Warning, it’s a long one.
Now that Jason is over two months old, I figured I’d better finally write down his birth story before I forget it! (He’s actually almost 3 months old now, but I started this a long time ago.)
The night before Jason was born we went to a family get together at JD and George Waller’s home. While we were there, our cousin Jeanette (who is pregnant with her first) was asking me questions about giving birth and how to tell if you’re in labor and stuff like that. I told her I probably wasn’t a very good person to ask, since my previous two birthing experiences were far from normal. (Both with Josh and Mary the only way I could really tell I was having contractions was by putting my hands on my stomach and feeling it tighten up. But since I had scheduled c-sections with both of them, we figured we’d better at least go to the hospital to get things checked out, and both times I was already dilated to a 7 when they first checked me.)
That night at about midnight I had to get up to go to the bathroom and when I laid back down I started having some contractions. They weren’t too bad, but they did keep me from sleeping, mostly because I couldn’t get comfortable. I was still 4 weeks from my due date, so I really didn’t think I was in labor. The contractions kept on coming, usually around 10 or so minutes apart. At about 2:30 I woke David up and we timed them some more and they kept coming pretty regularly. Finally around 4ish we decided we’d better call the doctor and see what they wanted me to do. Mostly this was because we knew it probably wasn’t a good idea to keep having contractions like that with my c-section scars. Dr. McNiel, the on-call doctor called back and said to go in to get checked out. I really didn’t want to go into the hospital, as I figured they would just give me the shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions, as they did when I started having early contractions with Josh, so we kind of waited around a little longer and took our time leaving.
Fully expecting to be home a few hours later, we called Mindy around 5:00 to come and meet us at the hospital to get Josh and Mary so she could watch them for us for the morning. We didn’t bring a bag for me or David, or even the camera.
As we were nearing the hospital we were explaining to Josh and Mary that I was going to the hospital so the doctors could check me out to make sure everything was going okay with the baby. Then Josh, who had had a sore in his mouth the past couple of days, said that he’d better go to the hospital too, because his mouth hurt. Then Mary said she needed to go to the hospital because her finger hurt. What funny kids. Oh, also Mindy said after they got into her van they were talking about Kayla (who had her baby a couple weeks earlier), and Josh said “Aunt Kayla’s baby already popped out.” If only it were that easy!
At my first appointment with my OB/GYN, Dr. Beck, I asked him about the possibility of doing a VBA2C (vaginal birth after two cesareans) if this baby happened to be head down (Josh and Mary were both breech, hence the 2 previous c-sections). I had read about people who had done them, but knew very few doctors were willing to try it. He told me no, because it the risk of uterine rupture increased significantly after 2 c-sections. I expected that answer, so I wasn’t really surprised. Towards the end of my pregnancy I kept thinking about it, and brought it up again at my last doctor appointment. I asked him if he would be willing to consider it if all went well, since my previous two labors had progressed so quickly and with very little pain for me. He thought about it for a while and finally told me that he wouldn’t say yes and he wouldn’t say no. He told us the risks and that if something went wrong it could get really bad, but that he would consider it if everything progressed well. I was happy with that answer and trusted his judgment. My due date was October 12th, and Dr. Beck adjusted it up to October 10th based on the first ultrasound.
When we got checked into the hospital I went to the triage room and they hooked me up to the monitors and said I was definitely having contractions. The nurse checked me and I was dilated 5 cm, so they called Dr. Beck to see what he wanted to do. He didn’t think 5 cm was far enough along to do the VBAC, so he told them to get ready for a c-section in 30 minutes. It was kind of crazy to know then that I would have a baby in less than an hour, when just a little while before I fully expected to leave the hospital without one!
They got me prepped for the surgery, which is always super fun: putting an IV in my arm, having me drink the anti-nausea stuff that tastes gross (I had forgotten about that with the other two babies), giving me the spinal (which I’m always nervous for…what if I move at just the wrong time?), doing the cold touch thing on me to find out how far up I’m numbed. I know I’ve already forgotten some of it, but that’s probably a good thing. They put up a blue sheet between my head and my tummy so I couldn’t see what was going on down there, but I watched some of the surgery through the reflection in the big light. What I saw looked pretty gross, but someday I do kind of want to see a c-section. Not on myself, of course, but I think it would be interesting. Thank goodness I was numbed up so I didn’t feel the pain, but I could still feel the doctors moving things around inside me, which has got to be one of the grossest feelings ever, yuck!
(9/12, 6:43AM: On my way into the operating room—I’m stylin!)
Our baby was born at 6:59 am, weighing in a 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20 ½ in. long. Not bad for being 4 weeks early! After they cut the cord they showed him to me they took him to clean him up and weigh him and such. He wasn’t breathing very well, so David went with him to the recovery room where they put an oxygen machine right next to him to see if that would help clear things out. After Dr. Beck finished sewing me up, he told me it was probably a good thing that I didn’t try to deliver vaginally, as my uterine wall was pretty thin. I’m grateful for a competent doctor!
