Wow, that was fast! (Jude's Story, Part 3)

Within minutes I was wildly uncomfortable. Contractions went from a 5 on the pain scale (that subjective little sign they hang on the wall) to a 10. Okay, maybe not a 10. But at least a 9. All I could do was breathe. Apparently that wasn’t enough. The nurse came in and said the Baby’s heart was decelerating. (From what I read this is perfectly normal so I wasn’t concerned). But she wanted me on oxygen. So she put a mask on my face. At first I was like, “Cool, I’ve never breathed pure oxygen before.” Yeah, that excitement lasted for a minute. Oddly enough, it felt like I was breathing through a straw, a big straw, but a straw nonetheless. I was pretty annoyed. She also wanted me to turn on my left side, which is a more optimal position for laboring. For some reason this made contractions MUCH worse. So I was in twice the pain and unable to breathe comfortably. Needless to say, Jon’s napping ended right around this time.  This is also when he offered to take a picture.  I "kindly" declined, thus there are no pictures of my labor this time around, which is fine with me!

Between 6:30 and 7 there was a shift change, I told the new nurse I wanted the oxygen mask off. She’s like, “Sure, Baby looks fine, I’m not sure why you’re wearing that anyway.” Soon after that I started feeling the urge to push with each contraction. And they were quickly becoming unbearable. The nurse offered to check me again and within one hour I had reached 8 centimeters. Not complete, but getting close. I knew transition wasn’t very far off and braced myself for what was to come. Seconds after the nurse and doctor left my left hand started going numb, just like it did with Jack. Then my right, and eventually my whole chest was buzzing with numbness. My body started pushing with each contraction and I couldn’t make it stop. The nurse had just left and I was afraid to call her in again. A few contractions later and my hands locked up, just like they had with Jack.

I was afraid they would make me start pushing before my body was actually ready and I really wanted to avoid that and just let things progress on their own. That theory last about 10 minutes. By then, I was moaning enough with each contraction that she came back to tell me, yet again, how good I was doing and to see if she could do anything. I told her I was trying not to push but I couldn’t help it. And so, less than 20 minutes after she told me I was 8 centimeters, she checked me again and lo and behold I was complete, Baby was ready to arrive!

Within seconds the end of my bed was removed, the stirrups brought out and at least 10 people gathered around the room, mostly residents and interns curious to see the girl “going natural”. The doctor told me to start pushing while Jon and the nurse each grabbed a leg. I didn’t really take her seriously, I thought she wanted me to do a few practice pushes. I didn’t want to force the baby out and risk tearing, on top of that I’m still reeling from each contraction, trying to focus on what’s going on, but everything was happening very fast. Someone was trying to set the mirror up but wasn’t getting it right, so while contracting and half-heartedly pushing I’m trying to explain that I can’t see. Finally (and by finally I mean within a second or two since this whole phase only lasted maybe a minute), they got it right and I quickly realized that Baby’s head was RIGHT THERE. I pushed twice, his head was out, one more push and Jude was on my chest taking his first breath. It literally happened so fast that I feel like I almost missed out on the experience.

I could tell immediately that Jude was significantly smaller than Jack. He also didn’t look anything like him. It sounds horrible, but I looked at him and thought, “This isn’t my baby.” Then he cried and I fell in love all over again. He had the most perfect head of hair and was more adorable than even I had imagined. I got to hold him and cuddle him and then start nursing right there. Jon cut the cord. The nurse said he was incredibly handsome and had great color. His APGARs were 9/10. I don’t normally give that scale much credit, but when your son scores a 10 you just gotta mention it. :)

Eventually I passed him off to Daddy so I could call the family and send out a text message. The small crowd had left long before and gave Jon and I plenty of time to love up on our new little Jude-man. We eventually found out he weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 inches long. I guess this is an average sized baby, but both Jon and I think he seems incredibly small. It’s taken me a while to get used to holding such a tiny guy, without worrying that he’s going to slip through my fingers. But I’ve been doing my best to fatten him up so that he’ll fit into all the cute clothes Marmie and Poppa bought him.

