Dear Jacob,
I am quickly learning that as time goes by, memories seem to fade away. These days, it seems time is flying! It seems like you were born just the other day, not five months ago. And so that is why I figured to write down the story of your birth and the events that led up to it.
My due date was June 20 and I decided to work as close to my due date as possible so I could spend more time at home with you once you were born. That and the fact that I thought time would go by quicker if I was working!
My last day at work was Friday, June 8. Grandpop was given the house keys for Mrs. Tweedy’s shore house in Stone Harbor so we decided to drive down and spend the night with him, Grandmom and Aunt Katie. We spent Saturday relaxing on the beach and left after dinner to get home to Rusty and Jax.
On Sunday, Daddy and our neighbor Todd had a softball game. Todd’s wife, Jessica, and I decided to go and watch the game for a little bit. After the game, Mrs. Rowe came over to finish painting your nursery. Mommy decided to clean the floors upstairs while she painted. Little did I know this was the burst of energy before you arrived that everyone told me I would have! I made Mrs. Rowe so nervous but I kept saying to her that I was fine and that this was normal for me to be cleaning! Grandmom later told me that it would have been normal if I wasn’t 9 months pregnant!
Later that night we went to Jess and Todd’s house for a BBQ. Jess’s cousin Tracey was there with her 12 week old baby so we did the pregnancy/new mommy talk. I kept saying how I didn’t think I was even close to going into labor because I was certain that you were going to be late. First babies, especially boys, tend to be late!
The next day, Monday, was my first official home-on-maternity-leave weekday. I spent the morning lounging around the house thinking about how bored I was. I even wondered what I was going to do to keep myself busy until you came! I decided to visit my old work place in the afternoon. Just before I left, I felt a sharp pain down my side. I thought I had just been overdoing it and jumped in the car to go for my visit.
During my visit, everyone kept asking me how I was doing and I kept saying how bored I was already and that I didn’t think I was going to go into labor soon. My doctor even said she would see me later on that week for my next appointment --- she didn’t even think I was going to go into labor! Who would have guessed that 24 hours later I would be sitting in the hospital holding you in my arms!
After dinner, I went for a walk with Jess as I had done a few nights a week since January. During out walk, the sharp pain I had down my side came back again. I was craving some water ice also so I decided to cut the walk short and go for water ice at Rita’s with Daddy.
Later that night, I noticed a little blood in the toilet and that my shirt was wet around my chest. I didn’t pay much attention to the wetness because I thought that maybe I spilled something on myself. After I was admitted into the hospital, I realized that it was my milk starting to come in!
It was the blood in the toilet that got my attention. I immediately read the "What to Expect When You’re Expecting book" because I thought it might have been the start of the bloody show. I was a little worried but not too much because I read that the bloody show didn't mean that I was going into labor. I convinced myself that it was because of my walk with Jess and because I had an exam the previous week. I told Daddy about it and went to the bathroom a few more times to check if there was anything else before heading off to bed.
Looking back, I must have known that I was going to have you because I asked Daddy to get a clock with a seconds hand in case we needed to time my contractions. He searched the house and after no luck in finding one, ran to CVS to get a wind up clock.
At around 12:45 a.m., I woke up to a little gush of water in my pants. I got up and went to the bathroom, changed pants and noticed some more blood in the toilet. I wasn’t sure if the gush was my water breaking so I woke up Daddy and started to read the book again. I read that when your water breaks, it might smell sweat so Daddy and I took turns smelling my sweat pants to see! We couldn’t smell anything so I thought that maybe I might have wet myself. I asked Daddy if I should call Grandmom to ask her but he said I should call the doctor. I didn’t want to bother the doctor if it was nothing so I decided to go back to bed!
After a few minutes of thinking, I asked Daddy to get me the doctor’s phone number. Even then it wasn’t until the second time on the phone that I selected to speak to a doctor.
The doctor who called back was not my regular doctor. I went to a female practice and a male doctor was on call for them. I explained to him about the gush and the blood but that I wasn’t sure because I didn’t feel any contractions. He advised me to go to the hospital to be safe and get checked out.
