Jorge Daniel's birth story

Jorge Daniel?s Birth Story

Jorge Daniel was born on Friday February 24, 2012 at 2:28 AM. Weighing 8 pounds 4 ounces and measuring 21.5 inches long.

I started to noticed to labor starting on Wednesday February 22 at around 7 pm. I started to time them and they were 10-12 minutes apart. At that point I knew labor was close and that we would meet our new baby boy soon. Soon after that, Jesus recommended we take a walk as we continued to time contractions. That night contractions became closer together but irregular. I knew that I should have tried to get some sleep but I was so excited about timing contractions and waiting for labor to progress. We called our parents around midnight to let them know that I was in labor and that contractions were about 5-7 minutes apart. We told them to stay put until the next morning or unless we called with news before.

That night Jesus and I stayed up watching TV and keeping track of contractions. I was not able to sleep not so much because of the pain of the contractions but because I was waiting for something more to happen. The next morning I noticed contractions were still only 5 minutes apart and only slightly more painful. I was still able to talk, walk, eat between contractions and overall was comfortable. My parents arrived to our house around 10:00 AM and we were out walking Kinglsey. At home I continued to labor until about 10:40 AM when my water broke. At that time I knew it was time to go to the hospital and thought any time now this baby will be here. Jesus had already put all of our things in the car so we were on our way to the hospital.

I checked in and started to prepare for the rest of the labor. The nursed checked me and I was 5 cm dilated, only 5 more to go. While at the hospital I was able to walk around the labor and delivery ward and would stop for contractions as they came. Every 20 minutes I was connected to the fetal monitor and they would check baby?s heartbeat and my contractions. As the day went on contractions stayed the same. No more than 5 minutes apart and they did not continue to get stronger. At around 5 PM my doctor began to recommend different ways to stimulate the augmentation of labor since my contractions were not helping my dilation. I wanted to stay as close to natural as possible and avoid pitocin. She gave me an hour in hopes of my labor progressing. Unfortanately the med-free interventions did not work. At 8 PM they started me on Pitocin. I was very nervous about this since I knew that stronger contractions were on the way. Contractions needed to be 2 minutes apart in order for dilation to be completed.

With the administration of Pitocin the contractions began to get much closer together and I was now feeling the pain of labor. It was very hard for me to relax during contractions as I was trained to do. I also thought I would be able to be quiet but it was totally opposite. I was a screamer during the entire transition of labor which lasted until midnight. Transition was the hardest part of labor for me, I was very anxious to get that part over with. I remember thinking to myself and yelling how I was ready to get this over with. Jesus, my mom and mother in law were very supportive. Towards the end I started telling the nurse that I was ready, she checked me and I was at 9 cm I knew it was almost time. She started to set things up in the room and everyone kept telling me I was doing great and that soon I would meet my baby.

My doctor arrived to our room at around midnight Friday February 24. She asked me to empty my bladder, something I was sure would be impossible. However, I managed to do that between contractions I am not sure how. At 12:30 AM I started pushing. During Bradley classes we learned that this would be the quickest part of labor, and considering I had been in labor for 30 hours now that was a given. But, I was expecting to be done in 30 minutes. I was wrong I was in second stage for 2 hours. I can say that this was the easiest part for me compared to transition. It felt right to push and even though it hurt, I was able to relax between contractions. My doctor and nurse were very encouraging during the entire time and coaching me through pushes. It was difficult at first to know if I was doing the right thing. Eventually contractions and pressure of the baby seem the same, but I was able to tell the difference with their help. With the help of Jesus, mom and Mother in Law  I was able to physically sustain the pressure of pushing. By this time I was exhausted but it was well worth it.

At 2:28 AM Jorge Daniel was born, as soon as I saw him I knew that everything was worth the pain, time and effort. He was perfect. Jorge had to go straight to the baby table because there was meconium in his amniotic fluid. So he was stimulated and the fluids were suctioned out of his lungs. The doctor had prepared me for this before so that I would not be worried while they treated him in the room. Dad, was by his side the entire time so very proud. Thanks to not taking any pain medicine baby and I were very alert. I was able to see what was going on the entire time and ask plenty of questions about his health. In the meantime doctor was stitching me up and making sure I was fine as well.

We were not able to bond as I wanted because he had to spend time in the nursery for observation because of the meconium. However, he was very alert during his short stay there. Grandparents tell me that he was playing with a cord that was hanging near his bassinet and was awake the entire time. During his stay in the nursery I was on the mend back in labor in delivery.

Finally, at 5 AM I was able to hold my son. He was perfect in every way. Jesus and I could not be more blessed!