Jackson's Arrival - Labor & Delivery

As I mentioned last week, we had officially scheduled an induction for Monday, April 25; however, Jackson decided that wasn't necessary.

On Saturday morning, we decided to take Roxy for a walk and get some coffee while enjoying the sunny morning. When I put my shoes on, which was getting increasingly difficult, I remember feeling a sharp pain from the angle I bent over in, though I didn't think too much about it at the time. We started our walk and a few minutes in, I started feeling what I assumed were contractions. Over the next hour, I continued to feel them somewhat regularly and when we started timing them, they were 7-11 minutes a part.

Once we got home, they continued to get worse over the next hour, and were quickly only three to six minutes a part, which meant it was time to call the doctor. They told me I could continue to wait at home or come in, but knowing the contractions were quickly getting closer together, it was a 40-minute drive to the hospital and that there'd be traffic given the nice weather, we decided to head in to see if this was finally it.

They checked me when we arrived at about 11 a.m. and I was at 5 cm dilated and it seemed like my water was starting to break so they admitted us and the fun began.

My contractions quickly became more and more painful and I decided to get an epidural. I was told I could have one within about 90 minutes given that the anesthesiologist was about to go into a c-section. The c-section ran over so it ultimately turned out to be around two hours before they started my epidural at 2 p.m. Though it was a LONG two hours, the epidural was the most fabulous relief I've ever felt. (Seriously - I don't know how women go through labor without one!)

My parents and Joan arrived around this time, which was perfect since I was able to relax and visit with them and our amazing nurse Carines.

My water completely broke around 3 p.m. and I quickly dilated to 7-8 cm and had to start using oxygen as every time I had a contraction, Jackson's heart rate slowed down (though apparently this isn't nearly as bad if his heart rate had slowed down after the contractions).

Around 6:30 p.m., I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. After nearly three hours, the doctor had just grabbed the forceps to help deliver him when Jackson decided he didn't need those to make his way into the world (true to his form of waiting to the last minute to call his own shots).

After we both were cleaned up, Jackson was able to meet his grandmas Joan and Linda and grandpa Kent, uncle Scott and Scott's girlfriend Anya, and have the first of many (and for those of you who know Corey know that this isn't an exaggeration) photos taken by his grandpa and dad.

It was after midnight by the time we were all cleaned up and declared ready to move to the recovery room where we were able to spend our first night with Jackson. We didn't get much sleep (I think maybe 30 minutes between the two of us), but we were just so excited to finally have our son here that we didn't mind a bit.

On Sunday, Jackson had rounds of visitors including his grandparents, uncle, Anya, Kelsey, Gina, Sara, and the Reeders, along with a ton of newborn tests and screenings before we were able to check out of the hospital late that evening.

Upon check-out, Corey and I headed home for the first time with Jackson to begin our new life together as a family of three.

Notes:

• The nurses and doctors at Overlake were amazing, especially our nurse Carines who was with us for about 9 hours of labor / delivery, Dr. Nudelman (the doc on call from my doctor's office) and Dr. Baker (who provided the fabulous epidural).


• More to come about the days since we've returned home.