Jack's Birth Story

WARNING... LONG POST.

Ok... I'm finally blogging after having our sweet baby Jack.  I've been so busy, stressed, overwhelmed, an tired.  I hear that's normal after having a baby. Lol.

It all started on Thursday April 11th.  I had my 39 week appointment that morning with my dr where he told me I was still just dilated to 1.5 and 90% effaced.  I'd been that way for a couple weeks.  While I was there I asked him to strip my membranes.  I'm not sure if that's what triggered labor or if that was just a coincidence.  There were also a few other things we tried to induce labor that day after work.  Once again, not sure if it all worked or if that was all coincidence as well.

We had dinner at Alex's dad's that night and I felt completely fine still.  Hadn't noticed any changes.  Got home around 8pm and worked on a puzzle we had going until a little after 9pm.  Then we got ready for bed and were in bed by about 9:30pm.  THAT's when it started.  The contractions weren't too bad at first.  They lasted about 1 minute each and went from about every 9 to 11 minutes then to every 6 or 7 minutes then to every 4 or 5 minutes.  They got so painful that after about 1 1/2 hrs of laying in bed and scaring the crap out of Pebbles and waking up Alex with my moaning, that I got up and went into the living room to watch a movie and get my mind off of the pain (Yes, I put in Labyrinth to watch). I was convinced it was just false labor or something and I did not want to go to the hospital just to get sent home again.  No thanks.   I waited another 15 minutes or so and I was done.  I couldn't take it anymore.  I went to wake up Alex and said, "Alex, I think we need to go to the hospital.  They are really bad."  In which his response was, "How long is it going to take you to get ready?"  Which was his way of asking, "How much longer can I sleep?" Lol.  I told him it would take me about 15 minutes and walked to the bathroom to get ready.  At that point, my contractions were so bad that I couldn't even stand anymore.  I was sitting on the floor of the bathroom during a contraction and yelled, "Alex, get up!  We gotta go now!" Lol.  Good times.  He got up and we were gone in about 5 minutes.

On the way to the hospital I called my parents to let them know what was going on in case my mom had to hop on a plane.  I told them not to buy a ticket until I let them know that they admitted me.  I guess I was still  convinced I was going to get sent home. Lol.

We got to the ER around midnight and some lady got me a wheelchair right as we walked in.  Probably because she saw me crouched over almost sitting on the floor as we walked into the ER. Lol.  She wheeled me up to Labor and Delivery where they told me to undress and they would check me.  At this point I was still convinced I was MAYBE at a 2 if I was lucky.  That's when they nurse said, "Ok, you're at a 5.  Let me call your doctor and see what he wants to do."  OH CRAP! A 5?!  How the heck did that happen?!  Alex quickly called my mom and told her to get to Utah asap.

They admitted me and I kept asking when I could get my epidural.  It really didn't take that long though and I had it within 30 minutes.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  It was the greatest thing ever.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  I started getting dizzy and so they gave me an oxygen mask and for some odd reason, I felt like I was in heaven.  That was some gooood oxygen I guess. Lol.  I was so exhausted that I basically slept the whole time I was in labor.  I could not keep myself awake! Around 4am ish the nurses checked me and I was at an 8.  They were amazed at how fast I was progressing with it being my first baby.  By 4:15ish I was at a 9 and my dr showed up about 5 minutes later.  I started pushing and after about 10 minutes the dr told me that Jack's heart rate was dropping and he was obviously uncomfortable with that.  He said that the cord was probably wrapped around him and if he didn't come soon, I'd have to have a C-Section.  I really didn't care, cuz like I said, I was half asleep and I just wanted Jack to be safe whatever it took.  Plus, I remember thinking "Randa has c-sections with all her kids and loves em!"  Anyways... I tried waking myself up again to push.  A couple pushes later, he was born at 4:41am.  And sure enough, the cord was wrapped around his little arm which is what was holding him back and lowering his heart rate cuz he was stressing out.  He was 6lbs 5oz and 19 1/4 inches.

The dr started sewing up my episiotomy and the nurses took Jack away.  My first though when I saw him was, "Holy cow, those are some long feet!"  I have no idea where he got those from. Lol. Anyways, I was confused on why they didn't give him to me to hold because I had told them when we first got there that I wanted 'skin on skin' when he was born.  I was still kind of out of it and trying to stay awake when the dr said something about his lungs sounding funny and they needed to keep him to find out what was going on.  The nurses took him to what they called, 'Transition' where they got an x-ray of his chest.  I guess there was a small hole and so there was air leaking out around his lungs?  I'm still kind of confused on exactly what was wrong (mother of the year, I know) but Alex stayed with him and took good care of him.

I was finally wheeled into transition where I was allowed to hold him for the first time.  I didn't hold him for long though because he was all plugged in to different machines and I was about to puke... again... for the 3rd time. Apparently nauseous is normal during labor?  So they wheeled me to my room and Alex stayed with Jack.  There was some more nausea and puking and sleeping for me.  Good times.  I wasn't allowed to have Jack in the room with us for the 1st day because they had to keep observing him.  They only brought him to me every 2 hrs for 1hr just to feed him, then I had to give him back.   We weren't able to keep him in the room with us until the following day, Saturday.

BTW, when we got to our room, it had been beautifully decorated by one of the nurses who knew us (she went to school with Alex). She had a welcome sign on the door which was written on a pee pad thing as well as a note on the white board and a sign made out of nursing pads. Lol. It made everyone laugh.  She was a great nurse to have around.  =)

My mom was finally able to get there around 10:30am on Friday.  That was the earliest she could find get a flight.  So she missed the birth, but was able to stay with us for 10 days.  It was super nice to be able to nap while my mom watched Jack.  The only people who were in the room with us during his birth was Alex's mom and step mom.  I'm glad they were able to be there.

They circumcised Jack on Sunday morning right before they discharged us.  The pediatrician we chose for Jack doesn't go out to the hospital we delivered at so the pediatrician on call is who took care of Jack.  Oddly enough, he was the same exact pediatrician that Alex and his sister had when they were little.  Yes, this guy is pretty old.  Lol. But he must have a good memory because he recognized Alex and remembered his name as well as his sister's name.   It was kind of cool to meet the man who took care of Alex when he was born as well as my baby boy 25 years later.

Overall, it was a great experience.  After writing it all out, it kind of seems stressful and hectic, but I honestly enjoyed every second of it.  Easiest labor ever.  I never once was worried about the baby or myself.  I felt like we were in good hands and everything was going to be fine.  It was all pretty chill. We are very blessed. =)

Enjoy the pictures.

First time holding him.

After Alex washed his hair and bathed him at the hospital.

Us

His x-ray. Cool eh? 

Poor baby... 

Going home. =)