While I changed out of my pajama’s, I called Grandmom to let her know that we were going to the hospital She asked if she should follow but I told her no and that we would call because I thought they were going to send me home anyway!
Meanwhile, Daddy was running around like a mad man, gathering the last few items for my hospital bag. Luckily, we had it mostly packed from our trip to Stone Harbor! I kept telling him to relax because this was probably just a false alarm. But as we walked out the door, I said to Daddy, "Wouldn’t it be funny if this was actually it?" I even looked at Jax and said, "Maybe we’ll be back with the baby next time!"
On our way to the hospital, I called Mom-Mom to let her know and Daddy call Grandma and Grandpa to let them know. We kept stressing the fact that we thought it was a false alarm!
There was no one on the road but us. We listened to the same Dave Matthew’s Band CD that I had listed to everyday on my way to work while pregnant with you. At one point, I thought I might have felt a tiny contraction so I kept my eye on the clock. I felt another contraction a few minutes later but was convinced that it was just my imagination!
Because it was after normal hospital hours, Daddy and I had to go in through the emergency room. Boy, was it busy in there! We told the security officer that we were there for Labor and Delivery because we thought my water broke. Just like that, the security officer got up, brought me a wheel chair, and wheeled me over to admissions. I will never forget the people looking at me wondering if I was in labor!
Someone finally came and took us up to labor and delivery at around 1:45 a.m. where a couple of friendly nurses greeted us. I told them that I thought my water might have broken but I wasn’t feeling any contractions. In turn, they handed me a gown and told me to get changed in the bathroom.
Naturally, I had to pee while I was in there! Once again, there was some blood in the toilet. I mentioned it to the nurse who was now joined by the resident doctor on call. The doctor then had me get into bed, hooked me up to some monitors and proceeded to check me. She told me if my water did break, I would be admitted.
A few seconds later, she looked up at me and said, "You’ve ruptured and you’re between 2 to 3 centimeters dilated!" This shocked Daddy and I! I can still remember the look of excitement on Daddy’s face! We looked at one another and said, "I guess this is it. There’s no going back now!" It wasn’t until the nurse said, "Today is your baby’s birthday!" that the reality really set in!
The doctor also informed us that you had a bowel movement when my water broke. This meant that once you were delivered, they would hand you off immediately to the neonatal nurses to suction the fluids out of your nose and mouth. It was very important that you not breathe in any of the fluids or you could get very sick.
The nurse asked me if I was feeling any of contractions and I told her no. She seemed a little surprised and told me that the monitor was showing that I was having them.
While the nurse started the admittance procedures and administered an I.V., Daddy called Grandmom and Mom-Mom to let them know. Grandmom decided to head up right away and left Grandpop at home with Aunt Katie to sleep a little. We were certain that it would be several hours before you arrived!
Mom-Mom decided to deliver the newspapers before coming up. Again, we were certain that it would be several hours before you arrived and we knew she would be up to the hospital by 7 a.m. at the latest. And by several hours, we thought maybe by the evening if we were lucky!
Grandmom arrived around 3 a.m. with coffee in hand. My contractions were getting stronger but they really didn’t seem that bad yet. We were all excited with the anticipation of your arrival so sleeping was hard to do. In all of the rush with leaving the house that night, I forgot to put a deck of cards in my back so we just sat around talking about the events of the past few days. At one point, I remember laughing so hard that the monitors on my belly started to go off!
I learned that I was one of three patients in labor that night and it was first pregnancies for all of us. At one point, the nurse had told us that one of the women was ready to deliver and they couldn’t believe how fast she had progressed. I remember hearing the baby’s first cry since the room was near to mine. After the baby was born, they even played "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" over the PA system.
Grandmom, Daddy and I all joked that the likelihood of me delivering quickly was slim especially since there was already a quick delivery next door! As my contractions continued to get stronger, I decided that I should probably try to close my eyes and get some rest because I thought I had a long haul ahead of me.
