Birth story

Here are all the boring details, and the best part…photos.

My whole pregnancy I was totally convinced that this baby would be at least two weeks early, if not more. I had many reasons for this, including that Jonah was two weeks early and that the doctors were concerned that because of my medical history that I would not be able to go full term. So while my due date was technically December third, I told pretty much every one that I was due at the end of November. The last few months I had lot’s of contractions, adding to my belief that this baby was well on it’s way. Then, on November 18th, my Mom arrived, two weeks before the due date. And my contractions stopped. On November 19th I had a doctors appointment and I was 2 cm and not at all effaced. Not promising. I seriously was starting to believe the baby was never going to come out. So my Mom and I putted around, trying to keep busy and see some of Italy until my appointment the next week.

November 27th at 3 pm I had a doctor’s appointment. 3 cm and 70% effaced. The doctor stripped my membranes. My Mom said that would take effect immediately but I didn’t feel much for several hours. Then at about 7 pm I started having regular contractions. We put Jonah to bed and sat down to watch a show at 8pm. By the time the show was over I was pretty sure I was in labor, with contractions being 4-6 minutes apart and getting stronger. So I finished packing my hospital bag, called a friend to take Jonah and headed off for the hospital on post.

We arrived at the hospital at 11:30 pm, I was admitted after they checked me and said I was 5 cm, 100% effaced. Then the fun began. And no, I’m not talking about labor. I’m  actually talking about putting in my IV. A nurse came in and tried my right hand and quickly blew the vein badly, it really hurt. Then she tried my right inner elbow, and once again painfully missed. She wimped out and sent in another nurse. He attempted what he called an “old fashioned” stick, mid way up my right forearm. It hurt badly and I was getting really tired of being poked as my contractions were getting stronger and I needed to focus on dealing with them. I started crying and scared him off from trying again. The doctor arrived at this point and found me in tears, I was so embarrassed. Here I was crying over the IV and I was about to give birth with no pain meds, I felt dumb. They sent in a third nurse. She came in and attempted a spot midway up the inside of my left arm, this one was the worst of all. I’m pretty sure she stuck it straight into a nerve. I began crying uncontrollably this time, I had had it. She tried to keep it there for awhile because I guess she did get it in the vein but it kept hurting really badly so she finely took it out. I had a hard time calming down after that because I knew they would have to try again. I also knew that it was getting closer to time for this baby to come and I really needed to focus on that to get through the contractions. They gave me a break for a little while to calm down and then sent back in the very first nurse, armed with smaller needles. Instead of trying to get the blood draw from the IV she did that separately. With a smaller needle she got the IV in my left hand and took a blood draw from another spot on my inner right elbow. So all together they stuck me six times and it was nearly 1:30 am at this point.

Pretty soon I felt the urge to push. They checked me and said I was still at 9 cm and needed to wait. Each contraction after that I had to really focus on relaxing so that I wouldn’t push. They checked me two or three more times after a few contractions would go by and I would start telling them it was time. Each time they told me I needed to wait. Finally I told them I couldn’t wait anymore so they said ok and the doctor got everything in place. I have no idea how long I pushed, it wasn’t more then a half hour, but it was longer then the eight minutes it took me to get Jonah out. At 2:04 am he was born, 9 lbs 2 oz and 22.5 inches long. He was a dark purple color and I kept asking why but everyone assured me he was fine. I remember feeling kind of out of it at this point, just really tired. It took me awhile to come to a little bit and feel excited about our perfect little man.

It is amazing how quickly these little people do wrap you right around their little finger. It didn’t take long to fall absolutely and completely in love with this little man.

First meeting with big brother went really well. Jonah still needs to work on being gentle, but he does love him and even asked if we could take him home with us. So we did.