I’ll start off by saying that I had heard so many stories from other mommies about how their second babies came early. These stories had me convinced that our baby boy was going to come super fast! I had his entire nursery done months before his due date. Little did I know, my second pregnancy was going to be almost exactly like my first…an induction at almost 42 weeks!
Baby’s due date came and went and at 41 weeks pregnant I was feeling so miserable. In the sixth month of my pregnancy I was diagnosed with Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction which caused me to have a ton pain in my pelvis…especially towards the last few weeks of pregnancy. I ended up getting a little desperate and did all sorts of things to “naturally” induce labor. I tried everything from walking stairs, taking red raspberry leaf pills, and getting my membranes swept but nothing would work! I had even lost my mucous plug but still no baby.
Finally, on July 17th at 41 weeks and 3 days pregnant I had a check-up scheduled with my OB. I was feeling decreased movement from baby so they did an ultrasound to make sure he was doing okay. Sure enough, his amniotic fluid levels were extremely low and he was measuring big. He wasn’t in any distress but it meant I was going to be induced! Yay!
I rounded up the troops (my mom and hubby) and we headed to the hospital. We got there around 3pm and I was only 2cm dilated and 70% effaced. I was given Misoprostol to help kick-start dilation. About four hours later they started me on Pitocin to bring on the contractions. I lasted about seven hours until I asked for an epidural. (Side note: The epidural was so painful this time around! Plus I had leg pain for weeks afterwards from it). At about 11pm we decided to try to get some sleep. My mom had taken Lily home with her so it was just me and my husband. (I have to say that it was such a relaxing and intimate experience this time around since it was only us two).
Around 5:10am I woke up because I was really really thirsty. When I sat up to drink my water I noticed that I had this heavy feeling like I needed to pee. I was about to go back to sleep but decided to call my nurse instead. She came in and checked me and said, “that pressure you are feeling is your baby’s head, he’s about to come out!” Good thing I called her! My husband jumped out of bed and within 15 minutes our baby boy was in our arms. I pushed three times and he was out. The labor and delivery was SO much easier this time compared to my first!
At 5:30am on July 18th we welcomed our little Luke Owen. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 inches long. Even though it was so early in the morning, all of our family came to the hospital to meet Luke. We had coffee and gushed over our new little bundle of joy. It was such a beautiful day!
