Wednesday, Feb. 26th, two days before Jaxon's due date, I had my last prenatal doctor's appointment. Don came with me to discuss a day to get induced because last time I went a week over and I did not want to do that again. The doctor told me who was on call that weekend and my favorite doctor was on call Thursday, my least favorite doctor was on call Friday through Sunday and my other two favorites were going to be gone for 2 weeks so Thursday it was!! My house had been clean for weeks, I had freezer meals, the laundry was done...might as well! We were ready! I was extremely nervous about getting an induction from my whole experience with Carter (24 hour labor and 2 1/2 hours of pushing resulting with Carter having a few complications). I was dilated to a 3 and my doctor stripped my membranes Wednesday to see if maybe it might get things going on their own. I went on a two mile walk, but nothing happened so I took it easy the rest of the evening. I was given a blessing and I know many prayers were said in our behalf and for that I am so thankful because I don't think this awesome birth experience would have happened without them!
Thursday morning, the 27th at 6:30am I called down to the OB to make sure they had room. Lucky for us we were the only delivery the entire day! We were in the same room I delivered Carter in too. We arrived at 8am and I got hooked up to moniters and filled out some paperwork including a consent form to have an epidural. Around 10:30am they gave me a cervix softener (same one as last time) to start my contractions. With this cervix softener you have to lay down for an hour then walk around to get contractions going and you can't have another dose for four hours. My doctor informed me some women get 8 of these little pills to keep their labor progressing! With Carter I had 2 or 3, but with Jaxon I only had to have one!!! I was so happy. I walked my heart out. I sat on a yoga ball and moved my hips and let me tell you that ball was my best friend! I absolutely loved it. The thing that was so awesome about my doctor and nurses was that they only had me hooked up to moniters about every one or two hours for 15-30 minutes. I got to walk and rock on a yoga ball the majority of my labor and that really helped because it's so much more natural than just laying there on a bed. I progressed steadily to a 7 without hardly any pain. All the nurses had comments on how I didn't look like a woman dilated to a 7. They told me I was a picture perfect patient :) They all seemed very impressed. On a scale from 1-10, my pain level was probably a 5 during contractions. (With Carter, my water broke at a 4 and I begged for an epidural at a 5 so this was huge for me!) I stayed at a 7 for a few hours and Jaxon was still very posterior (very far back). My doctor said the reason could be because Jaxon could be facing face up instead of down which can be done, but usually very painful. But he could also fix the position himself on his way down through the birth canal. So my doctor gave me a couple decisions to make to help things progress. She could either give me pitocin or break my water. And if I wanted an epidural I better do it now. Her and all the nurses really encouraged me to have him naturally because they were all so impressed with how well I was doing. With all this support I thought ya, I can do this! I made it this far! So I decided to have my water broken and tough it out without an epidural.
At about 7pm my doctor broke my water (I was almost an 8) and that's when it started to hurt. I was able to focus on an orange dot on the ceiling and I pretended to blow it off so I would keep breathing. Don stood by my side and let me squeeze the heck out of his hands. My sister in law stayed at the bottom of the bed and rubbed my feet and my mother in law put cold wash cloths on my forehead. I had lots of support and encouragement. The whole time I kept thinking I can do this, my body was made for this, it won't last forever, we'll both recover faster, and pretty soon this will all just be a story I tell. My breathing got harder, I started moaning. They kept checking and I progressed quickly and Jaxon was making his way down. Now for what they call the "transition" part of labor... That was the hardest part. I could feel him coming down and I felt like I needed to take a big poop. At one point I accidentally punched Don in the nuts haha! I grabbed both of his arms, my legs were kicking and I was screaming so loud. I couldn't help it! I was so freaking loud! All the nurses came rushing in and the doctor soon followed. I was finally able to push which was such a relief. I was still screaming and one of the nurses told me how to breathe which helped me so much. When I was pushing my doctor said, "I promise you won't be pushing for 2 1/2 hours this time!" And sure enough, after 2 contractions he was out! It was the craziest feeling! We are so happy to have this sweet little man here.
Jaxon Wingfield Thompson
Born 9:38 pm 2/27/14
7 lbs 2 oz 19 in
Walking around the hospital
Just arrived!
Couldn't have done it without Don by my side. Nothing feels better than to have him hold my hand through it all.
My nurse from Meridian, Idaho. Her son was in my seminary class. Small world!
He was wide awake when he first arrived
This picture makes me laugh. Holding brother for the first time!
The grandparents
He looks quite a bit like Carter. Those cheeks are a pretty strong gene in this family!
The day we brought him home. Thank goodness that belly has died down a little.
He is so tiny!
The bilirubin blanket...I felt like I was in a sci-fi movie or maybe Jaxon is the new Iron Man
Jaxon is now a week old. Carter is adjusting okay. He cries and throws fits because he's not the center of attention anymore, but he's really cute with Jax. He says "baby" in a super high pitched voice and touches him softly. Jax had jaundice and had to have a bilirubin blanket and poor thing was circumsized today. He'll thank me later ;) Breast feeding is hard, but better than it was with Carter. Some days I just want to be done, but I told myself I'd give it a try for at least 6 weeks. I went to the ER last night with a bad pain in my lower right abdomen. It still hurts just not as bad. They ran tests, but everything looks good. They think it might be appendicitis or maybe a cyst on an ovarie. I just have to take it easy and go to the doctor if the pain gets worse. It's hard to take it easy because I feel so good, but oh well! Luckily my mama's here to take good care of me :)
3 comments:
Congratulations! I'm so proud of you. He is simply perfect. You look so beautiful too. I can't wait to meet little Jaxon!
I miss you all already! You are a wonderful mommy. Jaxon is so precious! I miss holding him, even if it was in the middle of the night :)
Your story is incredible!! And funny haha I laughed when you said you punched don in the nuts! I got all teary eyed thinking of all the awesome support you had there helping with Don, Carol, and Liz. Way to go! So glad you are feeling so good too. I can't wait to see you 4! That last picture is thee cutest thing. I love him. Obviously I need to see you since I am writing a novel over here...
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