Blogging obviously hasn't been "my thing"... BUT... I want to start regularly blogging so my family in the US can keep up with us (and by us, I mean Jack) better!
First, I want to have Jack's birth story somewhere, so I thought I'd write it here before I forget... So here goes!
"I found out I was pregnant on February 15th, 2011. We had been wanting to have a baby for a while, so it was an exciting time for us! I had a very easy pregnancy with basically no complications, and I praise God for that.
I began having "contractions" at 36 weeks (mid-September), and I just KNEW our sweet little boy was coming any day. The contractions were even regular, but I slowly realized that they were just practice contractions and that I'd be having them roughly five minutes apart for the entire next month... They weren't painful - just "there" - a constant reminder that our little one could show up any minute.
There were several times I thought I might be in labor, but finally around 1:15 AM on October 11th, my water broke! I hadn't fallen asleep yet - I was laying in bed dozing off when it happened. I quickly got out of bed, took a shower, and began preparing to grab all the last minute things for the hospital. (At this point, my hospital bag had been packed for an entire month!)
At around 2:30 AM, we left for the hospital. Once we arrived at triage, I got dressed in the hospital robe and began being monitored. They tested me FOUR times to see if my water had broken, and each time the test came back negative. A few hours later, they ended up sending us home, exhausted and discouraged. I just KNEW my water had broke. And I even felt like my contractions were different... but I figured maybe I was just convincing myself of something that wasn't true. I just wanted my little man here so bad...
When we got home, I (of course) wasn't able to sleep. I had my 40 week doctor's appointment scheduled for that morning at 9:30, so I figured I'd find our that maybe - just maybe - the tests were wrong and I truly was in labor.
.....And I was RIGHT! Once I saw the doctor, he was able to do a more accurate test in his office, and I was, in fact, in labor! We were definitely excited, but what wasn't great about the news was that I had been in labor for over 8 hours. [Once your water breaks, there is a 24 hour period that doctors want to deliver your baby in. (Otherwise, there is a high risk for infection). And we were already over 1/3rd of the way to the 24-hour mark.]
By the time we went home, got the hospital bag, and got back to the hospital, it was nearly noon. They immediately started me on oxitocin in triage to help my labor progress. I wanted to do everything as naturally as possible, so I wasn't excited about immediately starting with something "unnatural."
All the labor & delivery rooms were full - it was a full moon! - so I had to wait two hours to even get in a room. I got in my room a little after 2 PM and by that point, my contractions were fairly strong and ranging from 3-4 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. Then my doctor came in to break the rest of my water, and from that point, it got rough pretty fast. (Oxytocin makes your contractions come harder and faster than they would come on their own.) I really didn't want to have an epidural, but around 5 PM with my contractions two minutes apart and lasting over a minute (what they are normally like when you're 8-10 cm, but I was only dilated to a 3), I decided to get an epidural. I thought I would feel like a failure, but I knew it was the best choice with how exhausted I was from not sleeping and with the way things were progressing.
I continued to progress slowly but steadily throughout that evening. At around 9 PM, they discovered that I had a fever (meaning my baby did too), so they were getting a little nervous about an infection. When I was checked around 10 PM, I was dilated to a 7 and 100% effaced. They decided to let me continue since I was progressing at a decent rate. The doctor went home guessing he'd be returning in the early hours on the 12th to deliver my baby.
However, at 2 AM I was checked again, and I had digressed to a 6 and 70% effaced... meaning the baby just wasn't coming out. The nurse told me I was going to have to have a C-section, and at this point (still running on no sleep), I broke down. As I mentioned, I wanted to do things as naturally as possible, but no matter what I did NOT want to have a C-section. I wasn't worried about the surgery, but more so about the ability to have as many other children in the future as I wanted. My doctor - being the incredible man he is - came up to the hospital (at this point, it was nearing 3 AM) to talk me through it. After we talked, Grant and I felt like a C-section was the best choice. They were guessing the baby was too big, and with us both having a fever for a couple of hours, they were starting to worry about the health of the baby.
So from that point, things happened quickly! My epidural had worn off (and I was in a LOT of pain!), so they gave me more meds and prepped me for surgery. Our little man - Jack Oliver - was born via C-section at 3:37 AM on October 12th, 2011. He weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds, 2 ounces and measured 21 inches! The doctor reiterated that there was no way I would've been able to have such a big baby naturally!
Jack was the most precious little guy I had ever seen. I only got to see him for a few minutes until they sent him off to have the routine tests done. (I was having some negative effects from the medicine they gave me, so these few minutes are mostly a blur.)
He was basically perfect, but was breathing a little too quickly (normal is 40-60 times per minute, and at birth, he was breathing around 100 times per minute but got down to 65-70 pretty quickly.) They wouldn't let me see him until he got below 60, which they said could be around 7 AM. My family that was at the hospital was able to come visit me one at a time which was nice, but all I wanted to do was hold my sweet little guy for the first time. I tried to be strong, but cried several times in the hours I waited just to hold him. Grant got to be with him for all the tests and things in the nursery. Our families got to watch through the window. But I waited patiently for when they could bring him to me.
Finally, around 11 AM - way later than expected (and I still hadn't slept!) - they brought him to me (even though his breathing still wasn't quite below 60)! The wait was all worth it. He was precious and perfect in every way. They checked his vitals after I got to hold him for a few minutes, and his breathing was finally in the normal range. He just needed his mommy. :)
And that's the birth story of my sweet Jack Oliver!"
