The “plan” had always been to have another kiddo.  Neither of us wanted to rob Cooper of the joy of a sibling, or ourselves of the experience of having more than one.  After about a year, I started to get the itch for another, but held it in, as we really wanted to give them some space.  Let them have their own identities, spend a good amount of time with Cooper before we brought another one in to steal his time….but after about 1 1/2 years, the itch grew too strong.  Thoughts of my mom came into my head.  There were 4 years between my brother and I, not necessarily by choice, but because Aaron didn’t come as soon as they had hoped.  I was surrounded by friends and coworkers that were having problems getting pregnant, and I was getting nothing but older each month.  I had convinced myself that it would take awhile to get pregnant, and the sooner we started trying, the better.  Well, lets just say we didn’t have any problems getting pregnant.  2 months after “trying”, that little plastic stick showed two lines.  They would turn out to be 2 years and 2 months apart.

I have to say, things were a bit different the second time around.  Things hurt a little more, I gained a bit more weight, I was more tired, more exhausted really.  It might have been because there was a rambunctious 1 1/2 year old running around…or I was just older, or just because it was the second time around.  Because I was officially “old” at 35, and considered high risk because of that fact, we did have a few perks.  We had the full gamut of testing at our disposal.  Extra ultrasounds, genetic testing and screening to ensure there were no problems, and specialists just waiting to help if there were.  At 12 weeks, we had our first ultrasound, which showed our little man with a little bit of a thickening on his neck, which could be a sign of a problem.  We were reassured to wait for the next ultrasound at 20 weeks to see what was going on.  A little bit of a scare.  Luckily, at our 20 week he was shown to be just perfect!

Unlike with Cooper, the ultrasound tech was positive about the fact that he was a BOY!  All boy, no doubt about it this time!  I will admit, that as many times as I have said out loud and in my head that I did not want to have a girl (for fear of having to deal with a little me), I had a brief (sorry Crosby) moment of sadness at the fact that I will never have a girl.  I thought about how I would never coach a daughter how to play softball, or have a wedding for her, or help her navigate her teenage years (YEAH RIGHT!  WASN’T SAD ABOUT THAT AT ALL!).  Cory was great, as usual.  He quickly said, “Well you know that if we were having a girl she would look like me, so it is really for the best.”  That fleeting moment of sadness was over quickly!  We were going to have two boys…the Wiest boys.  Look out world!

As things went on, and I got bigger and bigger, there was a little concern that I might have gestational diabetes.  So after failing the quick 1 hour test I needed to do the 3 hour test (which is made up of 4 blood draws).  I passed with flying colors….both times they made me do it.  I still think it is a way for them to make more money, and they set the criteria super low to make you do additional testing.  Sorry insurance company!  But, I guess at the end of the day, it is good to know that everything was ok and so was he.

One of the biggest differences between my pregnancy with Cooper and this one was that I had to change doctors.  With Cooper I was able to go to a midwife (which came from me wanting a water birth – not even an option that crossed my mind with this one since I had learned that an Epidural is the only way to go).  Although I liked my new Nurse Practitioner, it just wasn’t the same.  The communication was much less, and I felt like the level of genuine concern just wasn’t there.  It was as though because I had been through this before that I should understand everything, and didn’t need my hand held.  I guess some of the blame should go onto me with this since I am a bit stubborn, and really did think I knew everything at the beginning.  However as my hormones kicked in higher, that communication and relationship I had with the midwife really would have been nice.  Just ask Cory about me hitting the median in the hospital parking lot as I left one of my later term appointments, crying, and didn’t even know I did it….unbelievable!  I give Cory a ton of credit for having to deal with me and my hormones with this one!  Glad he has thick skin!

We had our third ultrasound at 40 weeks, when he was supposed to show his face soon.  We begged the tech to tell us how big he was (not the normal thing I guess, but she did it reluctantly).  He was measuring around 8 lbs.  Not small, but not huge either.  I really felt like I needed to know, so I could mentally prepare for the job of getting him out.  I could handle 8 lbs….I thought.

As we got closer to the big day, I had contractions, then they stopped, had contractions, then they stopped.  I stayed home from work on Friday, hoping to walk and get organized and avoid going into labor at work.  It worked, the contractions started.  Then they stopped.  Nothing all day Saturday either.   At the time I thought it was pretty annoying, but looking back it was a good thing.  My cousin Hayley was getting married on Saturday to Cory in Iowa.  This meant that my parents, Aaron and Berit were in Iowa, over 4 hours away.  They were able to go to the wedding and that was a great thing, as I wished that I was able to be there too.

Sunday morning, still no progress, so Cory went fishing with Chad and Gary.  I had some contractions, but with the way things had been going, I wasn’t too concerned, so I just told Cory to have his phone.  He was only 30 minutes away, so no biggie.  Of course, Murphy’s Law, my water broke at about 9 am.  That was something that I hadn’t been through with Cooper, and let me tell you, not at all what I expected.  I did notice that the water wasn’t clear, it was more brown.  Not a good thing.  This meant that there was meconium in the water, or poop.  They say that increases the risk of the baby breathing it in, and having problems after breathing, so it changed the tone a little from there.  I called Cory and told him, and he rushed to get the boat out and get home.  Kim came over and found out that my contractions had increased and there was meconium in the water and kind of increased my concern, rightfully so.  So while we waited, I got the bags in the car, and waited in the garage with a towel to catch the water…nice picture huh?  When Cory pulled up, he jumped in the van, and we were on our way to the Maple Grove Hospital.

I called my parents, Aaron, Alycia, Dave and Ginny on the way to the hospital.  Just hoping that things were going to go fast from here.  But praying that they weren’t going too fast that I would be too late to get an Epidural once we reached the hospital….my greatest fear!  When we pulled up, Cory dropped me off, and I waddled into the hospital with a towel between my legs taking breaks to deal with the contractions along the way.  Cory came in, bags in tow, and we made our way to the Labor and Delivery area.  Unlike the first time around, we hadn’t even been to that area of the hospital and had to ask where to go.  Guess we were not as freaked this time about the unknowns – but it turns out we should have been.