I wrote such a novel on our first birth, lol, but the second has a tale of its own!

My second baby was due on October 4 and I was so HOT, I thought I'd die lol.  On top of that, this little tyke was certainly making its presence known!  Thankfully, I never had any morning-sickness, but everything hurt lol.  Though I only gained 12 pounds in the entire pregnancy, I would stand next to family and friends, literally cradling my belly from beneath it, turn to them and say, "Here....hold this for a while, wouldya??"  My doctor finally put me on bedrest for the last three months, because we were trying to avoid going too early.  (As a sidenote, it was during these months of bedrest that my son and I began homeschooling!  What a journey lol...)  About three weeks before my due date, I saw my doctor with some pains.  He sent me to the hospital, yippee this is it! I thought, and I don't even have to wait until my due date!  Yep..you guessed it...after all the bedrest and waiting, he finally was willing to let me go...and there were no contractions lol.  Had I gone into labor on my own it would have been fine, but my doctor wasn't willing to induce me just yet.  However the following week, we decided there was really no sense in prolonging this further, so off I went for another induction.  One more 6 a.m. journey (what IS it with morning folks??), once again the Pitocin.  This time, it didn't work as quickly; around 11 a.m., my family in the waiting room decided to get lunch after checking with us.  I was huffing and puffing and breathing, hadn't gotten very far, plenty of time.  Just after they left, my doctor decided to go ahead and give me an epidural.  Well honey, we got busy then!  The epidural was administered; this is a good thing lol, although I find it particularly cruel to tell a heavily pregnant woman in hard labor to "curl up into a ball", good one.  Got it done, laid back down, covered me up..."I'll check back in a few" and the door closed behind the nurse.  Take a breath and WHAM, suddenly there was a sense of 'whoosh' lol and an incredibly intense pressure, I started hollering at my husband, "Get her back in here!", hitting the call button and blowing for all I was worth!  "I ~blow~ NEED ~blow~ HELP!!"  Well they come a'running, flew in that room like the devil himself was after 'em and I certainly couldn't tell them what was wrong!  When they were able to get through my hysteria and check me, the baby was coming.  I mean, she was coming lol.  It was the typical movie moment, "DON'T PUSH, don't push!"  My doctor threw on gloves as she came through the door, they gowned her between contractions and in just a few minutes, I was holding a perfectly healthy precious little baby girl.  As my husband and I ooohed and ahhhhhed, I could hear the doctor say that there was a total knot in the umbilical cord, isn't that weird?  My little one weighed in at only 5 lbs. 8 oz, down to 5 lbs even at discharge, but she was healthy and strong.  Once again, God is good, all the time!

Unfortunately, my family was gone and missed the whole thing!  The nurse went to get them and no one was out there.  We decided to play a trick on them for missing the action, and the hospital staff did not tell them of the birth when they returned.  My sister called me on her cell phone from the waiting room, "How're ya doing?"  "Oh,"  I said, "I'm okay, got my epidural   ...y'all can come back if you want."  It wasn't until they entered my room and spied me with my little bundle that their jaws dropped, "IS THAT THE BABY????"  Guess we had the last laugh LOL.