My husband and I were convinced baby #2 would come early. I’m not sure why, we just thought all along she’d be here early. So by the time I hit 40 weeks I was shocked. We scheduled an induction for 40w6d (hospital won’t do elective inductions prior to 40w5d).

We reported to the hospital at 7:30 am, Pitocin was started at 9:30 and then we waited. And waited. And waited. Contractions were coming more frequently but weren’t painful, in fact I napped thru some of it. I decided to hold off on an epidural - my first labor was 26 hrs and 16 hrs in I opted for an epidural, I assumed I’d have plenty of time this go round. At 3:30 pm the OB wanted to insert a foley balloon to help things move along. Baby’s head was too low for her to insert the foley but in checking me, she stretched me from a 2 to a 3. The OB asked if she could break my water. So at 3:45 she broke my water. Intense contractions started almost immediately. Within 10 min I was calling for an epidural. Only problem, the CRNA was in a c-section and no one else was assigned to OB. Contractions continued to be stronger and more painful and the urge to push was strong. I had my husband hit the call button telling them to get in our room because I needed to push. I pushed for maybe 10 minute and had a beautiful 9 lb baby girl - 90 minutes after having my water broken and with no epidural.