It has been a whirlwind six months, but things have settled, and we have found our new routine. I finished my last day of work on June 20th, and enjoyed a bit of calm before we welcomed our newest addition, Nova, to the family on July 15th. Working from home with a toddler while pregnant was definitely exhausting, so the weeks I had leading up to Nova’s birth were spent trying to get rest. Unfortunately the insomnia I had, as well as the aches and pains I had at the end of pregnancy made sleep a bit harder.
I needed 600 hours of work to qualify for maternity leave again. When I found out I was pregnant at the beginning of November 2021, I was still on maternity leave with Jaiden. I wasn’t returning to work until January 2022, which left me calculating just how many hours I needed to work per week to meet the 600 hour requirement. I was planning on working twenty hours per week, but ended up having to increase to twenty-five hours/week in order to achieve the six hundred hours. I worked 9:00AM-2:00PM Monday-Friday while keeping Jaiden occupied for about four of those hours, with the last hour of my shift being while Jaiden was down for a nap. Couple that with morning sickness that lasted almost the entire pregnancy, low blood pressure that left me with dizzy spells, and quite bad hip pain, it was a crazy six months of work. However, the efforts paid off, and I ended with 616 hours.
Come July, I was certain labor was soon, and because this was my second pregnancy, I was crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t go past my due date like I did with Jaiden and have to be induced again. I was getting more braxton hicks than my prior pregnancy, and Nova “dropped” when I was around 36 weeks, opposed to my pregnancy with Jaiden, who never “dropped”. There were some days leading up to labor that I though “this is it!”, but the signs faded as quickly as they started. There was one false alarm, which Shaun came home from work for, but we ended up having to wait another full week before labor actually started.
On July 14th, I was getting stronger contractions, but they were still quite far apart. Shaun decided to stay home with me and begin his almost three weeks holidays as I felt Nova could be making her arrival soon. My parents took Jaiden to their house in case Shaun and I had to rush to the hospital; however, by the evening, the contractions had disappeared. I was getting frustrated and impatient. I went to bed that night hoping the contractions would start back up. They never did. But, at 11:30PM, I rolled over in bed and my water broke. I quickly woke up Shaun and in we went to the hospital. We arrived around 12:30AM on July 15th and the hospital confirmed my water had broken, but I wasn’t in active labor. We were sent home, and told to come back the next day. Hopefully by then, contractions had started. But once again, contractions never started; which meant I had to be induced. We were admitted to the hospital at 9:30AM on July 15th, but due to short staff, my induction kept getting pushed due to other emergencies and scheduled c-sections (completely fair). We were told to go for lunch and come back, so we did. We had a nice lunch, before going back to the hospital and my induction finally started at 2:00PM.
Unlike Jaiden, my induction was fully monitored in the hospital. With Jaiden, I was given Pitocin and sent home to wait for contractions to start. This time, I was given Oxytocin and monitored the entire process. They continued to increase the dosage, hoping to start contractions and get labor going. Around 5:00pm, labor was in full swing. I was getting intense contractions, however, I wasn’t dilating that quickly. At 8:00pm I was only three centimeters dilated, which led me to believe Nova wouldn’t be arriving that night. But, as they say, second babies tend to come faster. By 11:00pm I was ten centimeters dilated and began to push. And in less than forty minutes from the time I started pushing, Nova made her entrance into the world.
This labor was a lot different than my prior one. I felt a lot calmer, and a lot more confident. Upon being transferred to the mother and babe unit, our confidence continued. We were able to get some sleep (which we couldn’t when I had Jaiden due to nerves and adrenaline), we had less questions (although, we still asked some), and we were able to enjoy our time more. Another big difference this time around: we were allowed visitors! Although the visitors still had to wear masks, Shaun’s parents were able to hold Nova the next day, something they missed out on with Jaiden. As well, my Mom brought Jaiden in to meet his sister for the first time. The memory of him barging into the room and asking to “hold baby” is something I will remember forever.
When we got home, we were able to cherish two weeks together as a family of four, before Shaun returned to work. We split our time between Jaiden and Nova to ensure Jaiden didn’t feel left out in this big adjustment. As Shaun returned to work, I was worried how Jaiden would handle my divided attention. But, so far he has been great. He loves to greet Nova every morning by saying “Morning Nova!”; he is concerned when she cries and brings her a stuffed animal, he still loves to hold her, and he enjoys talking to her on car rides. He is an amazing big brother and handling the change quite well.
I have a great routine during the day that includes taking them both for a walk in the morning before it gets too hot, and in the afternoon we either go for a drive or play in the backyard. The rest of the day is spent cooling off in our air conditioned house, reading books, having a lot of snacks (Jaiden is going to eat us out of house and home), learning new words, coloring, and learning flashcards. Because we are in the hottest month of the year, Nova is sleeping in our room as we have a heat pump unit in our bedroom to keep it cool. We also bought an air conditioner for Jaiden’s room to keep his temperature cool for him. And Shaun is sleeping in Nova’s room for now. We still have a double bed in there, as well as her crib, dresser, and rocking chair. Come fall, I will transition into Nova’s nursery, until she is around a year old (or is sleeping through the night); and Shaun will go back to our room, so that he can get a good night sleep for work, as I am the sole feeder for Nova.
Life as a family of four has been amazing. It was an adjustment, but when asked if juggling two kids is as hard as I thought it would be, the answer is no. I enjoy every day (with the exception of Jaiden’s terrible two outbursts). And it definitely isn’t as challenging as working from home while pregnant and chasing around a crazy toddler was; but Jaiden has kept me on my toes since he was born, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
