Jackson's Birth

Even though it has been a year..I still remember it like it was yesterday. And it is time to get it down on paper so I remember it forever!

My due date was June 28th. I told everyone June 27th because that was my sister's birthday and easy to remember. And it made for good conversation with all the random strangers that talk to you just because you are giant pregnant!

On Saturday June 25th I went to work at 6:30am for our all store meeting. I got to present my favorite part: Recognition! A few people made jokes about all the yelling and cheering would put me into labor and I kept my same joke of "I HOPE I don't see you tomorrow!" (Because I am in labor!) I half followed the doctors orders..I did not follow his orders because I was still working, I did follow his orders and walk walk walk! I figured if I was going to be walking, I would just get paid to walk and sales lead at work! Around 4:30pm I decided it was time to go home because I was exhausted!

Mike got home shortly after me and I was already laying down for a nap, we both slept for an hour or so and then I decided to get up. I went into the hallway bathroom because I felt something on my chin and I wanted to see what it was. As I leaned to look in the mirror....I thought I had peed my pants. That was the first time anything like that had happened during my pregnancy and I was totally caught off guard! I remember people saying that if its your water breaking it just keeps dripping but if you pee your pants it stops, so I decided to take my pants off and just stand there. Drip, drip, drip, sure enough it was my water breaking! I called for Mike who was still sleeping and he finally heard me,
"What!?"
"Umm I think my water just broke..."
"Are you sure?"
As he walks into the bathroom and sees the puddle of water on the bamboo floor mat in the bathroom.
"Ohhhhhh...." He says.
Hmmm what were we supposed to do we discussed. I could not remember. I still had not had any contractions. We decided Mike would take a shower and I would go find a baby book and look up how soon you go to the hospital when your water breaks. :)

About an hour later the contractions were slowly starting so we decided to head in. We went down to Providence in Everett and waiting in the waiting area for Labor and Delivery check in for 30 minutes of so. Once we got called back they checked to make sure I was actually in labor. During that time I felt like it was 1 million degrees!  I was sweating like a pig and really starting to feel the contractions. I went from not really caring about an epidural as a laid on that bed to riding the elevator up to my room 2 hours later to be checked in, saying "Yes Please!"

At that point I let Mike start sending the texts that I was in labor! Soon enough, my Dad and my sister showed up as well as Mike's mom and Karen. I was in quite a bit of pain when the anesthesiologist came in. Every time I have seen someone get an epidural in movies or a Baby Story or whatever its like a few minute process. Well, after they got me sat up, my back all sanitized and he started the needles, 1 1/2 hours later he was STILL trying. He would take breaks and have small talk, which I was not into. I am sorry, I can barely open my eyes because of the pain and you want to talk about the post office in Marysville!?
(For the record, I hate the post office in Marysville. Everyone that goes there is too lazy to park on the side of the building so they also wait for parking spots and end up blocking State Street and then people are honking or rear ending each other. And IF I end up going there anyway, there is always some smelly person that stands way to close to me in the long line. Ugh!)

So needless to say, that is the last thing I want to hear about at this point. He decides he would like to let the other anesthesiologist take a try to getting the epidural in since he was not successful. It was a great idea, except for the fact she was in a C-section down the hall and I had to stay sitting up off the bed until she was done since my back was all ready and sanitized. Anyways an hour or so later she comes in with a halo over her head, rubs my shoulders for a minute and gets the needle in on the first try!

At that point my eyes were barely opening and I was not even speaking during the contractions. Mike asked if the family could come in the room and I just rolled my eyes, gave him a dirty look and shook my head no. They were going to check my dilation since I could lay down again so Mike went out to update the family. By the time Mike came back I was feeling GOOD!! He walked in and I waved and said "Hiiii!!" He stopped and quietly said "Do you think the family could come in now?" This time I said "SURE!"

I heart the epidural. I found out that I was already 8 cm dilated and fully effaced. Just hanging out....

After a little while they decided to let me start pushing. After an hour or so of pushing they said I could "labor down." I did not know what that was but it turned out to be the best thing ever. I could just lay on my side and sleep. Wahooo! It was pretty much my favorite thing ever.

After an hour or so of that I got to push again. After pushing for quite awhile the doctor asked me if I wanted to rest and I said NO! And pushed that baby right out!

The first thing I heard besides Jack's scream was the doctor and nurses saying "WOW look at those feet! And those hands! You are going to be a big boy!!"