Ensley Ray

Baby Sykes was due August 23.  Since Emerson was only one day overdue, I anticipated that baby #2 might be early by a couple days.  I didn't think she would be 5 days early, though.  But I'm thankful, because this pregnancy was harder.  Harder than the first.  And I wanted it to be over even though I was feeling pretty well for being 9 months pregnant and having gone through almost the whole summer.

Week 31

Week 37

At my appointment, I was dilated to a one and starting to efface, but this basically means nothing is happening down there so I was preparing myself to not deliver as early as I had previously guessed.  I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for months, but when they started to become painful around midnight on the 18th, I wondered if delivery was near or if they were just false labor.  So I put up with them for a couple hours while Will and Emerson slept.

2:30am - Sunday, August 18th
My pain level was at a 2, but I decided to shower since I wasn't sleeping.  I figured if they were false labor, then a bath would calm them down so I could sleep.  If they weren't false labor, then the hot water would at least alleviate some of the pain.  After showering, I tried to sleep, but I was mostly restless and was only able to sleep for a few hours.

5:30am -
Still contracting, I got up and tidied the house while my hair air dried.  I did some laundry, cleaned the dishes, basically got everything ready for this baby who would obviously be making her appearance sometime in the near future.  Once my hair was finally close to dry, I straightened it and woke the boys to start getting ready for the day.  I was still planning on going to choir practice and church since with Emerson, I had consistent contractions for over a day before any real action happened.  I figured this one would be similar. Will took my last pregnant picture. Gotta love those super flattering stripes, eh?

10:30am -
My contractions were getting more painful but weren't regular at all.  The pain was almost to the point where I needed to stop doing anything during them, so I decided to skip choir practice and just lay low until church.  I called my mom hoping she would be able to tell me if my contractions seemed like the real deal or if this was just some really hurty false labor.  I was kind of getting annoyed that the contractions weren't coming in regular intervals.  I would have several in an hour, and then I would have to wait 25 minutes for one.  My mom guessed that my body was moving from the latent stage to active labor.

12:30pm -
My pain level was at a 5 and I couldn't walk, talk, or breath through the contractions.  Will and I decided church wouldn't be doable since tears were coming with each contraction.  He was sweet and called our leader letting her know we wouldn't be teaching the children because we were going to the hospital.  We dropped Emerson off at my mom's church building since they were still in their meetings, and raced to the hospital.  I was really hurting by this point.  Contractions were coming every five minutes.

1:00pm -
We arrived at the hospital and checked in. They gave us our room assignment and I got ready for the nurse to come check me.  Just being at the hospital helped me calm down a little bit.  All the distractions made the contractions a bit easier to endure.  They kept coming, though.  Once the nurse checked me, I was already dilated to a 5, but they wanted to monitor me for a while to see if I would progress before admitting me.

2:30pm -
After about 30 minutes, I asked for another check.  I had progressed so Dr. Bennett broke my water to get things rolling.  The anesthesiologist came to start the epidural.  This time around was NOT fun.  He hit an artery or a vein and had to redo it.  My back was so sore for a couple weeks.  Yuck.  But on the other hand, it was so worth getting the epidural for all the other pain.  We called my sister Mariah, and told her to come in a little while.  She was willing to take pictures for us and I'm so glad she was.  She got some really sweet photos.

4:45pm -
After a few checks, I was ready to start pushing.  My body did so well progressing on its own.  Dr. Bennett came in and started getting everything set up for delivery.  Towels.  Stirrups.  Warm baby blankets.  We waited for a contraction so I could push.

4:56pm -
The contraction came.  I pushed and as the baby came out, Dr. Bennett held her up so Will could call the gender. We had so much fun not finding out the gender of this little one, and Will especially loved saying, "It's a girl!" Then he got to cut the cord which was neat since he didn't get to with Emerson.  I held her for a quick minute, but because she wasn't crying very much, they took her to check her vitals.

She was having trouble getting her oxygen so she was given some for a couple minutes.  Finally she was able to breath, but had trouble keeping up her temperature, so they decided to just let me hold her and see what happened.  As soon as they gave her to me, all her vitals settled into regularity and she started doing exactly what she was supposed to.

I nursed her for a long time.  She was perfect.  She looked just like Emerson did when he was born.  But after just a few minutes, she changed enough to start looking like herself.

Emerson came with my parents and siblings a short while later.  They got to watch Ensley have her first bath. Emerson helped me pick out a bow for her hair.  Then we moved to our recovery room.

Ensley has been a fantastic baby.  She nursed so easily from the very beginning.  She also slept through the night from the beginning.  At around 10 weeks, she dropped her 3am feeding and has been sleeping from 9:30pm-7:30am since then.  Her disposition is so sweet and tender.  I can't imagine an easier baby.  She lights up the room and keeps us all smiling.  We love our little Ensley Ray.