My recovery has been great! I had no tearing, no significant blood loss and no other post-partum complications. Other than a jiggly belly and a little exhaustion I feel totally back to normal. In fact, my worst pain has been the tiny bruise on my hand where they inserted the hep lock for my IV. I had to beg the nurse to remove it before 24 hours was up because it was bothering me so much. After practically threatening to take it out myself, she finally agreed, but warned that I’d “better not spike a fever.” Please, I just had a baby. Don’t threaten me.

Jude was doing great too, and it looked like they were going to send us home early but then the nurses started getting concerned that he hadn’t peed yet. He had a good first poop that Daddy did an excellent job taking care of, but so far, no pee. I was having a hard time keeping him awake to nurse, especially his first night. And they were concerned that he hadn’t received enough fluids. On Wednesday morning they told me he was very “dry” and if he didn’t pee soon they were going to catheterize him (not quite sure if that makes sense now that I think about it). So they sent the lactation consultant in to make sure he was nursing fine, which he was even though it took a good 40 minutes to get him started. She suggested we take off his diaper and sprinkle him with some cold water. Within 2 minutes he had peed all over the bed. As a result of the lack of peeing they were also concerned that his bili numbers were going up (jaundice) so my goal all of Wednesday was to make sure Jude had ample opportunity to eat. I forgot how hard it is to nurse sleepy newborns, and how incredibly frustrating it can be. The nurse assured me it wasn’t my fault … so I guess she was implying that my son was less than perfect? Which is just not true because other than Jack he is just the most perfect little thing I’ve ever laid eyes on!

Jude kept up with the eating, pooping and peeing and after a second great night at the hospital, in which the nurses kept me up more than my newborn child, we got to go home on Thursday morning and, the moment we've all been waiting for, Jude got to meet his big brother for the very first time!

... and then some more walking (Jude's Story, Part 2)

I don’t know why the checking-in process is so slow. I suppose there was clearly no rush. They hooked me up, tuned into Jude’s heartbeat, and confirmed that he was head down. I was having true contractions but they had slowed down considerably so then I felt really dumb for being there. There was a nurse, then a resident, then an intern, a doctor and some other doctor. Why on earth they require so many staff is beyond me. The one nurse wanted to know why I was 40 weeks + 6 days and hadn’t had an induction on the books yet. She hinted that I’d be staying there and having a baby regardless of my progression since I was “overdue.”

Finally a different doctor said it was time to “check me.” I was really getting nervous. I was hardly having any contractions, they didn’t really hurt too bad, and it felt like I hadn’t made any progress. So both Jon and I were incredibly relieved to hear that I was 4 centimeters and 80% effaced. Now that’s not much, and usually not enough to get you admitted under typical circumstances, but since I was only 50% effaced and not dilated at all 4 days earlier, we felt pretty good! The nurse mentioned starting some Pitocin to get things moving, and that’s when we explained that we were really hoping to have a natural birth, with no pain meds or Pit. She gave us “the look”, the “Yeah, okay I’ll believe when I see it" look. Which we got a couple of times that night. But I’m very happy to say that the doctors and nurses honored ALL of our wishes and, except for the fact that it occurred in the middle of the night, we got the exactly the kind of birth I was hoping for. So rather than putting me in a room with an IV bag of the evil Pit, they let us go walk the floors of the hospital for an hour or so, mainly to make sure I really was progressing on my own. So Jon and I hit the halls. Okay, so I hit the halls, Jon meandered around studying the photography, and would catch up whenever I had a contraction and had to stop.

For some reason it felt better to stand on one leg when I had a contraction, so that’s what I did. And then it felt better to squat. So I would hold onto the wall and squat. It’s a good thing no one was around except for a few janitors. During our hour long walk contractions were 3, sometimes 2 minutes apart and definitely increasing in intensity. We grabbed some juice and snacks and walked, stood, squatted, and took a bazillion potty breaks, all the way back to L&D.

