So, here is my "new beginning".
Our son, Jack Martin, was born on Sept 14. He's been a great addition to our lives. We are loving parenthood and learning a lot every day.
I wanted to be sure I shared my birth experience before it was too far in my memory. I had a really wonderful birth experience with Jack, well maybe it would be more appropriate to say, it was all I hoped it would be. On Sept 12, two days after our due date, we had a Dr appointment. She said I was progressing, compared to the week before, and stripped my membranes. Straight from the appointment we went to dinner with J's sister (M). When we got there we were filling her in on the appointment and I had what I thought was a gas pain. She confirmed it was likely a contraction. I said, "Oh, if this is a contraction, I've had a few of these over the last week." We had our dinner and then M and I went to meet up with J's mom and see "The Help". The movie was great, but I was nervous the whole time since the Dr said seeing a movie was a great way to get your water to break, very inconvenient. We also swore M to secrecy since we knew labor could go on this way for days.
That night I had splotchy sleep. I would have contractions every 10-15 minutes for a couple of hours and then get a couple of hours of sleep. The next morning I sent J to work since I didn't feel like I was making a lot of progress. I spent the day getting rest and as much food as I could... between trips to the bathroom... I did relaxation exercises and walked the dogs with a friend. I thought I was doing great, but she said I was much more quiet than normal. By the time J got home from work that evening I was having more intense contractions and was starting to stand for each one. He worked at trying to time the contractions. I just wanted to relax and watch something funny on TV. We watched some Office episodes we had recorded and eventually landed on Leno. By this time I was standing and rocking through each contraction. We were having a really hard time timing the contractions because they were longer than I expected and I wasn't really sure when one ended and the next began.
Around midnight we decided to head to the hospital. We messaged M and finished the last of the packing. We started the journey (5 minutes) to the hospital. I decided we were going in too soon. I didn't want to have to do a lot of laboring at the hospital. We also had a friend who had waited until 9 cm and I thought she was such a birth "rock star" that I didn't want to get there at 4 cm. J offered to turn around, but I had another contraction and said "no thanks". We got to the hospital and they got us checked in. I remember thinking if I said "please" and "thank you" too much they wouldn't think I was as far along... Maybe my logic was a bit off.
I got changed in the triage unit and the nurse told my SIL that I she didn't think I was going to be far enough along. I looked too comfortable. When she checked me I was 9 cm! She left to call the Dr. They weren't sure they would have an open room so we got "settled" in. M made a few phone calls to notify the "phone tree" of progress. The fire alarm kept going off, apparently due to some construction. They "had" to put in an IV, I wasn't with it enough to argue. In hindsight that was the worst part of my experience since it really inhibited feeding, changing, and bonding with our new baby after the birth. Once that was all done they had a room for us. As the nurse wheeled me down the hallway we found out that the only Dr in the practice we hadn't seen was on call that night. I wasn't worried as I liked all the other Drs and figured he would be good as well. Other friends really liked him.
Once they monitored the baby for a bit M suggested that I get in the shower. I sat on the birth ball in the shower for about two hours. When we got there I was too uncomfortable to sit and had said no to having my water broken. I really didn't want to have to get into the bed. After two hours, and some hints from a good friend, the nurse explained the benefits and we agreed having the Dr break my water was the best idea. The contractions were uncomfortable but not unbearable, the feeling of having to go to the bathroom was REALLY uncomfortable though. I was also exhausted. I felt like I could start dozing off in the shower between contractions. Feeling more relaxed I made it into the bed and the Dr broke my water. I turned on my side for the first push. After the second push they said the baby wasn't looking as good and I needed to turn over. I turned over and the nurse went to get the Dr. I pushed once on the next side and they said it was time for the baby to come out. I rolled on my back and pushed a few times and out he came. There was meconium so they passed the baby to the nurse to get cleaned out. As they were cleaning him up all I could think to say was "Were those balls?".
After months of guessing we would have a girl, and nearly 3 hours at the hospital, we had our little boy. They handed him to me, while the Dr stitched a second degree tear J and I snuggled him and tried to feed him. We knew right away that he was Jack Martin. After feeling complete indecision about names the whole pregnancy we named him in seconds. Everyone went away and we got to spend a beautiful hour with our little baby. Finally, we let our families in and the picture taking began. Martha helped "process" Jack and gave him his first bath. After I got cleaned up we headed down the hall to our next room. It was 7 am and I was exhausted! The boys drifted right off to sleep while I took care of the "administrative" stuff and breakfast. J deserved the rest. He was so supportive and wonderful through the whole process.
