Our newest little nugget is already 9 days old! Here's his birth story.
I was scheduled to be induced on April 28th (39 weeks) for about a month before I was due, based on my doctor's recommendation. Jonah had measured a week or two ahead my whole pregnancy and with my hip problems and narrow pelvis she didn't want me to struggle with delivering past that time, so I went with it. Not to mention I was uncomfortable, eager to meet my little guy, and the idea of having a plan when it came to Avery's care was ideal for me.
The last few weeks of my pregnancy I tried really hard to make every second with Avery count. We spent a lot of one-on-one time together, had lots of snuggles and bedtime chats and the night before he was born we had one last Momma-daughter date for some frozen yogurt before she became a big sister.
Tuesday morning we woke up and got Avery dropped off with Aunt Lacy by 6:30, which was the earliest she's ever been outside, and she was delighted with being up before the sun! Then Daddy and I were off to have a baby!!
The whole morning I kept saying that it felt like we were going on vacation, putting our bags in the car, getting up so early and checking in at the front desk for a two night stay made this whole planned experience so different than coming to the hospital while already in labor with Avery.
Once we got checked into our room, they came in and did a bunch of paperwork and bloodwork then started my IVs. I came in dialated at a 2, but things were progressing slowly. I was worried that pitocin induced contractions were going to be so much worse than natural labor, because that seems to be the general consensus from everyone that had been induced and warned me, but the contractions were really no worse than the Braxton hicks I had during the whole third trimester, at first.
Around lunchtime my doctor came in and checked me and I was only at four. She went ahead and broke my water to speed things along. Immediately after my water was broken contractions got more intense. They were a lot stronger now but still were the same types of pain I felt with Avery's labor the whole time. I went ahead and asked for the epidural at this time. Shortly after the epidural we realized that Jonah's heart rate was dropping with each contraction. My nurse tried laying me on my side and changing to different positions to help but it didn't. The next thing I knew she was strapping an oxygen mask to my face and telling me to take some deep breaths. I was a little worried but remained calm until she turned down the Piticocin and paged for another nurse to come in. Panic set in as the second nurse gave me an injection in my thigh to stop labor altogether.
My nurse reassured me that unfortunately this was normal after the water being broken because there was no more cushion in my uterus and his cord was probably getting smushed somewhere.
They placed an internal heartrate monitor on Jonah and waited about 45 minutes to establish a strong steady heartbeat before turning the Pitocin back on. He was still moving so much though that he kept kicking off my contraption monitor that was placed on my belly. So then they put an internal contraction monitor on so they could gauge how strong the contractions were. They didn't want to put him back in distress by turning the medicine up too high but we needed to make some progress so he could come out quickly.
His heart rate was still dropping with each contraction so they put me back on oxygen and got an IV to actually put up some fluid back inside to provide a cushion for him. This was the last intervention they could really do before we would be looking at a C-section. The nurse said it works about 50% of the time so I got pretty worried, but thankfully it worked for us. Jonah's heartrate stabilized and I was finally making some (slow) progress.
By 5:30 I was 5 cm and the nurse and doctor both said we would likely be looking at another centimeter progression per hour. It was looking like our baby wouldn't be here in till late that night. I immediately started thinking about Avery and now we had promised her a baby brother that day. I sent Jon to go be with Avery for the evening until I had made more progress. I had a few visitors so I wasn't going to be alone and my main concern at this point was her. At 6 o'clock I was a seven so I texted Jon to keep him updated...we were thinking it would still be a couple of hours plus pushing time. My nurse that I had had all day was about to have her shift change so she said she would check me once more before she left and would come visit me in the morning. When she came back at 6:30 I have been feeling a lot of pressure. She checked and told me I was a 9 1/2 and almost ready to push. I panicked again because now, after waiting by my side all day, Jon was gone. My doctor came in and said she had the forceps ready to go and we needed to get the baby out because his heart rate was dropping with each contraction again. That moment felt so surreal. I thought I was going to have to deliver all on my own. I begged her to wait for Jon to as I called him to come back ASAP.
She agreed to watch the next two contractions while I got a hold of him and said if baby stayed stable during those two contractions that we could wait for Jon to get back.
Thank God, everything turned out okay! His heart rate stayed stable as Jon drove 90 miles an hour back to the hospital from Lacy's house. While we were waiting I tried to put on a Music app on my phone but the Wi-Fi and all the monitors were making it screw up. Jon got there a little after seven and everyone else left the room so we could start pushing. My nurse even stayed with us past her shift to be with me too. We did two pushes and I really wanted some music so I could count through it and concentrate. I asked Alex who was there to take pictures to try to play some on her phone but my doctor interjected and said that I didn't need to concentrate because Jonah would be here with my next push. So with that he was finally here at 7:16 PM he weighed only 6 lbs. 14 oz. but was 20 inches long. Tall and skinny! When I first saw him I thought that he looked just like Avery, but not how she did as a newborn. I think he has the same nose and lips as her, and Daddy's eyes.
His labor was an emotional roller coaster but the delivery was so quick and easy! The night nurse that came in right when it was time to push joked that I must have been a soccer player to have such a strong core. But I told her no, but I was a dancer my whole life, and she responded "Oh I knew you were an athlete! Not many people just 'get it' like that with the pushing!" It made me feel so strong. Giving birth is seriously so magical and amazing. The rush of adrenaline and hormones when you meet your baby for the first time are so overwhelming.
Right after he was here I had Jon call Lacy so she could bring up Avery to meet her brother! We spent some time with just the three of us doing some skin to skin and Jonah latched on for nursing right away. He met my sister in the parking lot and walked Avery up to the room where we spent some time as a family of four, alone before allowing any visitors in. Avery is so in love with him! I don't think there's anything sweeter and the world.
Of course she is a little emotional as we adjust our family dynamic to include our little , but we have strived to keep everything pretty normal for her and I think she is doing awesome as a big sister!
We had such a great experience with all of the sweet nurses at our hospital, and I love my doctor, but I kind of feel like some of the complications we had during delivery were perhaps because Jonah wasn't ready to come out just yet. I am thankful I didn't have to deliver an 8 lb baby though! If I were to do it again I would probably not get induced unless I was past my due date. All that matters though is that Jonah is here and he's healthy and he's also really cute. He's latching and eating like a champ and has already surpassed his birthweight.
I am so thankful that I had my best friend Alex in the room with us to take these amazing photos! Such special memories!!
