**Seriously long post ahead. Grab your cup of coffee.
(I suppose this is why you're supposed to buckle them into the seats.)Oh my darling Jacob. My darling, darling Jacob, where do I start? Do I start back in the summer of 2009 when your Daddy and I decided we were done having kids and sold everything at our garage sale only to discover a few weeks later that I was pregnant? Or should I start with all the extra tests I had to endure just to discover that everything was just fine? Or how about starting with your labor story that still to this day, over seven months later, makes the hairs on my arms stand up and makes me cross my legs as tightly as I can? Yes, lets start there. After all I did promise our avid readers a while back I would tell your story. Lets travel back to March 28th 2010, shall we?
It was Sunday morning. Jim and I were getting ready to head over to Mom and Dads for lunch with the family and a visit with an uncle we haven't seen in a while. As most days start off I had to make a trip to Walmart before heading over only to discover once we were there that we were missing a few ingredients for lunch. So off to the grocery I went. I didn't complain about running this errand. I had a huge pregnancy craving for a grilled T-bone steak and you never deny a pregnant woman her beef. Back at Mom and Dad's we enjoyed a nice Mexican lunch and catching up on old times. At some point in time (the details of this have become a little blurry) another trip to walmart by me was warranted for some reason or another. Suffice to say, being practically nine months pregnant and not sleeping very well at night, I was exhausted. My feet hurt. My back hurt. I was uncomfortable. All I wanted to do was go home, grill my steak for dinner and relax. On our way out the door, Dad had looked at my belly and said "I think he's dropped." and Mom added "I think so too. You'll be having him soon." I didn't feel as if anything in my body had changed and knowing how long labor took with Bree I said "Well obviously he's not coming today." Dad simply said "The days not over yet." It was 5:30pm.
Back at home I was really becoming uncomfortable. I didn't want to stand. I didn't want to sit. I was just plain, old uncomfortable. That's when I realized that I was feeling uncomfortable in intervals. I would take a mental note of the time when I felt the most pain but in getting dinner around for Bree, getting my steak marinated, cleaning the kitchen, I would forget what the first time was by the time the next uncomfortable moment came. However I think this was subconsciously intentional. I was NOT going anywhere until I ate my steak. It was 6:37pm when I decided it was time to start timing these pains. Boy was I ever surprised when the next one came at 6:47pm. This only being my second child and thus far everything about labor was different (my water broke first with Bree, then contractions), I wasn't sure what to do. You're supposed to go to the hospital when your contractions get that close but normally your water has already broken. Mine hadn't. Not knowing what we were going to do we packed up Bree, took her to the in-laws, came home and sat on the couch. By this time the contractions were only three minutes apart and I told Jim I couldn't guarantee I would be able to walk if we didn't get to the hospital now. So off we went. It was 8:30pm.
Once at the hospital and changed into those lovely backless gowns, I was hooked up to monitors which confirmed I was in labor. When she went to place the Jacob's heart monitor on my stomach, I told the nurse that the he was head down but that I was carrying him high so she would have to place it up more towards my ribs. Obviously she didn't believe me and began searching on my lower stomach for his heart beat only to end up where I told her to put it in the first place. She said she had never had to place the monitor above the belly button to detect a heartbeat so she was ordering an x-ray to verify that he was head down. They came. They xrayed. I was right. I was charged. Stupid hospital.
A short time after that another nurse came in to take my blood and to give me my first shot of pain medicine. With Bree I had no troubles with any of the pain medicine, but after getting the dose I was instantly dizzy and nauseous and having hot flashes. Oh my goodness it was horrible. I had to keep a bucket by my side at all times. Then another contraction came and due to my squirming in pain, the baby monitor moved, losing Jacob's heartbeat. We were instructed to call the nurse in if this happened so we did. She tightened the strap. No heartbeat. She moved it to the other side of my stomach. No heartbeat. She moved it to my lower stomach. No heartbeat. She moved it again. No heartbeat. At this point, she was a little discouraged and called in another nurse who began moving the monitor around and around and pushing harder and harder. She asked if I had felt the baby move and I said not since that last contraction. I still very vividly remember the concern in her voice as she said "Sweetie, I need you to roll on your back. Joan (okay so I don't remember the nurses name) get the oxygen mask out." It was one of those times that every second seemed to last a minute and every minute lasted an hour. Oh how they pushed and prodded and did everything possible to find his heartbeat. Finally after I'm sure was only a minute, maybe two, his heartbeat was found. I was given strict instructions to not move and they were calling the doctor in to break my water. It was around 10pm.
