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8.20.2013

Jack's Birth Story

Ben wore this same outfit home from the hospital.


[Aug 06th, 5am]
I finally started feeling something different. I felt a shooting pain in my lower back and then what felt like a mild cramp in my stomach that lasted for about a minute. The pain came back just about every 10 minutes. I called Ben and told him that I thought contractions were starting and that I was going to try to get some rest. I slept for a few hours and the contractions had stopped when I woke up.

[10pm]
I started feeling contractions again as Ben and I were going to sleep. I thought I would be able to sleep through them, but they felt a lot stronger than the ones in the morning. Ben woke up around 2am to go to the bathroom and I told him I hadn't been able to fall asleep. He started timing the contractions and they were coming about every 7-8 minutes. Ben rubbed my lower back and I was able to fall asleep in between each contraction, waking every time one hit.

[Aug 07th, 2pm]
We had eaten breakfast and started slowly getting things ready earlier that morning. Contractions started hitting about every 5-6 minutes, lasting 1- 1 1/2 minutes long. I had been rocking back and forth on my yoga ball to try and ease the lower back pain. One hit that brought tears to my eyes and I realized it was only going to get more difficult. We decided to call the birth center and they told us to come in since we live an hour away. We waited a little while longer, had lunch, and got on the road.

[4pm]
 
We arrived at the birth center and I was only 2 1/2 cm dilated, 90% thinned. Great. They told us we could probably go back home--but there was no way I was going to sit in a car for another hour and then have to drive back when labor would only be more intense. We opted for plan b--get a hotel room 10 minutes away. We walked around outside for about an hour, stopping every 5 minutes or so to work through a contraction. I would squeeze Ben's arm, bury my face in his shoulder, and breathe--a few people stopped us to see if I was okay, and Ben would respond, "This is good! She's in labor!" We were both very hot so we decided to do more walking back at the hotel. We walked the hallways for another hour and contractions were finally hitting every 3-4 minutes and lasting about 90 seconds.

[7pm]
We decided to go back to the birth center so I could get checked again. 3 cm dilated. I think the midwife saw the panic in my face so she said that we could stay. She encouraged me to try to rest (with the help of an ambien) because she was worried that my body was going to shut down soon from exhaustion. I felt three hard contractions right on top of each other right after I took the ambien. I remember thinking that there was no way I would be able to fall asleep--and then I passed out for 4.5 hours.

[Aug 08th, 2am]
Ben and I walked the halls of the birth center until I felt like I couldn't walk anymore. The nurse recommended that I try using the water pressure from the shower on my lower back. It helped a lot, but I started feeling really weak and asked if they could check my progress.
"Are you ready to hear the good news??"
I was 6 cm and I could get in the jacuzzi as long as I would let them break my water, which I didn't even feel. The jacuzzi jets and the heat felt amazing on my back, and Ben was going back and forth from the sink with ice chips and cold rags for my forehead. I tried hard to focus on relaxing and breathing through the contractions-and about an hour in I felt the urge to push.

[5:30am]
Ben sat on the ledge behind me in the jacuzzi and held my hands while I pushed. I tried to push 3 times with each contraction. Every push brought me closer to meeting Jack, but it also brought me more intense pain. Ben, the nurse, and the midwife encouraged me and told me to just continue working with my body.

[6:02am]
Ben helped pull Jack out of the water and put him on my chest. I remember looking at Jack, realizing that he was my son, he was the boy I had waited 10 months to meet, the boy whose ultrasound pictures I looked at, whose hiccups I felt, who I prayed for every night...and feeling like everything was right in the world.

7 comments:

  1. WHOO HOO!! this is so great! i'm so happy. <3

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  2. totally made me tear up nicole! this was amazing! Loved reading about Jack's birth story! So happy for you and Ben :)

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  3. Such a beautiful birth story, I'm so glad that you had a good experience and that you have your sweet, adorable baby boy! I loved reading your story, thank you for sharing! I think it is so great for women to share their positive birth experiences, it is inspiring to everyone :)

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  4. I really enjoyed reading about your labor & delivery experience. (You and Ben-but especially you-went through A LOT! Way to go! Praise the Lord that He got you through it.) Jack is such a blessing and he's super cute. :)

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  5. Beautiful story! So glad Jack is here!

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  6. this is beautiful! thank you for sharing sweet friend :) xox

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