If you read my two other blog posts you’ll know that I was pregnant with my second child. For the most part my pregnancies were similar. I was very sick for a good part of it, tired, achy, the works. But one of the biggest differences was that I hardly gained any weight; only 8 lbs to be exact. Now, before you get jealous, I gained about 60lbs with my first baby and didn’t really lose it so it was 8lbs on top of an already obese body. But nonetheless I was happy not to have gained too much.
My first labor was so difficult. 37 hours of labor including 2 1/2 hours of pushing, vomiting, and endless pain despite having an epidural. Needless to say I was not looking forward to doing this again but many moms of more than one children assured me it was better the second time around.
Those moms were right so I thought I would share my experience with you.
During my first pregnancy, I was going to be induced but ended up going into labor naturally and my son was born on his due date, May 22. This time, I was due May 3rd and it felt like there was no end in sight. After 39 weeks my doctor told him that I could consider being induced or just wait it out. Part of me wanted to wait, not intervene, and let nature run its course. But I was so tired, and had limited time off from work so the longer I waited the less time I was going to have to actually be with the baby once he was born. So I agreed. I was going to be induced.
My doctor wanted me to check into the hospital on Monday April 30th so that they could administer the cervidil. Cervidil is a medication that is placed inside, close to the cervix, and left in for 12 hours in hopes that it will soften up the cervix. For those who don’t know, your cervix needs to be soft and thinned out (effaced) and dilated in order for the baby to be able to pass through safely.
At around 6pm we all checked into the hospital. My mom was going to be staying with my oldest son, Ayden, while I was in the hospital but they came along with me so that I could say goodbye. This was the longest time I was ever going to spend away from my son, and even though I knew I had to focus on what I was about to do, I couldn’t help but think of my first born. And of course, he was absolutely fine saying goodbye to me. I prepared him well and he knew exactly what was going to happen and was so excited for his baby brother to get here and of course getting to spend a few days with grandma. The first night was pretty uneventful. After the medication was inserted I had to stay in bed for about an hour. But afterwards they recommended that I go for a walk. There wasn’t really anywhere for me to walk except for around the nurses desk. So my husband, Noelby, and I walked around, and around, and around. We walked past the nursery and saw all the very new little babies that had just been born; all beautiful and some being treated under UV lamps for jaundice. Eventually I grew tired from all the walking and we went back to the room to get some rest. I didn’t sleep much that first night. I was hooked up to monitors and every time either I or the baby moved, you couldn’t hear the heartbeat and the machines would start beeping making the nurses have to come in adjust it. It must have happened at least 20 times that night. Not to mention all the other times the nurses had to come in just cause.
At 7am my doctor arrived. I was a little more dilated but at that point she needed to start me on pitocin to begin contractions and get the process going. According to them I was contracting well but honestly it wasn’t very painful. There were contractions that were more uncomfortable than others but it was no where near the pain that I felt when I was in labor with Ayden. It was strange people most people say that contractions induced by pitocin were way more painful, but it was not the case. After several more hours I wasn’t really progressing at the rate they hoped and my doctor wanted to break my water. She felt that the water was preventing the baby’s head from dropping and once she did that, she was confident I would deliver sooner. This was the point that they offered me the epidural. I opted to do it even though I wasnt in much pain at that point, but I was afraid that if I didn’t, I wouldn’t get the opportunity to later.
The epidural worked great, I didn’t feel a thing. But I had a very strange reaction that I’ve never experienced before nor had I heard of. I started itching all over my body like a thousand ants were crawling all over me. It may sound silly but it was unbearable. No scratch would satisfy the itch. I just wanted to rip my skin off. They gave me Benadryl but all it did was knock me out for the next hour.
Due to my drug induced coma, the next hour or so was a blur. I remember people going in and out of room, I could hear people talking at times, my mom on the phone with my dad, and various other hospital sounds but I couldn’t exactly say what was going on. My step dad arrived at this point and because of the strict 2 person rule, my husband decided to step out and check on the car to allow my step dad some time with me. It was only a matter of minutes before I felt intense pain and pressure down below. I didn’t even realize what was happening until the doctor checked me and said the baby was ready to come out. Apparently I was crowning. But where was my husband?! I quickly called him and told him to hurry back. The next 3-5 minutes it took him to get there was the longest few minutes of my life. I swear, if he was one minute later he would have missed it because I couldn’t wait anymore. All it took was about 5 minutes of pushing and the baby was out. I couldn’t believe how fast it all happened. My precious little baby was finally here.
Unfortunately my little one did a number on me which left me needing many stitches. It took the doc longer to sew me up than it did to push the baby. But I was so happy. My little munchkin was finally here. Initially I felt a sense of guilt about being induced but it was probably the best decision I made. I was able to bring my baby into the world on my terms, in a calm way. And I couldn’t be any happier.