At around 6:15 a.m. the doctor came in to check how I was progressing. I was between 5 and 6 centimeters dilated and my contractions weren’t consistent. The nurse had called my doctor and they decided to start me on Pitocin at 6:45 a.m. to regulate my contractions. I’m still not sure why they had me on Pitocin since I was dilating at what I thought was a good pace.
Mom-Mom arrived just before the administered the Pitocin. Up until this point, I was very calm. As soon as Mom-Mom walked in the room, I could see that she had been crying. Obviously, they were tears of joy! As soon as she saw me, she started to cry again. She was so nervous for me! It wasn’t until she hugged me that I started to cry. It was such an overwhelming feeling!
Now that it was getting to be daylight, Daddy decided that it was time to make some phone calls to tell people that you would be arriving that day. There were only 2 points during the night that I got a little annoyed with Daddy and this was one of them. Both times occurred when Daddy tried talking to me in the middle of a contraction. I remember telling him, "I don’t care who the hell you call!"
Up until this point, I was able to handle the pain of the contractions. Once the Pitocin was administered, they definitely became a little more intense but not excruciating. From the moment I was admitted into the hospital, I told the nurses that I was going to get an epidural. I was not about to go through labor and delivery thinking I was tough and I could handle pain. No way, not me. If pain was not necessary, why go through it?
I had heard of horror stories about not being able to get the epidural in time for delivery. I had also heard of stories about pain while waiting for the epidural. Just because I might have asked for an epidural didn’t mean I would get it right that very minute so I wanted to make certain I allotted myself enough time before I really needed some pain medicine.
At about 7:15 a.m., I started to get worried that my contractions were going to get very painful, very fast and I would have to wait for the anesthesiologist. The contractions were bearable but I was afraid that if I waited much longer they would be unbearable so I asked the nurse to call the doctor for my epidural. By around 8:15 a.m. the anesthesiologist arrived and was ready to administer my epidural. Since getting an epidural is a delicate procedure involving a large needle going into my spine, only the nurse was allowed to be in the room with me. Daddy, Mom-Mom and Grandmom all had to leave the room while this was being done so they decided to get breakfast in the cafeteria.
I was a little nervous about the epidural but the nurse who started my I.V. earlier that morning had told me that getting the I.V. started was much worse that the epidural. And she was definitely right! In order to give the epidural, I had to sit with my legs over the side of the bed, hunched over. The nurse was very nice and held my hands as I hugged her. All of the sudden, the curtain to my room opened and there stood Grandpop and Aunt Katie! They had arrived just in time for my epidural! I said hello and the nurse quickly told them they had to leave while I was getting the epidural.
The act of having the needle inserted in my spine did not hurt. Surprisingly, it was when the pain medicine was released into the catheter that bothered me. It felt like a shot of freezing water shooting down my spine. Very uncomfortable but not anywhere near the pain of when they started my I.V.!
It took about an hour from start to finish for the epidural. I had a slight issue in the fact that the medicine seemed only to affect the left side of my body. The right side didn’t seem to be as numb which was why it took as long as it did. After they had me set up with my epidural, the nurse had me lay on my right side in hopes that the medicine would drip over from the left side to the right. Luckily this did work!
My vision of what the epidural would do versus what it actually did was two completely different things. I thought the epidural would take away all, if not most of the pain. Unfortunately, there were two types of pain: pain from contractions and pain from the pressure on my cervix. It did take the edge of the pain from the contractions but it didn’t take any of the pressure away. I kept telling the nurse and the anesthesiologist that it felt like I had to have a bowel movement!
After the epidural was done, Daddy, Mom-Mom, Grandmom, Grandpop and Aunt Katie came back into the room to visit. Grandpop kept pointing at the monitors and telling me that another contraction was on the way. Even though I had the epidural, the pressure was getting worse and worse.
After a few minutes of Grandpop’s antics, I told him in a serious voice, "I know they are coming. I can feel them just fine. You don’t need to point them out!" Your Grandpop, the man that he is, stopped pointing them out and started to make faces instead. I finally had to yell at him to stop. The pain was really starting to hit me.
