves to kiss him on the head and helps me clean the spit-up from his mouth. They are so cute together.

Good luck to anyone reading this who is expecting. I know I read these birth stories when I was pregnant and enjoyed them very much. The birth of a child is truly the biggest miracle and the most exciting event that you will probably ever experience.

Kobe's Mommy