Jack Ray was due on September 8, 2015 however there were several times before then that I thought he was coming! I had prodromal labor for almost three weeks prior to his actual birth and man-oh-man was that a frustrating experience. I never felt natural labor contractions with Everett's birth because I was induced and with Nolan's birth the first time I felt a contraction was when I was in labor, so this was a new experience! The first time I felt contractions I went for a few long walks and really was hoping that labor day was here, but it was to no avail. At one point, I was having contractions for days on end- however they were not ridiculously painful and I pushed them to the back of my mind because I didn't want to keep getting my hopes up.
 |
| My last belly photo, 40 weeks |
September 8th came and went and Jack Ray seemed quite content in the womb however I was a little worried that he was 'sunny side up' (aka posterior position) so I asked my OB to check for me at my next appointment. On September 10th I went in for my appointment and my OB determined that Jack Ray was head down but in the posterior position however he assured me that most babies turn to face the right direction prior to birth. Since I was past my due date, my doctor mentioned that if I made it to my next appointment we would need to start talking about when and how to begin the induction process. He was very approving of my wishes to have a natural labor and was more than happy to wait until I was 42 weeks pregnant to push for an induction which I was glad to hear.
After my appointment that day, my mom, the boys, and I went to run some errands and I happened to feel a contraction- however, it was different than the ones that I had been having. I pushed it out of my mind because I figured it was nothing and went about my day. I continued to feel contractions throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening but kept assuming that they were nothing. Around 9pm I started to time them because it seemed like they were getting a little more painful, they were about ten minutes apart at that time.
As the night went on, they got more intense and closer together. Tyler went to bed around midnight but I couldn't sleep because, although I was trying to not get excited, I wanted to see if they would keep on coming. Finally around 3am when the contractions were about six minutes apart, I decided to try go to sleep. I was able to sleep in about thirty minute increments and got up around 6:30am to take a shower and get ready. When I got out of the shower, the contractions were about four minutes apart and steadily getting stronger. I called my mom, Tiphany, and the OB's office around 7:30am to let them know that I would probably head to the hospital in about an hour or so. My mom and dad planned to meet us there and Tiphany was planning to come after I got checked into Labor and Delivery (L&D).
We arrived at the hospital at 8:45am and as soon as I got out of the call I started to shake uncontrollably, which I knew meant I was in transition. As we were walking in I text Tiphany "Come now. I am shaking." Once we got up to L&D, they took me back to a triage room and checked to see how dilated I was- I was praying that I was at least 5cm! The nurse asked me a bunch of general questions and then checked me and we discovered that I was 9cm! She quickly ducked her head out of the triage room and asked one of the other nurses to call my OB because the baby would be coming soon! As we moved from the triage room to my permanent room I had Tyler call my mom to make sure that they were almost to the hospital.
Once we got in the room, my OB came in and broke my water while the nurses continued to ask me questions and get things prepared. Earlier in my pregnancy, I tested GBS Positive and had planned to have penicillin however since I came in at 9cm my OB decided that there wouldn't be time enough for both doses. I was actually relieved to not have to be hooked up to an IV while delivering the baby but it did mean that we would be required to stay an extra day at the hospital for monitoring. One of the nurses asked me "Have you ever had a natural delivery before," needless to say she was glad to find out that I had and she didn't have to inform me that it was too late for an epidural.
Breaking my water took the contractions from three minutes apart to less than a minute apart and they extremely painful. After about twenty minutes, I started to bear down a little with each contraction and asked the nurse to check to see if I had any change. She checked and said that I was 10cm but was not fully effaced. My OB came in a few minutes later and asked me to do a test push to see if Jack Ray's head could help to get things where they needed to be. After the test push , around 9:40am he asked me "Okay, are you ready to push?" I think I kind of freaked out when he asked me that because I was expecting to have to hang out for a little while longer. With the next set of contractions I started to push however, at one point I recall me falling back on the bed and saying "I don't want to do it anymore!" and "I can't do it, I'm not going to do it!" At that point my OB, Tiphany, my mom, and Tyler gave me a little pep talk and I geared up for the next contraction. Part of my birth plan was to 'catch' the baby after his head and shoulders were out, I pushed as hard as I could and finally little Jack Ray entered the world. I was able to pull him right on my chest!
The first thing I noticed about Jack Ray was that he was looking right at me with his eyes wide open! He took a few minutes to cry so the nurses were rubbing him with blankets trying to get him to make some noise. I wasn't worried because I could feel him breathing and I was just so relieved that he was finally here. Since Tyler isn't into the whole 'blood thing,' my mom was able to cut the cord! He was born at 9:51am on September 11, 2015 weighing 7lbs 12oz and was 21" long.