Grandpop, Grandmom and Mom-Mom decided to go to the waiting room to make some phone calls a short while later. We figured that it was still going to be a while before I was ready to push. The pressure was getting stronger and stronger so I finally asked Daddy to go get the nurse to check me. The nurse came in and had the resident doctor check me at around 9:15. I overheard the nurse tell the doctor that I had passed my mucous plug.
I think we were all surprised when the doctor told us I was 9 centimeters dilated and that they were calling my doctor to have her come to the hospital for delivery! Daddy quickly ran down to the waiting room to tell
everyone the news. Grandmom and Mom-Mom decided to come back to the room and keep me company. They kept saying how they couldn’t believe how fast I had progressed.
Looking back now, I don’t think we realized how close to delivery I was. It wasn’t long after they arrived back that I was asking the nurse to check me again. The pressure was the worst that it had been and I felt like I wanted to start pushing!
By this time, I was 10 centimeters dilated and ready to push. The only thing was that my doctor was not at the hospital yet and they wanted me to wait for her. After every contraction, I told the nurse that it hurt and I needed to push. She finally got the resident doctor to come in and start to set up the room for delivery.
Luckily, just as the doctor started to set up the stirrups, my doctor walked into the room. Dr. Nevins greeted my with a hello while I greeted her with, "I need to push!" Dr. Nevins told me to start to push while she got her gloves on. It was 9:42 a.m.
As I mentioned before, Mom-Mom was a nervous wreck. When it came time for me to start pushing, Mom-Mom propped herself behind me between a chair and the nightstand. She didn’t want to watch and was afraid she was going to pass out! She only looked down once and never looked back until you were born!
The next 12 minutes really did go by fast. In the beginning, Daddy held one of my legs while the nurse held the other leg. I pushed with each contraction as hard as I could but I couldn’t feel anything other than extreme pressure. I kept trying to focus on my spot on the ceiling but I lost my concentration. Daddy said I apologized at one point to Dr. Nevins because I thought I
messed up on pushing because I didn’t take a deep breath!
Shortly after pushing, the nurse had to get Dr. Nevins something so Grandmom, after making sure Mom-Mom was ok, grabbed my leg. Towards the end, I began to scream with each push. The pain was a ten! At one point, I thought the hard part was over but apparently this is when you crowned.
Before I knew it, Dr. Nevins was asking for the vacuum to assist in getting you out. Apparently, your heart rate started to drop and the doctor felt that using the vacuum was necessary. With the next push, you were born. It was 9:54 a.m. I had only pushed for 12 minutes!
As soon as you were born, Dr. Nevins handed you over to the neonatal nurses so they could suction you out. I remember Grandmom saying, "He’s here! You did it Jamie!" Once I heard you cry, I finally spoke, "My baby. Oh, my baby is here!" I, as everyone else in the room, was in tears. To this day, my eyes still fill with tears as I remember the moment.
With all of the excitement of me starting to push, no one had told Grandpop or Aunt Katie that I was ready to deliver you. They had been in the waiting room and decided to go get something to eat in the cafeteria but before they went down they decided to stop by and let us know. They got to my door just in time to hear me screaming as I pushed. Grandpop looked at Aunt Katie and said, "Oh, my God! Katie, she’s pushing!" After hearing me scream he looked at Aunt Katie and asked, "Are you ok listening to this?" Katie noticed tears in Grandpop’s eye and replied, "I’m doing better than you are!" Before they knew it, they heard Jacob cry and me say, "My baby. Oh, my baby is here!"
And so there you have it. The story of when you were born. I still get tears in my eyes just thinking about it. That was the most amazing day of my life. About a week after you were born, Grandpop asked me a question. He asked me if I could give one word that described how I felt being finally being a mom. My answer to him: I felt fulfilled. Jacob, you have fulfilled my life in a way that I could never imagine and for that, I am thankful. If nothing else happens to me in my life, I don’t care because I have you in my life, I don’t need anything else.
