My due date was July 11, 2015. I know this was an accurate due date because we had a dating ultrasound - which actually put the due date at July 12 - but fits the loose definition of accurate. Regardless, I thought for sure that this baby was coming the week before my due date. A few reasons for this logic: I was gigantic and thought that second babies usually come early. I was very much mistaken. After my due date and come and gone, I got a newfound understanding of my friends' anxiety and impatience who have had babies that are overdue. It is terrible. There are certainly worse pregnancy-related occurrences, but being overdue is annoying. The constant questions and comments of still being pregnant make you want to strangle someone. Also, when you are working and have a child at home - it complicates your planning. That said, I have always found it interesting that baby's arrival is one thing that you have no control over - that fact became a lot less interesting to me a few days after my due date. I attempted some natural ways to induce labor but to no avail. So I ended up getting induced the morning of July 18. I scheduled the induction with the hope that I would just go into labor on my own. On July 14, I went to the hospital for regular contractions but that turned out to be false labor.... which was super fun. The week went on and I remained pregnant.
Harvey Stone Van Sicklen was born July 18 at 8:08 p.m. Because he was so comfortable in that womb,I ended up having to be induced. After laboring with Owen, my main goal was to avoid Pitocin because it is terrible. They started the induction by breaking my water at about 10 in the morning. That was an odd experience and it turned out there was merconium in the fluid so that made me feel a bit better about my decision to get induced. I continued to have contractions but was not progressing. Thus, the dreaded Pitocin entered the picture. I was given the evil drug at about 3:45 and the fun and games were over. Although the second labor did not come early, it was true that it was fast and furious once it started.
Pitocin did its job and I was ready to push by about 7:30. As an aside, one of my goals of this labor was to go drug-free. With Owen I avoided an epidural but did get a shot of a narcotic. Turns out, my biggest regret was not getting the drugs. That last hour of contractions before pushing was horrendous. Someone would ask me a question and I would just glare until through the contraction momentarily passed and mutter a one word response. I felt like the angry pregnant woman portrayed in movies. Unfortunately, things that went downhill. Harvey was experiencing decelerations in his heart rate and it was determined that he needed to come out quickly. Enter the dreaded vacuum. I thought Pitocin was bad and scary - the vacuum is far worse They threatened a vacuum with my labor with Owen but I was thankfully able to push him out. Not the case with Harvey - was told to give some hard pushes and then he was extracted via the vacuum out. Back to my regret of no drugs - I felt everything and it was horrific. However, Harvey came out crying and totally healthy. It is amazing how labor is one of the worst and best experiences a woman can go through (in my opinion). As emotional as it was during those last 20 minutes (with a flood of doctors and nurses entering and eery quiet - with an occasional whispered "we need to get the baby out.") it was all washed away when I saw Harvey. First, I was shocked that he was a boy. I was 90% certain we were having a girl. Second, I was relieved that he was healthy.
fFor the sake of my pregnant friends, I will leave out the gory details of the birth but I ended up having to go to the operating room for a bit after the labor. It was strange to be wheeled out of the room and Barret was left behind to tend to Harvey.
We are now a family of four and Owen loves being a big brother. Hopefully that feeling continues when Harvey is able to move and take Owen's prized possessions. Oddly, Harvey weighed 8 lbs 7 oz at birth - the exact same weight as Owen.
Unfortunately there was no picture to capture the moment, but Barret was encouraged to do some skin on skin soon after Harvey was born. Harvey decided to take the opportunity to poop on Barret. This boy won my heart on day 1.
