Benjmain Ulysses Sex: boy Born: 02 October, 2007 Age: 4 years & 138 days Birthday in: 227 days Starsign: Libra Development: See the 32 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

39 weeks and 6 days I awoke from a vivid dream that I was in labor, I got up to use the bathroom, making my way to the bathroom I noticed I was having mild contractions and shrugged them off as Braxton Hicks contractions. I went back to bed and woke up to my alarm at 5am for work, upon getting out of bed I was still feeling discomfort in my back but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle and decided to go to work since I wanted to save my vacation pay for maternity leave and also I was convinced I wasn’t in labor. Over the next couple hours at work the contractions were coming every 15 minutes and gradually getting stronger but still I was able to work through them, I decided it was time to email John and let him know what was going on but also make him aware that I wasn’t sure if it was actual labor since the contractions were all in my back and I was under the impression that labor contractions were more of a menstrual cramp feeling in the stomach/uterus. I took a half day and left work around 10 am, the contractions were about 10 minutes apart and still getting stronger, on my drive home I experienced a few that made me wince. John was working from home, I figured it best to keep to myself quiet as much as possible so as to not disturb him but also trying to keep myself busy, I did some light cleaning, load of laundry, made lunch and called my parents informing them of what was going on and that there might be a possibility that they’d need to pick Liberty (our lab/boxer mix) up. After lunch I went upstairs and took a little nap, I awoke to the strongest contraction I had thus far and decided to take a hot shower, the hot water helped with the pain but I hated wasting the water and decided to fill up the bath tub instead. Sitting in the tub was anything but comfortable, especially being tall and all belly, I decided to get out and try lying in bed watching crappy afternoon TV. The entire time I was home John was fully aware of my progress and would check in on me periodically making sure I didn’t need his help or want him to get me something. After getting in and out of the shower a few times to help relieve the pain, John gave up trying to work and stayed with me, he was having me try different positions, using the relaxation technicians we learned in our birthing class, making me practice breathing from time to time, packing up the car and installing the car seat, he remained calm the entire time. By 4:30 pm the contractions were coming every 5-6 minutes, I was finding it harder to focus and work through them however I still was in denial that I was in labor since I was only experiencing contractions in my back and I had this fear I would get into triage, be laughed at and sent home because it was only false labor. John finally told me we’d only go to the hospital when I was ready but I needed to realize I was in labor, the contractions are regular and getting closer together and wouldn’t be happy if I gave birth in his car, I gave the okay to call my OB for admittance into triage. By this point it was around 5pm, the midwife John spoke with told him to call back in 30 minutes and let them know how many contractions I had during that time since we hadn’t kept a consistent contraction timing tally, I had approximately 13 contractions in 30 minutes and the midwife gave the okay to go the hospital. Before we left I used the bathroom noting I had begun bleeding (bloody show) indicating I was dilating, shortly after we were in the car making our way to the hospital I could feel my personality and tolerance level dropping and commented to John that I felt as though I was transiting into active labor because I felt extremely irritable. The 10-15 minute ride to the hospital was the worst ride of my life, I couldn’t sit, I wanted to scream at every driver in front of us to go faster and then having to stop at a red light for the exit to the hospital I seriously contemplated getting out of the car and walking the remainder of the way. When we finally arrived at the hospital John was pulling into a parking space and I already had the door open and was in the process of jumping out of the car when he pulled me back in making me wait until the car was completely stopped, I headed straight for the entrance looking back to find him trying to get stuff out of the car and yelled at him that he could do it later. We entered the hospital around 6 pm and were told we’d have to wait in the triage waiting area for a few minutes, while waiting I became overwhelmed with fear, began crying and told John I was scared out of my mind at what was happening and I wasn’t ready, to which he replied I didn’t have much of a choice at this point. We finally were taken to triage, what seemed like an eternity we waited for the midwife to come and see if I could be admitted, while waiting for the midwife I kept running across the hall to the bathroom feeling as though I could pee every 2 seconds but hardly anything came out, the midwife finally came into the room did her inspection to discover I was 6 cm dilated. The nurse was instructed to get me into a labor and delivery room, she quickly rushed me out of triage and down the hall, I had to make a few stops along the way due to contractions, as soon as I got into my room I looked for the bathroom, began pulling off my clothes (I remand naked until after I delivered, shocking since I’m semi-conservative) and heading straight towards the shower, John informed the delivery nurses of my situation, told them the shower and “birthing ball” were working well for me at home then went back out to the car for our bags and cameras. The nurse came into the bathroom asking me medical and personal history questions but my contractions were coming right on top of each other and I couldn’t focus on what she was asking, she finally said she’d wait until John got back to the room. Still feeling the overwhelming urge to urinate I made my way over to the toilet and quickly realized that sitting on the toilet was a rather helpful way of reliving some of the pain of labor, one of the nurses began filling up the whirlpool for me while the other was trying to monitor Benjamin’s heart rate and every time she touched me I was becoming more annoyed but somehow managed to contain my frustration and not letting words explode out of my mouth. When the whirlpool had filled up and was warm enough I was moved into the tub, I wasn’t in there very long before the nurses started back up with monitoring the heart rate, putting in the IV needle used for after the birth, John was trying to get me to breath and I in the meantime was wanting to yell at or strangle everyone of them. I was probably only in the tub for about 15 minutes when I got the overwhelming urge to push during contractions, I told the nurses and they had me get out of the tub, make my way towards the delivery bed and called in my midwife. The midwife checked me again and discovered I was 10 cm dilated, the bed was set up, the mirror was brought in and I began pushing. At 7:45 pm on October 2, 2007, 4 hours and 15 minutes before my due date, Benjamin entered the world weighing 8 pounds, 4 ounces and measuring 20 inches. The most amazing child I’ve ever laid my yes on, it was instant love and I knew I’d forever be his biggest fan and the best mommy I could be.