They had a room ready for us as soon as we got back. We met our nurse, who was very nice, but didn’t seem so keen on the natural thing. But the doctor had our back and after her and the nurse had a chat it was decided that even though I would need to be hooked up to the heart and contraction monitor, and blood pressure cuff and pulse monitor, I could still get out of bed, stand or labor on the birthing ball. Which is exactly what I wanted, at least that’s what I thought at the time. The doctor came in to check me and we found out I was 5 centimeters. She was super pleased that I had progressed that far on my own, told the nurse I could go without Pitocin, and then the nurse talked, and talked, and talked about all that was happening and what we could expect. I was seriously getting tired of hearing the same things over and over again from different people, especially since I had heard this all before only 18 months earlier.

Contractions were getting more intense, but were totally manageable on the birthing ball. Jon took a seat in the chair and quickly dozed off. So it was just me, sitting on the birthing ball at 4am in a dark room. If I could’ve reached my phone I would have started play Tetris, but I couldn’t, and the Baby Channel on the TV was boring me to death. I could feel myself nodding off. After about an hour I didn’t think I could stay awake anymore. I’ve heard it’s best to stay upright during labor to help move the baby down, but I was SO exhausted. I knew if I got into bed I might be able to get a little sleep, which would probably be needed in the long run. Contractions were still 2-3 minutes apart, but for some reason the 1 to 1 ½ minutes in between seemed much longer, long enough to sleep a little in between. And then there was Jon, who was able to sleep through most of the labor until transition. He did get me a cup of ice chips at one point.

I should say here, just in case it’s not obvious, that we don’t practice The Bradley Method, or Husband-Coached Childbirth. I’ve read the book and think it’s great, but after two deliveries I think I can safely say it’s not for us. I don’t know what kind of natural childbirth we do. My only pain management technique is breathing. The harder the contraction - the faster I breathe. It’s not that Jon isn't willing to help, but I don’t know what he’d do. I can honestly say that although each contraction was “painful” I wasn’t in pain. And the only thing that hurt was my belly, and my pelvis. Gosh, I thought my hips and pelvis was going to break with each contraction. Three days later, they appear to be completely intact.

Since I was 5 centimeters I was now “allowed” to get an epidural, which I declined, but they had to send the anesthesiologist in anyway, just in case it would be required down the road. Which is completely understandable. What wasn’t understandable was what he was saying. I just remember he had a lot to say, told me he completely respected my decision to go without the epi, and had me sign some paperwork. He talked a LONG time. I tried to look at him, but I know my eyes were crossing and my head kept falling forward. Couldn’t he see how tired I was?? He finally left and we were both hopeful he wouldn’t be coming back.

At 6am, (had it only been 2 hours since we got into the room??), the nurse came in to tell me how well I was doing (aren’t they the sweetest!) and the doctor wanted to check me again. I was 6 centimeters, +2 station, Baby’s head was engaged and my water sac was bulging (sorry if this is TMI for some of my readers but the details are VERY IMPORTANT!). The doctor wanted to break my water. I was a little unsure since this is another form of augmentation, albeit a more natural option, and can cause some more complications. But based on her recommendation we went ahead. So she ruptured my membranes, confirmed the fluid was clear and then left the room after reminding me that contractions would likely intensify at this point. That was an understatement!

All it took was a good walk (Jude's Story, Part 1)

Sunday was a very important day because, for the first time in 9 months, Jon announced that he was ready for the baby to arrive. He had completed the majority of two of his three final papers (which was probably all he was going to do before Baby arrived anyway) and stated that he didn’t feel like going into work that week. And so he let Baby know that any time now was good for him. A lot of people were thinking Tuesday. I personally preferred Wednesday for a few reasons, mainly because 4/20 doesn’t have such a great reputation in high school and college circles and I wanted my Mom to be able to star as the Peanut Butter Jar in her Kindergarten play. But apparently it wasn’t up to me.


Monday started out just like every other day lately. Things have been very routine without anything exciting on the calendar. I woke up to another beautiful morning, thought to myself, “Still pregnant for another day!” and went to get my cutie pie out of bed. Jack and I had a great day. I got lots of work done, Jack took an excellent nap, and we had lots of fun together. I also missed a phone call from the window man, I always miss his phone calls. And he always leaves the same message, “You’re probably in the hospital having your baby right now …” and I always call him back and leave the same message, “Still here, no baby yet …” And so we made plans for him to stop by the next day to install our new screens.

