It's currently nearly 1:00am on August 7th. About 9 hours ago I gave birth to an absolutely perfect and healthy baby boy, my second baby boy.
I can't sleep, because this boy makes the sweetest little grunting sounds basically constantly, and while I say they're sweet, it also makes me sit up just simply staring at him and making sure he's okay, #newmomprobs, so I decided that rather than sit here and potentially freak myself out- I should write down the exact events of yesterday so that I never forget them.
Let me start by saying that this entire process was basically a dream, especially compared to my birth with Jaxon. We had one minor hiccup, and the rest was absolutely perfect from start to finish, and I couldn't have asked for more. I honestly feel so blessed looking back on the past 24 hours. God is good. Life is great. Everything is wonderful.
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So, to summarize what went wrong with Jaxon: they didn't give me a 2nd dose of antibiotics until he was basically born, which ended up causing him to contract the strepB I had and led to him having meningitis and pneumonia. This led to two weeks in the NICU, and I can promise you that it was by far the worse two weeks of my life. This time I was determined to make sure that we did everything that we could to avoid that happening, and luckily I had one of the best doctors ever who was determined to do the same.
With my history with Jax my doctor agreed that it would be a good idea to induce labor with this baby at 39 weeks so that we'd have more control over antibiotics and make sure I got at least two doses before he even came close to being born. Best decision I've ever made btw. So, we schedule it for August 6th- the exact day that I would be 39 weeks. Antibiotics for strep B are given every four hours, and to be the most careful my doctor decided not to even break my water until I had two doses so that it would be the most beneficial.
On August 5th I got a call from the hospital saying how I was third in line to be induced the next day and I should come in at around noon. I was pretty upset honestly, because I knew that I wasn't even going to start doing anything for the first four hours I was there and I was terrified of my doctor not being available the next day and someone else having to deliver him (and I LOVE her). I was upset, I whined a bit, but I tried to find the positive: I can clean the house, have more time with Jax, etc. And honestly I think I definitely slept better that night thinking I wasn't just going to wake up and go straight to the hospital.
Regardless, I woke up at 6 and just kind of watched my phone just in case they realized bringing me in at noon was stupid, and apparently they did. I got a call at 6:30am asking if I could make it to the hospital by 7:30. I ran out of the room, woke up my mom, made breakfast for Jax, laid out his clothes, called my friend who said she'd watch him, and I showered as fast as I could. We dropped Jaxon off and I swear I could have lost my mind right there if I thought about it too much, and Kelly knew that so he distracted me. We got to the hospital right on time, they saw I was on the schedule, and they brought me to my room.
Things were honestly pretty uneventful at first. I was 3.5cm and 60% effaced which was only .5cm more than I was at my appointment on Friday. They gave me my first dose of antibiotics at 8:30 so I was due for my second dose and my water breaking at 12:30, so it was more or less just a waiting game until then. They also gave me some pitocin to start inducing labor, but said that it wouldn't really start to get going until my water broke. I immediately started having contractions every two minutes though- I wouldn't say they were painful, but I could definitely feel them, so I decided to get the epidural right away I didn't have to worry about it later. So, at around 10:15 the anesthesiologist came in as soon as we called him. Best anesthesiologist ever. I loved him so much. He told me exactly what he was doing the entire time, let me lay down when they did it, and made jokes to make light of the fact that I was terrified. Soon it was in and things were pretty great for a while. It's super satisfying to watch the contraction monitor while you're not feeling a single contraction.
At around 11 I started feeling pretty nauseous. I'm allergic to Zofran, which is the normal thing that they give when you're nauseated so they gave me a drug called Reglan. As soon as they gave it to my I put my hand on my forehead and started feeling lightheaded like I was going to pass out. I remember sitting there, leaning forward with my hand on my face- and the next thing I knew my nurse was shaking my arm and saying my name. I had completely passed out. They had no idea why that happened, so they asked the anesthesiologist to come in and check on the epidural on the off chance that it had something to do with it. He turned it off and we waited for a while. The contractions really started feeling rough- again, not painful really but MUCH more pressure than earlier and they were just annoying. I could talk through them, but it still felt like someone was squeezing my lower stomach. The anesthesiologist came back in and said that he had actually seen that reaction to Reglan a handful of times, and I was probably just allergic to that one too (he had also mentioned that in 20 years he'd never heard of someone being allergic to Zofran- so yay for me being allergic to any nausea medication, dang). I laid there for a good 30 minutes or so until the Reglan completely wore off and then I was back to normal, ready to go.
At around 12:45 my doctor came down and broke my water to get things going. My nurse checked me at around 1:30 and I was only at 4cm and about 70% effaced. She put a peanut ball between my legs for about an hour, and I was at a 5. Getting to a 5 is the hardest part so they say, and that ended up being true. She put me in a sitting up position at around 2:45 and said she'd be back to check me after about half an hour, so at 3:15 she came in and wouldn't ya know it- I was ready to go. I was complete. I nearly cried right there, but then I just more or less got terrified that I was going to have to push a person out of me in a few minutes.
They called my doctor, and since I was comfortable and not feeling any strong urge to push she decided to see one last OB patient and then come downstairs. She got down there at around 3:45 and they got everything set up and going.
A contraction came and I pushed three times on three deep breaths.
Kelly told me he had brown hair and I lost my mind! I was going to basically just have a dark haired Jaxon! My little blond boy was going to have a brunette brother. Maybe this one would actually look like me!
A second contraction came, and I pushed three more times on three deep breaths. I had a mirror this time, and MANNNN let me tell you- that thing is MOTIVATING. Being able to see what you're doing is the most helpful thing in the world in that moment.
A third contraction came and I pushed once... for longer than the 10 seconds I had pushed before. I pushed and pushed, and out he came.
They immediately put him on my chest. That was by far one of the most wonderful feelings in the entire world. With Jax they immediately took him away to check on him and I didn't even see his face other than pictures that my mom and Kelly took and showed to me. It was amazing. We did something called 'Sacred Hour' where they don't weigh him, measure him, or clean him off until I've held him for a solid hour. We tried breastfeeding, we snuggled up, and I got to hold my baby boy for an entire hour completely uninterrupted. I honestly can't tell you enough how incredible that entire hour was for me. To hear him cry, to see him try and open his eyes, to have him put his little fingers in my mouth. Amazing.
Things were just a dream after that moment. Kelly held him (which he didn't get to do for an entire week after Jax was born), mom held him, they weighed him (7lbs 8oz), they measured him (19.5 inches), and they swaddled him all up.
So here he is. My little brown haired boy who is so tiny! He weighs and is nearly as tall as Jax was when he was born, but he's just a much more petite little man! We're in love, obsessed, and can't wait for the boys to meet and become besties.
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