Jaxen's Birth Story - Part 1

The following is Part 1 of Jaxen's Birth Story. I hope it is not 'too much information'. If it is...stop reading! I really want to remember all the details of Jaxen's birth and thought some of you might enjoy reading about this experience.

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We have seen God's hand at work this entire pregnancy. From the timing of his conception to the timing of his birth, and everything in between. Many of you know we had some specific dates that we had to 'get through' before Jaxen was born. We had some insurance changes that took place June 1, Nik was traveling every week for 4 weeks through the end of May and the first part of June, and would be traveling again come mid-July. We really prayed about the arrival of Jaxen. We did not want it to be too early or too late! And God knew the perfect arrival date: June 12, 2012.

Saturday, June 9: Nik and I were at home, relaxing the weekend away. At one point I looked at Nik and said "Although this pregnancy has been so great, and I have really enjoyed being pregnant - I think I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore!" Everyone had been asking me if I was miserable and ready for the pregnancy to be over and I kept (honestly) saying "No". I was not miserable and I really have enjoyed being pregnant. Then Saturday hit. And I was done. I knew (ha!) I had 2 more weeks to go, and I was going to stick it out...but that day, it just hit me - that being pregnant was not that much fun anymore!

Sunday evening, June 10: We went out to eat after church with some friends. I had been craving a chicken quesidilla so we went to a mexican restaurant - and I ordered a coke to drink, ate chips and salsa, had a chicken quesidilla and ended the meal with a sopipilla with carmel, sugar and syrup. Yum! That evening as I slept (a little restlessly) I started to not feel very good. I was a little nauseous. I figured it was from my (not-very-good-for-me) dinner. I was able to work through it and felt a little better when my alarm went off at 6:30 the next morning.

Monday, June 11: My alarm went off at 6:30am and I started to wake up and get out of bed. The second I stood up, I felt trickiling down my legs. My first thought was "Baby must be pressing right on my bladder for me to lose control of it - that has never happened before!" But the trickling continued as I made my way to the bathroom. For the first time, the thought occurred that maybe my water broke. But I was not sure...it was not how I imagined it would be, when/if my water broke. I decided that I better be safe rather than sorry, so I called Labor and Delivery. I explained what happened and how I was not sure if it was my water, or just me losing control of my bladder. They told me to give it about an hour and if I was still leaking, it was my water. So I waited (as I tried not to freak out). At 7:30am, I gently woke Nik up (made sure he was totally awake) and then said "Honey, I think my water broke and I think I am having this baby today!" He sat up in bed and replied with "Okay". He later told me that many thoughts were running through his head, but all he could say, was "okay". I explained the events of the morning and my phone conversations with the nurses. By that time I was still leaking and I knew this was my water breaking. So I hopped in the shower and got ready to go; and told Nik to do the same.

One of the (many) things on my To Do List for the week was to pack my hospital bag. I had put this off. I, at least, had started a list of everything I needed to take. So I pulled out a bag and my list and started packing. I got everything together on my list, a few things for Nik and then the thought crossed my mind that I probably needed to pack something for Jaxen! But what?! I had no idea. I had no list. So I grabbed a diaper bag and put 2 (or more) of everything we had in there. Not literally everything... but you know what I mean.

By that time, it was a little after 8. I was not in much pain. I was having some cramps and I was beginning to move slower - but feeling pretty well. I had talked to the nurse again and given her an update and told her we were coming to the hospital. She suggested that I eat breakfast before I come. So I asked Nik to pull through McDonalds and get me a sausage biscuit to eat on the way to the hospital.

While we were in the drive-thru line, I suddenly felt a gush of water. (That is what I imagined my water breaking would be like). Thankfully, I had packed a towel. It was in the back end of our SUV. So Nik put the car in park and ran to the back to get the towel for me (while still in the drive-thru line). We ordered breakfast, paid and continued to the hospital. All along, water was still gushing in spurts. I took 2 bites of my sausage biscuit and then put it away. It was making me sick to my stomach (that and probably nerves and  anxiety...).