The doctor must not have lived that far away because two contractions later my water broke on its own only to have the doctor walk in a few minutes after that. He reviewed all my charts, marked my progress, asked if I wanted an epidural (yes please), ordered it and said that everything looked good, keep breathing through the contractions and then left the room. Everyone left the room. Then it happened. The next contraction started. It was intense. I had ahold of both Jim's hands, squeezing, trying to breathe but after the normal amount of time for a contraction and the pain wasn't easing up, I couldn't take it anymore. I was screaming for Jim to get the nurse because something wasn't right. I remember seeing the humor in this as I had ahold of both Jim's hands. How was he supposed to call the nurse? Eventually I managed to let go of one and the nurse was called. I remember her not even making through the door when I said (probably not in the most calm of manors) "ITS NOT STOPPING!!" She instantly turned around, got the other nurses and the doctor. One nurse flew out the door to get the incubator, one nurse started getting the tray of supplies ready, the other nurse was trying to lower the end of the bed when the doctor said "We don't have time for that. We're having this baby on the bed."
Oh the pain. Oh the ever living burning pain of natural childbirth. Why? Why do people opt to do this? What life benefits do I have of experiencing natural childbirth other then the occasional flashback shutter? Anyways, continuing on. With every contraction and urge to push also came an ever so strong wave of nausea from the pain medicine. I had no idea how to push and throw up while laying on my back. I was terrified. I remember saying something to the effect of "I know I sound like the people on TV but I need something for the pain." Man I hated that nurse who told me no. Who cares if the baby won't like it. I would!! During every push, I moaned...or screamed. The doctor told me I needed to calm down and focus which I knew I needed to. I kept thinking about the other poor lady who had just came in to the other delivery room who could probably hear me screaming. Oh poor, poor lady. So I calmed down, I focused and I pushed.
Jacob was born at 12:01am on March 29th. The running joke with my dad was that I held on until midnight just to prove him wrong, that Jacob wouldn't be born on the 28th. Believe me, purposely making labor last any longer than necessary was not in the plans.
I find it very ironic that I chose today to post about Jacob's birth. You see, since we do not have insurance, we would get whomever the on-call doctor was when I went into labor. That lucky night was Dr. Row's turn, a young, very good and highly thought of doctor in this area. The irony is this morning I decided I would finally blog about Jacob's birth and this afternoon when I made the third appointment for Jacob's ear, our family doctor was not in so we would be seen by her oncall doctor, Dr. Row. Seeing him made me relive every moment of that night (which was not necessarily a good thing) making it easier to type this all out.
And since we're on the topic of doctors and doctor appointments... On October 11th, at his six month checkup, Jacob had a severe cough and an ear infection in his left ear. The doctor put him on an antibiotic to treat both issues which came at a whopping cost of $49.40. A week and a half later on October 25th, we had to take Jacob back to the doctors for a suspected ear infection in the right ear. Another $64.50 for the appointment and $4.00 for the prescription. However after only three days on that antibiotic, Jacob developed horrendous diahrrea, some vomiting and even worse tugging of the ear causing us to return for yet a third appointment. Another $64.50 for the appointment and $54.20 brings our grand total to $236.60 in less than a month all to fight off two ear infections and all I can say is...
Thankful -adjective to be appreciative
I am
THANKFUL for Jacob being as healthy as he is because in the grand scheme of life I truly realize that things could be so much worse than food intolerances and ear infections.
Grateful-adjective pleasing to the mind or senses
I am
GRATEFUL for a husband who allows me to decorate for Christmas at the beginning of November.
