I figure I better record Jack's birth story before it gets lost in the craziness of life with 4 kids. And I'm feeling wordy, so this will probably be WAY longer than it should be. Feel free to skim :)
At my 37 and 38 weeks appointments, I was not really dilated at all--a "loose 1" as my doctor said (but really, she was probably just being nice!). I was actually really happy that nothing was happening yet--that last week of October was so BUSY! We had Dan's birthday on Sunday, Megan had a filling repair at the dentist on Monday, doctor's appointment and grocery swap and parent-teacher conference on Tuesday, playgroup and early out and Megan's b-day party on Wednesday, joy school parade and early out and Megan's b-day and trick-or-treating on Thursday, visiting my brother's house and babysit night at our house on Friday--like the busiest week ever. And I was so, so glad to get through it all. But then I was ready for this little guy to come! I'd even had a few hours of contractions on Halloween night--but they were short-lived.
The whole pregnancy I'd been hoping he'd be born on Nov. 4--it would be just a week early and on my Baba's 90th birthday. Dan had been hoping he'd be one day late and born on Nov. 12 (11/12/13), but I was NOT as thrilled with that idea :). My doctor was on the same page as me--she thought Nov. 4 would be great because she was on-call anyway, so she scheduled my 39 week appointment for Monday morning at 9 am so she could do what she could to start labor in the hopes he'd come that day.
I also did what I could to get things moving--I even took all 3 girls to the zoo on Saturday Nov. 2. I pushed that double stroller and we walked and walked. I had a contraction here and there, but when I stopped walking, they went away. We stopped by my Dad and Stepmom's house after the zoo and had fun visiting while the kids played. We let our kids stay up until 9 pm on Saturday (darn that time change!) and even 2 extra hours with them didn't send me into labor!
At the zoo Nov. 2 (last outing with 3 girls! 6 years, 4 years, 2 years)...
At Dad and Sally's-38 and 5/7 weeks!...
Sunday, Nov. 3 was fast Sunday. The kids were up at 5:30 (better than we thought might happen!), Dan had meetings before church, but we had a nice relaxing afternoon and evening. We put the kids to bed and we crashed before 10. Megan came into our room crying around 11:45 pm, and I took her back to bed and as I tried to fall back to sleep, I noticed I was having contractions again. They were 3 to 5 minutes apart but not especially strong. But it felt just like when I went into labor with Candy, so I laid in bed trying to sleep between them and not get too excited.
Around 1:30 am, I decided that if they weren't stopping and I wasn't sleeping anyway, I might as well get things ready in case it was the real thing. So I put the last things in the hospital bags, packed bags for the girls, made lunches, emptied the dishwasher, folded laundry and generally puttered around for a while. I figured as long as I didn't feel like things were moving fast that I'd try to just wait for my Monday morning appointment. At 3:30 I was getting tired, so I went back to bed and the contractions actually slowed down to one every 10 to 12 minutes and I was able to sleep a little better in between. They sped back up around 5 am--back to every 3 to 5 minutes. I got up around 6 and showered and got ready. I told Dan that he better stay home from work and come to my appointment with me.
We dropped Brooke and Candy off at Ashley's house (she is the greatest friend!) and took both Megans to school and then headed down for my appointment. When I got there I told my doctor I'd been contracting for about 9 hours, so she put me on the monitors for a few minutes and checked me--3 cm! So she sent us over to the hospital. We got there around 10 am and got all settled in.
I decided a few months back that I didn't want an epidural with this birth, so I'd been preparing. I read Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method and had been practicing the breathing taught in it along with listening to the relaxation cds at naptime almost every day. I had tried going natural with Candy, but things moved slowly and I ended up getting an epidural because my doctor wanted to give me pitocin--so I got the epidural and was complete only an hour later and in retrospect wished I had held out that last hour. Anyway, I knew if I wanted to go natural this time that I needed to be prepared for my labor to be slow and steady and to just be patient and let my body go at its own pace.
Check-in--39 weeks...
And to compare--checking in w/Candy--38 and 1/7 weeks...
w/Brooke--39 and 3/7 weeks...
And 39 4/7 weeks with Megan...
My doctor came in at 10:40 to break my water and I was at 4 cm--progress! She was very supportive of my desires for natural labor and intermittent monitoring, but she wanted me to have a running IV. But the charge nurse (bless the charge nurse!) went to bat for me and helped my doctor feel comfortable with just a saline-lock (no IV pole-yay!). So then I could walk around, lay on the bed, or sit on the exercise ball as I wanted to. My nurse Gillian had attended many natural births (and had her own kids without an epidural), so she was a wonderful support too. And Dan was just the best. He walked the halls with me, scratched my back, made me laugh, helped me focus--I married a good one I tell ya. Anyway.
