Jackson Raymond's LONG Birth Story

At my 41+3 check up we decided to try a membrane sweep and start me on cotton root to see if that would get things moving. By 11pm that night I started having contractions and the first 10 were maybe 7-11 minutes apart and mild. The pretty quickly switched to 5 minutes or less apart and were also starting to pick up to moderate. We called the midwife since I was GBS+ and went in around 2 or 3am. I was 100% effaced but had dropped to only 1cm dilated when at my check up I'd been 2. So home we went.

By 7:30am we were heading back in as contractions were under 3 minutes and pretty severe. Got in and was only 3cm but they decided it was best for me to stay and get antibiotics started. They tried my left arm, left hand, right arm, and finally got the IV in my right hand. Did I mention I hate needles? Now I also hate IVs. My hand is still bruised more than a week later. I tried a ton of different positions, tried the water tub, threw up on two different occasions, had my water broken around 4pm, hadn't been able to eat much, and around 6:30pm had only progressed to 5cm, my cervix was starting to swell, all while still having severe contractions with little to no break. I even tried the nitrous oxide and tens (?) machine but I'd completely lost my ability to breathe and relax through contractions. So with the help of the midwife we made the decision to transfer to the hospital. It was a really tough decision but it was the best hope of avoiding a c-section as I was looking at being too tired to push if we stayed.

It was probably around 8pm by the time we were officially set up and going over at Swedish. I got an epidural, which was no where near as bad as I'd been imagining. We decided to send my mom home as we'd hired an on call doula in case of a transfer. And there was only one couch and I was worried about the pets. By the time I saw the OB I was at 6cm but contractions had dropped off to 11 minutes apart. So they started pitocin and we settled in for the night to try and get some rest. At 8am the OB came by and I'd progressed to 8cm and contractions were down to about 3-4 minutes apart but he thought that wasn't a lot of progress and said in two hours we'd have to look at a c-section. I definitely had a mini-freak out. I hadn't done any research on c-sections and was pumping the nurse for information while DH and the doula were trying to tell me not to worry about it. Eventually I settled down and the doula helped me try some positions to see if we could get LO to drop even more, as well as realize that we could choose to hold off on a c-section in two hours if we wanted. Thankfully my body finally decided to cooperate and by 9:45 we started pushing and were calling the OB to say I was at 10cm and good to go. I think I was pushing for 45 minutes or so but it felt like 15. And at 10:24am Jackson Raymond was born.

Literally the second he was placed on me I was overwhelmed with love for him. DH got to tell me we had a son and cut the cord right away since it has stopped pulsing which seemed a little scary. But the staff didn't seem concerned and he got an APGAR of 8/9. I had two tears but nothing major, and it was a little funny to see how paranoid they were about possible heavy bleeding since I'm a redhead. Within a few minutes the name Jackson sprung to mind but even though we both liked it, we didn't settle on it officially until the day after he was born when we were heading home. And heading home couldn't come soon enough. While we were very grateful to have Swedish as part of our plan, the hospital experience wasn't for us and I was ready to give someone hell by the time we were waiting to be discharged.

Looking back at my last bump picture feels like a lifetime ago. And saying how perfect and amazing our son is seems like the understatement of the century. DH and I feel so very blessed that we have a son we get to love and raise together. And other than a little jaundice he has been super healthy and been feeding and sleeping like a champ. I never thought I'd be excited for diaper changes but it's just a sign that he is healthy so I love each dirty diaper. And I think it's safe to say the whole family is under his spell!