Last Monday, I was induced (a week earlier than my due date) due to high blood pressure. We went in at 7 in the morning and got settled into our room-
It was strange to be so calm and relaxed going in, since I went into the hospital in full labor with Tanner.
Once we settled in, the nurse checked me and I was close to 3cm dilated. She then started me on Pitocin around 8 and for the next 4 hours, things moved VERY slowly. We were bored out of our minds. I had to be hooked up to continuous monitors due to the Pitocin, so we could only walk down the hall and back or the monitors lost reception.
The doctor came back to check on me around 12:45 and I was only to 3.5cm dilated. I asked her to break my water hoping things would move a little more quickly.
Before we had Tanner, Trevor and I had taken a natural childbirth class in hopes of going all natural with him. Fortunately, I went into the hospital at 7cm with Tanner and was fully dilated within 2 hours so I didn't have the choice of an epidural. This time around, I didn't know how things would go- I knew that contractions can be a lot stronger when controlled by Pitocin. I also knew that things could move very slowly. My worst fear in everything was ending up having to have a C-section if things didn't progress. Because of this, I was more determined to wait it out as long as possible without an epidural, giving me time to walk and use the birthing ball to help labor progress.
Almost immediately after the doctor broke my water, the contractions got much stronger. I got out of bed and sought the relief of the birthing ball and different positions to ease the pain. By the time I asked for the epidural- it was too late (of course!) The nurse told me that I still had to receive another bag of fluids before they could give me an epidural, and the soonest the fluids could go would be an hour. She had just checked me and I was at 6.5cm and knew that once I hit 7, things would go quickly and I would be too far to get it anyways.
So- I braced myself for what was to come. Luckily, Trevor was an AWESOME support. He talked me through each contraction and massaged my back during each one. I opted to have some nubain in hopes of taking the edge off of the contractions. I don't think it worked. Although, it made me SUPER tired, so in between contractions I would fall asleep- it was quite strange.
Within 2 hours of my water breaking, I could tell I was getting close to pushing. I told the nurse I was feeling a lot of pressure. She reassured me that I still had a little bit of time since she had just checked me and I was at an 8. The next contraction I told her it was time to push. She checked me and sure enough, I was at a 10! She called the doctor and told her to hurry over. It was a good thing because I started pushing the second she walked in and only pushed for 4 minutes before we got to meet our sweet little Gracie at 3:04 p.m.- I was a bit emotional- okay, maybe a lot emotional.
I was so happy to finally hold her- I felt so much love already for her. She looked just like Tanner when she came out and still does! She was a little bigger than he was- weighing in at 8lbs 1oz and 19.5 inches long.
So far the transition from one to two kids has been pretty smooth. This is probably because she sleeps almost all day :> Tanner loves his little sister and is constantly giving her kisses or trying to give her her binky. I hope they grow up to be good friends.
Trevor is back to work after a week off, so the real challenge of having two kids begins :> I love being a mom and am so blessed to have two beautiful children and a great husband to help raise them.
