This is the day! - updated

Hopefully

If all goes smoothly!

I have been up on and off since 4am. I really have been trying to sleep, but at 5 am I finally decided to get up. I was really hungry and not the least bit sleepy. I'm going to go to acupuncture at 9am and then have a nice day with the family. At midnight tonight, we will drive to the hospital to get ready to be induced.

The plan is to start with some gel during the night, and then pit during the day. Last time I only needed the gel to get me kick-started. This time, I seem to be much more ready for labor in my body. When I am walking, I am having some contractions. And last night I even had some while I was in bed (ie reason for getting up for good at 5am). After my acupuncture appointments, I have had some contractions, but they tend to fizzle after an hour or when I sit down.

Short contraction break. I'm back. So . . . my hope is that if I don't really go into labor before midnight tonight, that my body just needs an extra little push.

I've been doing all sorts of research on induction with second labors. From what I can tell, with the second baby and my Bishop score, it has between a 96% and 99% chance of being effective. You have to scroll down to see the stats. The women is rather against inductions in most situations, but the information was useful.

I think it is interesting how I've come full circle. The first time I was very against the idea of induction, wanted to do things naturally if I could etc. This time, I'm like give me the drugs! Once I'm in labor, epidural here I come. I guess the labor part, while still a big deal, doesn't seem nearly as important as what happens after. I would like to not be so exhausted this time around. Hopefully, I won't fall into a comma after Drizzle is born.

No one ever talks about the fact that if you are up for 18 hours+, and were up most of the night, just how tired you will be if you labor the whole time. I know that supposedly there are hormones that kick in and help you feel alert for the next 24 hours. Maybe the epidural meant that I didn't get those hormones. Or maybe it was the stress of the delivery. Anyway, I was not in a state of high alert and energy for the next 24 hours.

None the less, being the person who is supporting the labor is even more tiring than being in labor. At least in my opinion. I would much prefer to go through it than to see Alayna go through labor again. (Unfortunately, I think she might feel the same way about this.)

Another contraction break.

It is really nice and quiet in the house. Everyone is sleeping right now. I'm enjoying typing, and getting up every 10 minutes or so to walk around. Hopefully, this will be a nice peaceful day, at least for a while. I guess we should take some pictures no matter what happens.

One last thing - the plan is if I don't really get into labor at the hospital that I'll come back home and then try again in 2 or 3 days. I'm hoping that this does not occur! Send me good thoughts please!

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Updated to add:  The contractions seem to have fizzled out, so the induction looks like it's going to be the most likely end to our day after all.  Wish us luck!