Monday, January 25, 2010

Jackson's Birth Story

























Tuesday, January 12th was a nice relaxing day. I slept in until 9am and then went off to my 40 week doctor's appointment. We did a stress test because I was overdue and to my surprise I was having contractions after all! We scheduled an induction for Saturday and I went on my merry way, content in knowing my baby boy would soon arrive. That afternoon I started feeling a little "off" and tried laying down for a nap. As I was laying quietly I noticed that I was getting short on breath every 3-5 minutes. Contractions again! I called Ryan at school and he came rushing home. I swear he was more nervous than me! We took showers, packed up the car, and headed out to take the dogs to my mom's. I just couldn't believe the day had come! My mom followed us over to Mercy Gilbert and headed up to L&D while we checked in at Emergency. One we headed up to the floor the triage nurse checked me and monitored my contractions for about a 1/2 hour. After calling my doctor she sent us home because I wasn't making progress and told me to come back when they hurt so bad I couldn't talk. Ok, well I know that sometimes happens. So we went home to my mom's, ate dinner, and walked up and down the street. Since the contractions weren't getting stronger we drove the 1/2 hour back home and prepared to go to sleep for the night. Uh oh. My contractions suddenly went through the roof in intensity, taking my breath away and forcing me onto my hands and knees. Unfortunately I hadn't bothered to take a birthing class because I was getting an epidural. Big mistake. We raced back over to my mom's, dropped off the dogs, and headed back to the hospital. This time the triage nurse came to get me and made me WALK up to L&D (she obviously thought I was faking it). Again she decided that I wasn't making enough progress and sent me home with pain meds and an Ambien. Unfortunately I was not thrilled about this. After a minor freak out I asked her how I would know when to come back. She replied "You'll just know" (I could've slapped her) This time we just stayed at my mom's. And my contractions got worse. And worse. And worse. I couldn't breathe or talk. All I could do was rock back and forth on my hands and knees and cry (we later found I was having really bad back labor). This time I was taken from emergency up to triage ASAP and bypassed the stupid triage nurse. Right away they got my antibiotics hooked up (I was GBS positive) and rolled me into a delivery room. While they were doing my IV Jackson became distressed and released his meconium, which can be very dangerous if inhaled during delivery. I went from 4cm dilated to an 8 in about 30 seconds. Then when I FINALLY got my epidural he had a pretty good decel in his heart rate and I had to be on oxygen. But guess what? Once I got my epidural life suddenly became golden and perfect. My delivery went extremely quickly (15 minutes of on and off pushing) and the room was filled with people I love and lots of laughter. I couldn't have asked for a better doctor (Dr. Stacy Mickey), labor and delivery nurse (Debbie Lange), or newborn nurse (My mom!!). When Jackson arrived at 6:43am the room was suddenly flooded with family and joy. It was the most amazing experience of my life. When Jackson was placed in my arms for the first time (I didn't get to hold him right away because of the meconium clean-up) it completely changed my life. I feel like I finally knew what love truly was. And I became a mother.

3 comments:

Carrie said...

I absolutely love how you recorded your birth story! It was so great to read about it all over again! :) Thank you so very much for allowing me to be part of such a special day in your lives...I felt so blessed to be there when Jackson first showed his handsome little face. :) I love you all so much and I am so grateful to have such a great relationship with you and be a part of Jackson's life.
Love, Aunt Carrie

Judy Whatilivefor said...

Isn't it amazing how little we know about ourselves and the love we hold in our hearts until it manifests itself when we hold that little being for the first time? It only grows stronger over time! What a beautiful birth story!

Ashley said...

Aww beautiful story. I loove birth stories, thanks for sharing. The pictures are beautiful too.

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