Jackson's Birth Story, Part IV

“I think we might have a nine-pounder!” Dr. N yelled. “He’s heavy!”

The first thing we noticed was just as Dr. N said, Jackson looked like a big baby! He was red and crying, and his skin was wrinkled and almost clean. I didn’t think about it until later, but my due date might have been a little off considering how big and clean he looked. His poor head was also very pointed and long from his trip into the world. It slowly went away, but was crazy to see at first! Matt got to cut the cord, and then they rubbed my baby--I couldn’t believe it was really my baby--with a towel and plopped him right on my chest. I wish I could put the feeling into words. It was almost like I was in shock. I wasn’t crying like I thought I would be, and I just felt like I was floating through some sort of dream. My son was in my arms. My son that I had waited for, dreamed about, prayed for, felt move in my belly, and loved for so many months was finally outside of my body and in my arms. It was so incredible, and it took me a long time to finally realize what had happened.

Of course I was so in love with him, but it felt like we were really, actually meeting for the first time.

It turned out that Jackson’s umbilical cord was tied into a knot too! Dr. N said that she has only seen this a few times and she begged Matt to take a picture. I will spare you the photo, but we have one to keep forever! She told us that this can sometimes be life threatening, but thankfully God protected our son, and the knotted cord was never a problem. Now it will just be a cool story we tell Jackson about his birthday.

The sweetest moment happened when Matt wrapped his arms around both of us and prayed aloud, thanking the Lord for Jackson and his safe delivery. Matt committed Jackson’s life to the Lord and it was so very precious, and I made sure to try to tuck that memory away too.

For all the crying I wasn’t doing, my baby was making up for it. He was screaming his head off! I kept shushing him and rubbing his back, but he just cried and cried, bless his little heart. I instantly had my first case of mommy worry and was asking the nurse over and over if it was normal for him to be crying so much. Yeah, I was a crazy person. Of course, he was fine, she kept reassuring me. They eventually took him away to be cleaned up and weighed, and still he screamed.

Poor little babe, being born is hard work.

He weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Not quite the 9 pounds that Dr. N had guessed, but she was close! “I can’t believe you were hiding that big of a baby in there!” she said as she finished stitching me up. Unfortunately, being a “really good pusher” and having a fairly big baby meant that I tore pretty badly. Nice. I honestly didn’t even know until later how badly I had torn, and it really didn’t matter. Stitches heal, and I had my prize.

Matt leaned over to me and asked, “What is his middle name going to be?” We knew for a long time that he would be Jackson, but we hadn’t decided whether to call him Jackson Luke (after my hubby, Matthew Luke) or Jackson Edmond, using the town I grew up in in Missouri and the town that Matt grew up in in Oklahoma. “You pick.” I urged. “I love them both.” He thought for a moment and said, “Edmond. Jackson Edmond.”

Jackson Edmond. It was the most perfect name I had ever heard.

Matt left the room to go and announce our son’s arrival into the world. I was so excited for my family and friends to come in and meet him, but I wanted to spend a few moments alone with my little family when Matt returned. Soon Jackson was back in my arms and I got to nurse him for the first time, which was so precious. I wrote about that experience here. He finally stopped crying (it had been at least 30 or 45 minutes), and I was so in love with him at this point I thought my heart would burst.

My parents came in about half an hour later, and it was the sweetest moment when they finally met their first grandchild. My parents have given me so much throughout my life, so I felt so honored to give them such a precious gift.

Isaac, Crystal, Kate, and Andrew came in soon after, and Jackson got to meet all of them for the first time too. I think Isaac was the first one to hold him, but I’m not sure. I was feeling kind of light headed and they had just taken my amazing epidural out, so I remember aches and pains starting to creep up on me. A night nurse came in to move us to another room, which really stunk by the way because I was so tired and drained from the last few hours. All I wanted to do was to curl up in the bed I was in with my squishy little baby and eat a huge pizza because I was suddenly starving. Our friends said their goodbyes, but not before Andrew told me that he had bought me a whole pizza as a congratulations!

When you have just pushed out a baby and spent all day not eating or drinking, a large thin-crust pepperoni pizza sounds like the best food in the world. True story.

The new nurse, bless her heart, wasn’t super thoughtful and when she tried to pull me to standing, my legs gave out because my epidural hadn’t completely worn off. She and Matt caught me and put me in a wheelchair, and we started our trip to the new room. Matt pushed Jackson down the hall in his little rolling bassinet beside us, and while we were walking, the nurse knocking me in the back of the head with the IV stand. I rode the whole way to our new room bent over just so she wouldn’t hit me. Funny now, not so funny at the time!

Once in our new room, I got the chance to inhale the pizza that Andrew had bought for me (don’t worry, I shared a little with Matt), and we settled in for the night. I won’t lie, that first night was really long and hard. Jackson was fussy and hungry, I was very sore and in a lot of pain after the delivery, we were all tired, and I was trying to learn how to breastfeed. I don’t know if it was simply because it was during the wee hours of the morning, or because I had really encouraged Matt to get some sleep, but I felt really lonely and like the hours of the night were dragging by. I tried to sleep when Jackson did, but he didn’t like lying in the rolling bassinet, so I had him lying on a Boppy on my lap. I could only doze off for a few moments at a time because I was worried that he would slip off of me or that something else was wrong with him. Of course, everything was fine, and I was just overwhelmed with new mom jitters! I got some of the sweetest photos of Jax when it was just the two of us together that night. It was the first chance I got to really look at him. Learn his face. His features. Count his fingers and toes. He had his little eyes open for a while and we just stared at each other. It made the tiredness and pain all worth it.

Around 5:00 in the morning I texted my mom and asked when they were coming to the hospital (sorry, Mom!). She and my dad came over within the next two hours, and my mom helped me take a shower. Let me say, I felt like a whole new woman! We spent the rest of the day cuddling our son (he was such a little love bug!), visiting with friends and family, and praising God for all our blessings. My Granny, Aunt Lisa, Aunt Jo, and my cousin Erin came to visit that day, and it was so sweet to see them meeting little Jax.

We were discharged the next morning, but we had to wait until after Jackson finished getting circumcised. It was about an hour that he was gone and we packed up our things while we were waiting, but it seemed like it took forever! I missed him so badly, and when the nurse returned with him sleeping and content, I burst into tears as she was showing us how to clean his incision place. I couldn’t even speak to her I was crying so hard. It was clear that Jackson was perfectly fine, but I was so overwhelmed with emotions and hormones I just couldn’t help myself. I scooped up my baby and sat on the bed crying for a while.

Then they taped a sign to my back that said, “BEWARE OF THE CRAZY, HORMONAL, OVERPROTECTIVE NEW MOM.”

Just kidding. But they seriously probably should have.

We went home soon after, and Jackson slept the whole way. I couldn’t stop thinking about how immensely blessed we were and how the Lord had dealt so bountifully with us. We had been given a beautiful, healthy baby boy, and we had family and friends who loved us and loved Jackson so much already. As I looked at the face of my sleeping son driving home, I could see the Lord’s goodness radiating back at me.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with sweet baby Jackson Edmond. He is everything we ever wished and prayed for. Please help us to be good parents and to use Your Word to guide us as we raise him for Your glory. May we be examples to him of Christ’s love so that he would desire to trust in Him as his Lord and Savior.