The Birth Story Part 1
Disclaimer: I wasn't sure if I would want to share Jackson's birth story with everyone. If you aren't interested in reading all this then by all means, skip this (and any related posts). However, I want it documented for my sake because there are things I have already started to forget and it just happened 3 weeks ago. This is going to be long and it might have to be broken up into several posts. So I apologize in advance.
I went in on July 15th for my 38 week appointment. This was the first time I was going to be checked for any progress towards having the baby so I was cautiously optimistic about what the results would be. I also felt like crap. It was one of the hottest days we had had so far in the summer and I (wisely) decided to go shopping with my coworker, Jennifer, after we got off work that day. (Yay for half day Fridays!) The thought was I needed to be up and walking around to get this baby moving. Well, apparently that did something. While I was only dilated 1cm, my blood pressure was high enough for the doctor to actually get concerned so she decided to do some further testing. I was sent home with a jug to do a 24 hour collection (yep, you know what I am talking about) and orders to have blood drawn at the lab on Monday morning. So I took it easy for the rest of the weekend because the crappy feeling only continued (and actually got worse) as the weekend progressed, only heading out on Saturday night for my belated birthday dinner and to see the final Harry Potter movie.
Monday morning I took my jug to the lab and had the blood work done and was told I would have results in 1-2 days. That seemed odd to me since I figured what they were testing for was pretty pressing but who am I to question how this stuff works. I had also told Chris that morning that I didn't care what happened that week, it was going to be my last week at work. It was getting to be too difficult to get up in the mornings because I was exhausted and felt terrible. The heat was really getting to me and I was just over a week away from my due date. It was time to focus on me and the baby and to take it easy.
That whole discussion didn't really matter because I got a call from my doctor at 8 AM Tuesday morning that pretty much changed all of that. As she said, a call from your doctor that early in the morning is never going to be good news and she was right. I had tested positive for mild preeclampsia and that meant the baby needed to come out. Since I was 39 weeks and considered full term at that point, there was no need to wait. I had to get to the hospital immediately. They were going to induce me. I hung up the phone, tried to call Chris, and started to cry. I was scared. I didn't want to be induced. And even though I had spent 9 months preparing for Jackson arrival, the reality of it terrified me. While I waited for Chris to call me back, I went into my boss's office to let her know what was going on (yes, I was at work as this all was happening) and to figure out what needed to be taken care of there. Fortunately, Chris was only 10 minutes away because he was in patrol training rather than being at our house 45 minutes away and was able to come get me once he got my message.
We made it to the hospital in record time that morning. The whole way there I was making phone calls to my family and friends to let them know what was up and that we would definitely be having a baby within the next 2 days. My Mom and Dad started figuring out how they would get from Alabama to Texas. We also made arrangements to drop Maverick off at the kennel since we knew we would be at the hospital for the next several days. It seemed like everything had just kicked into hyper mode. Once we got to the hospital, the nurses were waiting for us and took me straight to my room. I guess they had received notification from the doctor's office that we would be there so they could be prepared.
I started getting settled in my room while we got a run down of what was going to happen. They would start the cervidil immediately, which I would be on for 12 hours, to help with my progression. Once that was done, it would be time for the pitocin. It was going to be a long night. I gave Chris a list of everything I needed from the house and sent him home to change while the nurse started all my labs and inserted my IV. I can just imagine what they thought when he walked in dressed in full Sheriff's gear complete with duty belt and everything. At least I was well protected at the hospital.
Shortly after I ordered my lunch, the nurse came in with the cervidil and informed me I couldn't sit up for an hour after it was inserted. So I got to stare at my meal for a good 30 minutes before I was able to eat it. I had been having mild contractions for a couple of weeks at that point so the cervidil took those and ran with it. Within 15 minutes, I was starting to have regular contractions. We were on our way and I was optimistic that I follow in the footsteps of one of my friends who only needed the cervidil to induce her labor and had her baby less than 24 hours after starting on it. I should have known better because I should have known that child birth was not going to be an easy process for me.
I went in on July 15th for my 38 week appointment. This was the first time I was going to be checked for any progress towards having the baby so I was cautiously optimistic about what the results would be. I also felt like crap. It was one of the hottest days we had had so far in the summer and I (wisely) decided to go shopping with my coworker, Jennifer, after we got off work that day. (Yay for half day Fridays!) The thought was I needed to be up and walking around to get this baby moving. Well, apparently that did something. While I was only dilated 1cm, my blood pressure was high enough for the doctor to actually get concerned so she decided to do some further testing. I was sent home with a jug to do a 24 hour collection (yep, you know what I am talking about) and orders to have blood drawn at the lab on Monday morning. So I took it easy for the rest of the weekend because the crappy feeling only continued (and actually got worse) as the weekend progressed, only heading out on Saturday night for my belated birthday dinner and to see the final Harry Potter movie.
Monday morning I took my jug to the lab and had the blood work done and was told I would have results in 1-2 days. That seemed odd to me since I figured what they were testing for was pretty pressing but who am I to question how this stuff works. I had also told Chris that morning that I didn't care what happened that week, it was going to be my last week at work. It was getting to be too difficult to get up in the mornings because I was exhausted and felt terrible. The heat was really getting to me and I was just over a week away from my due date. It was time to focus on me and the baby and to take it easy.
That whole discussion didn't really matter because I got a call from my doctor at 8 AM Tuesday morning that pretty much changed all of that. As she said, a call from your doctor that early in the morning is never going to be good news and she was right. I had tested positive for mild preeclampsia and that meant the baby needed to come out. Since I was 39 weeks and considered full term at that point, there was no need to wait. I had to get to the hospital immediately. They were going to induce me. I hung up the phone, tried to call Chris, and started to cry. I was scared. I didn't want to be induced. And even though I had spent 9 months preparing for Jackson arrival, the reality of it terrified me. While I waited for Chris to call me back, I went into my boss's office to let her know what was going on (yes, I was at work as this all was happening) and to figure out what needed to be taken care of there. Fortunately, Chris was only 10 minutes away because he was in patrol training rather than being at our house 45 minutes away and was able to come get me once he got my message.
We made it to the hospital in record time that morning. The whole way there I was making phone calls to my family and friends to let them know what was up and that we would definitely be having a baby within the next 2 days. My Mom and Dad started figuring out how they would get from Alabama to Texas. We also made arrangements to drop Maverick off at the kennel since we knew we would be at the hospital for the next several days. It seemed like everything had just kicked into hyper mode. Once we got to the hospital, the nurses were waiting for us and took me straight to my room. I guess they had received notification from the doctor's office that we would be there so they could be prepared.
I started getting settled in my room while we got a run down of what was going to happen. They would start the cervidil immediately, which I would be on for 12 hours, to help with my progression. Once that was done, it would be time for the pitocin. It was going to be a long night. I gave Chris a list of everything I needed from the house and sent him home to change while the nurse started all my labs and inserted my IV. I can just imagine what they thought when he walked in dressed in full Sheriff's gear complete with duty belt and everything. At least I was well protected at the hospital.
Shortly after I ordered my lunch, the nurse came in with the cervidil and informed me I couldn't sit up for an hour after it was inserted. So I got to stare at my meal for a good 30 minutes before I was able to eat it. I had been having mild contractions for a couple of weeks at that point so the cervidil took those and ran with it. Within 15 minutes, I was starting to have regular contractions. We were on our way and I was optimistic that I follow in the footsteps of one of my friends who only needed the cervidil to induce her labor and had her baby less than 24 hours after starting on it. I should have known better because I should have known that child birth was not going to be an easy process for me.
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