I was initially super bummed to be induced (and solely for the reason of being a week overdue) but honestly I enjoyed this birth a lot more than my first, which started and progressed “naturally.” My induction was scheduled for Wednesday, July 24. It was really weird just leisurely packing our bags that morning and checking into the hospital not being in labor! It was nice not being rushed or uncertain about contraction timing, etc. The fact that we were able to start after a night of sleep (that didn’t happen with the first labor!) and that childcare for my 2 year old was all taken care of I think helped me feel relaxed. I was already a stretchy 3 cm dilated at my last appointment so I didn’t have to have any ripening done before starting pitocin, which we started at a low dose at 8am and increased every 30 minutes. I honestly didn’t think the pitocin contractions felt any different than my early labor contractions from my first birth. I sat and rolled my hips/bounced on an exercise ball for about 2 hours, and also did some leg “lunge” exercises (kind of like a Captain Morgan pose with one foot up on the bed lol). My goal was to do as much as possible to get baby in a good position before laying down in bed. I agreed to let my OB break my water around noon and immediately got an epidural because I knew things would likely get intense fast after that, being a second baby. And I was right about that. The epidural was quick and painless and VERY effective....I was ~5 cm when I got it, felt great and then got some shakiness and mild nausea an hour later which lasted for maybe 15 min or so (turns out that was full blown transition!). After that I started to feel a little pressure, which cracks me up because that “little bit of pressure” was the baby barreling down my birth canal. Nbd!

☝🏻 Middle of labor, post epidural!

My nurse checked me and with a very purposefully calm tone told the other nurse to “call the doctor right now”. 😂 The OB came in maybe 5 min later and I pushed through 3 contractions before he was born! I was worried initially I wouldn’t be able to push effectively since the epidural was so strong, but apparently baby #1 had paved a nice smooth path and this little man slid right out! I had pushed for over an hour with my first, who was also a full pound bigger. Anyway, our sweet Jude Isaac joined us at 1:58pm weighing 7lb 4oz and immediately showed off his stellar lungs! It was so surreal to be sitting there holding him having felt basically no pain through the whole thing, kind of felt like I cheated! #noshame

I felt great the whole rest of the day and we were able to leave 24 hours later which was so nice because I haaaate sleeping in the hospital. Recovery has NOT been painless with healing from a tear/stitches and super sore nipples thanks to a lip and tongue tie, but I still feel like I cannot complain!

Big bro is pretty proud! 💙💙