Hi friends. I have had so many questions about my induction with Callen so I thought I would go ahead and type everything out here before it all slips my mind!

Why We Decided to Induce

I don’t want to influence your own decision on what to you with your baby, but I did want to share why we personally decided to induce Callen and then I will go into detail about what happens with induction.

When we moved here to Colorado we literally knew NO ONE. So when we first met with our new OBGYN we immediately told her we would like to induce Callen so that we could make sure we had family here to take care of Miller while we were in the hospital.

We decided to induce him 6 days early because if we waited until my due date he could have come earlier that week and we would be in the same position. We wanted to induce him as early as possible and that was the date that worked for my OBGYN and for my parents. I was still so scared the entire time that he would make an appearance early and we would have to scramble to find somewhere for Miller to go.

We have made close friends here since moving, but anything can happen during birth and we just didn’t want to have to drop Miller somewhere in the middle of the night and make everything a big scary deal for her.

My water broke with Miller, but I was only 1cm with her so they actually had to induce me anyway. I was 40 weeks and 2 days. I already knew my body responded great to Pitocin because of my birth experience with Miller (read that HERE) so I wasn’t worried at all on that front.

After it is all said and done, I am sooooo happy we decided to induce. It was stress free and just a great process for us! We loved it. My advice would definitely be to let your first come when he/she is ready. There is something so special about experiencing the natural birth process. Then maybe think if induction is right for you with your second. It is so nice to be able to have family at home to take care of your first born and make them feel loved and special when you are at the hospital.

The Induction Process

I am told this can be a little different for everyone depending on which kid it is for you and how dilated you are when you go in for your induction. I was at a 2.5 already when I went in so it all happened pretty quickly for me.

7am: Check in to the hospital (Sky Ridge). They told me to have a full breakfast since I wouldn’t be able to eat anything until after labor. Dilated to 2.5cm.

8am: Meet my nurses, answer a bunch of questions, get blood work done.

8:30am: My OBGYN broke my water (didn’t even feel it!) & I got my IV (least favorite part honestly!) I hate the IV!

9:30am: Got the Epidural (doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as you think it will!) I have no desire to feel birth/hard contractions at all haha so I always ask for the epidural immediately. They also put my catheter in after I was nice and numb. You will honestly love having the catheter haha getting up to pee before is such a chore because you are hooked up with all these wires and you have to take it all in the bathroom with you and it pulls on your IV needle and it just sucks! With the epidural and catheter you don’t even know when you have to pee haha! Dilated to 4cm.

11am: Dilated to 5cm.

12pm: Dilated to 6cm.

1:30pm: READY TO PUSH! They say it always goes from 6cm to pushing time VERY FAST so be ready for that!

1:45: OBGYN is there and we start pushing. I feel NOTHING (which is great for me haha!)

2pm: Callen is here!!!

Hospital Recovery

Recovery is a hard road guys. To me it is the hardest part of the entire process (including birth and pregnancy!) Once the epidural wears off everything just hits you hard.

The first thing you start feeling is all of the pressure down below. You feel like all of your insides want to just fall out. There is just sooo much pressure down there.

Your catheter is removed and you have to pee all the time because of how much fluids they have been pumping into you all day. That means having someone help you to the bathroom and going through the entire process you pee, then use a water bottle thing to squirt up there since you can’t wipe, then you spray with a numbing medicine, then you need new panties, a new pad, new ice pack and then you put tuck’s witch hazel on your pads!) EVERY TIME YOU USE THE RESTROOM. Miserable.

There is also sooo much blood. It will freak you out but it is totally normal.

There is definitely some pain. You get Ibuprofen every 6 hours. That’s it!

You will be sleep deprived. You will have to nurse or feed the baby every couple of hours and then you have the nurses and drs coming in every hour or two the first day and you will have to get your blood pressure tested every hour the first day and it is all SO MUCH. You will be dying for some sleep by the end of your hospital stay. That is why we always opt to go home after 24 hours.

When you get home it doesn’t get much better for awhile but at least you don’t have the frequent visits from the dr and nurses!

I know this is all a lot to take in, but trust me when I say when you have that baby in your arms none of it really matters. You will be sore and in pain but you will also be experiencing this total bliss you have never felt before that helps to numb it all for you!

Anyway, I hope this post helped with any questions you have about the induction process! If you have any more questions please let me know in a comment below!