Jacqueline's Birth Story

Well you know Jai has written a few posts about the labor & contractions, but I haven't yet (it's July now). I don't know why - busy probably constantly feeding a baby. I know I wrote Julia's story much sooner, but I also have 2 children now so everything is slightly harder to complete sometimes. I kind of wish I had because  it's harder to remember, but really you don't need all the gritty details.

From Jai's posts you see that the process was a bit longer, but some of that is ignorance. I didn't realize I was in labor, having contractions as early as I did with Julia; this time I knew what was happening. I also felt like it happened really quickly with Julia & I was at work for many of those hours & I didn't want to be at a school if I progressed super quick. That however was not the case & I wonder if being more aware made me less relaxed & prolonged the labor/contractions process. Who knows & with everything related to having another child, you realize they are different so therefore labor & delivery was also. Thank goodness delivery was different! I had a successful VBAC (vaginal birth after cesearan).

Finally on day 2 (Wednesday afternoon) without getting much sleep for 2 previous nights, 2 nights my mom spent the night in our guest room, 2 trips to midwife to be informed I was 2 cm (Tues, Claire) & 5cm (Wed, Linda) & soon I would have a baby, not sure about who would be watching Julia as it depended on day & time, I was done. I decided that this baby was getting out of my body somehow that day/night. Like I was going to get more rest with a newborn! However, at least I wouldn't be having contractions.

Here's the timeline:
4pm I called midwife, said we're headed to hospital
We put Johnders in back yard, called Kris to ask/tell her to pick him up after school
4:30pm We dropped off Julia at Anne Marie & Kevin's house for her "slumber party"
5:00pm We arrived at Vanderbilt Hospital, admitted to L&D floor (contractions are more intense)
5:30pm Midwife (Lauren) checked me & I'm 6.5 cm (contractions are intense)
6:00pm Called my mom & asked when she's getting here, soon she arrived
7:30pm Midwife (Claire) checked me & I'm 7.5 cm (contractions are really intense)
I tell her to break my water, I'm done with this slow progress & I know it will bring me completely to 10.
7:45pm Break water
8:00pm I say "I need to push!"
8:43pm Jacqueline Suzanne arrives!! 
HALLELUJAH!


Details
Oxygen was involved - I couldn't regulate my breathing with pushing & baby's heart rate was fluctuating.
They kept saying "I see hair" but I couldn't understand why no baby was out!
Vacuum was involved - again concerned about baby's heart rate.
Some major tearing so some repair work that seemed to take forever.
Recovery nothing like with C-section thankfully.
Oh, also had to have "nitrous oxate" as the adrenaline kicked in & I was shaking majorly.
Good stuff, really helped calm me down.

Jai got to hold Jacqueline almost immediately & he cut the umbilical cord.
Bonnie got to hold her after Jai.
So much better than the surgery route!

I joke that if Julia had been born vaginally, I doubt Jacqueline would exist.
It is amazing to push your baby out of your body, but it is majorly intense.
You cannot understand until you do it & I'm glad I did.
Definitely no more Jai & Tara babies coming out of Tara's body.

: )

Jacqueline Suzanne

Jacqueline Suzanne, a photo by bmitd67 on Flickr.

Born 1/11/12
8:43pm
5lbs 14oz, 18.5" long

The waiting is the hardest part

Tara is laboring but we can't get to the breaking point.

Contractions are hovering around every 10min. They are getting more intense but not more frequent. If something doesn't give this will be the 3rd night of labor.

I have to say for all of Tara's low tolerance for discomfort (Its too cold, its too hot, etc) she is a monster at handling these contractions. Her focus and concentration are awe inspiring.

Boomerang Contractions

We got down to 8min apart but they slowly went back up to 20min apart and now they are back around 8. Damn you mother nature! Finish what you start please.

Baby coming, baby coming

Tara's been having contractions at a rate of 1 every 9min. We're aiming for 6 or 7 min for an hour before we go to the hospital.

So we might be having another middle of the night, rainy day baby.

We're all followers, aren't we.

Yesterday Beyoncé (Ingrid Jackson) and Jigga had a baby. Big up to them on the birth of their baby girl.

Today Tara says she feels weird, not labor necessarily but weird none-the-less. Is it time? I'm sure if Beyoncé hadn't had her baby Tara would feel fine, right? Riiiight.

37 & 38 week vist

I go to the midwife every week now so I decided to combine the blog post for 37 & 38 weeks, mainly because I hadn't written anything for last week yet! : ) Also not much has happened or changed in a week!

On Dec. 27 my appointment was with Soheyl who is our primary midwife this pregnancy & last one with Julia. It was wonderful to see her, especially as I hadn't seen her in MONTHS! 1 reason is that my appointments were more spread out this pregnancy, every 5-6 weeks instead of once a month. Another reason is the schedule, which days she works with when I scheduled my appointments. Also there are a few new midwives in the past 3 years & they really want you to meet them all if possible before you deliver as you never know who will be on call at your time. Amazingly Soheyl was on call when my water broke & we went to hospital last time, she'd just started her shift too so she saw us through the whole process though relatively short since I'd been in labor all day the day before!

Soheyl was excited to see Julia & Jai since they came with me today. She hadn't seen Julia since my 6 week follow-up visit in January 2009. Julia looks quite different now! : )

Nothing major to discuss, blood pressure is good as usual, lost 2 pounds which is not unusual at this point in pregnancy (despite holiday eating!), talked about heartburn of course, the bane of my existence currently. Baby's heartbeat was higher than usual. We talked about VBAC plan some, actually I asked what would happen if someone decided to have a C-section again. Would they still be able to be a patient of midwifery practice? She said that if you changed your mind as you got closer to delivery, then you could stay with practice, but if you decided from beginning, then they would refer you to an OB. Different circumstances, makes sense; not applicable for us since I'm not choosing surgery. If everything is attempted during L&D & VBAC is not possible, then OK, but I'm not going to start out choosing a C-section.

Today's appointment was with Lauren whom I'd met earlier in my pregnancy. She's new since Julia's birth, very nice, seems young, but competent. Today I got there early & they weren't busy so didn't have to wait long, good since Jai & Julia were with me again this week. Again nothing major to discuss, blood pressure is good as usual, same weight as last week (woo hoo!), baby's heartbeat was lower than usual.

We talked about heartburn again of course - it's SO uncomfortable. I really have more compassion for habitual sufferers - I don't know how they deal with it. I considered getting some Tums last week, but when I looked at the ingredients (red dye 5, yellow dye 24, etc.), I couldn't do it. That's disgusting! The papaya enzyme pills will have to be it for the next 2-3 weeks. Hopefully the baby will settle into my pelvis soon. I already go to the bathroom a lot now anyway. I don't think Julia dropped - probably why she flipped to breech position at last minute. Last week & today the baby was head down, last week face down, today sideways. Lauren estimated baby is about 6 pounds now, so if I go to 40 weeks, baby probably will be 7+. It seems like this baby is bigger, but who knows!

Stay head down, baby! Until next week - week 39!!! I'm finally in the due month - so very exciting!

Lauren suggested taking it 1 day at a time which is smart; it could be 17 days or less or more. I cannot really make plans for anything or if I do, know that it could change if the baby decides it is his or her time to emerge.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! : )