All my love,
Mommy
My due date was June 20 and I decided to work as close to my due date as possible so I could spend more time at home with you once you were born. That and the fact that I thought time would go by quicker if I was working!
My last day at work was Friday, June 8. Grandpop was given the house keys for Mrs. Tweedy’s shore house in Stone Harbor so we decided to drive down and spend the night with him, Grandmom and Aunt Katie. We spent Saturday relaxing on the beach and left after dinner to get home to Rusty and Jax.
On Sunday, Daddy and our neighbor Todd had a softball game. Todd’s wife, Jessica, and I decided to go and watch the game for a little bit. After the game, Mrs. Rowe came over to finish painting your nursery. Mommy decided to clean the floors upstairs while she painted. Little did I know this was the burst of energy before you arrived that everyone told me I would have! I made Mrs. Rowe so nervous but I kept saying to her that I was fine and that this was normal for me to be cleaning! Grandmom later told me that it would have been normal if I wasn’t 9 months pregnant!
Later that night we went to Jess and Todd’s house for a BBQ. Jess’s cousin Tracey was there with her 12 week old baby so we did the pregnancy/new mommy talk. I kept saying how I didn’t think I was even close to going into labor because I was certain that you were going to be late. First babies, especially boys, tend to be late!
The next day, Monday, was my first official home-on-maternity-leave weekday. I spent the morning lounging around the house thinking about how bored I was. I even wondered what I was going to do to keep myself busy until you came! I decided to visit my old work place in the afternoon. Just before I left, I felt a sharp pain down my side. I thought I had just been overdoing it and jumped in the car to go for my visit.
During my visit, everyone kept asking me how I was doing and I kept saying how bored I was already and that I didn’t think I was going to go into labor soon. My doctor even said she would see me later on that week for my next appointment --- she didn’t even think I was going to go into labor! Who would have guessed that 24 hours later I would be sitting in the hospital holding you in my arms!
After dinner, I went for a walk with Jess as I had done a few nights a week since January. During out walk, the sharp pain I had down my side came back again. I was craving some water ice also so I decided to cut the walk short and go for water ice at Rita’s with Daddy.
Later that night, I noticed a little blood in the toilet and that my shirt was wet around my chest. I didn’t pay much attention to the wetness because I thought that maybe I spilled something on myself. After I was admitted into the hospital, I realized that it was my milk starting to come in!
It was the blood in the toilet that got my attention. I immediately read the "What to Expect When You’re Expecting book" because I thought it might have been the start of the bloody show. I was a little worried but not too much because I read that the bloody show didn't mean that I was going into labor. I convinced myself that it was because of my walk with Jess and because I had an exam the previous week. I told Daddy about it and went to the bathroom a few more times to check if there was anything else before heading off to bed.
Looking back, I must have known that I was going to have you because I asked Daddy to get a clock with a seconds hand in case we needed to time my contractions. He searched the house and after no luck in finding one, ran to CVS to get a wind up clock.
At around 12:45 a.m., I woke up to a little gush of water in my pants. I got up and went to the bathroom, changed pants and noticed some more blood in the toilet. I wasn’t sure if the gush was my water breaking so I woke up Daddy and started to read the book again. I read that when your water breaks, it might smell sweat so Daddy and I took turns smelling my sweat pants to see! We couldn’t smell anything so I thought that maybe I might have wet myself. I asked Daddy if I should call Grandmom to ask her but he said I should call the doctor. I didn’t want to bother the doctor if it was nothing so I decided to go back to bed!
After a few minutes of thinking, I asked Daddy to get me the doctor’s phone number. Even then it wasn’t until the second time on the phone that I selected to speak to a doctor.The doctor who called back was not my regular doctor. I went to a female practice and a male doctor was on call for them. I explained to him about the gush and the blood but that I wasn’t sure because I didn’t feel any contractions. He advised me to go to the hospital to be safe and get checked out.
While I changed out of my pajama’s, I called Grandmom to let her know that we were going to the hospital She asked if she should follow but I told her no and that we would call because I thought they were going to send me home anyway!
