everyone said the second birth is faster and easier than the first...everyone was right...thank God!

wednesday night i started feeling weird...not pain, but just different. i dunno how to explain it.

thursday morning a little before 6 a.m. i felt like i had to doodoo, and when i finished there was a blob of blood in the toilet too. we called doctor, he said i might as well head in to queens so we didn't get stuck in traffic.

before we left, i doodoo'd again...thought the stomach pains were coming from the doodoos...

as we drove to queens i started to feel more regular contractions...about every four or five minutes. they weren't super painful yet, but i knew that it was heading in that direction. the drive to queens wasn't too long, and because i was trying to find dave a sub as he drove, i was distracted enough for the contractions not to bother me too much.

luckily when we got to queens the valet was already open so we valet'd the van and went up to the tenth floor. at this point, walking was still all good and my contractions were still about four minutes apart. we got up to the tenth floor, checked in with the nurse, and proceeded to the labor and delivery room to change and get settled. in the meantime, dave is trying to make sure everything is good with his sub and lesson plans and whatever. i make doodoo yet again and proceed to put the gown on backwards, which the nurse kindly lets me know (frick, i can't ever remember if the open is in the front or the back!).

i get all hooked up to the monitors for contractions and baby's heartbeat...nurse tries to hook up my iv in my arm first, and is digging around in my arm for a while because she says my vein keeps "jumping". finally she gives up on that idea and sticks it in my right hand instead. they hydrate me, the whoosh of cold liquid radiates through my arm, and the anesthesiologist comes in to give me my epidural. now, the first time around, the anesthesiologist was a miracle worker...this guy was okay, but definitely not as good as the one i had the first time. first of all, he takes forever...then, the pain doesn't fully disappear...somehow my left side is fully numb, but i can feel a sharp pressure in my right pelvic area and lower back. that sucks, but oh well cuz there's no time to fix it.

doctor feels around in there, breaks my water bag, and informs us that whenever we're ready, we can start pushing. seriously, i look at the clock and it says 8:00 a.m. we start pushing, go through 9 rounds of counting, and out pops brynna. look at the clock again, it's 8:15 a.m. NUTTS. caleb took a good two hours of pushing to come out!

with caleb, we had everyone and their mother in the room...i swear there were two doctors (mine and one from queens), one or two nurses, dave, my mom, dave's mom, leish, and pua...and when caleb was out, i swear even more nurses seemed to be in there.

with brynna, there was dave, doctor, nurse, me. it was weird that it was so quiet and lonely in there!

after the delivery, doctor stitched me up (didn't take nearly as long as after caleb!), and then after about an hour they transferred me to the other side. we were luckily given the corner room, which i guess is the biggest room on the floor. by about 11 a.m. i was able to shishi on my own. the next day i'd doodoo on my own. may not seem like much, but with caleb, it was torturous and painful and i couldn't even get out of bed on my own for a few days it seemed. this time, not a problem once the epidural wore off. last time, i had a slew of things to do down there...ice packs, witch hazel pads, medication to ward off infection. this time, perineum water shooting bottle and that's about it. i asked for hemrhoid cream (still can't spell that word) but haven't had to use it. last time i had to sit on that inflatable doughnut for a while cuz it was so sore down there...this time, no need at all!!! last time, motrins were prescribed for pain...this time, none!!

all i know is i've been giving lots of thanks to God for making this delivery easier, less painful, less traumatic. after the experience with caleb, i was a little bit scared about going through it all again...thankfully it's been a million times easier.