The baby is here!

Krisd6 · June 2014

Our little one- Jackson- arrived on May 31st after 34 hours of labor and a surprise c-section! I was 41 weeks. He is beautiful- weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces and was 21 inches long. The most amazing experience of my life. I never knew I could fall in love so quickly.

My labor story was eventful- here are the details:

On Thursday night at 2:15, I woke up feeling like my water may have broken. It took a few times getting up and down and going back and forth to the bathroom to realize it did.. It was a small leak- not what I thought it would be! I woke my husband up, called my OB and we went into the hospital. They checked to make sure that it was amniotic fluid and told us that we were on our way and would be admitted. It was about that time that I started to feel crampy. Contractions really felt like bad period cramps that progressed in intensity as the night went on. I was surprised! I was only 2cm dilated, about 50% effaced. I was admitted to a delivery room and hooked up to the fetal monitors. The next 30+ hours are a blur! I was not really progressing which was so disappointing being that my contractions were getting stronger and stronger. At one point during a contraction the babies heart rate dropped and I ended up having to have an amniotic fluid bolus- they basically administer saline into the uterus to keep the baby cushioned. Friday afternoon, I had progressed to be about 5 cm so they agreed to placing an epidural. The epidural was amazing and lasted for quite a bit. Unfortunately- it started to wear off on my right side. They gave me boluses of medication over the next few hours trying to fix it but it really didn't work. Saturday morning- they took out the epidural and put a new one in which worked much better! In the afternoon- I was finally at 9 1/2 cm, 100% effaced. I was hoping we could start pushing but the OB told me they were concerned that his head would not advance from my pelvis and that I was going to have a c-section. They told us it would be in 30 min. I was shocked! Scared, nervous- all of those feelings. Everything happened pretty quickly after that! I was brought into the c-section/OR suite, prepped and within 3 min- heard our little man cry. It was amazing.

I remember sitting there at night thinking my labor would be never ending but now- it seems like a blur. Without a doubt- I would do it again in a heartbeat. The love you will feel when you hold your baby and see him or her for the first time is unbelievable. I am so excited for all of you to experience this as well!

I stayed at the hospital for another 4 days- I was there for a total of 6 days including labor/delivery. The nurses were fantastic and taught me so much. Jackson is breastfeeding like a champ and growing every day. I am feeling good and recovering well from the c-section. We are smitten!!!