One handed typing here. I'm feeding G. Jesse. Here are some pictures (we don't have many yet..) and the rest of his birth story. It's been a crazy few days, but I feel great! One of the fun parts of this baby is it is the first time I've given birth to someone I recognize. He has a little bit of each of the other boys in him- Henry's round head and brown hair (yes!), Isaac's nose, and most of Dawson's features. Unfortunately no signs of dimples yet, so not quite like Dawson. And in these pictures, he actually looks more like Henry to me, but in person I feel like I'm looking at a brown haired Daws.
This is his first picture, taken around 2:30 am in the NICU. That is so unlike me, but I didn't really have a choice.
My first time holding him since I got to the hospital. Again at 2:30 am. Carrie told me she saw a picture of me holding him and I told her we hadn't taken any yet. I had no memory of this photo shoot.
His last few minutes in the NICU under the warmer. They actually don't wrap them in the NICU, they keep them naked and warm under this warmer.
The boys first meeting. This was a short visit. Very crazy. Like my future life for the next few weeks, yikes!
The only decent picture I have of him. Wearing his monkey attire, which even at preemie size is WAY huge on him. Oh well, keep eating bud, and it will fit you soon.
Full monkey suit, ready to leave the hospital. He had to be monitored in his carseat for an hour and a half to make sure he was safe on the way home, and he passed of course!
Dave and I worked really hard together to recap the full story. We examined all our phone records and we think we have all the timing accurate now. It was about 20 minutes start to finish for my labor. The story is extremely long and detailed, written for my journaling.
On Thursday the contractions were off and on all morning and started into 3 minutes apart around 1:00 in the afternoon. I went about my day again, and figured nothing new would happen, so at 8:30 I took an Ambien, and at 9:15 I took a quick bath before going to bed. I got out of the bath at 9:30 and had a painful contraction for the first time. I went and sat on my birthing ball, and the next contraction came very shortly after. It was even more painful. I think I might have had one more and I told my husband it was time to go to the hospital. We gathered our things quickly (my hospital bag was right by the door, so it wasn’t hard) and we got in the car. We called my best friend Carrie to come sleep at our house, and left.
The contractions were very close and very hard and I was alternating between hands and knees (On the front seat, kind of awkward) and sitting, and moaning. I was begging my husband to drive faster. He panicked and turned down a backroad and at that moment my membranes exploded! He heard it pop. Luckily I didn’t have very much fluid, and we have leather seats, so I just sat in a little puddle. I screamed at the top of my lungs a few times and he asked me what I wanted him to do, or if he should call an ambulance. I told him to just drive faster because I needed an epidural.
Within probably 10 seconds the baby’s head was out. I told him that. He didn’t believe me. I assured him I wasn’t joking. It was crazy, that part didn’t hurt at all. I pulled down my pants and felt the head. Then I instinctively pulled him out and half way out he started to cry and cough. We think that was at 9:50 pm. No more than 20 minutes after my first labor pain. I held him in front of me and kept hitting his back to keep him crying and coughing, and Dave called 911. They told him to go to the ER. I looked around the car for something to wrap the baby in, but our car was unfortunately clean! Dave cranked the heat up.
We pulled up to the ER and Dave went inside and told them he had a baby out in the car. They looked at him blankly and he said, “No, we JUST HAD the baby in the car.” They kicked into gear and the nurses came running. Our neighbor had just had their baby and the husband just got a congratulations text and was told that we were coming. He saw the nurses running and he said he knew it was us. The nurses came out to the car with a wheelchair. It was 29 degrees outside and my baby was wet and naked, and still attached by the umbilical cord. My pants were around my knees. There was a small group of people standing outside (I don’t know why they were outside). I looked at the nurse who told me to get in the wheelchair and mentioned the fact that there people out there and I was half naked. She told me it was okay, just to get in. I made eye contact with those people, it was so embarrassing. They told Dave to take his shirt off and wrap the baby in it. So he did, but then he remembered that I had packed my blanket and they covered both me and the baby in my big quilt.
They wheeled me into the ER while Dave parked, and I was in a room with probably more than 10 doctors and nurses. They cut the cord, took off my pants and shoes, and whisked the baby off to the NICU. It was such a whirlwind of bracelets, questions, people looking at me, but it was over pretty quickly. They took me up to a L&D room and the doctor on call was there to deliver the placenta. It was amazing, I didn’t even get a tear, and I was in absolutely no pain. I felt great, in fact.
At this point I think the adrenaline wore off and the Ambien took over. By morning I remembered nothing past the delivery of the placenta. Dave filled me in on the details. At 2:30 am Dave came back to my room with roses and my favorite drink and asked if I wanted to go down to the NICU to see the baby. We went down and they recommended we do some skin to skin time. He kept rooting, so I asked if I could nurse him. They let me nurse him, and when I was done they took the CPAP off of him, they said he didn’t even need it but they had put it on just in case.
This baby weighed 5 lbs. 15 oz and was 18.5 inches long. He ate, breathed, and pooped on his own flawlessly, and they told me that the only reason he was in the NICU was because he was preterm and born in a car. They were scared he would develop infection because he wasn’t born in a sterile environment, and sometimes preemies get tired of breathing after awhile and they don’t do as well. So really he was just there for the monitoring. He performed perfectly, was out of the NICU at 6:00 pm the next day, and came home with us 39 hours after he was born.
I wanted a natural childbirth. I read books, and packed a birthing ball and other materials to help me while I was going through labor pains. I didn’t need any of them. Anyone can withstand extreme pain for 5 minutes. My mom said I took the “natural childbirth” thing a little too far birthing my own baby! The birth certificate will actually list me as the delivering attendant! I’m glad I got my natural childbirth as I wanted my labor to be faster this time. My labors have lasted 7 hours, 7 hours, 12 hours, and 20 minutes. I guess it was either 20 minutes or like 3 months. Depends on how you look at it.
It you want some attention, deliver your baby in the car. I think everyone in the hospital knew my story. Apparently it doesn’t happen very often. I had lots of people asking me questions, so here are some of my “FAQ’S” of the last 2 days.
Q. Was it so scary?
A. No not really, I didn’t know he was going to be born in the car until the moment it happened as my other babies were pretty hard to get out. So I didn’t have time to be scared before, and there was nothing to be scared of after he was out, crying and healthy.
Q. Did Dave freak out?
A. No, same thing for him. Luckily we were less than 5 minutes away from the hospital at that point.
Q. Was it terrible?
A. No, I would totally take this delivery over laying in bed all day with an epidural. Not that I dislike epidurals, but I despise laying around all day in that uncomfortable 15 degree angle. Fast labor is quite nice. Just a little bit violent.
Q. Did you push the baby out?
A. I remember thinking it through, thinking I shouldn’t push, but that there was no way I could wait until we got to the hospital. I don’t think I pushed, I think it was my body’s natural instinct, but I’m not 100% sure. All I know is that if I wasn’t wearing pants, he probably would have flew out of me. It was that violent!
Q. Were you laying down?
A. Nope, sitting up in the front seat. It wasn’t a great angle to deliver a baby, but whatever!
