Jackson arrived on his actual due date, October 20th, 2011, however his birth story really started the day before. We went to the hospital, for me to be induced at 7 a.m. on Oct. 19th. due to the PUPPS rash I had gotten a couple weeks before. It was driving me crazy, so my Dr. gave me the option at my appt. that Monday to either give me steroids or go ahead and induce. Since I was so close to my due date, I opted to be induced.
So Jake and I headed to the hospital the morning of the 19th, fully expecting to meet our new baby sometime later that day. Never did I dream it would be 20 hours later and end in a cesarean section.
We arrived at 7 a.m. and the Dr. came in at around 8:30 or so to break my water. It wasn't too long after that, that they started the Pitocin. Once I got the Pitocin, it wasn't long before I was having pretty regular contractions. So at around noon, I got the epidural. The contractions weren't terrible at the time, but I was at about 4 cm and the Dr. said I could have it anytime I wanted it. So I figured I'd go ahead and get it before the contractions got any stronger.
I was under the impression that the epidural wouldn't be that bad... well that was a misconception. It HURT!! And unfortunately, it didn't work very well on me. I was still feeling contractions on one side and after several more hours, they decided to give me a new epidural. This was not at all good news. Thankfully the second epidural didn't hurt quite as bad as the first as I was still a little numb.
After getting the second epidural at around 3 p.m. I was at around 5 cm and feeling pretty good. This lasted for about 5 or so hours and then I started feeling contractions again!! I had progressed very little and was starting to worry as to why this was taking so long and why the epidural wasn't working again. After several more hours I was only at 8 to 9 cm and still not fully effaced. The epidural had worn off and I was feeling contractions but wasn't progressing any further.
At around midnight, the nurses realized Jackson was
face up, which makes delivery much more difficult and usually results in a lot more pushing or a cesarean section. The Dr. came in and tried to turn him, but she was unsuccessful. They had me lay on either side to try to get him to turn over, but that didn't work either. At this point I actually started digressing instead of progressing and Jackson's heart rate started to go down. I was told it would be best for me to have a cesarean section.
Of course I was scared to death and there were many tears shed. This was not at all the way I had hoped labor and delivery would go. Thankfully, my mom was there to comfort both Jake and I. She had to have my sister by cesarean section and was able to calm some of our fears.
So they wheeled me back to the operating room, and since I had already gotten an epidural, they were able to give me a stronger medicine through the epidural so that I could be awake during the operation. Needless to say, one of my biggest fears was that I would feel them cutting me because the epidural hadn't worked the way it was supposed to all day. But the medicine they put in the epidural during a c-section, was a lot stronger and I didn't feel a thing. It did, however, make me sick, which wasn't fun at all. But I was just thankful to not feel any of the operation.
Once they let Jake come back into the operating room I felt a lot better and in no time we were hearing our sweet baby boy crying. I've never been so happy in all of my life. At that moment, none of what I had been through that day even mattered. I was so thankful that we had a healthy baby. It was such an amazing sound to hear my sweet baby's cry.
At that point Jake went over to see him as they stitched me back up. I remember him saying he looked like him and that he had some blonde hair. I asked how much he weighed and to my surprise, he weighed 8lbs. 12 ozs. and was 21 inches long. A much bigger baby than I thought he would be. Jake took some pictures and showed them to me as I still lay there being put back together again, LOL. Then I finally got to see Jackson. Jake brought him over to show me and I was instantly in love.
After they got me all stitched up, they wheeled me to a recovery room where I basically slept for the the next 2 hours. They gave me morphine, which also made me sick, but then made me sleepy. While I slept they gave Jackson a bath and got him all cleaned up. Jake and my mom came in and the nurse brought Jackson in too. I was still too groggy to hold him, but once they got me in a regular room, I was finally able to hold and feed him.
We stayed in the hospital until Sunday, Oct. 23rd and have been doing well ever since. I'm healing very well. The first week was a little tough, but I feel much better now. Of course I still have to take it easy and can't do stairs or drive yet, but I'm feeling pretty good and getting around just fine. Jackson is also doing great. He's sleeping well, eating and gaining weight like he should and is such a sweet baby.
We couldn't be happier about becoming a family of 3 and though the labor and delivery did not go as I had hoped or planned, it was all worth it to have this little baby boy here with us. I am so grateful and thankful to God for bringing Jackson into our lives and for being there with us through all the ups and downs of my pregnancy, labor and delivery. He kept us all safe and gave us a healthy and beautiful baby boy.