Meanwhile, Daddy was running around like a mad man, gathering the last few items for my hospital bag. Luckily, we had it mostly packed from our trip to Stone Harbor! I kept telling him to relax because this was probably just a false alarm. But as we walked out the door, I said to Daddy, "Wouldn’t it be funny if this was actually it?" I even looked at Jax and said, "Maybe we’ll be back with the baby next time!"
On our way to the hospital, I called Mom-Mom to let her know and Daddy call Grandma and Grandpa to let them know. We kept stressing the fact that we thought it was a false alarm!
There was no one on the road but us. We listened to the same Dave Matthew’s Band CD that I had listed to everyday on my way to work while pregnant with you. At one point, I thought I might have felt a tiny contraction so I kept my eye on the clock. I felt another contraction a few minutes later but was convinced that it was just my imagination!
Because it was after normal hospital hours, Daddy and I had to go in through the emergency room. Boy, was it busy in there! We told the security officer that we were there for Labor and Delivery because we thought my water broke. Just like that, the security officer got up, brought me a wheel chair, and wheeled me over to admissions. I will never forget the people looking at me wondering if I was in labor!
Someone finally came and took us up to labor and delivery at around 1:45 a.m. where a couple of friendly nurses greeted us. I told them that I thought my water might have broken but I wasn’t feeling any contractions. In turn, they handed me a gown and told me to get changed in the bathroom.
Naturally, I had to pee while I was in there! Once again, there was some blood in the toilet. I mentioned it to the nurse who was now joined by the resident doctor on call. The doctor then had me get into bed, hooked me up to some monitors and proceeded to check me. She told me if my water did break, I would be admitted.
A few seconds later, she looked up at me and said, "You’ve ruptured and you’re between 2 to 3 centimeters dilated!" This shocked Daddy and I! I can still remember the look of excitement on Daddy’s face! We looked at one another and said, "I guess this is it. There’s no going back now!" It wasn’t until the nurse said, "Today is your baby’s birthday!" that the reality really set in!
The doctor also informed us that you had a bowel movement when my water broke. This meant that once you were delivered, they would hand you off immediately to the neonatal nurses to suction the fluids out of your nose and mouth. It was very important that you not breathe in any of the fluids or you could get very sick.
The nurse asked me if I was feeling any of contractions and I told her no. She seemed a little surprised and told me that the monitor was showing that I was having them.
While the nurse started the admittance procedures and administered an I.V., Daddy called Grandmom and Mom-Mom to let them know. Grandmom decided to head up right away and left Grandpop at home with Aunt Katie to sleep a little. We were certain that it would be several hours before you arrived!Mom-Mom decided to deliver the newspapers before coming up. Again, we were certain that it would be several hours before you arrived and we knew she would be up to the hospital by 7 a.m. at the latest. And by several hours, we thought maybe by the evening if we were lucky!
Grandmom arrived around 3 a.m. with coffee in hand. My contractions were getting stronger but they really didn’t seem that bad yet. We were all excited with the anticipation of your arrival so sleeping was hard to do. In all of the rush with leaving the house that night, I forgot to put a deck of cards in my back so we just sat around talking about the events of the past few days. At one point, I remember laughing so hard that the monitors on my belly started to go off!
I learned that I was one of three patients in labor that night and it was first pregnancies for all of us. At one point, the nurse had told us that one of the women was ready to deliver and they couldn’t believe how fast she had progressed. I remember hearing the baby’s first cry since the room was near to mine. After the baby was born, they even played "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" over the PA system.
Grandmom, Daddy and I all joked that the likelihood of me delivering quickly was slim especially since there was already a quick delivery next door! As my contractions continued to get stronger, I decided that I should probably try to close my eyes and get some rest because I thought I had a long haul ahead of me.
At around 6:15 a.m. the doctor came in to check how I was progressing. I was between 5 and 6 centimeters dilated and my contractions weren’t consistent. The nurse had called my doctor and they decided to start me on Pitocin at 6:45 a.m. to regulate my contractions. I’m still not sure why they had me on Pitocin since I was dilating at what I thought was a good pace.
