The Birth Story: The Final Installment
Around 6:45 on Wednesday evening, the time finally came for me to push. And push I did for the next 3 hours with my nurse, Lauren, and Chris encouraging me the whole time. The on-call doctor came in around the 2 hour mark to check on my progress and told me that we would have a different conversation the next time she came in if the baby still wasn't here. That's exactly what happened. At the 3 hour mark, it was determined I had not made enough progress to continue. The doctor gave me the option of forceps or a c-section. Since there was no way I was going to let them try to yank my baby out, I went with the c-section.
At that point, things started moving quickly. Suddenly there were more people in my room and things were happening. They were stopping the pitocin and stopping my contractions. Chris was given scrubs to wear and told to wait outside the operating room until they came to get him. Everyone was moving around me but I was only slightly aware of it. I was so exhausted at this point, I decided it would be a good time to nap. So I nodded off quite a bit over the next 30 minutes while they moved me and prepped me for surgery. I vaguely remember them throwing a bunch of things on the bed and wheeling me down the hall and moving me from the bed to the operating table. Next thing I knew, I was prepped and ready to go and Chris was sitting next to me.
At that point, the doctor did the pin prick test to see if I was numb so she could start the surgery. I felt the first prick and let her know so they increased my anesthesia and started the surgery. Only the anesthesia hadn't taken full effect yet or something because I felt it when the doctor started the initial incision. At least I was aware enough to let them know so they were able to correct the problem and continue on. After that, I felt a lot of tugging and pulling which was pretty uncomfortable. I know I let out a few audible moans because the anesthesiologist kept checking on me to make sure I was alright.
At 10:33 on July 20th after 34 hours in labor, Jackson Christopher Short finally made his arrival into this world. Complete with big feet, long toes, and pink skin, he weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces and was 20 inches long. I would like to say I was excited but I was still drifting in and out of consciousness at this point while I waited for them to finish stitching me up. Chris was able to get some pictures of him and the anesthesiologist kept holding back the corner of the curtain so I could see him while they were working on him. Once Chris was finally able to bring him to me, I gave him a kiss and apologized for not being able to stay awake. To say I was tired at this point would be an understatement.
Jackson and Chris then headed to the nursery for his bath and to continue checking all his vitals. I was sent to recovery for the next hour for monitoring. Once Chris was done in the nursery with the baby, he came to sit with me until I headed back to my room. I was immediately put on 24 hour bed rest with a continued magnesium drip because of the preeclampsia. My mom and dad were still there when I got back to my room and they finally brought Jackson to me so we could spend some time with him before we went to sleep for the night. Because of the bed rest, Jackson couldn't be left alone in the room with me unless someone else was in there awake. Since Chris hadn't gotten much rest either, we sent the baby back to the nursery to settle in for the night around 3 AM.
A couple of hours later, I was awoken by a lab tech entering my room to draw more labs. Considering that I had barely gotten 2 hours of sleep at this point, I was none to happy especially when she ignored my concerns over my difficult veins and proceeded to stick me anyway. She missed and I completely lost it. Chris made her leave the room only to have my nurses show up a few minutes later. They calmed me back down and drew the necessary blood for the lab work and let me go back to sleep. Unfortunately, I had a new contraption, compression cuffs on my legs, to keep me awake. So sleep still wasn't to be had. It didn't matter though because once Chris woke up, they brought Jackson back to the room. And I have to say, through all of it, he definitely is worth it.
At that point, things started moving quickly. Suddenly there were more people in my room and things were happening. They were stopping the pitocin and stopping my contractions. Chris was given scrubs to wear and told to wait outside the operating room until they came to get him. Everyone was moving around me but I was only slightly aware of it. I was so exhausted at this point, I decided it would be a good time to nap. So I nodded off quite a bit over the next 30 minutes while they moved me and prepped me for surgery. I vaguely remember them throwing a bunch of things on the bed and wheeling me down the hall and moving me from the bed to the operating table. Next thing I knew, I was prepped and ready to go and Chris was sitting next to me.
At that point, the doctor did the pin prick test to see if I was numb so she could start the surgery. I felt the first prick and let her know so they increased my anesthesia and started the surgery. Only the anesthesia hadn't taken full effect yet or something because I felt it when the doctor started the initial incision. At least I was aware enough to let them know so they were able to correct the problem and continue on. After that, I felt a lot of tugging and pulling which was pretty uncomfortable. I know I let out a few audible moans because the anesthesiologist kept checking on me to make sure I was alright.
At 10:33 on July 20th after 34 hours in labor, Jackson Christopher Short finally made his arrival into this world. Complete with big feet, long toes, and pink skin, he weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces and was 20 inches long. I would like to say I was excited but I was still drifting in and out of consciousness at this point while I waited for them to finish stitching me up. Chris was able to get some pictures of him and the anesthesiologist kept holding back the corner of the curtain so I could see him while they were working on him. Once Chris was finally able to bring him to me, I gave him a kiss and apologized for not being able to stay awake. To say I was tired at this point would be an understatement.
Jackson and Chris then headed to the nursery for his bath and to continue checking all his vitals. I was sent to recovery for the next hour for monitoring. Once Chris was done in the nursery with the baby, he came to sit with me until I headed back to my room. I was immediately put on 24 hour bed rest with a continued magnesium drip because of the preeclampsia. My mom and dad were still there when I got back to my room and they finally brought Jackson to me so we could spend some time with him before we went to sleep for the night. Because of the bed rest, Jackson couldn't be left alone in the room with me unless someone else was in there awake. Since Chris hadn't gotten much rest either, we sent the baby back to the nursery to settle in for the night around 3 AM.
A couple of hours later, I was awoken by a lab tech entering my room to draw more labs. Considering that I had barely gotten 2 hours of sleep at this point, I was none to happy especially when she ignored my concerns over my difficult veins and proceeded to stick me anyway. She missed and I completely lost it. Chris made her leave the room only to have my nurses show up a few minutes later. They calmed me back down and drew the necessary blood for the lab work and let me go back to sleep. Unfortunately, I had a new contraption, compression cuffs on my legs, to keep me awake. So sleep still wasn't to be had. It didn't matter though because once Chris woke up, they brought Jackson back to the room. And I have to say, through all of it, he definitely is worth it.
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