Jackson's Birth- Part II

If you're just now joining this story, here are the links for the prerequisite and Jackson's Birth- Part I.

So, we're finally in a room of our own and I'm anxious to start walking around.  I had to wait for them to hook me up to a drip which meant walking the halls with a metal pole and hooked to an IV...pretty cumbersome.  Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the walking, in between bathroom breaks.  Those are fun, too, with an IV...having to unhook the bag from the pole, carry it into the bathroom, latch it to a hook on the wall.  I suppose it's easier than having the pole in there with you but when you're past 9 months pregnant...well, you can imagine how often I took those breaks when I was constantly being pumped full of fluids.  A little annoying.

Anyway, eventually the nurses made me stay in the bed after the doctor broke my water.  I think they were getting nervous that I might drop the baby on the floor or something.  Not likely, but I still relented.  Once
bed-ridden, I must have changed positions every 2 minutes.  I'm surprised that I didn't break Justin's hand as tight as I was squeezing it with each progressing contraction.  It's hard to describe what a contraction is like.  I guess it's like every muscle in your body tenses, squeezing your insides as tightly as possible and burning at the same time.  And they tell you to relax?  And they tell you to breathe?  Not only that, but in the most calm and cool voice as if it's the easiest thing in the world to do.  Oddly enough though, while the contraction was really intense at its peak, I think it caused the in-between times to be largely therapeutic.  It's like I could endure the intensity because I knew it would subside and I could enjoy a moment of relaxation...no matter how brief.  I was no angel during this event, though.  Justin kept asking me, did I want the epidural.  Please take the epidural.  The nurses made sure to offer me the option a time or two and let me know right before the "window closed" but I was determined.  Thankfully, there was one nurse there who was supportive.  She kept telling me I could do it.  It made me feel good to hear her say, "Some women can't.  But I can tell you can."

Another moment of confidence came when a different nurse (who I don't think was assigned to me, I only saw her this one time) came in to borrow something from the room and said I looked pretty good.  She asked me how far I had progressed and when we told her to 7.5 she couldn't believe it.  She said, "YOU are at 7.5, haven't had ANY medication and you're sitting there as calm as a cucumber?!  Girl, you are doing great!"  I told Justin under my breath (apparently not quietly enough, though) that she was just saying that to make me feel better.  She was really quick to say, "No, honey.  I'm not!  I'm serious.  Most women would be screaming by now.  I've done this enough to know.  Trust me."  Whether it was the truth or not, that conversation definitely helped me get through the rest of my labor.

When I reached 9.5, it felt like I was stuck there for an eternity.  In reality it was little more than an hour but that's still a looooong time.  We kept calling the nurse to check on me and telling her that I felt like I needed to push.  Each time she'd say, "I'm sorry, hon.  You're not ready to push yet.  You're still at 9.5."  Even after I started shaking trying to KEEP from pushing, I got the same response.  Now, I'm not sure if they were stalling me until the doctor was ready or if they just refused to believe that I actually knew what I was talking about.  Either way, I had been saying the same thing for an hour and was pretty fed up by this point.

Dr. McCain came in literally about 60 seconds after the nurse checked me the last time.  She also said I was only at 9.5 (not sure if that was really the truth or if she was just trying to cover for the nurse since she had JUST checked me herself).  Thankfully, though, she said, "Well, why don't you go ahead and TRY to push."  So at the next contraction, I did.  Once.  Aaaand his head popped out.  I wish you could have seen Dr. McCain's and the nurses' reaction.  They gasped and started hollering, "Don't push!  Don't push!"  I'm thinking, "Are you kidding me?!"  They didn't even have the stirrups out!  Thankfully, the table had been sanitized but it was still tucked away in the closet and they had to pull everything out and set it up.  This whole time, I'm shaking trying not to push and screaming, "Please, hurry.  Please hurry!"  To their credit, they were scrambling around as fast as they could.  When they were finally ready, one more push was all it took to get his shoulders out.  Jackson Bryant Lillard had entered the world on a Thursday, April 11th, at 4:07 pm CST. Looking back on it now, it would've been really cool if he'd been born at 4:11 but I'm not sure I would have lasted 4 more minutes.

He was beautiful but his skin was very dry.  It really looked painful.  Poor little guy.  Dr. McCain told us that I must have been leaking water for about a week.  I felt really bad about that...like I should have known or something.  I'm just so thankful that he was healthy.

Justin was so proud!  After the delivery, his back was really hurting him.  From the stress of the event, no doubt.  We were both exhausted...AND hungry (I hadn't eaten since the night before).  He went with his folks to get something to eat while I rested and waited for my hospital meal.  It was actually pretty good (or maybe I just thought that because I was starving. lol).

I think every mother should experience a natural childbirth at least once.  Sadly, very few women attempt it and I think they are missing out.  If you are pregnant or planning to have a child someday, I hope you'll consider this option seriously.  I'm no "granola" by any stretch and I didn't go the natural route with my other two but I really wish I had.  It was my easiest delivery and the benefits far outweighed the problems.  Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.

By the way, my sweet hubby brought me back some ice cream.  Yum!  A perfect way to end a perfect day!