Mom-Mom arrived just before the administered the Pitocin. Up until this point, I was very calm. As soon as Mom-Mom walked in the room, I could see that she had been crying. Obviously, they were tears of joy! As soon as she saw me, she started to cry again. She was so nervous for me! It wasn’t until she hugged me that I started to cry. It was such an overwhelming feeling!
Now that it was getting to be daylight, Daddy decided that it was time to make some phone calls to tell people that you would be arriving that day. There were only 2 points during the night that I got a little annoyed with Daddy and this was one of them. Both times occurred when Daddy tried talking to me in the middle of a contraction. I remember telling him, "I don’t care who the hell you call!"
Up until this point, I was able to handle the pain of the contractions. Once the Pitocin was administered, they definitely became a little more intense but not excruciating. From the moment I was admitted into the hospital, I told the nurses that I was going to get an epidural. I was not about to go through labor and delivery thinking I was tough and I could handle pain. No way, not me. If pain was not necessary, why go through it?
I had heard of horror stories about not being able to get the epidural in time for delivery. I had also heard of stories about pain while waiting for the epidural. Just because I might have asked for an epidural didn’t mean I would get it right that very minute so I wanted to make certain I allotted myself enough time before I really needed some pain medicine.
At about 7:15 a.m., I started to get worried that my contractions were going to get very painful, very fast and I would have to wait for the anesthesiologist. The contractions were bearable but I was afraid that if I waited much longer they would be unbearable so I asked the nurse to call the doctor for my epidural. By around 8:15 a.m. the anesthesiologist arrived and was ready to administer my epidural. Since getting an epidural is a delicate procedure involving a large needle going into my spine, only the nurse was allowed to be in the room with me. Daddy, Mom-Mom and Grandmom all had to leave the room while this was being done so they decided to get breakfast in the cafeteria.
I was a little nervous about the epidural but the nurse who started my I.V. earlier that morning had told me that getting the I.V. started was much worse that the epidural. And she was definitely right! In order to give the epidural, I had to sit with my legs over the side of the bed, hunched over. The nurse was very nice and held my hands as I hugged her. All of the sudden, the curtain to my room opened and there stood Grandpop and Aunt Katie! They had arrived just in time for my epidural! I said hello and the nurse quickly told them they had to leave while I was getting the epidural.
The act of having the needle inserted in my spine did not hurt. Surprisingly, it was when the pain medicine was released into the catheter that bothered me. It felt like a shot of freezing water shooting down my spine. Very uncomfortable but not anywhere near the pain of when they started my I.V.!
It took about an hour from start to finish for the epidural. I had a slight issue in the fact that the medicine seemed only to affect the left side of my body. The right side didn’t seem to be as numb which was why it took as long as it did. After they had me set up with my epidural, the nurse had me lay on my right side in hopes that the medicine would drip over from the left side to the right. Luckily this did work!
My vision of what the epidural would do versus what it actually did was two completely different things. I thought the epidural would take away all, if not most of the pain. Unfortunately, there were two types of pain: pain from contractions and pain from the pressure on my cervix. It did take the edge of the pain from the contractions but it didn’t take any of the pressure away. I kept telling the nurse and the anesthesiologist that it felt like I had to have a bowel movement!
After the epidural was done, Daddy, Mom-Mom, Grandmom, Grandpop and Aunt Katie came back into the room to visit. Grandpop kept pointing at the monitors and telling me that another contraction was on the way. Even though I had the epidural, the pressure was getting worse and worse.
After a few minutes of Grandpop’s antics, I told him in a serious voice, "I know they are coming. I can feel them just fine. You don’t need to point them out!" Your Grandpop, the man that he is, stopped pointing them out and started to make faces instead. I finally had to yell at him to stop. The pain was really starting to hit me.
