In the weeks and days leading up to the baby's due date of March 18, we tried everything under the sun to try and get my labor going.  After the long ordeal with Memphis, we were really hoping to avoid induction.  I walked and walked, ate spicy food, we had plenty of you know what, took a warm bath and even drank a little wine to try and relax myself - then after we passed the due date, I tried homeopathics, evening primrose oil, and finally even castor oil.  None of it took, and on Monday March 22, we went in to be induced.  I never imagined my second baby would take even longer than Memphis did.  I thought for sure the baby would be born that day.

They checked me and I was only 1-2cm and 60% effaced, then started the Pitocin at 2ccs a little after 10am, and bumped it up every half hour.  We played cards and waited.  I had only mild contractions, not even as strong as my Braxton-Hicks ones I'd been having for weeks.  In the afternoon, things at the hospital got crazy with a bunch of c-sections, and we were kind of ignored for 3 hours or so, with no one really taking charge to see why the pitocin wasn't kicking in.  Even after getting up to 22ccs, the contractions had never gotten strong, and were actually receding.  We finally got to see a midwife a little after 7pm (first time since that morning), and she checked and sure enough I had made zero progress.  She asked if I had been told that Pitocin does not always work.  No, I did not know that.  It had eventually worked with Memphis, why wouldn't it work now?  She decided to stop the Pitocin, and give me Miso overnight to try and soften my cervix more, then restart Pitocin in the morning.  We were very discouraged after a whole day in the hospital with no progress.  Once they stopped the Pit, they did allow me to go off all the monitoring for awhile, and I got a free half-hour to walk and stretch.  My mom and sisters came up and we walked laps around the delivery ward.  Then I was hooked back up to everything, and given the first Miso dose.  I had two more throughout the night, and Aaron and I both got some decent sleep.  I had some mild contractions during the night and a little after 8, they started Pit again. 

Tuesday was a totally dead day, and our new nurse was on it, and in every half hour on the dot upping the Pit level.  Yet, once again, we were quickly up to 18ccs with still no strong contractions.  I was getting discouraged and worrying about what would happen if labor still wouldn't start.  The nurse decided to back the pit off some and see if we could find a dosage that would establish regular, stronger contractions, and this is what finally got labor going.  I think it was at 14ccs , and around noon, when the contractions slowly got stronger.  I finally got past the 1-2 level on the pain scale (of 10), and was up to what felt like 4-5 for me.  They checked me at 2:45, and I had actually dliated to 3cm, so they decided to break my water.  I was a little nervous that things would get crazy quickly after that, and they did.  They suddenly felt like 10 on the pain scale, and I was losing control, and not able to focus anymore.  At some point during all this, the nurse had to redo my IV, which was real fun right inbetween crazy contractions.  Around 5:15, I asked to be checked, as I thought I was feeling some pressure to push, and the nurse said I was 9 1/2cm.  I thought, ok then, I can do this.  I'm freaked out of my mind but I'm so close, I can do this.  Another nurse came in and they were seeing if they could stretch the cervix around to be 10cm, and even had me do a couple pushes.  Then they suddenly left and the new nurse came back, and abruptly asked me if I wanted an epidural.  I said I didn't think you could have them this far along, and then she informs me that my nurse was wrong, I'm only 5cm (which later turned out to be 4 1/2).  Guess I have a funny cervix, and she just goofed.  Talk about crushing disappointment.  And I felt there was no way I could keep going if I had that far to go, and sadly said yes to the epidural.  Then, really lost it during the agonizing wait for the epidural to arrive.  20 minutes later they started it, (around 6pm)and I did manage to pull myself together enough to be still for the procedure.  It slowly started kicking in and I felt much better. 

At this point, I settled in for a repeat of Memphis and told myself the baby probably wouldn't be born until sometime the next day.  Once I was comfortable, Aaron decided to run home for a shower.  I told him he had plenty of time.  I settled into some tv.  At 8pm, after 2 hours on the epidural, a doctor came in to check me, and to my complete disbelief, informed me that I was fully dilated.  I called Aaron, who was still at home, saying "Guess who's fully dilated and ready to push"!  He freaked out and left immediately.  There was no rush to push though, and I wanted to let the epidural wear off some so I would have some feeling.  After Aaron got there, a little after 8:30, I started pushing, as I could feel enough pressure to know when I was having a contraction.  Though I still couldn't feel everything I needed to to push, and I worried that after all this, I wouldn't be able to push the baby out.  After the 2nd round of contractions though, I was already making progress and the head was slowly starting out and not receding (like Memphis did).  They started preparing everything, and got the midwife in there, and before I knew it, they said the head was out then gently pulled the baby out, at 9:00pm exactly.  I asked Aaron what it was, and as I had predicted all along, he said it was a boy.  And suddenly there he was on my chest.  I could tell he was smaller than Memphis, though still a good size, and sure enough, he ended up being 8 lbs. 4 oz., which means, if he had gone another 7 days like Memphis, he would have been over 9 lbs. also.

In conclusion, while I did not expect another 2 day ordeal, in the end, it went much quicker and easier this time, and I am grateful for that.  And I also got my skin to skin time this time (unlike with Memphis), and at 27 minutes old, Morgan was nursing like an old pro.  As soon as they sat me up some (after reparing my 2nd degree tear), Morgan was fishing around, and latched right on, with almost no assistance from me.  Praise God for another healthy baby boy.