Jackson's Birth Story, Part II

I spent the whole weekend cleaning my house like a madwomen. I randomly decided to organize the guest room closet and clean out the microwave (two things that had been put off…and then put off some more!). I enjoy cleaning, but I don’t look forward to it. Those two days, however, I COULD. NOT. STOP. I suppose it was nesting, but I also knew when the baby would be coming, so I thought it was a necessity.

On Monday we packed the rest of our bags, loaded up the car, and headed into town. We were spending the night with some friends so we didn’t have to drive in early the next morning (Thanks, Kate and AB!), and we were going to see a movie. We met Kate and AB and our other friends Isaac and Crystal at the movie theater to see The Dark Knight Rises. We had a great time, and the baby moved around so much during the movie! I wasn’t surprised because I first felt him move around 17 weeks while in a movie, and we had also went to see The Avengers about a month before and he had moved like crazy then too. Superhero movies are obviously a favorite of his…total boy even before he was born!

That night at Kate and AB’s it took me hours to fall asleep. Partially because I was getting up to use the bathroom every hour and I was pretty uncomfortable, but also because I was so excited it felt like Christmas morning! The next morning I got up, showered and shaved my legs (just being prepared, people!), and had Kate take my picture before we left. The hospital had asked me to try to eat a very small, light breakfast before coming in, so Matt drove me to Panera for a bagel without cream cheese.

We arrived about 9:30 A.M. and went in a little early since they asked us to arrive at 10. I was starting to get super nervous and was talking Matt’s leg off. We buzzed into the maternity ward and were taken to our room. The nurse said that they had had a “baby boom” that day and were super busy, so it would be a little while before they could start my induction. She gave me some paperwork to fill out and we settled into the rocker and other chair in the room. At about 10:45, the nurse came back in and said it would be a little longer, so she gave us vouchers to go down to the cafeteria and eat lunch. I was getting really frustrated, but about that same time, my parents got to the hospital, so we went down to see them in the main lobby.

Sorry, babe, I've got you beat.

After a quick lunch (I think I ate a few bites of a wrap, not wanting to upset my stomach), we went back upstairs hoping they were ready now. They were! I changed into a hospital gown and began the long process of answering medical questions and getting hooked up to monitors and I.V.s. They started my Pitocin right around noon and my doctor came in about 15 minutes later. She checked my cervix and said that I was at a 3 and close to 80% effaced. We all joked and chatted (probably because I hadn’t felt a single contraction yet), and she felt my belly for the baby’s position. She said, “My guess is that he weighs 7 pounds 10 ounces!” 

Boy, were we in for a surprise…

She broke my water to give my labor and kick-start and asked the nurses to keep her very updated on my progress. She left and Matt went to the car to get the rest of our bags. I sat in the bed texting and wondering if the contractions were going to hit me like brick wall…but they didn’t. For the moment, that was just fine with me!

Getting excited!
Eek...I just realized how puffy my face looked! 

Cue the woman screaming during a contraction down the hall. I kid you not. I took this opportunity to tell the nurse that I really wanted an epidural when I was ready, and she assured me that that I would get one.

I did not want to be the woman down the hall.

What else was interesting was that the monitor that recorded my contractions had three rows: top, middle, and bottom. Each row had a different room in the maternity ward attached to it. My contractions were recorded in the middle, and the woman in the room next to me had hers on the top. I could already see how small mine were compared to hers. Hers looked like spikey mountains going up and down frequently. The anesthesiologist came in a few minutes later and asked if I would like to go ahead and fill out the paperwork for an epidural even though I didn’t need one yet. She said that it might be nice to already have it done so when I was in pain we could just go ahead with the process. 

Smart woman.

I started to feel some twinges of pain in my lower back about 45 minutes after the Pitocin started, so I told Matt that I thought I was starting to finally feel some contractions. I figured that meant we had at least an hour before I started having regular contractions…uh, no. Try in the next ten minutes they were 30-45 seconds long and 3-4 minutes apart! When I started having to breathe through them, I asked Matt to have the nurse check me to see if I had progressed enough to have the epidural. The nurse came in and said that I had moved to 4 cm and was 100% effaced. She then said she would page the anesthesiologist to come in and give me the good stuff. At least that’s what I was calling it in my mind. J

Matt was wonderful throughout the contractions, but when I wasn’t having them, he was texting constant updates to a list of 20+ people through a group text in iMessage on his iPhone. I still don’t know how much information he shared with those people, and I really don’t mind, but needless to say, they probably felt like they were right there in the room with us! 

Pretty soon the anesthesiologist came in, and I was so thankful that we had already gotten everything prepared ahead of time. While she was administering the epidural I was having the worst contractions that I had had, so I remember it being really hard to sit still as I curled over a pillow. Matt was standing in front of me and he and the nurse and anesthesiologist were laughing and making jokes. I was like, “Really?!” Oh, but as soon as that medicine started kicking in, it felt amazing. I could finally lie back on my pillow and relax. It was the strangest feeling too. I could see my contractions going up and down on the monitor, but I wasn’t feeling them. In fact, my left leg got so numb that I couldn’t move it myself. Each time the nurse would have me turn over, she or Matt would have to pick up my leg for me and move it. It was so weird! In fact, it slipped off the bed a few times and they had to pick it back up! Crazy, but so worth it!

After I was comfortable, we called my parents and had them come up to the room with us. It was so nice having them there to talk with. Mom kept telling me rest, but I was so excited I couldn’t even think about sleeping! My sweet friends Kate and Crystal had been waiting outside with my parents too and they came in later. Crystal even brought us cookies and milk (which I couldn’t eat unfortunately…but thanks so much, Crystal!). Each time the nurse came in they said I was progressing nicely, and we were very thankful that the epidural seemed to be helping me relax and let the contractions do their work. We knew it wouldn’t be long before we finally got to meet our sweet baby boy. 

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To be continued...