(9/12, 6:59AM: Getting to very briefly meet Jason)
(9/12, 7:01AM: Jason getting cleaned up)
(9/12, 7:04AM: Putting Jason next to the oxygen machine to help his breathing)
(9/12, 7:16AM: He's still next to the oxygen machine, they also put a tube down him to get some stuff out)
David and the baby (and some nurses) were waiting for me in the recovery room. I think it was in there that we decided to name him Jason David. Jason was still next to the oxygen machine, but they did let me hold him for a while, which was nice! His breathing wasn’t improving, however, so they took him to the NICU and hooked him up to a CPAP machine to help him out. They also did a chest x-ray, where they saw a dark spot on one of his lungs. They weren’t sure if it was pneumonia or if he had aspirated some fluid while coming out, so they started him on antibiotics just in case. Meanwhile they moved me to my room (1107), where I waited to get word on my baby and for my body to regain feeling. (I hate not being able to control my body while I’m numb! It makes me feel so helpless and gives me more sympathy for people who are like that permanently!)
(9/12, 7:22AM: Mom and Jason checking each other out from afar)
(9/12, 7:45AM: I finally get to hold him...for a few minutes)
(9/12, 7:49AM: Short bonding time)
David’s Uncle Ben came over to the hospital from work that afternoon and helped David give Jason a blessing. I’m so grateful he was able to come and so grateful for the Priesthood!
It wasn’t until that afternoon/evening that I got to go see Jason again. Surprisingly I felt at peace about the whole situation, which was good, because I am a good worrier! When we saw him he was wearing head gear to hold the oxygen line to his nose, had an IV and all sorts of other wires and tubes coming out of him. It was quite sad looking! He was also very puffy which made him look really cubby, but it was because he was retaining so much fluid. Eventually that went down.
(9/12, 2:08PM: Isn't this a sad pictures?! He looks really chubby here because of the fluid retention)
They were able to take him off the CPAP machine the next morning, but they still had to keep him in the NICU to monitor everything. David and I would go and visit Jason every 3 hours at feeding times. At first the nurses bottle-fed him what I had pumped, but that afternoon I finally got to hold him again and was able to try to nurse him. We tried nursing every feeding, but he never did get the hang of it, so David or I would bottle feed him. After a couple of days they nurses commented that Jason didn’t want to wait his turn to be fed, he would wake up and want to eat earlier than his scheduled 3 hours, which didn’t surprise me at all, because I was lucky if Josh and Mary would go 2 hours between feedings!
(9/13, 9:13AM: Off the breathing machine, but still lots of monitoring going on)
(9/13, 9:16AM: First feeding)
(9/13, 9:20AM: Milk Coma. Notice how puffy his eyes are)
(9/13, 4:08PM: Finally getting to hold Jason again)
I was discharged from the hospital on 9/15, but they still wanted to keep Jason a while longer. When David was bringing me home from the hospital I mentioned to him that it was really weird coming home without Jason; that it almost felt like we went on a really painful vacation since we had been away from Josh and Mary so long. That evening we took Josh and Mary to the hospital to meet Jason for the first time. We had quite the experience with those two hooligans in the NICU! Mary was supposed to be sitting on a little stool one of the nurses brought over for her. She was playing around on it and fell off backwards, hitting her head on the hard floor. Of course she started crying very loudly, so everyone heard her. She was fine, by the way. The next day one of the nurses asked me how Mary was, and I told her it definitely wasn’t the first time she had hit her head, and I’m sure it wouldn’t be the last.
(9:15, 9:53AM: Holding Jason again before I’m discharged)
(9/15, 6:26PM, Josh and Mary meeting their brother for the first time)
The doctors did another chest x-ray a couple of days later, and the dark spot on his lung was gone, his breathing was fine, and he was in the clear besides weight gain. He had gone down to 6 lbs. 11 oz., and regained up to 6 lbs. 13.7 oz. when he was discharged on 9/17.
(9/17, 9:42AM: Proud Papa posing with his son before we finally get to take him home)
(9/17, 10:06AM: Ready to go! Notice how we had to put a blanket underneath him to make the straps fit properly. So tiny!)
(9/17, 10:41AM: Happy big brother)
(9/17, 10:44AM: Happy big sister)
Physically, this was probably my easiest recovery. I’m sure actually getting some rest and not trying to hold and feed a baby with a painful incision for the first few days was the biggest difference. So with all the scary parts of his birth and complications he had, at least there was some good that came from it!
Another note, one of Jason’s neighbors in the NICU was his relative! My 2nd cousin’s granddaughter—making her Jason’s 3rd cousin once removed—was born several weeks premature (she and Jason were actually due a day apart), so I saw her parents (her mom Shelby is from Snowflake too) in there several times. It’s a small world, especially when you have a really big family like I do!
I’m so grateful to my Mom who came down and took care of Josh and Mary for us while we were in the hospital and of all of us when we came home, including being my personal chauffer. I’m grateful to Mindy for sacrificing her sleep to come and meet us at the hospital and watch Josh and Mary for me that day. I’m grateful to David for sticking with me through all the emotional roller-coaster-ness and for helping me physically when I couldn’t do things myself. Mostly I’m grateful to Heavenly Father for blessing our family with a healthy, handsome baby boy! We love him so much!
