Tuesday, August 10th I found myself increasingly anxious to have the baby. I promised my friend Jamie I would not miss her wedding on the 14th, so I told Jack he either had to come by Wednesday or stay until Sunday. I had an appointment scheduled for Wednesday, but something compelled me to move it up so I called and was able to get in at 2pm on Tuesday.
Cut to my appointment. I had progressed to almost 3cm from 2cm the week before, so things appeared to be moving along. Baby dropped way down and appeared to be in position, so it was all just a matter of time. I felt uncomfortable following my appointment, as I always did, but just went about my day and assumed it would subside after a few hours.
Maddie was with my mom that day and she had invited me to stay for dinner that night. Since Justin had a late appointment, I decided to stay and eat with them. After behaving like a dream on Monday night, Miss Madelyn took cranky to a new level Tuesday, so we didn't stay long after dinner. After arriving home, I realized we left Lovey and Blankie at Grandma's, so I left Maddie with Justin and headed back to get it. This is when I noticed that my discomfort appeared to have turned into real contractions. They were short and far apart, but I decided to start paying attention to them thinking, again, that they would peter out.
By the time I got home again around 7:00, I was feeling pretty yucky. Maddie had gotten rid of the crabby monster and was having fun with Justin, so I just laid on the couch for a few minutes before I had to take her up to get in the tub and start getting ready for bed. We did manage to get a few final belly shots in that final night and I'm glad we did. For your viewing pleasure...
Maddie giving Jack some love...yes, my belly was THAT big!
Maddie comparing her belly to mine...
Through contractions that were about 7-8 minutes apart, I gave Maddie a bath and then turned her over to Justin for storytime so I could go down and walk on the treadmill. I walked on the treadmill, as I tried to do at least 3-4 times per week throughout my pregnancy, from 8:00 - 9:00, all the while having contractions about 30 seconds long 2 and a half to 3 minutes apart.
Because they were so short, I thought for sure I'd get in the shower and they'd subside. They did spread out a little and by the time I was out and dressed they were back to about 7 minutes apart but getting longer in length. By the time the news was over, we were timing them at 5 minutes apart and between 45 seconds and 1 minute long.
For those of you who do not have children or have had them long ago, the general rule of thumb is 5 minutes apart, 1 minute long for 1 hour before you go in to the hospital. I had already decided I wanted to labor as long as possible at home for several reasons - 1) the hospital is boring 2) I didn't want to wake my parents or Maddie until I knew for sure the baby was coming today 3) I wanted to be far enough along to get the epidural ASAP once we checked in. So, 11:00 rolled around and I told Justin to get a little sleep and I was going to get up and walk around and get the rest of our things ready.
Winston was with me every step I took from 11:00 until we decided to leave at 12:45. He did not leave my side. I got everything packed up and woke Justin up about 12:30...he didn't wake up at first, I had to tell him twice that it was time to go. We loaded Maddie up and headed to Grandma and Papa H's to drop her off for the night. Of course, she woke up when we got there and threw a fit that she wanted to go home. We tried to calm her down, but eventually had to leave her there screaming for Daddy because my contractions were 3 minutes apart and we needed to get going. I'm pretty sure my dad thought I was going to have the baby then and there the way he was yelling at me to leave, hahaha!
We checked in to the hospital about 1:30. I was at 5cm and having strong, regular contractions so they moved me into a room and called the Epidural Man....my best friend. He got there super fast, but when you are having contractions every few minutes, 15 minutes seems like forever. Epidural was in and working shortly after we arrived, but I couldn't tell you for sure what time it was...I feel like maybe 3am. We tried to get a little sleep and the nurse came in every so often to check on me.
And now we get to the good stuff...the doctor came in and broke my water at about 5:30 and just a few minutes later they asked me to start pushing. Difficult to do when you can't feel your legs...but I would never choose to attempt child birth without an epi! After pushing through a few contractions, the nurse called the doctor in because she was concerned that Jack's heartbeat was dropping into the 50s with each push. They moved me into different positions and made me use an oxygen mask (which was awful because I am terribly claustrophobic and hate things on my face). The doctor didn't wait long to make the decision to use the vacuum to help guide the baby out after they saw that his head was turned to the side. They think he must have been laying on the cord, so every time he was trying to descend he was pushing on it, causing his heart rate to go down.
Two pushes later, with the help of the vacuum, Jack was here and we were in love! He was born at 6:14am weighing 7lbs 8oz and measuring 19.5 inches long. He is perfect - the spitting image of his daddy! Maddie loves him more than anything and we can't imagine life without him. Since you took the time to read this novel of a post, here are some pictures of Jack on his birthday and over the last few weeks. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and generosity following the addition of Jack to our family!
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