Hayden Cyrus Sex: boy Born: 20 October, 2009 Age: 2 years & 118 days Birthday in: 247 days Starsign: Libra Development: See the 27 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

Seeing as none of the old wives tales have ever worked for me in trying to induce labor naturally I didn’t have much faith in them, at 39 weeks and 5 days I decided what the heck I’ll try the spicy food wife tale… if for nothing more then a laugh. Starting around 12pm on October 20th, I drank 1 Tbsp of HOT sauce every hour for three hours, by 3pm I began experiencing mild back contraction, around 4pm I realized they were regular and began timing them at 15 minutes apart. Around 4:30 pm I told myself this could be the real thing, I called my husband at work letting him know what was happening along with our parents informing them to keep a phone nearby and be ready to pick up Benjamin. 5:30pm the contractions were coming more painful and frequent, I called my husband at work telling him he needed to come home right, I needed him to go on daddy duty with our son. While my husband was putting our son to bed at 8pm the contractions began coming almost every 3 minutes, I was laboring in a hot shower trying to manage the pain and began to cry through a few of the contractions, when my husband returned to my side I informed him it was time to head to the hospital and he needed to call his dad to come and watch Benjamin. Thankfully John’s dad arrived at our house within half an hour, we were out the door minutes later, I hardly had any contraction on the way to the hospital making me thing I was experiencing false labor, just as we pulled into the parking lot a strong powerful one hit me. Once inside the hospital I was taken back to triage for examination, the midwife came in to check me, I was 8 cm, she had the nurse quickly rush me back to labor and delivery. Immediately after entering the room I headed straight for the shower, made the water as hot as it would go and spent majority of the next half hour laboring in the shower until I had the strong urge to push. Unfortunately my midwife had an emergency in triage, the nurse had to check me, my water was budging and I was 10 cm. The nurse frantically called around trying to get someone in my room to deliver and was just about to try and deliver herself when a doctor walked into the room. He did a quick check of my cervix, broke my water, just as he was breaking my water the midwife came into the room, as soon as my water broke Hayden slipped down into the birth canal. I was told to push with the next contraction, on October 20^th at 10:20pm and just three pushed Hayden Cyrus entered the world at a 7lbs 13oz and 20 inches. Upon holding Hayden for the first time all the anxiety I felt about having a second child quickly disappeared and I was filled with nothing but love for the miracle I was in my arms!

I remained in recovery for a little over two hours due, I was bleeding pretty bad and passing large clots, the midwife and doctor feared I was postpartum hemorrhaging. After several attempts with different shots/medications, a lot of external pushing on my uterus, physically going in pulling out clots (I half think this was worse then delivery) they got it under control, however I was under close watch and didn’t get any sleep until almost 1pm the following day.