Birth of Boy 2 - Updated by the Wife

Since I wrote about the birth of my first boy, it’s only fair to write about the birth of my second boy. Boy 2 was a definite OOPS baby, meaning he wasn’t “planned”. By that, I mean we had begun talking about having another baby but not seriously. He was conceived on Valentines Day. I know this for a fact since it’s the only day we had sex the 3 weeks before and after. No comments from the peanut gallery. I’ve discovered that the Wife has the uncanny knack of getting knocked up REALLY easy, so we take extra precautions now.

Anyway, this pregnancy was a lot like with the first. She gained right around 30 pounds. If I remember correctly, the second boy thought her spleen was a soccer ball. Her due date was right around Halloween. The night before Halloween (a Friday night that year). We attended a party at a friend’s apartment. The Wife had been having contractions on and off, nothing regular, kind of far apart. Since our friend’s sister was a nurse, we joked about having the baby on our friends couch. She was not amused.

The next morning, the Wife was having stronger contractions on and off and they were getting annoying. She stated that if they didn’t become regular by 9 am, we were calling the doctor to induce her or something. However, my 9 am, they were indeed regular. We called the doctor, who agreed that we should come in to the hospital, dropped of boy #1 with my parents, and headed to the hospital. By the time we got there, she was about 6 cm dilated.

Everything actually went very smooth this time. No horror stories to report. She still had the contraction from hell when the doctor broke her water with the crochet hook, but this time, her regular doctor was there and they warned her ahead of time. She pushed for a little under an hour. She remembered to breathe this time. And even though I was still along for the ride (aren’t men really, no matter how supportive?), this time I tried to be more encouraging and kept her in a steady supply of ice chips.

Boy number 2 was born on Halloween. I’m still deciding if he’s a trick or treat. My mom was not outside the door the moment he was born and brought our older son to meet his brother later that day. I would also like to report that my wife worked the Friday before each child was born. None of this going on maternity leave 3 weeks early stuff for her. She’s too tough for that.

Sorry the story wasn’t as exciting as the first kid, but we pretty much had the drill down after the first one.

UPDATE: From The Wife (thanks hon!) - I also want to post kudos for the kids in our neighborhood. Since we were out at a party the night before, we left the front light on, and forgot to turn it off. So here's the house with the front light on, and no one's home, and it's Halloween. I'm sure there were some disappointed kids at our door, and I apologize to them. But our house was not vandalized at all - not even soap on the windows! Thanks kids!