Jacob's Birth Story

On Wednesday August 13th, baby Jacob was born, and here's how it all came to be. Jesse had taken the day off, and I knew I wanted him there for my very last appointment, and I'm so glad I did. We slept in 'til about 10am and I made myself some pancakes for breakfast and just waited around for my appointment. So, 2:25pm rolls around and we leave for my 2:45pm appointment. We arrive at the doctor's office and I check in. We go through the regular OB procedures: weight, temp, BP, pee in a cup. We meet Dr. Marc in our room, and he checks the baby's heart rate, which was prefect. He then performs and internal, and he basically tells me I'm a finger tip dilated, but baby is still way up high. He then decides to get a second opinion from his dad, who is also one of my primary doctors. His dad performs an internal and basically reiterates what Dr. Marc had said, and well, that I'm going to have a c-section due to the fact that I have a narrow pelvis/cervix, or something, and baby is big. I was not surprised and had mentally prepared myself for it. Dr. Marc also took a look at the results from my last growth U/S, and found that my amniotic fluid was borderline low, so he orders an immediate NST (check baby's movement) and AFI (U/S to check baby's fluid, size, and surroundings) for me (in other words, getting the same tests I had been getting a month before due to high BP) to be performed twice a week. So now, after my appointment, I have to go directly to the hospital to start the tests, and I also got to schedule my c-section. It was to be Wednesday, August 20th at 9am.

Jess and I get to the Hospital around 4pm, we check into admitting, and we get started on the testing. I was first sent to radiology to get my U/S. After that we went to L&D at around 6pm where I was hooked up to the monitors and such. The nurse asked why I was there and I told her about my low fluid, and she asked if the U/S tech had told me the results. I told her no and she immediately checked my results for me and explained that it was actually good now. However, I had been laying in that bed for quite a few hours and apparently my BP was high, but not crazy high. Just above my usual average. So, nurse thinks everything's good, and says she's going to call Dr. Marc and let him know what's going on and that basically everything looked good to go. During this time, Jess and I were starving and were planning our menu for dinner. Well, it didn't turn out that way. Nurse comes back in and the first thing she says is, "I jinxed ya! You are going in for a c-section at 10pm (in about 1 hour and 45 minutes)." All because of my BP!

I had an hour and half to somewhat mentally prepare for surgery, call close family, and deal with what was happening. I couldn't believe it. It was finally time. I was so scared and so sad. Scared because no amount of preparation can truly prepare you for the unknown. And sad because my sister, and best friend, was in Washington for work, and when I made the call to her she was devastated that she couldn't be there for me. But we both knew that even if she were here that she wouldn't be able to do much. I did have my mom, my brothers, and my niece come visit before the surgery. They tried to keep my mind off the surgery, and basically chatted with me up until the very last minute.

It was go time. I walked to the OR room, and was afraid of what I saw, and yet comforted. The OR was big, white, bright, and cold, and yet there was music on in the background, oldies to be exact. I was prepped for the spinal and it wasn't that bad, and exactly what I had expected. I immediately lost the feeling in the lower half of my body. The nurses positioned me and everything happened so quickly. Dr. Marc came in along with his dad, who was to assist him, and I remember them telling me your baby will be here in 5 minutes...3 minutes...soon. Then, at 10:41pm, I heard the cry, and I was so excited, relieved, worried. They brought him to me and I cried, and Jesse really cried. It was beautiful! Jesse left with the baby, and the Docs finished up on me. And apparently while they were doing the c-section the doctor found a cyst. Luckily, he was able to remove it without me having to go through another surgery. Funny thing is, I did not feel any discomfort or pain during the c-section. No pressure, no uncomfortable feeling, but as soon as they started working on the cyst I could feel it. So, since I was moaning they doped me up. I went under for a little bit. Once I was finished, they sent me to a recovery room where I waited and woke up. Then I was moved to my room. I slept some more in my room, and I vaguely remember Jesse being in and out of my room, and leaving. I didn't sleep at all that night. I kept looking at the clock, finally realizing I had my baby, I wanted him, but I knew that I couldn't do anything with him 'cause I was drugged up and in pain. Finally, at around 3am they brought him to me. I was a little groggy still, but they encouraged me to try to breastfeed, and be with baby. I held him so tight, and looked at him, and couldn't believe he was mine.

Jacob and I were discharged Saturday, August 16th. I was so happy to being going home! I was in the hospital for almost 3 days. I was looking forward to going home, showering, and eating some real food, since I had been on clear liquids, and hadn't had anything solid, or good, since my pancakes on Wednesday. My sister was there for our discharge. We all drove home, and when we got home we found a pleasant surprise. My family had decorated the house. The drive-way was covered in blue baby paintings with a giant sign in the front window and balloons and streamers everywhere. They also cleaned up our place and prepped as much as they could for us. It was so sweet!

The recovery so far has been okay. I've been doing okay, but I'm tired of dealing with the soreness. I hate c-sections, and I hate that I can't help out with baby that much. Of course I can do some stuff, but I can't do too many things. But it was all worth it in the end!

Baby Jacob is perfect and healthy! No jaundice, he's been eating and pooping regularly, for now, and he seems to be thriving. We already had our first doctor's visit. Jacob weighs 8 lbs, 15 oz. and is now 20.5 inches long. We are all so happy!

And with my new Canon...







P.S. Thank you for the lovely comments!