Birth Story

As a heads up, I don't know how long or exciting this will be, but I am putting it on here so I have all the details and specifics recorded so I don't forget :)

Around my 34 week appointment I started having a little extra protein in my urine. This, along with high blood pressure are signs of preeclampsia. So it was just a little bit and they just told me to make sure I was staying hydrated and stuff. The next few appoinments were the same thing, there was just a little bit extra but not too much to be worried about. Then at my 38 week there was more than they are ok with, so I had to do a 24 hour urine sample and bring it back to have it tested in the lab. We got those results and again, a little high but not a huge deal. But they still wanted me to go and get hooked up to the monitors and have the stress test done for a couple hours. So that was Friday the 18th. They got the results of the tests back and said I was fine. I was dilated to a 3 and scheduled to be induced on Tuesday the 22nd, so I was really trying to convince them to just induce me. BUT, since I wasn't 39 weeks (for TWO more days) they wouldn't. They did however make me do another 24 hour urine and bring it back the next day and get hooked up to the monitors again. So Saturday morning we went to the hospital to see baby Camdon who was born that morning, then we went all the way up to our hospital to go through all this crap for 3 hours again. At this point, in the back of my mind I was obviously hoping they would just induce me, but went into saying we weren't getting induced for 3 more days (as retarted as that was :)). Oh, and side note, the reason that hadn't been all that concerned so far is because my blood pressure had been prefectly normal this whole time. So, after about 2 hours and all the monitors being normal, the nurse comes in to tell us to go home I was sure... but to my amazement and joy she said that my protein count was 308 and the cut-off for ok is 300, so we barely made it and we were being induced immediately! I was so excited! Not like 3 days later would've made a huge difference, but we were already at the hospital, already hooked up to machines, and it was like just do it already.

So we got into our room at about 6pm, met with the Dr and did all the paperwork and stuff, and got pitocin started at about 6:40. I got the epidural immediately and it was smooth sailing until midnight. The Dr. came in and broke my water, and instantly I started feeling parts of my contracts, which of course isn't supposed to happen with the epidural. So that was a little worrisome but I decided to give it a little bit. After about 40 minutes I was feeling EVERYTHING! It was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. So the anesthesiologist came in and tried giving me some different meds, he tried raising the dose on my epidural, my nurse tried giving me some pain meds through my IV... and nothing was working. So finally, he decided to take my epidural out and put a new one in. Of course he had an emergency C-sections, so THREE freaking hours later, I got a spinal and an epidural. The spinal only lasts for 2 hours so they were thinking that would at least give me some relief if this second epidural didn't take. Thankfully, the spinal is immediate and I started feeling relief before he was even done. It was so great. That was absolutely the worst 3 hours of my life. I have mad respect for women who do the whole thing naturally. So after that ordeal, I got checked and was at a 9 and started getting ready to push.

This whole pregnancy has been in my back. My back has hurt the entire time, my false contractions were always in my back, and I had complete back labor (which is another reason those 3 hours SUCKED). So I was prepared for that, but wasn't prepared for how hard it would make pushing. I only pushed for about 10 minutes with Riley, so I was expecting a pretty similar experience. Not the case. Granted I still only pushed for 40 minutes which to most women probably isn't that bad... but it was so freaking hard. Posterior babies come out face up rather than face down which is not how it is designed and makes them coming out much harder. It also gave him this ginormous bruise on his head which was so sad.

After all that, little Jaxson came into the world. He scared me a little bit at first cuz he didn't cry. He was whimpering and making noises and stuff, but he wasn't crying like he should've been. They were flicking him and doing all this stuff and he still wouldn't, but he was moving and making noises. So they took him over and started doing some more stuff and finally I got to hear a really short cry, but that was it. And we have come to learn that he's just not a big crier anyway, except at bath time.

I have actually recovered pretty quick. I didn't tear at all which definitely makes healing an easier process. We stayed in the hospital Sunday night and came home Monday afternoon. Jaxson is everything we could've hoped for and more. He is a great baby and I am so completely in love with him. I can't believe I am finally getting this opportunity to be a mom and have a baby of my own. It's also made James and I much closer and has made me love him even more. I just couldn't begin to describe how happy I am and I am just trying to enjoy every minute and soak up all the cuddles and milestones right now cuz I know he won't be this little forever.