Jaxson's Birth Story

Ok I'm going to attempt to put this together while both boys are napping. This is for my own memory more than anything and will probably be TMI for most.

Our schedule was pretty hectic while on bedrest. Hubby is a coach and it's football season. That means that Monday, Tuesday and Friday he doesn't get home until after 10pm because of football games and Wednesday/Thursday is practice days so that usually means getting home around 6:30/7:00. So Brody and I were at my parents house Monday-Friday going home on Wednesday nights and Saturday/Sunday to see daddy. My dad comes home for lunch during the day and could help me with Brody and then they are both home in the evenings. I also wanted to be in my comfort zone in case something were to happen I knew Brody could easily be taken care of while someone else was there to take me to doctor/hospital if needed. It worked out great and I loved spending time with my parents. It was a HUGE help in getting me to 36 weeks.

I'd been having menstrual cramping for 2 weeks prior to delivery that I knew had to be a sign because I hadn't had them with Brody. Some were stronger and more painful while others were just more annoying.

Wednesday: Brody had a rough night teething and I didn't get much sleep. I was anxious about reaching 36 weeks and I took out my terbutaline pump sometime between midnight and 6 am when Brody was having one of his teething meltdowns. I didn't feel much that day other than the usual contractions and cramping. We packed up an overnight bag so that we could head home to see daddy. During that day and all day Thursday I had been having to poop a lot. Not the runny, I ate something bad kind just like my body was getting rid of everything kind. This was my first clue that something was happening. I had read that it was a sign and thought it was odd. That night I began having back pains about once or twice an hour. It wasn't a pain that I could time because I never noticed when it started or stopped but I could tell that I was having back issues. I thought maybe I had just moved around too much that day.

Thursday: Brody had another restless night and was clingy that morning. I was technically 36 weeks and free from bedrest so we went to walmart to look for a very specific Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that my little guy is addicted to. We then went back home and he played while I did a little house work. We then packed up and headed back to my parents house.

3:00- I was really noticing my contractions were picking up with a lot of back pain. But now I could easily time when they started and stopped. They were roughly a minute long and coming every 15 minutes.

4:30-5:00- I called my mom to let her know that I was having some intense back pain and that I thought I should start timing them better but was too distracted with Brody to do this by myself. My dad got home shortly after 5:00 and he became my timer. At this point the back pain was pretty strong and uncomfortable. I was having them every 10-12 minutes

5:00-7:00- I sat in my parents living room having constant contractions and back pain. I would yell to my dad a time and he would write it down for me and ask the pain level. Around 6:45 I decided to take a shower to see if that would help them ease up and I called my mom to tell her she needed to get home. I had yet to inform Brandon because he was at the Rangers game and I didn't want him to worry. But I did tell him that he needed to take his own truck because I thought something was going on.

7:30-Shower didn't help, contractions were every 6-8 minutes and getting very uncomfortable. The only way I know to describe them was that I was having my usual tightening of the belly, menstrual cramps but that I felt like my spine was being pulled out from the inside. It would start in my back with the spine pulling and then wrap around to the menstrual cramping all while my stomach was getting hard.

I called the night line of my doctor's appointment to find out that my doctor wasn't the one on call. I left a message for them to call me back. About 5 minutes later Dr. B called me(thank God it was her!) and I explained what was going on. She wanted me to go into the hospital just to see what was going on.

8:00- 9:00-I let Brandon know on the way to the hospital that I thought this was it but wasn't completely sure. I was in some pretty severe pain at this point and having pressure in my bottom. My dad took me to the hospital where we went to L&D and got into a room right away. It took them about 10 minutes to get all my information and hook me up to the monitors. They monitored me for about 10-20 minutes and then checked my cervix. I was 2 1/2 centimeters and 75% effaced. So I had a pretty good change from fingertip-1cm and 30% effaced on Monday. She called Dr. B and she ordered that I get a bag of IV fluids started and pumped through me for 1 hour to see if that stopped labor thinking I might just be dehydrated. If I made any change to my cervix in that hour then they would be keeping me and we would be having baby. If labor stalled or I didn't have any change then they would be sending me home. I think I asked the nurse a million times if she thought "this" was it. She said with the contraction pattern that I was in she thought this was it :) She also got the IV started on first try and it wasn't a bad experience at all, thank you Lord!

10:00pm - was in extreme pain with the contractions. I had to hold on to the side of the bed and kept feeling like I needed to arch my back in order to relieve the back labor. The nurse told me to try laying on my sides to help relief that pressure of the baby's head on my back or to hang off the bed. I honestly don't know how women birth naturally. Any movement seemed to start a contraction. Getting up to go the bathroom or walking during a contraction was extruating. I was ready for my epideral and kept thinking that if my cervix hadn't changed they might actually send me home like this. Luckily the nurse came in and check me. I was 3 centimeters and 100% effaced. I was indeed having this baby!!

She called my doctor to let me know and went to get anethelogist for my epideral. The only probably was I had taken my Lovenox shot that morning at 9 am and couldn't have an epideral until 9 am Friday morning. WHAT?!?!?! I CANNOT HAVE MY EPIDERAL? At this point I panicked. I needed my epideral now, how in the world was I suppose to make it 12 more hours? There was no way I could do this any longer with the amount of back pain I was in let alone 12 hours, screw natural childbirth! I know what that epideral can do and I've been in labor for 10 weeks now!! I wanted and longed for that relief and numbness :) So the nurse talked with Dr. B and she suggested that I get some rounds of terbutaline, yes the drug I had just stopped 48 hours prior and take some dermeral to knock the edge off and hopefully stall labor until the morning when I could get my epideral. The problem was that if the terbulatine stalled my labor to much to the point that it stopped it then I would be sent home. I didn't want that! I also didn't want the demeral because it also goes to the baby and can make the baby tired and drowsy. Well, what if they couldn't stop labor, I delivered this 36 weeker really fast and then he had trouble breathing because he was all drugged up from demeral. I didn't want that but at the same time I was in so much pain! I had also heard terrible stories of demeral and how it makes you loopy and out of it. That's the last thing I wanted, you know I'm kinda a control freak, why would I want something that makes me feel OUT of control.

After a break down of me crying and talking to the nurse she said that if I was in labor the terb wasn't gonna stop it, only slow it down and by us some time. She also said the demeral only last for 2-3 hours and then wears out of your system. So I decided to take the terb and demeral. The terb sure didn't stop my contractions but did slow them down. It didn't have any effect on intensity. They went from 3-4 minutes to 12-14 minutes. The demeral made me very tired right away and I could still feel the contractions and the pain but didn't care. It's like it blocked it from my brain. It only helped for about 45 minutes - hour and I was able to really relax during that time but after that the pain was back.

I labored all through the night and at 5:00 am the contractions were back full force every 3-4 minutes so they gave me another 3 rounds of terbutaline from 5:00-7:00am.

8:30 am they came in to let me know I was next to get an epidural, whoa!!! I was so happy that I would soon be numb! It was the longest night of my life and I was so tired of the back labor. The epidural was easy breezy and 30 minutes later I was extremely numb. My doctor came in and was also happy I had made it to 9:00 am and she said she was just sick to her stomach all night because she was afraid I wouldn't make it to 9:00 am without delivering. I love my doc! So they checked me right after my epidural and I was 5 cm with a bulging bag of waters. 10 minutes later my doctor came in to brake my water and I immediately went to 8 centimeters dilated!!

9:00-11:00 am I couldn't feel a thing! I was extremely numb and very comfortable. The nurse checked me at 10:00 and I was still an 8 and then again at 11:00 and I was ready to push. She asked me to give one practice push and then said she was going to call my doctor. Dr. B was in the room within 5 minutes and before she even put on all her gear she wanted to see where I was. She asked me to push and then immediately told me to stop, Jaxson's head was already out!! The nurse put her hands under his head in case she needed to catch him while Dr. B put on her gloves...she didn't even have gloves on yet! During this time Jaxson's heart rate went down to the 90's so he wasn't liking it at all and we had to get him out immediately. She asked me to push again and then quickly said easy as Jaxson was born! I was so relieved and terrified at the same time. As he was being born my doctor was saying how tiny he was and then before I knew it he was on my chest. I cannot even describe the emotions I was feeling. He was so little! He was crying up a storm and then he quickly calmed down when we were skin to skin. The nurses had to keep rubbing on him and then asked to take him because he had calmed down too much and they wanted him to cry some more. They took him over to the warmer where they gave him a little O2 to get him going some more and then checked him out.

He weighed 4 pounds 15 ounces and was 17 inches long. He's perfect in every way. It was the quickest delivery and was born within 4 minutes of pushing, if that. Because he was so small they really wanted me to have skin to skin with him as much as possible. So for the first 48 hours he remained on my chest. Skin to skin is one of the most beautiful experiences. Knowing that I was helping my son stay warm, regulate his breathing and help his blood sugars all by holding him close to me is an experience I hope every mother has.

My milk came in fairly quickly, Saturday night, which I praise God for because Jaxson couldn't stand to lose a lot of weight. He got down to 4 pounds 12 ounces and then quickly started gaining. He's a champ at nursing and we haven't had any issues other than I'm having to pump a lot because I'm producing too much for this little guy. I already have a nice stock pile of 25 ounces sitting in my freezer!! We were discharged on Monday and Jaxson weighed 4 pounds 13 ounces.

Tuesday- went to the doctor to check on Jaxson's jaundice and it's still within normal range and going down. He weighed 4 pounds 14 ounces.

Thursday- went to doctor and Jaxson weighed 5 pounds 2 ounces. Doctor J said he's never seen a 36 week do this well and gain this much weight so fast. He said it usually takes full term baby's 2 weeks to get back to their birth weight and here we are already passed it at 6 days. He was very happy and momma was very proud!

We've already been warned several times that Jaxson cannot be out in crowds or around kids that go to school/daycare because RSV season has started. Brody had this last year that knocked him on his butt for 3 weeks. So we will be staying in and away for the next 6 months or so in order to keep Jaxson safe and healthy.

I have a lot more pictures to update with as soon as I can download them. I also need to take our 1 week picture and a brother's picture! I cannot believe Jax is already a week old! Crazy how time flies