Not Scary Birth Story #2

If you've already read about the birth of my first child, then you know two things: it was ridiculously easy and she was a little early.  Those two things are exactly what I expected when I was pregnant with my next baby.

As I counted down the weeks to her arrival, my countdown stopped at 38 weeks.  I just assumed she'd be on her sister's timeline.  Ha!  Mommy Lesson #2: even though they have the same parents and are raised the exact same, each child is completely unique.  When I hit 38 weeks I remember saying, "I've never been this pregnant before" and feeling done.

Since my pregnancies had both been extremely uneventful, my appointments at the OB-GYN went like this:
Doctor:  How are you?
Me:  Awesome.
Doctor: Any questions?
Me: Nope.  See you next week.

So when I walked into his office at 39 weeks, and said "I'm over being pregnant," I probably shocked him.  But what he said next was a bigger surprise.  He asked when I wanted to have the baby.  I get to pick?  He took out his smart phone, shared his work calendar, and said I was eligible for induction.  I picked the next available date, which just happened to be the 4th of July.

Totally naive, I didn't realize there were such mixed feelings about being induced.  When I hear people talk about it, it sounds like a full throttle, excruciating nightmare.  However, that wasn't my experience at all.

The morning she was scheduled to be born, I got up early & continued to Google baby names (we were 99.9% sure her name would be Harper, but her middle name was harder to select).  Since we had some time to kill, we got Matt some breakfast at Starbucks.  The barrista asked if we had any plans for the day, and I bet he didn't expect us to say we were having a baby in a few hours.

We checked into the hospital, got the meds started, and then waited.  I read gossip magazines because that's what I do when I'm on vacation.  Having a baby is kind of like a vacation, right???

Around 1, I requested that Matt get the nurse.  When she came in, she told us it was time.  I can't remember what we were chatting about as she prepped the room for delivery, but she told me I had to stop laughing.  Otherwise the doctor wouldn't have time to get there.

He arrived and, within minutes, so did Harper.  My own little Miss America.  It's fun to look back at baby pictures of her because there's just so much "Harper" in these.

Fortunately, my request to go home early were heard and we were able to leave early the next morning.  I had never left Georgia overnight before and was ready to get our new family of 4 together.  Seeing how tiny (6 pounds, 13 ounces) she was absolutely kills me.

Thankfully, my girls have been best friends from the second they met and the transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4 was relatively easy.  Harper was the mellowest baby on the planet, which only seems fitting since her delivery was so stress-free.  Maybe she's saving all the drama for her high school years.