Things continued slow and steady--contractions every 3 to 5 minutes, and I breathed through them just like I'd been practicing and was actually very comfortable. At noon I was at 5 cm and still doing fine. My sister Jamie was on her way down from Dallas and I was pretty sure she'd make it for the birth. I would walk for 15-20 minutes, rest and listen to my relaxation tracks, sit on the ball and chat, eat popsicles and chew ice, and the time kept passing. At 3 pm, my nurse was going off-shift and when she checked me before leaving, I was still about 5-6 cm.
The next nurse to come had a new-hire working with her and the new-hire had had two of her kids without an epidural--I was so happy to have another great supportive nurse with me. My sister arrived around 3:30 pm and that helped me feel re-energized too. At 4:30 pm I was still about 5-6 cm, but the contractions were still coming and I was still feeling good--staying calm and breathing slowly through the contractions. My doctor suggested pitocin, but I declined since both the baby and I were doing well. Around 5 my contractions started lasting a little longer, and I felt more pressure, but was still handling them well. At 5:30, my doctor came back to check me and I was STILL about 6 cm. She said she was a little concerned with my lack of progress but agreed to wait another hour before we broached doing anything to help things along. She left and I had 2 or 3 stronger contractions, still about 4 minutes apart.
Then at 5:45 I had 3 REALLY strong contractions that were only about 2 1/2 minutes apart. And all of a sudden, I could no longer do my slow breathing through contractions and things were really intense. The contractions were coming one right after another with very little break in between and I wanted to push! So my nurse checked me and I was SO happy to hear her say I was complete and she was getting the doctor. I was moaning/yelling (loudly!) through the contractions, but Dan and Jamie were great--telling me I could do it and I was almost there. My hands felt all numb and tingly--I was probably hyperventilating a little. My doctor came right in and I was still trying to breathe through the contractions when she reminded me that I didn't have to--I could push! And it was hard, but it felt good to push. I pushed through about 2 contractions to get his head out and then one more big push to get his shoulders and then he was out. WOW--that feeling of relief when he was finally out was ah-mazing. He was born at 6:06 pm. I felt such a huge rush of endorphins. Dan cut his cord and the nurses rubbed him down for a minute before putting him on my chest. He looked blue and it made me nervous until my doctor said it wasn't from lack of oxygen--it was from bruising! Poor little thing.
My doctor and Dan and my sister were all saying how big he looked, but he just didn't look that huge to me. So I was shocked when they weighed him and he was 9 lbs, 1 oz--crazy! After a few minutes I delivered the placenta--something I had thought would be really uncomfortable without an epidural, but it really was not a big deal. I even needed stitches, but my doctor numbed me with lidocaine, so that wasn't really uncomfortable either (and I've had them with each baby so I'm used to that when recovering). My sister Carrie arrived around 6:30 or so and it was great to have her there too.
The hospital is really good about letting you hold your baby skin to skin for the first hour, so I just got to snuggle my sweet little boy. But after all that bruising on his face, he was NOT interested in nursing right then--it was as if he just wanted a break from having ANYTHING on his face. Dan finally got to hold him after that hour and he nursed when he was about an hour and a half old as we were getting ready to move rooms.
Being held by Daddy and Mommy for the first time...
Because I wasn't numb from an epidural I was able to sit in a wheelchair and hold Jack while we switched to the post-partum room. For some reason I had anticipated feeling less pain after birth if I didn't have an epidural, but nope--I still felt like I'd just had a baby :). But I really did like not being numb--I always hated that part once the baby was born.
Around 8 pm, my brother Shad arrived followed closely by my Dad, Sally, and brother Tyler. It was so fun to be with all of my siblings and we talked and laughed and passed the baby around. They measured him (20 inches) and there was no shortage of snarky comments about his poor little purple face. Everyone left by about 9 pm (even Dan), and then Jack's nurse came in to do his first bath. By about 10:30 pm, Jack was all tucked in and I was able to sleep. Another plus of no epidural is that the nurses don't have to check my vital signs as much during the hours right after birth.
Even with all that bruising (and eyes that were swollen shut), we still fell in love with our little man. We (i.e. Dan) had some last minute doubts on his name, but by the time Dan left that night we'd decided to stick with Jack Thomas. I love it. So that's it--Jack's birth story. It was mostly a wonderful and calm labor followed by 20 minutes of intensity, but I'm so glad I did it. It was an amazing experience. Would I do it again if we have more kids? Ask me in a few months :).
Here he is all tuckered out and ready for bed his first night in the world. (*This picture really does not show how bad his bruising was--trust me, it was awful!) Sleep well little man!
