I’ve been meaning to write this post for awhile now, but life’s been a little hectic as we’ve been settling into our family of four and re-living the baby days all over again. It’s finally time!
My birthing experiences with Caleb and Holden were night and day different. Caleb was late. Holden was early. Caleb came on his own. Holden was induced. Caleb’s was painful and traumatizing. Holden’s was pleasant. I was pretty apprehensive about being induced, but at the end of the day, I ended up preferring it MUCH better, and if we were to have another child (we aren’t), I’d hope to be induced again!
Here’s what I preferred about the induction:
- We (kind of) knew when the baby was coming. I say “kind of” because you have to call the hospital on your planned day and see if there’s room. We ended up getting pushed back a day. However, knowing he’d be coming in the next day or so meant we were able to make arrangements and plans for Caleb without having to rush around or wake anyone up in the middle of the night.
- My pain and contractions were managed. I repeat: PAIN MANAGED! This was the BEST part of being induced. When I went into labor for Caleb, the first sign was contractions, of course. And they went on for hours and hours until I could go to the hospital and then hours more until I was ready to receive an epidural. With an induction, your contractions are brought on while you’re at the hospital. That meant that within minutes of my contractions starting (and after verifying that I was dilated enough) I was able to request my epidural. I literally felt them for no more than 30 minutes or so before I got my epidural and was feeling pretty good.
- Since I wasn’t having contractions / wasn’t in active labor for the first 20 hours or so that I was at the hospital, I got to sleep, watch TV with Jerry, spend time with Caleb and my parents, and overall enjoy a pain-free and positive experience before the contractions started.
- Though I really ended up enjoying being induced, I will say that I missed the excitement and anticipation of going into labor on my own. It’s just something you anxiously await for your entire pregnancy, and I had to miss that experience this time. Though it was obviously painful when I went into labor on my own with Caleb, it was also a whirlwind of activity and just general excitement.
All in all, my second time giving birth was much more pleasant and positive. It was so much less painful, and therefore less traumatizing. I’ll put it this way: after having Caleb, for a long time I told Jerry I would never do it again and that Caleb would have to be our only child. After having Holden though, I felt an immense sadness and sense of mourning that I wouldn’t get to do it again! It was SO much better, in fact, that I started questioning if we should have a third (calm down, friends. My hormones regulated and I’m now back to our original plan of just the two). Now, some of this can be attributed to the fact that it was my second time giving birth, and therefore it was less painful and much easier; my body had done it once already and knew what it was doing. Some of it can definitely be attributed to the fact that I had an induction, though.
I’d love to hear about your experiences: were you induced? Did you go into labor on your own? Have you been through both, like me, and what did you prefer?
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