Our sweet baby boy has finally arrived! Jetson's birth was really a magical experience for me, so I thought I would jot it down while it is still fresh in my mind.
As I approached my due date, every day started feeling like another month and I was just waiting for that magical day on the calendar that the doctors said my baby might come. (Huge first time mom mistake). Everyone around me kept telling me add another week after your due date so its not disappointing if he is late! To all those people I just looked at them and thought "How dare you?" and didn't listen. (I was quite hormonal towards the end).
My due date came and went and all I could think was, "How much longer am I going to be pregnant?" I started to get desperate, I did a labor inducing rain dance where you rub your belly and do squats which felt humiliating, but was fun when Dustin joined me. (We had Vanilla Ice on in the background). I ate spicy food, pineapple, walked all over the place, went to Sea-cliff and walked the long staircase over and over again. I did all these among many other labor inducing methods, and nada.
A couple days after my due date, I had a false alarm, so irritating! I started to have contractions 3-5 minutes apart and it was like clock-work constantly. My contraction were not painful enough for me to feel like I should go to the hospital though. We live about an hour from the hospital and rush hour was approaching so just in case, we decided to go stay at Dustin's grandpa's house. (He lives near the hospital). My mom and mother in-law both came, because we all really thought I'd be going into the hospital, but the contractions after six hours of constantly coming just stopped. We all decided to stay the night anyway and nothing. That morning my mom and mother in law were badgering me about needing to see the doctor because I did not have any more appointments. (Something went weird and my post-due date appointment got canceled and it was stressful because I wanted to know what my doctors plan was now that I had gone over. We called the medical staff and my mom scared them into giving me an appointment that same day. (They ended up not deserving to be scared, it was all a big misunderstanding and we love the medical care we received!) I went to the doctor and she checked me and I wasn't dilated but I was completely effaced which made me feel sort of good. I was also mad that I was not dilating at all, even though my doctor told me that does not mean anything. She scheduled to see me three days later for a stress test, she said if the stress test looked good, she would let me go four more days. Pretty much the plan was if I am still pregnant Tuesday they will induce me. So we went home, which was kind of depressing because when we left we thought the next time we came home we would have our baby boy. Sigh.
Life went on, and I continued to obsess over the labor inducing methods until I reached five days overdue and then I had lost all motivation\care on when the baby would arrive and decided to stop exhausting myself with all these crazy antics.
Five Days overdue, all I could think was "How much bigger is he going to get?"
Once I gave up the labor inducing obsession life got easier and I got motivated to do a few things to prepare, I made lots of freezer meals, made homemade microwavable snacks, cleaned the house, and got EVERYTHING ready for baby, talk about nesting. (I am SO THANKFUL for those last few days now because they have made post-baby life so much easier. )
Time went by a bit faster at this point and we kept getting closer to the day I would have to be induced. I really did not want to be induced, so we kept praying that baby boy would come on his own. I was scheduled to be induced Tuesday the 25th at 6PM. Tuesday morning at 4 AM, I woke up with painful contractions worse than any I had felt. I woke Dustin up and he started timing them, they were five minutes apart. We laid there for a couple hours timing them and they kept coming, and were so strong I had to close my eyes and breathe. Because of the false alarm I refused to get my hopes up and continued my morning through the pain, I took a shower and ate breakfast. Around 12 PM we decided to go to Dustin's grandpa's because if I get bad enough to go to the hospital, great, if not I am getting induced at 6 PM anyway, so either way baby was coming. My contractions continued and got worse during our visit with his grandparents. Around four o' clock we decided to call labor and delivery, we told them I was supposed to be induced tonight but I am already in labor, they said to go ahead and come in early. We made our way to the hospital and for some reason I was still trying not to get my hopes even though I knew baby would be coming either way! On our way we stopped for frozen yogurt and I ate through my contractions. As we drove to the hospital it did feel real and I knew it was happening! We got into our room which was huge and wonderful, it had a birthing ball, a bed for Dustin and a HUGE jetted bath tub. The doctor on call came to check my cervix, she informed me that I was dilated to a four. She then went on to tell me that she, unlike many of the other doctors at this hospital prefers intervention, meaning she likes to push induction and other drugs to get the labor moving. That was a big no-no for me and I remember feeling really sad thinking of course this doctor is the one on call. I allowed her to sweep my membranes, and then she asked me if I would like to have my water broken. I decided not to have my water broken thankfully, I had a feeling if I did that my labor would not have been a natural one. I also knew a group of midwives would be on call in the morning and perhaps I would not have to labor with this doctor. So after sweeping my membranes, by the way OW, she left and I ordered dinner, I was hungry! The pain started to worsen when it got into the night, they often would monitor the baby and I just sat there unable to sleep and unsure of the time. I had an amazing nighttime nurse, she was super into the whole natural birth hype and different pain relief methods. She prepared me a bath with jets, turned out the lights and lit candles. I cannot even tell you how much less the contractions hurt while in the water. It was such a relief. The bath tub was huge and deep and wonderful, but hard to get out of while in labor haha!
