20 June 2006

remembering the birth

speaking of second children, my friend is quite possibly in labor right now with her second. she's at the hospital. her baby could have been born by now or she could still be contracting.

her son spends 3 hrs. a day with us here (he's 3mos. older than bb) and i had him today and wondered what he might be feeling. i know he knows something's up. how much does he understand?

it's hard to imagine the thought of giving birth again and at the same time it's all i can think about. she's there, doing it. what must it be like to know what labor is like and yet to be entering into it again when it could be totally different. i mean, yes, there will be contracting, pushing and a baby, but the whole thing could play out very differently the 2nd time. you sort of know what to expect, but that doesn't make it any easier AND it will not be the same.

it feels like something in the air is different, too. i remember feeling it in the days leading up to bb's birth. we had a major thunderstorm today at about 6pm and yesterday as well. bb and i sat on the bed and just listened together. quiet. waiting for the storm to pass. it reminded me of his birth. the contractions would come and i would breathe deeply and slowly as i could and wait for them to pass. i hope my friend's not getting rained on too heavily. i hope her boy comes safely and quickly.

5 comments:

beth said...

I hope the sun is shining for her as well.

I so know what you mean about heading into a second birth. I have no idea how I will mentally prepare myself for that - hoping for better, dreading the same, being terrified of worse.

Bea said...

It's the thunderstorms that do the trick! Both my babies were born right before a thunderstorm - I missed the storm entirely in the hospital, but then returned home, the first time to find all the leaves fallen from the trees and the second time to a beautifully green newly-washed world and a blessed reprieve from humidity (and that pretty much sums up my mental state both times!).

So how does it feel to go into labour the second time? Considering how much rougher the second pregnancy is on the body, labour feels like HEAVEN the second time - at last this baby is coming OUT!

Stephanie Wilson she/her @babysteph said...

What a cute site you have here! I hope by now your friend has welcomed the new baby into the world!

Mom101 said...

Thanks for the nice comment over at my place. My friend also had a baby this week, on the 21st. Same as yours maybe? It must be good weather for baby birthin' - whatever that is, I'll take it.

beth said...

So I just have to tell you, ever since reading your last post I have been totally thinking about when to have "the second kid." I've been working out nine months in relation to Sam at various ages to see what I think would be "ideal" and when that would mean we'd *ahem* get started.