With Jack, my first born, I joke that I didn’t look, act, and barely felt pregnant until 30 weeks. But it’s actually not far from the truth. But he was born early.

So when this pregnancy went from being rough to modified bed rest at 32 weeks, I was convinced we’d be having Ben early.  My doctor seemed to agree. But then the exact opposite of my first happened. Jack was easy until he wasn’t, Ben was rough until he wasn’t. 36-39 weeks were perfect. I even felt fine for most of it.

I had lots of signs for a uti at 39 weeks including vomiting. So I expected proteins in my urine and high blood pressure. Nope! Everything was great again. I have a really great doctor so she just looked at me, smiled, and said how about Friday. Then she explained that with my history and how the pregnancy had gone she had no concerns of not being able to deliver vaginally. I’d already started dilating (bishop score was about a 7) so I just needed a little push. Then my body would take over.

I try to be the mom that does the ‘crunchy’, ‘organic’ stuff first if you will. If it doesn’t work then we go to other options. Like with Jack I wanted to have as natural as possible and limited meds. But then I was borderline pre eclampsia.  So we were given pitocin to start labor and get him out before I went full eclampsia. Now that he’s here I try to give him real raw veggies, he’s a kid he hates it, so i make him smoothies and cheesy stir fry with veggies hidden. Sometimes even an organic veggie pack! You get the point.

So being induced again worried me. Mostly that it was a selfish decision. Pitocin would make contractions worse so I’d want the epidural. Would I be rushing things? I have no issues with a c section. But the thought of laboring for 24 hours then have a major surgery. Ben and I would have to recover from both was what worried me.

So after more talking to the doctor and my husband, we scheduled the induction for Friday, March 16th. I would be 40 weeks by then, we’d be giving Ben almost another full week, and no one thought I’d actually still be pregnant- especially with my bishop score.

I did start to have some regular contractions and signs of early labor the night before. But nothing to make me go to the hospital early. So at 6 am on Friday, Scott and I headed to the hospital to have our new little boy.

By 630 we were all set and hooked up to the pitocin. 2 hours later my water broke. At 930 I got the epidural. Then we napped and the nurse moved me from side to side every so often while my legs were around the peanut ball. It was calm and quiet and basically perfect in our room the whole time. Anytime I asked the nurses for advice I was given what seemed to be an honest opinion. We felt no pressure to make certain choices. While Jack’s birth was a good one, this was different for us. And very welcomed! But mostly, we napped. 1130 the nurse told me I was ready to go so whenever I felt the need to push to let her know and she’d get the doctor.

I laughed. Seriously I’ve been here 5 hours?! But sure enough I spent the next 45 minutes feeling the need to push and arguing with Scott over whether or not we should call her. He obviously thought we should, and I still didn’t believe it was actually going this quick.

At 1225, the doctor came by to check. When I told her how I felt she said ‘let’s do one good push and just see.’ So we did, and I expected her reaction to go ‘ok let’s wait about an hour.’ But instead she said ‘ok let’s do this.’ I didn’t feel like I was doing anything and it felt like it was going too fast. But it was also quiet, serene, and so encouraging in that room. And I was completely lucid unlike last time. There were only 4 of us in the room and I could hear them all telling me it was fine, we even laughed. Then I felt a ring of pressure sort of fire like but nothing bad, and the doctor said next push you’ll have a baby.

What?! I laughed again. But after the 3rd push at 12:38, Benjamin Homer was in fact on my chest and it was all over. After Jack was born I told my husband it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But Ben wasn’t hard at all especially considering the reward.

The doctor told me a little later the cord had been wrapped around his neck, but not tightly. So she assisted a little with the last push to get him out quicker. That just resulted in a couple extra stitches for me to recover from, thank the lord Ben was fine!

About an hour later, I got a cheeseburger while Ben had his assessment. He weighed 7 lbs 10oz (50%) 20.5 inches (75%) and his head was 14.5 inches (95%). Our nurse Angie said the largest head she’s helped with was 15 inches. Thanks husband …

Also, my cheeseburger was delicious.

We were in our post partum room by 3, and my very favorite part of the day happened about 5! The boys met and Jack was in love! I think he understood that this was bubba who we had talked a lot about. But he didn’t get it that bubba got to go home with us, haha! He’s been a great big brother so far! Fairly gentle, very happy and interested in ben, and only slightly jealous 😉

So far life with two boys has been perfect! Sleep is a rarity for everyone but Jack. Thank God he’s sleeping tho! Now to see how everything goes when daddy goes back to work …