This is the story of Jack's birth.
I know some people may not want to know all the gory details - of which I may spare you... really there are some GORY details - however, I want to document this before the details are forgotten.
On Thursday the 13th, I had my doctors appointment. While there, they took my blood pressure and it was abnormally high and I also had some protein in my urine which could be a sign of preeclampsia. My doctor thought it would be best to induce me since my due date was only 2 days away but was concerned because I wasn't even dilated to a 1. Kirk and I left that appointment in a little bit of shock. WE WERE GOING TO HAVE A BABY WITHIN 36 HOURS!
I washed my hair, called Ani, finished packing some last minute things and Kirk gave me a blessing. We headed to the hospital, giddy, nervous and excited. (I was mostly nervous.)
They hooked me up to the machines, took my blood pressure and lo and behold, it was normal. Not only was it normal, it was low. WHAT.
My doctor decided to take a few more tests before nixing the whole induction - including a couple blood draws and a catheter urine sample (NOT PLEASANT).
Everything came back normal.
WHAT.
They sent me home but not empty handed. I had to do a 24 hour urine test which meant I had to collect my urine over 24 hours and bring it in the next day - and get my blood drawn, again. I was also asked to come back and be monitored for an hour to make sure I was ok.
Friday came - and everything was normal and I was sent home.
BUMMER.
On Sunday, I woke up feeling crampy and was getting a few sharp pains in my back. They were not consistent and weren't very painful so I didn't think much of them. It wasn't until around 6pm when I started to notice the pains in my back more. I started to time them and they were only 7-10 minutes apart. Nothing to be too excited about yet.
Around 9pm the pains became more intense and they started getting closer together. I was told not to go to the hospital until contractions were 2-4 or 3-5 minutes apart for at least 2 hours. So I started timing them. They were hurting me SO bad and were ranging from 2.5 minutes apart to 6 minutes apart. I couldn't focus on anything else except the pain. I was constantly begging Kirk to press on my back to relieve some of the pressure and I even took an hour long bath which seemed to help only a little.
Finally, around midnight, I decided it was probably time to go to the hospital.
The rule at labor and delivery was I had to be monitored for an hour and have some sort of improvement or change for me to be admitted.
I started out being dilated to a 2 - which was quite the improvement from Friday. I laid in the hospital bed for an hour PRAYING there would be a change so I could stay and get the good drugs.
I was checked and wouldn't you know it - no improvement. I wanted to cry.
They offered me a few pain killers to help manage the pain and after a LOT of going back and forth, I opted for the morphine shot. It kicked in really quickly and made me super loopy but I could still feel the pain. I remember thinking, what a rip off.
Kirk and I got home around 3am and TRIED to sleep but I could still feel my contractions and I couldn't relax long enough to get any sleep. I finally dozed off around 9am and woke up at noon with my contractions not as intense and not as close together. I was a little disappointed but also relieved because the pain was not so bad.
I ate a little snack and took a shower. At around 5pm, the contractions came back and with a vengeance. They were so painful that I was in tears - only one quote comes to mind when I think about the pain "It feels like I'm shitting a knife!" Thank you Amy Poehler and Baby Mama because that is exactly what it felt like. A million serrated knives stabbing me in the back. I begged Kirk to call the hospital to ask if we could come back even though my contractions were 5-7 minutes apart, they were more intense than ever before.
They gave us the ok and we headed back to the hospital for the MILLIONTH time.
I prayed and prayed they would let me stay.
They checked me and I was at a 3... The nurses felt so bad for me so they pleaded my case to the doc who ultimately said I could stay and get an epidural.
OH MY GOSH. Praise the good LORD!
Once the epidural was in - I was in HEAVEN!
Every time the nurses came in to check me, we kept asking if she could feel hair and she told us she could! We were getting so excited! This baby was COMING!
I rested and rested and rested and ate some ice chips with tiger's blood syrup and Ani fixed my makeup.
In 6 hours, I went from being dilated to a 3 to a 10 and at 1am it was time to push.
Pushing was a lot harder than I expected. I didn't care for the position I was in, and it was difficult for me to breathe in between pushing so I felt nauseated. Also, baby's feet were just hanging out in my ribs so every time I would sit up to push, I would feel sharp pains in my ribs.
I pushed for 2 hours with almost NO improvement. This baby was NOT coming out.
The doctor came and explained to me they would have to use forceps and try getting him out that way for a few pushes and if he didn't come out then he would have to do an emergency c-section.
At that point, I did NOT want a c-section after laboring and pushing for that long and although I couldn't watch the birthing video with forceps in our birthing class, it seemed like the best route to go.
Before the doctor hooked up the forceps, I had to get a boost of epidural in my line because it started wearing off. My doctor was like, "Ok, yeah, we will DEFINITELY wait for that to kick in." I started to push while he pulled during each contraction. He pulled so hard that I felt myself being pulled down the table.
The little nugget still needed some help getting out so the doctor performed an episiotomy - LOVELY.
After that, his head was out and with one more push, he was HERE!
Seeing Jack for the first time was SO surreal. It took me a while to register that this was our son and he was OUT!
He was weighed and HOLY CRAP he was 9 pounds 3 ounces - NO WONDER he wasn't coming out!
I was able to do skin to skin and enjoy some time with my baby before they wheeled me up to the recovery unit while Kirk stayed with Jack in the nursery for his first bath.
In the recovery room, my epidural began to wear off and I started to be able to feel EVERYTHING I had just gone through.
It was growing in intensity and all of a sudden my pain was unbearable. I begged the nurses to get me something ASAP and had to wait for the doctor to give me something stronger than a Percocet - which was NOT cutting it.
FINALLY 2 hours later I got some morphine and felt a MILLION times better.
I am sure you are all thinking - wow she is getting DRUUUUUGGED up! Well, I was. But honestly, I consider myself to be one tough cookie but I think the pain combined with my lack of sleep and utter exhaustion, was more than I could handle. My recovery nurse completely understood how I was feeling and made managing my pain #1. She would even put off other patients before me and let others know she was not available because she was helping a mother who was in a lot of pain. I LOVED her!
After all that was taken care of, I was able to spend some good, quality time with our new baby. I couldn't believe he was mine and that he had ALL THAT HAIR! His lips, his nose and his ONE dimple had me enamored. I immediately fell in love.
Although it was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life, it was definitely worth it.
We are just obsessed with our Jack Thomas!
