The Banker Blog: Delivery Day!

I fortunately had a great experience with Maddie's delivery. Since I was being induced, we started calling the hospital at 5am on March 19th. They were having a really busy day, plus were short on staff, so we didn't get the call to go up there until 12:30 that afternoon.

My mom was in town to watch Layla while we were at the hospital. When we received the call that they were ready for us, I really thought I was going to lose it. As most people with their second child, one of my biggest concerns was Layla - how she was going to react, what was going to change...I had such mixed feelings. Of course, I was excited about a new baby, but at the same time I was sad that it wasn't going to just be us anymore. I tried not to dwell on those fears - instead, we just loved on Layla, explained that we were going to go to the doctor to get Maddie out of my tummy, and away we went!

Once we got to the hospital, we got set up pretty quickly. I was lucky and got another AWESOME L&D nurse - she made the whole experience so great. In addition to the other issues, apparently the computer system at the hospital was down that day, so my nurse had to stay in the room the whole time instead of monitoring me from the main station. So there was plenty of chit chat, which was fun and really helped to keep my mind off of the contractions!

I received the pitocin at 1:45. The contractions really weren't bad at that point - nothing I hadn't already been experiencing that week, just closer together. However, my doctor wanted them even closer before giving me the epidural. She said if we really wanted to get things going, we needed to break my water. I was NOT excited about that at all but wanted to get the show on the road, so we went ahead. Yeah. Literally 30 seconds after that fun little activity, my contractions went crazy! They were coming every minute or so and were so strong! I immediately wanted the epidural at that point. Luckily, since I was already progressed so far before coming in for the induction, I was able to get it right away and didn't have to labor too much without the meds! I was so happy to see the anesthesiologist, my hero :)

Once the epidural kicked in, it was smooth sailing. After just a little while, my nurse said that the baby's heart rate was dropping with contractions, checked me, and said we needed to get set for delivery. Again, I was fortunate that my actual OB could deliver me. So she came in, they gave me a bit of oxygen, and after just a minute, Madeline Nicole Banker was born at 5:55! It was a four hour induction start to finish, not bad!

Maddie was a teeny little thing, she was 6 lbs 5oz, and 19 inches long. But she had a great set of lungs and was just perfect, so cute! They got her all cleaned up and brought her over, and we had some great family time before the visits started.

When I had Layla, the first thing I said when they handed her to me was "You look like your Daddy!" She was seriously a mini-Nick. With Maddie, not so much. I don't think she really looks like anyone at this point, but if I had to choose, I think she is taking more after my side of the family. She has the lighter features (hair, eyebrows and lashes), long fingers and toes, and the frowny forehead!

Here are newborn pics of the girls. I don't think they look anything alike!

Layla

Maddie

We actually had the option of leaving the hospital after only one night, which I absolutely wanted to do. I was ready to get home and let Layla meet her new sister!

Layla was so excited to see us and meet Maddie. She has been an angel, showing nothing but love and affection to the baby. She just wants to hold her, give her kisses, and help with her all day, it is so cute! Here are a few pictures of the girls: