Jack Enters the World

Birth Story Time!

Don't you love a good birth story?  Even before I was pregnant I found birth stories totally fascinating...well, you know...as long as they weren't TOO TMI.  :)  So, I will try not to gross you out with the all the gory details.  Are you ready???

Well.  First of all.  I had the goal of having a natural birth...as in no pain meds.  Did that happen?!?
Oh heeeeeeeeeeeck no.  I also had the plan of going into labor naturally...which did not happen either.

I will say though that I went into birth with a slightly open mind...I told Jason that if it looks like labor is going to be some crazy 24 hour ordeal...well, I may reconsider the epidural.  For me it was either...no meds or the epidural.  I wasn't going to play around with the in between drugs.  So, there's a little background on what I was thinking going into birth.

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So, Monday morning I thought that something wasn't quite right.  I felt like MAYBE my water was leaking.  It seemed like I was overly "wet" on occasion and I woke up with damp underwear.  I called a couple of friends but in the end decided that in fact I couldn't be leaking.  I was thrown off because I would go long bouts of time and be totally dry...then suddenly a little water would come...then nothing.  Never much though.

Tuesday night I wore a pantyliner to bed.  Wednesday morning I woke up and it was pretty full.  Put a new one on, half way filled it, put a new one on and decided to call my OBGYN to see if it's even possible to have that slow of a leak.  I seriously was totally convinced that my water was not broken.  I actually felt dumb going in there and taking up their time...for them to just tell me that I'm probably peeing myself.  What made it worse was that the new pantyliner I put on after the initial 2...completely dry.  They wanted me to come in of course anyways.  Funny thing was that while I was calling my obgyn my friend Autumn was on her way to have coffee with me.  I texted her and asked her if she minded that we make a small detour to my doctor's office.  You know, no big deal.  Just to double check.  She of course obliged.

I walked into the office, apologized before hand when the doctor walked in...said, I'm sorry, it's probably nothing blah blah blah.  Got up on the table, feet in stirrups...and then I felt a decent flow leave my body (still not fully broken though).  To which the doctor says, "Whoa there...I think you are right my dear.  That looks like your water is broken to me."  She tested it with a litmus strip just in case and then said, "Congratulations, you are going to be meeting your baby soon."  Talk about a crazy whirl wind.  At this point it was about 11:00am.  I was having a big fat 0 on contractions.  Nothing at all.  So, she set it up for me to come back that afternoon at 4:30 to be induced...since you know...it had been probably well over 24 hours since I started leaking.  Ooops.  Side note:  Jason mentioned to his coworkers that I was going in to make sure my water hadn't broke...to which they replied, "Oh no, she would know."  I am living proof that it is possible to NOT know that your water is broken.  You can have a small leak that only reveals itself when you move certain ways.  End side note. :)

All the nurses congratulated me as I left the office and I got to tell Autumn that our trip was not in vain.  So...we continued on and got our coffee (of course) and I called Jason and let him in on the news.  I went home, packed a bag for Jason, and finished getting mine together while Jason made final preparations for his sub who was taking over his classes.  I picked Jason up from work, we kinda freaked out together, and off we went to the hospital.

Let me tell you how weird it is to walk in and say, "Hi, I have a 4:30 appointment to have my baby."  Strange for sure.  Anyways, we got in, they hooked me up to the Pitocin and we just waited.  And waited.  And waited.  I was apparently having contractions but I didn't really feel them.  Going in I was about 2 cm dilated and 50 % effaced.  She upped the dosage of Pitocin a few times and still not much happened.  Finally I felt a weird "kick" from the baby...or that's what I thought it was.  It was actually my water breaking completely.  That got things going finally.  I started more active labor and kept at it for about 4 hours...at this point it was midnight.  The pain was ALL in my back.  Jason did a phenomenal job of supporting me and talking me through my contractions.  Incredibly painful...let me tell you.  The nurse decided to check me at after all that...3 cm and 75% effaced.  Lame.  Then she said, "It looks like you will probably have this baby around noon tomorrow."  NOON????  Are you kidding me.  The pain was excruciating...there's no doubt about that.  But I was just plain exhausted at that point.  As was Jason.  The thought of laboring another 10 hours and having to then push the baby out?  Yeah.  Wasn't looking promising.

I kept at it with nothing for a few more contractions and then just gave in.  I was unbelievably tired...and Jason was tired.  I could see it in his face.  Finally, I told him, let's do it.  I want the epidural.  I need sleep so bad.  You could see the relief in his eyes haha.  I think he hated seeing me suffer.  Relief came so fast.  The epidural dude was in my room in 10 minutes.  He administered it and I had a brutal contraction right when he was inserting it into my back.  It took every ounce I had to hold still and suck it up.  Then the tingling in my legs came and then...relief.  Sweet relief.  So weird to be laboring and not feel it.  I told Jason that it just seemed wrong.  That I felt like I was cheating or something.  Jason went to bed and I tried to get some sleep too.  They have to constantly monitor pretty much everything with the epidural...the most annoying being your blood pressure.  Right about the time I would doze off the automatic blood pressure thing would go off...jolting me awake.  Whatever though.  It was better then laboring with no rest at all.

At about 5 am they checked me and I was at 6 cm.  They checked me again at 9am and I was finally fully dilated and ready to start pushing.  Let me just say right now....you can read every book in the world about labor but nothing really prepares you for it.  It is such a surreal, out of body experience.  When they told me I could start pushing Jason's eyes got wide and he started asking me if I could tell he had pit sweat?!?  hahaha.  Um.  Yeah.  Sorry dude.  Apparently he was a little nervous/excited to meet his little boy.  I then started pushing shortly after 9am.  I wasn't feeling contractions the whole time with the epidural but the bearing down pushing contractions...I could feel in my back and at the top of my uterus...which sorta felt like my ribs were breaking.  Lovely.  So I pushed.  And pushed.  My nurse was fantastic, Jason was completely amazing.  They cheered me on and seriously...I felt strong.  Praise the Lord because you know what?  In the end I pushed for just about 3 hours.  Right before baby boy made his appearance the doctor came in and got all ready for the delivery (Am I only one who thought the dr. would be present for the whole pushing process???).  The little dude actually ended up getting a little stuck.  I could sense the tension in their voice regarding him and seriously, those last 5 pushes...I gave it everything I had (which is evidenced by the damage my body sustained).  And by the end I was ex.haus.ted.  I felt him leave my body and the relief of it being over.  They put Jack on me immediately and I was just so overcome with exhaustion and emotion that I just cried.  It makes me teary even now thinking about it.  It was amazing.  He was all slimy and gross and I loved every inch of him.  Jason cut the cord and we drank in our little boy.

The doctor wigged when she pulled him out because she wasn't expecting him to be so big (the doctor who delivered my baby was the doctor on call that night in my obgyn group...not my actual doctor).  She was convinced that the scale would say he was be bigger than 8 lb  7 oz.  He's kinda just a solid little guy.

Eventually they took him for his first bath where he became a comatose little limp noodle.  The nurse was cracking up at how much he loved his bath.  Jason took video footage of it.  So cute.  I chilled on the table for quite a bit while the doctor sewed up all the damage.  She worked down there for a long while and then said, "Ok, now I'm going to repair the more minor rip."  UH?  I was thinking what the heck happened down there?  A 4th degree tear is what happened.  Do me a favor.  Don't Google it.  I almost passed out when I did.  Horrible.  And the healing process...horrible.  And going #2...horrible x 5.  We'll leave it at it being the worst tear you could have.  There.  Moving on.

So, there you have it.  The birth story.  I am in the end so thankful for the epidural.  I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have one.  Especially with the 3 hour pushing process at the end and the damage that was done "down stairs."  I felt like because I had the epidural I was able to take in our little boy and the whole process.  Without it...I think I honestly couldn't have done it.

In the future they don't want me going passed 39 weeks.  Especially if my babies get progressively bigger...which is usually the case (though not always of course).

Hope you enjoyed Jack's story.  And that I didn't gross you out too much.  ;)  If you think of us we would love prayer...just in adapting to this new schedule of sleeplessness.  I'm starting to feel it...not going to lie.  Also in my healing.  It's a long road apparently and I'm pretty bad at laying low and resting.  Jason does have to go back to work too...so you know...this could be interesting.  :)

Alright, I'm off to go cuddle my little monkey... :)

And here are a few more post birth pictures for your enjoyment.  I'm exuding beauty and brightness don't you think?!?  haha.

This is what a 20 hr labor with 3 hours of pushing looks like :)

Grandpa Evangelista meets Jack

Grandma Lyons meets Jack

Home with our little man...don't mind the nursing pad.  :)