Grandpop, Grandmom and Mom-Mom decided to go to the waiting room to make some phone calls a short while later. We figured that it was still going to be a while before I was ready to push. The pressure was getting stronger and stronger so I finally asked Daddy to go get the nurse to check me. The nurse came in and had the resident doctor check me at around 9:15. I overheard the nurse tell the doctor that I had passed my mucous plug.
I think we were all surprised when the doctor told us I was 9 centimeters dilated and that they were calling my doctor to have her come to the hospital for delivery! Daddy quickly ran down to the waiting room to tell
everyone the news. Grandmom and Mom-Mom decided to come back to the room and keep me company. They kept saying how they couldn’t believe how fast I had progressed.Looking back now, I don’t think we realized how close to delivery I was. It wasn’t long after they arrived back that I was asking the nurse to check me again. The pressure was the worst that it had been and I felt like I wanted to start pushing!
By this time, I was 10 centimeters dilated and ready to push. The only thing was that my doctor was not at the hospital yet and they wanted me to wait for her. After every contraction, I told the nurse that it hurt and I needed to push. She finally got the resident doctor to come in and start to set up the room for delivery.
Luckily, just as the doctor started to set up the stirrups, my doctor walked into the room. Dr. Nevins greeted my with a hello while I greeted her with, "I need to push!" Dr. Nevins told me to start to push while she got her gloves on. It was 9:42 a.m.
As I mentioned before, Mom-Mom was a nervous wreck. When it came time for me to start pushing, Mom-Mom propped herself behind me between a chair and the nightstand. She didn’t want to watch and was afraid she was going to pass out! She only looked down once and never looked back until you were born!
The next 12 minutes really did go by fast. In the beginning, Daddy held one of my legs while the nurse held the other leg. I pushed with each contraction as hard as I could but I couldn’t feel anything other than extreme pressure. I kept trying to focus on my spot on the ceiling but I lost my concentration. Daddy said I apologized at one point to Dr. Nevins because I thought I
messed up on pushing because I didn’t take a deep breath!Shortly after pushing, the nurse had to get Dr. Nevins something so Grandmom, after making sure Mom-Mom was ok, grabbed my leg. Towards the end, I began to scream with each push. The pain was a ten! At one point, I thought the hard part was over but apparently this is when you crowned.
Before I knew it, Dr. Nevins was asking for the vacuum to assist in getting you out. Apparently, your heart rate started to drop and the doctor felt that using the vacuum was necessary. With the next push, you were born. It was 9:54 a.m. I had only pushed for 12 minutes!
As soon as you were born, Dr. Nevins handed you over to the neonatal nurses so they could suction you out. I remember Grandmom saying, "He’s here! You did it Jamie!" Once I heard you cry, I finally spoke, "My baby. Oh, my baby is here!" I, as everyone else in the room, was in tears. To this day, my eyes still fill with tears as I remember the moment.
With all of the excitement of me starting to push, no one had told Grandpop or Aunt Katie that I was ready to deliver you. They had been in the waiting room and decided to go get something to eat in the cafeteria but before they went down they decided to stop by and let us know. They got to my door just in time to hear me screaming as I pushed. Grandpop looked at Aunt Katie and said, "Oh, my God! Katie, she’s pushing!" After hearing me scream he looked at Aunt Katie and asked, "Are you ok listening to this?" Katie noticed tears in Grandpop’s eye and replied, "I’m doing better than you are!" Before they knew it, they heard Jacob cry and me say, "My baby. Oh, my baby is here!"
And so there you have it. The story of when you were born. I still get tears in my eyes just thinking about it. That was the most amazing day of my life. About a week after you were born, Grandpop asked me a question. He asked me if I could give one word that described how I felt being finally being a mom. My answer to him: I felt fulfilled. Jacob, you have fulfilled my life in a way that I could never imagine and for that, I am thankful. If nothing else happens to me in my life, I don’t care because I have you in my life, I don’t need anything else.
All my love,
Mommy
What a great post. I need to get the girls birth stories written out so I don't forget. I have already started to forget a few little things so I don't want to forget any more.
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