Hellobee

My second daughter Summer was late. I mean really late. I should have known that she would be; Gemma was eight days late. I guess my little ones like the womb. Either that or my body is missing the gene that initiates labor.

Summer was to be induced on June 28th, eight days after her due date. I was tired and had been having contractions for about 2 weeks, and they weren’t braxton hicks. Any time I would say I was having contractions, people would say, “must be braxton hicks.” But come to find out they were real. Some people can be in labor for weeks and I am one of those people. It’s called prodromal labor and it sucks because since you are having contractions, you think, anytime now. But if it’s prodromal, you have contractions and are in pain but you don’t dilate.

My OB and I came to the conclusion that I would have to be induced, and that sucked because I was induced with pitocin with Gemma for the same reason nearly three years prior. Both pregnancies I had the dream of an all natural birth, but induction doesn’t allow for that. For those of you who have been induced with pitocin… you know how that feels. Pitocin forces your body to contract too fast and too much sometimes, so that your labor is nearly unbearable the entire time. Needless to say, my labor with Gemma was very difficult and very long, and I was scared of a complete repeat.

I sat at my OB’s office nearly tearing up when she told me that I would have to be induced in a few days. I was scared. Ultimately I knew that I would have to do whatever I needed to do to get Summer out safely just as I had done with Gemma, and the only thing that mattered was a happy healthy baby. It was weird — the prospect of being induced — knowing when labor was going to start and getting ready to go to the hospital. It was as if I were mentally preparing for a battle that was going to happen to my body.

When we got to the hospital that Friday, it was backed up and we were unable to get a room until 4 hours later (there was construction for a recent expansion on the hospital at the time). Talk about a mind game. Talk about anticipation. In the back of my mind I was also doing some sort of weird mommy math, knowing how long my labor was with Gemma. I realized that I probably wouldn’t have Summer until the next day, and other than that I wouldn’t be out of the hospital maybe for two days. Gemma and I had never been apart for that long and that was hard for me. I knew she was in good hands but at the same time, I knew it would be hard for her to not see me for two days.

I’ll spare you the brazen details and go right to the great thing that happened. I was able to control my labor myself mentally, and it was not nearly as bad the second time around. I didn’t need the pitocin and was able to be induced in a more natural way via cervidil, which meant I was not on an IV and could walk around during labor. This made all the difference in the world! I got the type of labor I wanted and used all of my strength to mentally psyche myself out. I got the epidural at about 6cm and the rest of the labor went very fast. In all, I was in labor for 10 hours and I pushed Summer out in about 15 minutes!

The hospital was so busy that when I knew it was time to push, I told my husband to call the nurse in and no one came. He kept calling as I was in agony and no nurses came in our room.  For a minute we thought he would have to deliver Summer! Finally in a panic, I told him to run out to the hall and find anyone he could and I literally put myself in a position to be able to catch her. Mr. P panicking in the hallway finally got us some attention. She was out about 10 minutes after that, so that was a close call in my book.

In all, Summer was happy and healthy (9lbs 9oz!, 21″). She was born at 12:14am (June 29th), so we spent two nights in the hospital which was a long time for little Gemma. Since we have been home, Summer has been the sweetest blessing to our family. She has brought us a sense of balance that we needed. She has the kindest spirit and smiles all the time!