The BOAT: Announcing Brynnleigh Allen Lacks!!

She's here....and is perfect!! We were scheduled to be induced Monday morning at 6:45 am, but Brynnleigh had other plans!! At 2:13 am I felt a little kick, and then a small gush of water. I jumped from the bed and ran to the bathroom....Troy followed me asking me what was wrong. I told him that I thought my water had just broken. For some strange reason, we were both calm...and luckily, we had already taken Owen to my parents in preparation for the induction.

So I ran to the toilet (cuz that's what you do when your water breaks I guess!) and sat there...looked at my pajama pants...which were wet...and yes, I smelt them to make sure I hadn't just wet myself! ; ) Then, I looked into the toilet, and saw the famous mucus plug....I had never seen one before...but trust me, when you see one, you'll know you saw it!!

Troy asked me what I wanted to do, and I told him I was fine since I wasn't having contractions at that time. I jumped in the shower (because again...that's what people do when they are in labor....take a shower) and Troy laid back down. 8 minutes later as I'm exiting the shower, Troy runs in again in exasperation "what's wrong??? Why didn't you take your normal 30 minute shower....I was trying to lay back down" Yes, this is the man I married!! Of course he was joking, and I thought it was funny. I simply explained to him that I didn't think it would be smart for me to sit down and stand back up just to shave my legs while in labor with a second baby. He agreed, and proceeded to get himself ready.

While he shaved and showered and my nonexistant contractions were now 5 minutes apart....I made up the bed (no water leakage there thank goodness), dried my hair, and thought about jumping on facebook to of course update my status!

Troy & I gathered all our bags which were already packed, loaded up the car, grabbed the bills and mail because, once again, we decided that it would be smart to stop by the post office on the way to the hospital. We also took a few "in labor" pictures because well...what else would we do??

We arrived to the hospital around 3:30-4 am and I sat down in the waiting room to read a magazine while Troy parked the car (at this point, we my be crazy). Once Troy walked in, the receptionist finally noticed me, and said "Mrs. Lacks?". Poor lady was rushing trying to get all of the registration/check in process taken care of (I had pre-registered). I told her not to rush, that I was fine....her response..."You are in labor aren't you Mrs. Lacks?" "I guess so, water has broken, and my contractions are 5 minutes apart, but I'm fine, no biggie"

We walked up to the 3rd floor where labor & delivery was, checked in, met our nurse, and went to our room. I undressed...sat in bed to answer all the fun nurse questions...and then the rest of my water broke. Obviously before, was just a slow leak....because my bed was soaked! Even my socks were wet (gross I know). I told the nurse "Umm....the bed is like soaked"....she lifts up the sheets...."Wow...that is a lot of water" Thank goodness, we didn't plan another stop along our way to the hospital...that would have been bad to have happened at home or in the car!

So when the nurse checked me around 4ish I was 5 cm and 70% effaced. Contractions were 2-3 minutes apart...steady. She told me, you'll have her this morning...no problems! At this point, I probably should have listened....but I didn't. No one even knew we were in the hospital already!

I got the epidural about 6-6:30 ish and from then on I was golden. It was stronger/heavier than what I had w/Owen...I had absolutely no feeling in my legs....it was weird. At 9 am when my doctor checked me I was 8 cm (not sure on effacement) and at a 0 station. He told them to call when I was ready. My nurse decided to check me at 10 since I was having absolutely no feeling from my waist down and didn't have any pressure or urge to push. When she did, I was 10 cm, fully effaced, and ready to push. She called the doctor and at 10:15 I was set to start pushing.

14 minutes of pushing, 11 total pushes (actually 10.5) Brynnleigh was here!! It was 100 times easier than Owen...I guess the difference of 1st versus 2nd babies, and regular labor versus induction.