2/23/2013

Almost a week after Jack's birth I am sitting down to write his birth story (this is pretty unsentimental- just the actual story). Like Lily's, Jack's birth was an uncomplicated one (thank goodness!).

At my 40 week appointment (Thursday, February 21), I was dilated 1 cm. Nothing was happening, and, while my doctor was hoping (and I was hoping) that I was go into labor on my own, we did discuss and induction (that would have happened today!). I went home praying that sometime in the next few days I would magically go into labor and not have to worry about sticking it out and waiting until 41 weeks for an induction.

Saturday morning-- February, 23, 2013-- was pretty routine. Once Lily went down for her nap I decided I needed to clean the closet and bedroom. I wanted to clean the room the night before, but I was way too tired, so I cleaned on Saturday. While I was cleaning I noticed that I was crampy, but nothing seemed significant, so I just kept cleaning. Around 11:30, I noticed that I was having some mild contractions, so I started taking note of the contractions. Around lunchtime, I told Tom I was having contractions, and while they were mild, they might turn into something. I ate lunch (just soup...just in case) and played with Lily. At around 2pm my contractions became regular and stronger, and I knew I was in labor. We called my parents to give them a heads up and said we would call again once we spoke to a doctor. By 3pm I decided to call. The doctor on call was the doctor who delivered Lily, so I knew I who she was and I liked her. She told me to go to the hospital. We called my parents, got a few final things together, and we were on our way.

We arrived at the hospital between 3:30pm and 4:00pm and they got us in a room, so I could get checked. The nurse checked  me, but didn't say anything. She called into two other nurses to check me, so I decided either I was still 1 cm. or I was about to have the baby. Luckily, I was on the side of "about to have a baby". I was already 8 cm. dilated! I was shocked! My contractions were definitely uncomfortable, but bearable, and things had progressed to fast in such a short amount of time. Things got pretty fast from there. They called the doctor again to let her know that I was already at an 8. I wanted an epidural, but I wasn't sure I could get one. My water hadn't broken, so they told me I could get one. They started fluids ASAP and called the anesthesiologist. I was able to get the epidural and immediately felt great. (I should add here-- I could have had my water broken without an epidural and probably delivered in the hour...but I wasn't really into trying things drug free...even though I was managing my contractions well.)

The only moment that caused concern happened after the epidural was placed (and my water was broken). The baby's heartbeat decelerated, and then the nurse couldn't find it. They had me flipping on my sides, they put oxygen on my face (in case you were wondering, this is the part I hated the most...), and called in other nurses. Finally, the heartbeat was located and things were fine. The nurse thinks the baby just reacted poorly to the water breaking, and needed a chance to figure things out again. My labor slowed a bit, so Tom and I talked and I tried to rest a bit before I had to push. I was fully dilated by 7pm, but the baby was high, so the doctor wanted to let him come down more. By 8pm the doctor wanted me to push, and, despite a good epidural, pushing was fairly easy. By 8:49pm Jack was born. Everything seemed so quick! All-in-all I pushed for 45 or so minutes, however, they had me rest a lot in between because I was so numb and they wanted me to get more feeling back. Overall, pushing was probably 30 minutes or less.

Jackson was born very healthy- at a surprise weight of 10 pounds, 3 ounces. My OB estimated a 9 pound baby, not a 10 pound one, so that was a shock to everyone in the delivery room!

My recovery this time seems a little rougher than with Lily; likely because of Jack's size. I am starting to feel better this week, but it feels like I will never get any ab muscles back!