So I was just going to trash this blog and start a new one, but Matthew talked me out of it. So here I am, and over a year has passed since my last blog post. A lot has happened in the intervening time. Matthew got his MBA, and we bought a house; those are two of the major events. But the most important change is that Locke has a little sister now. Little Vivienne Marie is five weeks old tomorrow. I was scrolling through and rereading my old posts, and when I came to Locke's birth story, I nearly laughed out loud. Locke's birth was so easy! Vivienne's delivery was anything but. I woke up at 3 in the morning on January 17th, feeling contractions every ten minutes or so. For this pregnancy, this was nothing special. Braxton Hicks contractions had been a nightly thing for weeks by this point. I rolled over, tried to get back to sleep, managed to doze a bit...the third trimester is not exactly the most restful time of anyone's life and I definitely was no exception to this rule. When I got out of bed at around 6, I realized the contractions were still coming, and it didn't matter what position I was in (walking, sitting, whatever), they still came. Realizing this could mean I'd started pre-labor, I began timing them around 6:30. They were about 25-30 seconds long, and they were coming every 5-7 minutes. Not painful at all; maybe mildly uncomfortable. I started texting and calling family to let them know that today *might* be the day, and I even told Matthew to go ahead and go to work for a half day, since I figured it was going to be awhile before anything happened. (Besides, I'd read somewhere that when "real" contractions started, I'd *know*. I just didn't feel like I was there yet). By 8 the contractions had worsened into full uncomfortableness. Matthew left for work, and came home fifteen minutes later. He'd had the forethought to call his boss on his way in to tell him what was happening, and she told him not to come in at all that day (do I ever owe her one for that...but I get ahead of myself here). I spent the next little bit packing up my hospital bag, feeding Locke his breakfast, doing normal things... And then, at 9 o'clock, the REAL contractions started. I went from feeling uncomfortable to imploding every 2-4 minutes, and the change happened fast. I called my doctor's office, and since it was during office hours, I had to sit on hold. After the most interminable 20 minutes of holding in my life, a triage nurse listened to my symptoms and told me that since it was during office hours, I needed to come into the OB's office to get a "labor check" before I could go report to labor and delivery. I was pretty annoyed to hear this, since by now I KNEW I was in labor, but didn't argue the issue. We went to the car, and though the original plan was for us to drop Locke off at my sister's house so my brother-in-law could watch him while I labored, I decided I was in too much pain for the sidetrip. So Matthew drove me straight to the hospital, dropped me off at the door, and headed off by himself to drop Locke off. When I arrived at my OB's office, I was in so much pain I could barely sit still in the waiting room chair. I ended up sitting on the very edge of a seat, and leaned back, panting, every time I had a contraction (I bet I freaked out some of the pregnant ladies in the waiting room). I had to sit there for about ten minutes before they called me back, and when they did, I was shocked and revolted to find that they were treating this like any other OB appointment. Complete with, let's weigh you in first (really?!), then a blood pressure check (they did two, one on each arm, because it was a little elevated. Extreme pain does that to you, so I don't get why they were surprised by this), and finally, the nurse tried to hand me a cup for a urine sample. I refused the cup, and I think I deserve a medal for my reserve when I told her there was no WAY I'd be able to give them a specimen. I THOUGHT a few choice expletives in the moment, but I kept them to myself. I was taken into an exam room, where I disrobed and waited for a nurse practitioner to perform this mythical "labor check." In my case, a labor check just turned out to be a cervical check, though I imagine there might be more to it for other people. My labor check was cut short because it turned out that I was 8 cm dilated. I could tell, even through my haze of pain, that she was surprised as hell (later, jokingly, the OB who delivered me said the nurse prac had to be resuscitated from the shock), and all of a sudden things got a new sense of urgency. A wheelchair was brought out for me, and they loaded me up and wheeled me to l&d (luckily, just 1 floor down in the same building of the hospital). My sister in law is a nurse on the l&d unit, and thank God she was there that day, because she was able to come into my room with me and call Matthew to let him know what was happening. Matthew arrived as they were getting my IV hooked up. I only just managed to get a working epidural (and I had to have the anesthesiologist back twice because it didn't take on the right side the first time), and it was time to push. As they were getting my room set up for baby, a nurse came in and closed the blinds in my labor room. I heard someone say that there was a wind storm, and instantly dismissed it from my mind as not important. I found out several hours later that there was a tornado warning, and 4 tornadoes actually touched down in the immediate area (the closest about 4-5 miles from the hospital), but I think they avoided telling us that because they didn't want to freak us out. Besides, there was no way we could stop labor to go sit in the hallway and ride out the storm. (Any patient who could be moved had to do just that). When pushing started, I couldn't feel a thing, and I kept worrying I wasn't making any progress, but only fifteen minutes in I heard that first beautiful, piercing scream from my princess. She didn't even wait to be fully born to cry; as soon as her head was clear she let us know she was here. She was born just before noon, about an hour and a half after they wheeled me into l&d from the OB's office. Life since then has been very different. Locke seems to love the baby, but he's also acting out (hitting, kicking, general defiance), and I'm struggling to balance my time between my two children. She has the same breastmilk colitis issues Locke had, but not the absorption issues; she gained almost 2 lbs her first month to bring her up to 8lbs 2oz. Locke wasn't that heavy until 2 months. Matthew hasn't gone back to work yet, and I'm apprehensive about having the kids by myself. There will be a lot of crying and a messy freaking house to deal with before I figure everything out. Don't know if I'll come back to this again anytime soon, since having 2 kids is definitely a lot more work than just the one! We shall see.