I was no longer working as a teacher during this pregnancy. I was way more sedentary. I did not hold my tummy in really at all. I still dropped 7 pounds during the pregnancy, but it definitely was not really apparent.
Kristi was my midwife. She was, technically, not able to be fully legal yet in Virginia. So, although she did attend my birth, we did not attach her name to the paperwork for a birth certificate. That complicated the process of getting Kat's birth certificate.
My pregnancy with Kat went well. I was tired and lonely a lot... not entirely used to being a Mama to one and worried about how I would add another. Worried about whether I could love a second as much as the first... silly things like that. I was probably still experiencing some aspects of the post-partum depression I had after Ria's birth.
I was two weeks "over due" with Kat when Kristi asked if I would be willing to use homeopathic remedies to try to get labor started. I was willing because I could tell she was very concerned.
The homeopathic remedies did start labor, but it was a long and drawn out labor because it was not natural. It was more natural and tolerable than Pitocin, but still not my body's starting the process itself... or the baby starting it... or the both of them working together. It was unnatural. I wish I'd been more courageous and trusted my body and my baby more.
I was in labor for 2 days to give birth to Kat.
Pushing took a long time this go-round. I'm sure that's because my abdominal muscles were really unfit. I may have pushed as long as 40 minutes. I can't remember for sure. Compared to the 11 minutes with Ria (which includes the time it took me to move from the floor to the bed), the time it took to push Kat out was long and arduous.
When she was born, we did not know what we were having. We thought we wanted a boy. I saw that we had another girl and I was ecstatic! I couldn't have been happier with our second adorable black-haired, 9 pound 8 ounce baby girl! She was born a blue baby and very limp because her cord was partially prolapsed when she began crowning and it was wrapped around her neck a couple times. Her unresponsiveness was worrisome. Kristi pushed the cord back where it should've been before I finished pushing Kat out. One baby was out, Kristi described how and I performed the kiss of life. I breathed life into Kat. She pinked up very well after that.
I learned very quickly (immediately?) that each child grows its parents hearts... it's as if, immediately upon birth, my heart is so much bigger that I have exactly as much love for the second as I had for the first. It's amazing!
Kat was born in our living room, right in front of our couch, in our little trailer in a trailer park Virginia.
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