We were so busy that day that Jack and I didn’t get our daily walk in. So Daddy joined us after work and we went out to pound the pavement together as a family. Jon’s Aunt Julie called while we were on our walk to check-in. They’d been prepped for Jack’s visit for over a week now and were anxious to hang out with our Tank. I let her know we were ready too and we worked out the final details of “the exchange.” She happened to mention that if I went into labor during the night that either she or Cousin Holly would just come spend the night at our house and then take Jack back in the morning. We all agreed this was an excellent plan, although I was really hoping not to have a middle of the night labor again! Our walk continued and I kept telling Jon we needed to go faster, harder. “We’re trying to get the baby out, not put him to sleep!” We got a good two miles done before Jack started getting hungry and Mommy had to take a potty break. It didn’t seem like enough to me and I secretly made plans to hit the beach during sunset after Jack had gone to bed.

Well Jack was wound up after an extra long nap and not ready for bed at his usual time. So we played for a while, read some books over and over. I had asked Jon to get me a pineapple while he was out running errands because rumor is fresh pineapple can put you into labor. I didn’t feel like sharing so I was waiting for the Little Guy to go to bed before cutting it. He was having too much fun throwing it around the living room anyway.

While reading books to Jack I felt my first real contraction. I’ve been having false labor for at least 3 weeks now. Lots of contractions while I’m walking or standing, and nothing while I’m resting. But this was different. And it kinda hurt. I felt like such a first time mom throughout this whole labor because I never experienced a traditional “going into labor” with Jack. I never had good contractions until they started Pitocin, 12 hours after my water had broke. So I spent most of the night wondering if this was the real thing or just another teaser. I took Jack up to bed, prayed with him and laid him down for the night. Never thinking that I wouldn’t be there to greet him in the morning.

Just for fun I logged onto www.contractionmaster.com and sure enough, contractions were coming regularly at 7 minutes apart. While semi-watching “Dancing With the Stars” they started edging closer to 6 minutes, then 5 minutes apart. But they were only 30-40 seconds long. So I wasn’t quite sure what to think. At this point I told Jon that tonight just may be the night. So … he put in a movie.

I did some things for work while bouncing on the Pilates ball and timing contractions. I finally admitted to myself that they weren’t going away and announced that I was going to take a long, hot shower to see if things slowed down. Jon asked if he should start packing his bag. “Yeah, that might be a good idea.” By the time I got out of the shower contractions were 4 minutes apart. Which is “head to hospital” range. But still only about 30-40 seconds long. And I was still able to walk and talk through them. I called Labor and Delivery and they said since they were that close I should come in regardless, especially since it’s my second baby. Both Jon and I knew that since I was almost a week overdue, if we went into the hospital we’d be having the baby by the next day. It was a tough decision, especially since I didn’t know what to expect over the next few hours and the last thing I wanted was an induction. But I was feeling more confident that this labor was the real thing and that we could still get the natural delivery we’d been praying for. So after talking it over we went ahead and called Aunt Julie, who lives an hour away, and let her know it was time to come get Jack, we were going in!

Jon and I packed bags, tidied the house, wrote notes … I kept sneaking into Jack’s room to get one more peek. Aunt Julie arrived at midnight and by then contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and hurt enough that I preferred to stop walking and didn’t want to talk unless I had to. But in between them I felt perfectly normal. She took one last picture of us before we loaded into the car. The drive to the hospital went fast. There’s not a whole lot of cars on the highway at midnight. Jon and I would talk and then things would go quiet for 40 seconds and then we’d pick up where we left off again.

We arrived at an eerily empty hospital and headed to the triage. The receptionist asked how she could help us. I felt a little silly, “Um, I think I’m in labor??” So we checked in and headed to the examination room hoping for some good news!

Announcing...

Details to follow ... after a much-needed nap!