We were scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 6:15am, but first we had to call at 5:30 to make sure there was an open room for us. So accounting for 15minutes of travel time and my typical 15 minute shower time, I figured that I needed to be up and going before 5am.
And despite being up early, we were STILL 5 minutes late getting there!
It was really strange for me to be going to the hospital knowing that we would walk out again with a baby. Stranger still because I wasn't in labor yet.
Yes, Chloe's birth was a scheduled induction. I was highly medicated. I chose to do this, and my reasons were selfish. But I'm glad I did.
My mom came out to stay with us for the birth and to help with Claire. Her visit straddled Chloe's due date. So to make sure that my mom could be here to meet the baby and help with Claire, I opted to have an induction.
I was scared. I knew that my body could go into labor spontaneously without intervention, but here I was, intervening. I also read some things about the risks. I should have chosen a better source for my information than a pro-natural birth site. The writer just seemed angry and made assumptions and judgments that I found offensive. This made my choice to be induced feel like I was disappointing a whole bunch of people and like I wasn't giving our baby what she needed.
But the pregnancy had progressed for 40 weeks and what I needed was for my mom to be there for me and for Claire.
So, we walked into the hospital, bags in hand, at 6:20. The nurses were so happy and excited for us. We got into the room and settled in for a big day.
Before they started the pitocin, I thought I had a few contractions. With Claire, I went into labor
the day after her due date. It just so happened that my doctor's son was getting married the weekend after Chloe's due date so postponing the induction wasn't a good option for him.
We started the pitocin between 6:30 and 7am and then we tried to get some rest. Having now been on both sides of labor, I can see why some people say an induced labor is harder. There is no build up to the contractions. The timing of contractions is controlled almost entirely by the medication. This made them come on quickly and strong. For me though, that was the only thing that was "harder."
While we waited my mom sent us picture updates of Claire as they waited at home for good news.
Being the pansy that I am, I chose to have an epidural. My doctor said we would wait until I was 3-4 cm dilated to be given the epidural. With Claire, I was already at 5cm when I got to the hospital. Waiting to get to 4 cm with Chloe seemed like an eternity!
But no worries, nothing bad happened. He did tell me that he thinks I have a slight scoliosis in my back. Nothing serious or noticeable until you try to put a needle in the space between vertebrae.
So all this time that we are waiting for the contractions to do their work, I was trying to rest. It was made difficult by the nurses coming in every few minutes because the monitors were beeping about the baby's heartbeat being too low. So I was given oxygen and moved and re-positioned many many times.
Progress seemed slow for a long time, but that last hour and last 4 cm went surprisingly quickly!
3 pushes later we met our tiny blonde baby girl, Chloe Elisabeth.
She had a hard time warming up so we had some skin-to-skin time for a while between heating lamp sessions.
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| Gigi and Chloe |
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| Just look at that grin! She was so happy to meet her little sister! |
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