Jack's Labor Story

Just as a reminder to everyone, this blog is a great way to keep everyone up-to-date on what we are doing but it's also a journal for me to remember fun stories from this time in our life.  With that... here is my labor story...

As everyone was trying to guess when Jack was going to come, I kept saying April 2nd.  Here was my theory... I wanted an April baby, I didn't want an April Fool's baby, and I wanted him to come as soon as possible.  That left me with April 2nd... thankfully Jack got the memo!!!  I was a really good girl all day on April Fool's and didn't call anyone to say I was in labor (I should get kudos for that!).  At 11:45 on April 1st I woke up with really bad back/abdominal pain that felt like bad gas pains.  I went to the bathroom, the pain lasted a short amount of time, I had a little flatulence, and felt better.  The same thing happened about 15 minutes later... At this point, I had an idea that it may be labor but wasn't quite sure.  I thought about texting Michelle that I was in labor/an April Fool's joke but it was already 12:02 and I didn't want to get her hopes up needlessly (again kudos to me for being a nice big sister!).  After my next contraction at 12:10 or so, I decided I would text her so she didn't go to bed and have to get up shortly thereafter to come over.  When I went to text her, I found a text from her saying, "In labor.  Headed to the hospital.  April Fools!" so I replied with, "Actually..." and got a reply of, "..."  I proceeded to tell her what was going on and woke Josh up around 12:30ish when things were staying consistent and uncomfortable.  By the time Michelle got to the house and we got everything ready to go, it was about 1am by the time we left for the hospital.  By this time, my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and getting more uncomfortable.  By the time we got to the hospital and got checked (about 1:45-2:00), my contractions were 4 minutes apart, getting even more uncomfortable, and I was only 4cm dilated.  I was hoping to be much more dilated since I was at 2-3cm 5 days prior at the doctor's and I had been having so many Braxton-Hicks.  Thankfully they admitted me and got me into a labor room (no walking the mall this time thankfully since it was 2 am!)  I had been thinking about trying to do this labor naturally but the lady screaming bloody murder next door and my fond memories of an enjoyable delivery with James made me change my mind.  Thankfully I had my epidural in shortly after 3ish (I think) and was able to get a little rest.  Mommy and Daddy stopped by to say hi around 5am when they got to the hospital after an early morning drive back from the cabin.  Mom tells me she was nervous to come in the labor room because she didn't want to see me in pain... and was quite surprised to walk in to see me resting comfortably in bed.  The only way to go in my mind!!!  After visiting with Mommy and Daddy for a few minutes, Josh and I tried to get a few minutes of shut eye.  I woke up around 5:45 because something felt different.  The nurse came in and checked me again to find that I was at 10cm but my water hadn't broken yet.  Josh asked how much longer until they could give me the second bag of antibiotics they recommend since I was GBS positive.  The nurse informed us that it was due at 6:45 but she could give it at 6:15 and it usually takes 30 minutes to administer but that she could do it over 20 minutes.  Since baby and I were doing great, we decided to wait it out for the antibiotics so we didn't have to worry about monitoring Jack for an infection following his birth.  This ended up working out perfectly because the doctor was busy delivering another baby at that time.  The antibiotics were done around 6:40 which is right when the doctor arrived.  The doctor checked me and said, "I need to get everyone in here because as soon as I break your water, this baby is coming!"  Unfortunately, when they broke my water, they realized that my amniotic fluid was lightly stained with meconium so the NICU nurse had to be called into the delivery room just in case.  This made for one VERY worried Mommy (but thankfully the NICU nurse left soon after delivery because Jack was just fine!)  Josh texted my parents at 6:51 to let them know it was "Go time!" (a.k.a. they were prepping the room for delivery) and Jack was born at 6:58!  His head came on the third push, his shoulders on the fourth, and his body on the fifth!  It was kind of cool this time because I could feel a little with my epidural so I was able to feel his body being delivered!  Much easier delivery than James for sure!!!  When they laid him on my chest, the nurses and doctor guessed that he was about 8 1/2 lbs.  But the scale had a different idea... When the put him on the scale I saw 1 0    1 8 and thought the scale must have been broken because he definitely weighed more than one pound, Josh thought the scale must have been in grams, then the nurse announced that he was 10 lbs. 2 (1.8) oz!  The doctor proceeded to proclaim that the scale needed to be re-zero'd!  (Don't worry, they re-weighed him in the nursery and it was accurate!)  What a big boy and thank goodness he was 9 days early!!! I was slightly concerned about Jack being big (especially since James was on the bigger side and babies usually get bigger!) so the doctor did an ultrasound at 37 weeks (12 days before Jack was born).  Well, according to the ultrasound he was 7 lbs 12 oz at that point which would put him slightly over 9 lbs if he went full term!  I guess that was WRONG!!!  Gaga and Papa got to come meet Jack immediately and Auntie Miche and Big Brother James came an hour or two later.  James was so excited to meet his little brother and seemed so amazed that Baby Jack was actually here!  I told James that Baby Jack came out of Mommy's belly and he seemed quite confused because my belly was still quite big at this point!  As far as health, Jack was very healthy!  They had to check his blood sugar because of his size but thankfully it was fine.  He had a slight temperature but they loosened his swaddle and he was fine.  All in all, it was a great delivery!!!  Lots more fun stories to tell but those will have to be other posts.  Love to all!!!!