My bath
The night continued to progress and I began to feel very exhausted not from the pain but more because I could not sleep through the pain or get comfortable. The nurse checked me because I asked her to but she was reluctant because she did not want to discourage me. I was at a five. That really upset me because of all the pain I was having. The nurse tried to reassure me that it really means nothing but I was a bit discouraged but also indifferent because I knew the longer it took the more likely I would have the midwife team in the morning and less likely to have an epidural and an episiotomy. Due to my exhaustion, I opted to use some fentanyl just because I knew that it would allow me to sleep. It allowed me to sleep for five minute intervals between contractions, each contraction I would slightly wake and have to breathe through it. The fentanyl did not help me pain wise but it allowed me to relax and not overthink or worry about the next contraction. I got some rest and come morning time the midwife team came in and introduced themselves! I was kind of out of it at this point because I hardly slept and just remembered seeing a bunch of people in the room. I was in pretty good pain now and when I went to the bathroom or walked I felt lots of pressure. The day progressed and I just kept having contractions, I started feeling kind of weird like I could not get comfortable I kept getting up out of my seat walking a little and pacing and trying to sit back down. I was sitting on my knees, and just super restless. I could not sit on my butt! (I should have known I was getting really close). The midwives had Dustin push on my back as I laid over the top of a yoga ball and I think that really helped get things going. I started feeling really weird and so the midwives suggested Dustin get me some jello to get my sugars up. Dustin gave me two bites and I immediately threw it up in a bag that Dustin brought me in just the nick of time. At this point I was on my knees on the bed standing up because I just could not sit on my butt at all. Soon the pain got unbearable. I was scared at this point mainly because my last cervix check was only a 5 and I thought I had a whole 5 more centimeters to go! This is when I got hopeless, assuming I was only half way there, and knowing I could not take a whole 5 other centimeters, I asked for the epidural. I kept rationalizing it, telling myself I gave it my best shot and that the epidural can really help me. The anesthesiologist was taking FOREVER and this is when I finally started showing how much pain I was in. My mom and aunt decided to leave to go get lunch, they figured I would get the epidural, sleep a while then pop him out in a few hours, so they left. A few minutes after they left, one of my nurses and my mother in law Christina looked at each other and were like, "Um, that is a labor look." The nurse decided to check me, which I thought was stupid because I was so sure that I was still only a mere five. The nurse checked me, and said endearingly, "Oh honey, I feel a head you are at a full ten." This is when things moved really quick and I remember actually being irritated because I could not get the epidural after I had accepted it as my fate! But deep down I was thankful I was getting the natural birth I wanted. I remember Dustin panicking to call my mom who was trollala-ing around Santa Cruz with my aunt looking for a bite to eat. Dustin said my mom did not even hang up she threw the phone and all he could hear was running and them panicking. I remember kind of freaking out that my mom was not there and not knowing where she was, what if she got stuck in Santa Cruz traffic? Fortunately my mom had stayed close to the hospital because my aunt Connie just felt that they should. My mom came running in along with my aunt who was our unexpected labor viewer and I remember noticing her there and just being happy she could see Jetson come into the world. I remember my mom and Dustin grabbing my legs high in the air and being surrounded by an amazing group of midwives and nurses. I pushed and remember feeling relief with every push and between each contraction I was able to rest. I remember Dustin trying to give me a sip of water that I did not really want but to be polite I took it and it spilled down the side of my face. I only pushed about thirty-five minutes but to me it only felt like five minutes it all went so FAST. I remember when Jetson's head began to emerge they asked if I wanted to feel his head but I did not want to break my focus. The nurse began to cut the band I was wearing for the monitors off of me and I remember just thinking "AH this is really happening!" The nurse referred to the burn I was experiencing as the ring of fire and I thought that was funny considering I have never heard that before. (It is the perfect explanation). As he was coming out I felt like I just could not push anymore and one of the midwives switched places with the nurses and started doing what I think was some form of perineal massage and it eased the burn and helped me get that last few pushes. Finally at 12:36 PM on July 26, I pushed out little (actually big) baby Jetson and oh my goodness did the final push feel GREAT. They placed him on my chest and he peed all over everyone immediately, yes all the midwives and people crowding around me were peed on. He latched right away (but then unlatched and wanted to suck his thumb, which he grew out of) and he even pooped on me. I remember being nervous about delivering the afterbirth, nobody told me that it does not hurt haha! At this moment my poor sister who wanted to see the baby born but stoppe to get a present walked in, she missed the birth but she walked in with the umbilical chord still attached! Dustin cut the chord, I was so out of it I did not even see that happen. He weighed 9 pounds 4 ounces. (He probably weighed more because he peed and pooped twice throughout the skin to skin contact before he was weighed haha). I did have one small tear and I had to sit there and get stitched up. After pushing Jetson out I looked at the midwives and nurses and said, "That was not as bad as I thought it would be!" The nurses said thats the first time they have heard that, especially from a first time mom. But anyone who knows me, knows that I am such an overthinker and I was pretty scared for labor. I am so thankful for the hand of the Lord in Jetson's birth. I am so thankful for my body and its ability to push out a baby over nine pounds naturally! I was able to get everything I wanted out of labor which is not a common thing. I remember telling Dustin about how I wanted my birth to go prior to the day of. I told him that I wanted it to be too late for the epidural by the time I decided I wanted it and I wanted Jetson to come in the early afternoon around lunch time. Sure enough I got exactly that. We are so blessed and we are loving every minute of our sweet baby boy.
Get stitched up.
Skin to skin with Daddy.
Realizing I am a mommy!
He totally was such a little thumb-sucker the first day!
