Thoughts on labor

I won't go into details, but all-in-all, this labor and delivery was SO much better and easier than the first time.

Due to having GD, my doc told me that he wasn't comfortable with me going overdue this time around. I thought that meant an induction on my due date of February 11th if nothing had started on its own, but as that day approached, he told me that if I had a non-stress test (NST) and everything still looked okay, that he would let me go a few days overdue.

My NST on my due date was fine, and so I was allowed to wait. I really didn't want another induction and so I tried everything under the sun to get things moving, but apparently my body just doesn't know how to kick the babies out in a timely manner! So, I was told to report to the hospital in the early morning hours of the 14th.

The pitocin was started at 7:30 a.m., and she arrived just 10 hours later. I opted for an epidural again, and earlier in the process this time than with Cameron. I still didn't really want meds, but I left that door open and told the nurses I wanted to "see how I felt". And in hindsight, I'm glad I did it. It allowed me to relax and I progressed REALLY rapidly after the fact.

She was delivered in a matter of minutes instead of over an hour. (My doc didn't even make it there in time! He walked in about 3 minutes after she was born. I really liked the on-call doc, though, so it was fine.) My recovery this time has been significantly faster and easier too, thank goodness. I'm not sure how I would have been able to take care of a toddler and a newborn feeling like I did when I got home after having Cameron!

Norah checked out great; her APGAR scores were perfect as was her blood glucose level (it was 39, and they said they wouldn't have to test her again if her number was under 50). Though I knew I had been doing well controlling my sugars during pregnancy, to get confirmation that she was functioning well on her own was a big relief for me!