We arrived at the hospital at 8:30am. Nik pulled the car up to the curb and left it there, while he walked me in and got me to the Labor and Delivery floor. As I filled out paperwork, Nik went back and parked the car. I began to pace the waiting area until they called me back. It did not take long - and they put me in a 'Triage' room to examine me.

When they examined me they told me that my water had definitely broken and that I was dilated to a 2. Joy! Only 8 more to go... I knew that labor would be a long process but I was secretly hoping that since my water had broken I would be dilated a bit more. But no. Oh well. They hooked me up to an IV and started administering an antibiotic (for the Group B Strep). They put a blood pressure cuff on me that would automatically take my blood pressure after so many minutes and put 2 monitors on my stomach. One to record Jaxen's heartbeat and the second, to record my contractions.

By 9:30am, I was in Labor and Delivery Room #333.

Here I am, in my room all settled:

I was pretty hungry since I never ate breakfast so they finally brought me a lunch tray. When I say "lunch tray" what I really mean is: broth, jello, tea, and grape juice. Yummy. I knew I had to keep my strength up, so I ate (swallowed) as much as I could stand.

During that time one of my friends, Heather, came by to see me:

At 11:45am they decided to start me on Pitocin (helps induce labor) because my labor was not happening fast enough.

After I ate lunch, Nik decided it would probably be good for him to eat as well. So he left and went down to the cafeteria. Funny story: While Nik was standing in line to get lunch, the guy working the grill came over and asked Nik if he could ask him a question. Nik said "Sure"! His question was "How do you get your beard that straight? You must comb it all the time!" Nik replied "No, it just grows that way." The other guy replied "Mine comes in, but it just puffs up - I have to comb it all the time to get it as straight as it is." During that conversation, another worker walked up and joined in. Apparently neither one could get their beard straight like Niks! I think it is so funny that someone stopped him and asked about his beard. This is not really uncommon. It's pretty amazing the amount of men who stop and talk to Nik about his facial hair! But on with my story...

Once the Pitocin set in, I actually started to feel the labor. I was cramping and could feel the contractions. As the labor progressed, so did the pain. Nik and I had already talked about getting an epidural and we had decided that I would get one. There were a few different reasons why we chose this route, but the main one, was that we knew labor would probably be long (normally is for the first child) and we wanted to do everything we could to help me go through the labor with enough strength to push Jaxen out when the time came. So - at 4pm they placed the epidural.

Once the water breaks they do not like to examine you very often because the risk of infection is so much greater. They were basically keeping an eye on my contractions to see how they were progressing. But by 6:15pm they decided to do an exam to see how I was coming along. They checked me and I was dilated to a 4.

Dinner came. Guess what it was? More broth, jello, tea, and grape juice. Again, I ate what I could.

Labor continued. The main concern during my labor was a fever. They wanted to make sure that I never spiked a fever. And I didn't. The entire time my temperature was good. My blood pressure was good and Jaxen's heartbeat was good. It was pretty amazing how neither one of us got 'distressed' during the labor process. I know there were at least 7 others on the floor in labor and through out the day and night when a nurse came to check on me they would tell me how Jaxen was the happiest baby and handling labor the best out of all the babies! Just another instance where God's hand was upon us!

At 10:30pm they examined me again and I was dilated to a 6. Let me just say, it was a long night. At first, I really enjoyed seeing the monitors that showed Jaxen's heartbeat and my contractions. But by this time - I stopped looking at it. It depressed me to see how few and far between my contractions were. I tried to sleep. Everyone kept telling me to sleep. But sleep never came. I tried to focus on stuff - talking to Nik, talking to the few night visitors I had, and even resorted to blogging at 3am Tuesday morning! (Some people thought I was crazy...but I just needed to focus on something). Nik watched TV and tried to get some sleep. I think he slept a little bit - but with all the distractions of people coming in, it would be hard for anyone to sleep!

I don't remember much about that night. Overall, the night was pretty uneventful.

Part 2 of Jaxen's Birth Story coming soon....