And Baby Makes Three

(Actually, baby makes five when you count our two dogs, Beckham and Maverick.)

Jackson Scott was born March 25, 2010 at 5:02 pm. He weighed 8lb 12oz and was 20 3/4in long. Yes, he is a big boy and absolutely precious. Here's my labor story:

My contractions started at 3:00 am on March 25th and unlike anything I had ever felt, to that point. They were anywhere from 6 to 8 minutes apart but not really consistent. I started keeping track with this cool application on my husband's iPhone called the Contraction Master. It was so easy to use, which I think is important under the circumstances. Anyways, so I was pretty much uncomfortable and could not sleep at all. I woke Scott up at some point to let him know what was going on but since my contractions were all over the place he went back to sleep and eventually went into work. I called my mom to let her know what was going on as well and she came over. By that point my contractions were a lot closer together...enough to warrant a phone call to the labor and delivery area at the hospital (because apparently my OB's office doesn't take phone calls until 9:00am). I was told to come to the hospital, so my mom and I gathered a few more things for my bag, called Scott, and one he got home we headed to the hospital. I didn't even get to take a shower (or shave)! I had always thought that I would get to shower and put on makeup and look all cute in the "after" pictures...yeah right! I barely could brush my teeth and put on clothes that morning. So, we got to the hospital and even though I was already pre-registered I still had to answer some questions and sign all these forms. The last thing I wanted to do was sign a bunch of forms at that point. They put me in triage and monitored me for a while and eventually I was placed in my own room. I don't even know what time it was that I finally got into a room but holy goodness, my contractions were seriously getting stronger. Thank God for my mom who was there to help me breathe through them all! Remember my last post about drugs or no drugs? Well this girl chose the drugs as soon as they were offered. I must say I am very proud of myself for going as long as did, almost 12 hours before I got an epidural. I feel I got the "best" of both experiences. I think I mentioned this before in a post but I had been put on bed rest for my high blood pressure and that was a big concern during my labor, so I was given magnesium so that I wouldn't have any seizures. I was also given oxygen because my sweet boy was under a lot of stress, so much so that things started to move very quickly. There were people in and out of the room getting ready and my doctor was explaining that we needed to get him out right away...and then she used the nasty word, vacuum extractor, before I even started pushing. For someone who has worked med mal in a law firm before, I knew I did not want them to use the vacuum extractor. I realize that sometimes it has to be used, but I did not want that to happen at all. So it came time to start the pushing...kind of weird to push when you can't feel much below (thank you epidural). I think I pushed about 3 times and then the doctor said, "okay, this is going to have to be it or we're going to have to use the vacuum extractor." My next push was all it took and out came my little boy. The doctor and nurse were very impressed with that push even! I do what I can to get my boy out. He was immediately taken to the side and checked out by 3 nurses...I immediately fell back on the pillows. What an amazing experience. I was finally able to hold little Jackson Scott and it was such a surreal moment...I waited 10 months for this very moment and it was finally here. God is so good. I stayed in the L&D area for 24 hours because I had to remain on the magnesium and be closely monitored. I was finally moved to the post-partum side but they still kept an eye on me. My blood pressure would occasionally get really high, so we had to limit my visitors and finally had to have no visitors at all. The nurses were just watching out for me and didn't want me having any seizures. I also had to stay in the hospital an extra day. We finally were discharged on Sunday afternoon and were glad to get home. These last two weeks we've been adjusting to having this little one in our house and part of our lives. I am absolutely in love with Jackson and thank God for him! Scott and I couldn't be more proud. And that is my labor story.