Thursday, November 10, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
First Bath!
Jax's umbilical cord fell off yesterday, so, after he peed all over himself tonight, I was so excited to be able to give him his first bath!!! He actually loved it!
10 days old!
Clean Baby =)
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Recovery
Man its amazing how fast my body is able to recover!
1 week before Jax was born (42 inches around)
1 day post delivery (38 inches around)
5 days post delivery
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Labor Story
Read at your own risk lol
Friday, October 7th:
Today was the 3rd day that I woke up extremely early and was wide awake with a really empty stomach! I woke up around 7am and I got super excited because I felt my first slightly painful contraction! I sat in the living room watching TV for a while when I realized they were pretty consistent so I started timing them and they were about 8 minutes apart! Woohoo! I text Garrett at work and decided I should stop timing then before I went Crazy... We went and ate at La Maison for lunch and the contractions stayed consistent throughout the day but they definitely weren't painful enough yet. My parents (Gma & Gpa Mc) came in town yesterday so I was really hopeful that Jax would come tonight so they would get to spend as much time as possible! Gma Jordan had a 3 day weekend too so she decided to fly out and hope to catch Jax being born too! But it was risky because there was still no telling if it would be tonight or in a week!
Around 10pm they started getting more intense to the point where I couldn't sleep so I stayed up watching TV until about 3am when they were 3-4 minutes apart. We all went into the hospital and I told the lady my pain was at about a 4. They checked me and monitored my contractions but unfortunately I was only 1cm dilated and about 60% effaced. I thought the pain was pretty bad at this point, so I was definitely bummed that I had to go home! The nurse said sometimes the contractions will come and go so there still was no saying how much longer until Jax would arrive! Once we got home they actually did become less frequent and intense like the nurse said, so I was able to sleep a little.
Saturday, Oct 8th:
Today we put the finishing touches on Jax's room! Gma J and Rachel got into town and we all enjoyed the beautiful day! I was still having contractions but they weren't very consistent yet. ...Then around 6pm they started getting pretty bad. I went and laid down in bed but that made it worse. So for about 30 minutes I just leaned up against the counter and rocked back and forth which took some pressure off my back. 630 they were about 2-4 minutes apart so I decided to go back to the hospital! So all 6 of us packed up and headed over.
7pm - The nurse hooked me up to the monitor again and checked me and I was 4cm dilated and 100% effaced! Woohoo we were staying this time! The contractions were pretty painful and I had to focus on breathing through them but I reassessed my pain and decided that I would call this pain a 4-5 now lol! I got in the hot tub for about an hour and around 900 decided I wanted some pain meds. I'd call my pain a 6 here. Garrett sat in the room with me while I was in the tub and we tried to watch some Jersey Shore because that was the only show we had on the ipad haha! I told him I was going to try the Fetanyl and go from there... but then after my next contraction I decided I was just gonna go big and get the epidural!
The nurse gave me the fetanyl and had to monitor me for a while before getting the epidural. The fetanyl felt pretty amazing but nothing compared to the epidural when I got it around 1030. I could still move my legs but couldn't feel any pain! I felt like I was cheating at life! I mean the bible said God made labor painful because of Eve- but here I was totally escaping it! lol! The anesthesiologist, Jack, was awesome and the epidural was quick and painless! I couldn't even feel the needle with the local he gave me.
Sunday, Oct 9th
12:00am - The nurse came in to check me again and I was about 8cm dilated! So I was moving pretty fast and we started making bets about when Jax would come! I said 1:27am and everyone else was guessing about 3am.
3:00am- The nurse checked me again but I was still at 9cm... There was still a little cervix in the way but the head was really low. My left leg was completely numb now and I couldn't move it which was really frustrating... I started wondering how I was going to push if I couldn't even feel my leg! They started me on Pitocin to help strengthen the contractions but idk if it helped at all. Jax's heart rate would occasionally drop with my contractions too so they put me on oxygen... things weren't going as smoothly as they started out.
4:00am- Dr. Renner arrived and I was still at 9 cm. so he broke my water and said he'd be back to check me in about an hour. I noticed the numbness from the epidural getting higher in my chest so I told the nurse. After calling the anesthesiologist, they turned it off for a while and I was very excited to get feeling back in my leg. Before they turned it off, I noticed a few times that I would doze off then wake up having to take a deep breath which was kind of scary and made me a little paranoid to fall asleep.
6:30 - Dr. Renner said I was finally at 10cm! He was concerned because Jax's head was facing more upwards and you want them facing down, but he said he'd be able to help him turn as I started pushing. He gave me the go ahead to start pushing... I thought about the whole "laboring down" thing... but I felt there was somewhat of an urgency to get Jax out. Dr. Renner said he'd come back in an hour and we'd "reassess" which I took as "talk about c-section" and so I decided then that I had to give it everything I had right now. My body was exhausted from contracting for so long and it was hard for me to know when to push since it was so hard to feel the contractions! Ughh it was so frustrating! They gave Garrett the job of holding the sheet and do a tug-o-war kind of tactic with me so I could have more leverage to push. He was nervous about this because his plan was to stay at the head of the bed with me not knowing if he'd be able to stomach the view... So he got stuck right in the splash zone!
