Baby Jacobs Birth!!! :)

I always loved reading the posts on here so thought I would share my sons birth story also!

First off at my last OB appointment on 7/29 I was "beginning to efface and about a finger tip dialated" and I went into labor at 4 am 8/4 so there is hope out there for you ladies that don't seem to be making any progress!

I woke up at 4am on Tuesday morning after taking a LONG walk with dh in hopes of getting things moving the night before to my water breaking. DH woke up the the sound of me yelling "Oh crap my water just broke!" and yes I was a gusher, it was such a weird sensation! Almost like a kick from LO around my belly button. I still hadn't had any noticabe contractions so I proceeded to the shower where my contractions began at about every 3 minutes. By the time I was done showering and we were trying to get out the door 30 minutes later I could no longer speak through them.... things were moving FAST! and we were both getting kind of nervous!

We made it to the hospital by 445am (after running a few red lights) and beat out 3 other women coming in at the same time and were taken right back. They checked me at 5 am and I was only 1 1/2 cm dialated but the OB okayed my epidural.... thank goodness b/c I didn't know how much longer I was going to be able to do this. I may have even asked DH to have them cut me open

I get back to labor and delivery and 2 hours later I finally get my epidural and at this point I could no longer stay on top of the contractions. Poor DH was getting so worried but learned quickly what I needed with only a single word from me. He was an amazing birth coach and I don't think I could have gotten to this point without him. They checked my again at this point and I was 5 cm dialated. They then checked me again an hour later and I was 9 cm. Things were moving so fast!

(I forgot to mention though that as I was getting the epidural I had 2 strong contractions and I was hunched over a pillow and hanging on to DH. DH was being so careful not to move for my sake that he locked his knees and nearly passed out. The nurses had to have him sit down and eat something while they help me during the epi. I now tease dh that he almost passed out during my labor )

The babys hb began dropping so I had to be on oxygen for the rest of labor and there were a few times it got scary with his hb dropping into the 90s for minutes at a time and they began calling backup RNs in and the OB but it didn't progress any further b/c his hb went back up. They then let me sit there for about 3 hours and let my body begin pushing the baby out on its own... which was fine with me!

I started pushin at 1220pm and Jacob Jeffrey was born at 1256pm. The OB kept calling me an over achiever since this was my first. He also commented that LO had more hair then him as I was pushing him out!

I ended up with a 1st degree tear and 2 abrasions... and they really haven'y been to bad healing.

Also, almost 2 weeks before his birth we had a growth ultrasound and they sain LO was weighing in at 7 1/2 lbs. He weighted 6 lbs 11 oz at birth and was 20 1/2 inches long.... the perfect size!

I was also able to avoid any pitocin throughout my labor which was important to me but I had some blood clots after he was born and the OB highly recommended I get the post birth dose.

We feel so blessed for his labor and delivery going so well and him being so healthy. He got 8's and 9's on his apgars and according to the staff thats as good as it gets.  If anyone is delivering at Morton Plant in Clearwater, FL the staff is awesome!!!! The nurse  we had was such a strong advocate for how we ideally wanted the birth to go and she communicated this to the OB for us.

GOOD LUCH to everyone still waiting on their little one!