Jonathan's Arrival

So I don't forget....sorry if tmi

Two days before Jonathan's due date I had a regular OB appointment. When the doctor tried to listen to his heartbeat, she couldn't find it. She started looking all over my belly for it and finally found it much higher than normal. A quick ultrasound showed that he was transverse, or sideways. That would explain the highly decreased movement I had felt from him the previous few days. She had me come in two days later, his due date, to again check his position. If he hadn't moved, she would attampt to move him the following at the hospital. Thankfully, he was once again head down. Since I was now at 40 weeks, she went ahead and checked me. I was at 1cm and 50% effaced. Something, but not really.

The next few days showed a few signs that labor was approaching and I would occasionally feel a contraction, but nothing regular. Wednesday night I had contractions at 10:30, 10:45, 10:50, 10:55, 11:00, and decided that if something was going to happen that night, I wanted to get at least a little sleep and went off to bed, leaving Damon playing video games. I think he came to bed about 11:30.

A bit after midnight Joseph woke up and was crying in bed. I woke up and was uncomfortable and Damon asked if I was having contractions. Yes I was, so I asked him to go in to Joe instead of letting Joe come into bed with us. He went and laid down with him and by 12:30 I had to get out of bed as it wasn't comfortable any more. I started walking around, and soon went out onto the balcony for some cool air. I soon started to not feel too well and over the next while I was sick a few times. Before long, nothing sounded as comfortable as sitting on the couch. At about 1:30, Damon called my mom to come over and stay with Joe. She said she had gone to bed really early but hadn't been able to sleep, so she was actually up folding clothes. She came over about 2:00 am.

At a previous visit to the OB I told him that I would like to avoid an epidural. He strongly encouraged me to keep walking, walking, walking in order to be successful in this. So, I tried, but on the couch was just more comfy. Before I did this though, I thought several times that these contractions were worse than I remembered and that I was going to have to eat my words, admit defeat, and get an epidural at the hospital. But once on the couch, I noticed the ticking of the clock. When a contraction would come, I would just close my eyes, lean my head back and start nodding it back in forth with each tick, counting them. I would count to what should be the half way point and know that it was almost over. I soon knew I could do this without the epidural. I just knew that I could. Contractions were already 45-75 seconds long. We left for the hospital at about 2:30 and the contractions were about 3 minutes apart.

Once at the hospital and in the room, I was checked and found to be already at 7cm. Since there was no longer a clock to listen to, I had started just counting as I breathed. As things got harder, I counted and really focused on the sound I was making as I breathed out-shhhhhh. I pretty much stayed curled up on my side in the bed until it was time for Jonathan to arrive, with lots of sips of water from Damon.

The doctor broke my water at about 4:00, and things got momentarily harder, but returned to what they had been. She broke the water again at 4:30, and after less than 10 minutes of pushing, baby was born at 4:40am! The doctor lifted him up to me, Damon cut the cord, and I just sat there stroking his head. It was a very surreal moment to suddenly be done! I think one of the first things I said was, "Let's not do that again for a while, ok?". The doctor just kept saying how impressed she was with how I handled labor without an epidural. I guess it helped that there was a woman literally screaming during her labor to compare me with. :)

Baby measured in at 9lbs 1 oz, 21 inches long, and started emptying his bowels almost immediately. The nurse said she had never seen a newborn baby poop so much. (I know you really needed to know that!) After about 2 1/2 hours, Jonathan was taken for a proper bath and I was taken to our room. I was absolutely hungry and ready for breakfast, which came soon after. Damon went home for a few hours rest, and then came up with Joe and his mom that afternoon. He had expected to be at the hospital for the long haul like the first time and had brought his backpack with school work and reading. None of it got done that week and he played catch up for a while because of it. We were discharged from the hospital the next afternoon, and are finally starting to figure out how to get everything done with two little boys around!