7:45- I barely remember anything in the past hour cuz I was so exhausted... I was in labor during the shift change so the change in nurse threw me off a little since I was just starting to get the hang of it with the night shift nurse. I didnt know if my pushing was accomplishing anything at all because the nurses kept telling me was that I was "doing great" for the past hour. Then, finally, she called for Dr. Renner to come in! I didn't know why and I didnt care- I just kept pushing and was sometimes pushing when I wasn't even contracting. A lot of the time I felt like I was pushing with my forehead and felt like my eyeballs were about to pop out. I mostly had the hang of it now and could feel the head. They moved me to my right side because my pelvis was too narrow for his shoulders to go through so I had to change position. He was so close and the Dr. was sounding more urgent. I saw the head coming out and the Dr. had to unwrap Jax's umbilical cord from around his neck. Then finally he was out and it was such a feeling of relief! Jax was really purple and had meconium in his mouth so they had Garrett cut the cord in a hurry and took him over to clear everything out and put him on a CPAP. I had a grade 1 tear which is nothing really, but it didn't matter because I still couldn't feel anything abdomen down.
I was in shock- I couldn't even be worried. I was just so exhausted! They put Jax on my chest and I was still just in shock. I didnt really know how to hold him and felt awkward... Then, after a few minutes I was able to feel emotion again and started crying lol! I felt so bad for how stressful this whole thing must've been for the little guy. Garrett was in shock too and he said it wasn't watching the birth that bothered him, but that he could only watch while I worked so hard.
Poor Jax's blood glucose was somewhere in the 20's so they supplemented him with formula for 24hrs and checked his glucose before every feeding. It was pretty cool because they just put a little tube in his mouth while I breastfed to give him the formula. It went from 20's to 30's to 40's to 60's to 40's then finally seemed to stabilize enough for him to go home the next morning!
The nurses were so amazing the whole time! The morning nurse gave me great breastfeeding advice and was so patient with me trying to get the hang of it, but Jax caught on so quick! The night nurse watched Jax all night so we could get some sleep and just woke me up to feed him!
Monday, Oct 10th
The pediatrician came in and said Jax looked great except his bilirubin was kind of high. He hadn't pooped yet but while the doctor was looking him over he had a little explosion haha! The doc told me to bring him back in in 2 days to make sure his bilirubin levels drop.The doc said to supplement with formula until my milk came in to help him out . In 24 hrs before his Wednesday appt they had me chart every feeding and wet and dirty diaper. He had 10 wet diapers and 9 of those were also dirty lol- So it definitely helped flush him out! And the nurse said he was doing amazing at the follow-up exam!!
Friday, October 7th:
Today was the 3rd day that I woke up extremely early and was wide awake with a really empty stomach! I woke up around 7am and I got super excited because I felt my first slightly painful contraction! I sat in the living room watching TV for a while when I realized they were pretty consistent so I started timing them and they were about 8 minutes apart! Woohoo! I text Garrett at work and decided I should stop timing then before I went Crazy... We went and ate at La Maison for lunch and the contractions stayed consistent throughout the day but they definitely weren't painful enough yet. My parents (Gma & Gpa Mc) came in town yesterday so I was really hopeful that Jax would come tonight so they would get to spend as much time as possible! Gma Jordan had a 3 day weekend too so she decided to fly out and hope to catch Jax being born too! But it was risky because there was still no telling if it would be tonight or in a week!
Around 10pm they started getting more intense to the point where I couldn't sleep so I stayed up watching TV until about 3am when they were 3-4 minutes apart. We all went into the hospital and I told the lady my pain was at about a 4. They checked me and monitored my contractions but unfortunately I was only 1cm dilated and about 60% effaced. I thought the pain was pretty bad at this point, so I was definitely bummed that I had to go home! The nurse said sometimes the contractions will come and go so there still was no saying how much longer until Jax would arrive! Once we got home they actually did become less frequent and intense like the nurse said, so I was able to sleep a little.
Saturday, Oct 8th:
Today we put the finishing touches on Jax's room! Gma J and Rachel got into town and we all enjoyed the beautiful day! I was still having contractions but they weren't very consistent yet. ...Then around 6pm they started getting pretty bad. I went and laid down in bed but that made it worse. So for about 30 minutes I just leaned up against the counter and rocked back and forth which took some pressure off my back. 630 they were about 2-4 minutes apart so I decided to go back to the hospital! So all 6 of us packed up and headed over.
