Second Time Around

2 years ago this Thursday, January 19th, I was headed to the hospital at 10:00pm to be induced for childbirth. As we packed up the car and Joe, my mom, his mom and I were getting into the car, I had to tell Kailyn good night because she was going to spend the night with Papa Ray. Now, you have to realize that she has been my only child up until this trip to the hospital. She started to cry because we were not going to be the same when she saw me the next time, and it was heartbreaking. I could only tell her how much I loved her and that it would never change and that I couldn't wait to have someone pick her up from school the next day to bring her out and introduce her to her new baby brother. She seemed ok with that and went with Papa.....I cried the whole way to the hospital.

We got registered and got put into our labor and delivery room and by 10:30pm, the first nurse had already collapsed my vein trying to put in an I.V. and had to call in another nurse to get it in. Let me just tell you it pinched me the entire time it was in. (I actually scar very easily and have scars from both I.V.'s from delivering my babies. I also have a scar from donating blood my senior year in high school!) Anyway, once the I.V. was in, they checked me and I was at a 3.....ALL ON MY OWN, thank you very much and almost 100% effaced. This was great news considering I knew this was my last baby and I really wanted to do the whole thing with no drugs. All natural. The nurse inserted 1/4 of a cervadil pill into my cervix and said she would check me and my contractions in a couple of hours and insert another 1/4 if necessary. Well, it wasn't, my contractions were very close and I had advanced to a 4, so they just kept my monitor on and advised that I try to get as much sleep as I could. Right. Again, my contractions were very close, and they weren't little ones, so I watched t.v. all night long, when I wasn't peeing every ten minutes, while Joe slept soundly and my mom and Robin dozed off and on while tending to me when I got up.

At 7:00am shift change, I was at a 6, but the baby wasn't down far enough for birthing. Our new nurse suggested I stand up or sit on a birthing ball and rock side to side. In the mean time, my dad came, luckily, because my contractions were hitting like rockets while I stood and rocked back and forth and my mom couldn't hold me up anymore. With my dad and Joe on each side, I rocked like a rock star, until I had a really hard contraction. I told Joe I thought I needed to go to the bathroom, so he took me in. As I was crying and peeing, he said, "You've got to get the epidural now." Unfortunately, I agreed. When we came out of the bathroom, I had my mom call the nurse. She called the anesthesiologist, said he was on his way, and kicked everyone out of the room except for Joe, but something didn't feel right. I asked her if she was going to check me, and she said, "No, do you feel like I should?" and I said, "Yes, please, something doesn't feel right." That's because I was at an 8. When the anesthesiologist came, I told him I didn't want the epidural because he couldn't guarantee me it would work with how fast I was advancing. Within minutes, I was screaming in pain. You know, like they do on all the birthing shows, and you think, they just do that for show. (I even told Joe that) I was in so much pain, I was gagging because I thought I was going to be sick. At 9:40ish am, while I had my mom in some sort of death lock begging her to take away the pain, I told the nurse I needed to push. She said, "No, you need to calm down and breathe." To which I responded, "NO, I NEED TO PUSH!" She checked me and said, "Oh my gosh, get the doctor in here now!" My mom had Joe take over so I wouldn't hurt her anymore and out of nowhere came a whole gang of people were in my room and before I knew it I was pushing with everything I had.

Joseph Myer Klinge was born at 9:49am on Thursday, January 20, 2010. He weighed 8lbs 6oz, was 20 in long and had a 14.5 in head. When he was first born, the doctor said, "Whoa, he's a big one!" After Joe cut the cord, they handed me my sweet precious womb inhabitant who was screaming desperately in my face to go back to his comfort zone. They weighed and measured and cleaned Myer up and handed him back to me. Within five minutes of his birth, he was nursing like a champ! Apparently all the screaming was because I hadn't eaten in well over 12 hours and he was starving :) Finally, the crowd that had grown outside of my room was let in. My dad, Joe's mom and dad and my Gma came in to see our sweet little man! He was perfect from head to foot. I, however, was really dizzy and my blood pressure had dropped majorly. They brought me in some food and drink and I immediately started feeling better.

My mom and stepdad waited until Kailyn had finished her lunch at school and then brought my proud kindergartener out to meet her new baby brother! To say the least, she was in love, like the rest of us.

Now today, she doesn't always admit that same feeling. Like when he hits her, gets ahold of her iPod or screams at her for no reason. But she still loves him all the same. And as ornery as that handsome little boy is, we all still love him all the same. Whether he's laughing his most perfect laugh or screaming and throwing himself on the floor in a terrible tantrum, he's still our gift from God and we love him through and through!