7pm - The nurse hooked me up to the monitor again and checked me and I was 4cm dilated and 100% effaced! Woohoo we were staying this time! The contractions were pretty painful and I had to focus on breathing through them but I reassessed my pain and decided that I would call this pain a 4-5 now lol! I got in the hot tub for about an hour and around 900 decided I wanted some pain meds. I'd call my pain a 6 here. Garrett sat in the room with me while I was in the tub and we tried to watch some Jersey Shore because that was the only show we had on the ipad haha! I told him I was going to try the Fetanyl and go from there... but then after my next contraction I decided I was just gonna go big and get the epidural!
Sunday, Oct 9th
12:00am - The nurse came in to check me again and I was about 8cm dilated! So I was moving pretty fast and we started making bets about when Jax would come! I said 1:27am and everyone else was guessing about 3am.
3:00am- The nurse checked me again but I was still at 9cm... There was still a little cervix in the way but the head was really low. My left leg was completely numb now and I couldn't move it which was really frustrating... I started wondering how I was going to push if I couldn't even feel my leg! They started me on Pitocin to help strengthen the contractions but idk if it helped at all. Jax's heart rate would occasionally drop with my contractions too so they put me on oxygen... things weren't going as smoothly as they started out.
4:00am- Dr. Renner arrived and I was still at 9 cm. so he broke my water and said he'd be back to check me in about an hour. I noticed the numbness from the epidural getting higher in my chest so I told the nurse. After calling the anesthesiologist, they turned it off for a while and I was very excited to get feeling back in my leg. Before they turned it off, I noticed a few times that I would doze off then wake up having to take a deep breath which was kind of scary and made me a little paranoid to fall asleep.
6:30 - Dr. Renner said I was finally at 10cm! He was concerned because Jax's head was facing more upwards and you want them facing down, but he said he'd be able to help him turn as I started pushing. He gave me the go ahead to start pushing... I thought about the whole "laboring down" thing... but I felt there was somewhat of an urgency to get Jax out. Dr. Renner said he'd come back in an hour and we'd "reassess" which I took as "talk about c-section" and so I decided then that I had to give it everything I had right now. My body was exhausted from contracting for so long and it was hard for me to know when to push since it was so hard to feel the contractions! Ughh it was so frustrating! They gave Garrett the job of holding the sheet and do a tug-o-war kind of tactic with me so I could have more leverage to push. He was nervous about this because his plan was to stay at the head of the bed with me not knowing if he'd be able to stomach the view... So he got stuck right in the splash zone!
7:45- I barely remember anything in the past hour cuz I was so exhausted... I was in labor during the shift change so the change in nurse threw me off a little since I was just starting to get the hang of it with the night shift nurse. I didnt know if my pushing was accomplishing anything at all because the nurses kept telling me was that I was "doing great" for the past hour. Then, finally, she called for Dr. Renner to come in! I didn't know why and I didnt care- I just kept pushing and was sometimes pushing when I wasn't even contracting. A lot of the time I felt like I was pushing with my forehead and felt like my eyeballs were about to pop out. I mostly had the hang of it now and could feel the head. They moved me to my right side because my pelvis was too narrow for his shoulders to go through so I had to change position. He was so close and the Dr. was sounding more urgent. I saw the head coming out and the Dr. had to unwrap Jax's umbilical cord from around his neck. Then finally he was out and it was such a feeling of relief! Jax was really purple and had meconium in his mouth so they had Garrett cut the cord in a hurry and took him over to clear everything out and put him on a CPAP. I had a grade 1 tear which is nothing really, but it didn't matter because I still couldn't feel anything abdomen down.
He was perfect and beautiful <3 I couldn't have been more thankful!
8lbs 15 oz - 20 inches - 13.25cm head born @ 7:58am
Perfect baby Jax!!
He had one wicked cone head!
In just 24 hrs his head circumference went from 13.25 cm to 14cm
<3
I was so incredibly swollen from all the fluids they pumped into me
Poor Jax's blood glucose was somewhere in the 20's so they supplemented him with formula for 24hrs and checked his glucose before every feeding. It was pretty cool because they just put a little tube in his mouth while I breastfed to give him the formula. It went from 20's to 30's to 40's to 60's to 40's then finally seemed to stabilize enough for him to go home the next morning!
The nurses were so amazing the whole time! The morning nurse gave me great breastfeeding advice and was so patient with me trying to get the hang of it, but Jax caught on so quick! The night nurse watched Jax all night so we could get some sleep and just woke me up to feed him!
Monday, Oct 10th
The pediatrician came in and said Jax looked great except his bilirubin was kind of high. He hadn't pooped yet but while the doctor was looking him over he had a little explosion haha! The doc told me to bring him back in in 2 days to make sure his bilirubin levels drop.The doc said to supplement with formula until my milk came in to help him out . In 24 hrs before his Wednesday appt they had me chart every feeding and wet and dirty diaper. He had 10 wet diapers and 9 of those were also dirty lol- So it definitely helped flush him out! And the nurse said he was doing amazing at the follow-up exam!!
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