Jack's Birth Story

Despite the fact that I was blogging when Jack was born, I never published a full account of his birth, though I'm impressed that I apparently managed the short, short version on the night he was born. Go Past-Emily! After finally completing Clara's two weeks ago, the way I look at it, I'm two years ahead of schedule with Jack. So on this fourth anniversary of these events, here goes nothing!

Unlike with Clara's impending birth when I was convinced that I was going to be late, for my second pregnancy I was petrified that I would go into labor early without first clearing my to-do list. In hindsight I recognize my flurry of activity the weekend before he was born, including ridiculous things like cleaning the grout in the bathroom and caulking the tub and some of the windows, as the surge of energy before the end. I woke up on Monday, April 27th at 39 weeks and 5 days feeling pretty good about what we had accomplished. 

That morning Clara and I went to Whole Foods & Target, a standard Monday morning occurence, and then we met Brec for lunch at MoJoe's. I was particularly excited about naptime because that morning at Target, I had found exactly the type of under-the-bed storage bins I had been seeking for our DVD and CD collections. I had the bins laid out in the living room and was in the process of filling them with our media when I took a wide step over one and felt a trickle run down my leg. I could not believe it. Suddenly the any day had become the day, and I would be having a baby sooner rather than later. 

The rest of the afternoon I spent on the phone alerting the cavalry that the clock was officially ticking. My contractions began soon after my water broke, but much like the first time, they were 10 - 15 min apart and not lasting very long. When Brec arrived home from work, we took a walk down to the park. Little did Clara know, this was her last walk as an only child!

After our stroll we returned home to wait for Nay-nay's arrival. She would not accompany us for the birth this go-round because she was tasked with the important job of taking care of Clara. Here I am at 8 pm that night before heading out the door to go to NC Women's Hospital. Not much had changed in terms of my labor progression, but we were just anxious to get the show on the road. 

On the car ride over I called Rose, a women that I had gotten to know at the Women's Birth and Wellness Boutique.  On my most recent trip there buying diapers in preparation for baby's arrival, Rose had mentioned to me that she was training to be a doula and that if I called her when I went into labor, she'd assist me if she was available. Turns out on that particular Monday night, she was free, and she met us at the hospital in the triage room.

Upon our arrival to the L&D floor, the admit nurses observed me skeptically when I came to the check-in desk looking so chipper but understood when I told them my water had broken about 6 hours earlier. A check in the triage room confirmed that my water had indeed broken, and I was 3 cm dilated! They preceded to start me on fluids and readied an IV with the pitocin. By 10:30 pm I was hooked up and on the oblong! birthing ball getting mentally ready for what was to come.

Very quickly the contractions went from barely noticeable to extremely painful & in close succession. I vividly remember comparing my current situation to my experience with Clara and judging that I was being much wimpier this time around because I was barely 1 1/2 hours into active labor and already contemplating an epidural. A few more painful contractions and the decision was made to call for the anesthesiologist, again assuming that I had much longer to go (based on the length of my previous labor) and thinking I couldn't last that long. I just wanted things to slow down and have a little break before pushing. That was not to be my path this time around.

Once again I had to leave the relative comfort of the birthing ball and perch on the bedside to prepare for the catheter insertion. This procedure was worse this time around because I was farther along in labor, and the doctor missed on the first try and had to insert the needle a second time before getting it in the right place. All the while I weathered several very strong contractions with Rose rubbing my back and my hanging onto the L&D nurse for support.

Upon the successful completion the anesthesiologist's last words to me were that the epidural would take about 15 - 20 minutes to take effect. Immediately the OB attending came in and introduced herself as "Amanda Horton, as in Horton Hears a Who". She wanted to check my cervix which we had not done prior to the epidural and responded no to my request that we wait until after the epidural took effect to do so. She determined that I was 8 cm dilated. No wonder that after only two hours I was finding the pain to be overwhelming, I was in the throes of transition. 

She returned only a few contractions later and checked me again to discover that I was a full 10 cm dilated. It was then that she inquired as to how long I had pushed with my first baby. When I responded about 25 min, she informed me that "we need to get this baby out now or else you're going to have to have help". Of all the things I was expecting to hear, that was certainly not it, but of all the things she could have said to motivate me, turns out, that worked. 

Unlike the final moments of Clara's birth which in my memory were very calm and controlled, those of Jack's were much more frenetic with a sense of urgency applied to them. There was no waiting around for each contraction to push and hold a 10 count. In my mind from the moment I got into position, I shut my eyes and pushed long and hard. The good news was that he moved very quickly down the birth canal and in what to me seemed a surprisingly short amount time, Brec et al. could see his head, and then he was out. 

I still had my eyes shut when Dr. Horton held him up and said, "Mom, take a look at your son." They whisked him away and just when I asked, "Is something wrong, why hasn't he cried?" he let out a loud, wonderfully welcome wail, and everyone in the room took a collective sigh. When I looked over at the table, there seemed to be an army of pediatric doctors and nurses surrounding him. Ostensibly as soon as I'd gotten on the bed after the epidural, they had observed late decelerations of his heart rate during each contraction. One of the nurses explained to Brec that the cord had been pinched. But thanks to a speedy delivery everything was fine, and very soon our 7 lbs, 15 oz and 20.75 inches baby boy was quite pink and letting us know he had arrived. 

He was born at 1:23 am (a mere 20 min after the epidural had been placed, for those keeping track) and was brought over to me very soon after. 

Phew, we made it!

Inked baby feet.

Another distinction between Clara's and Jack's births was the aftermath. After all the initial excitement, exams, and post-partum hubbub, everyone cleared out of the room and left us alone.  I remember thinking how weird yet appropriate it was in contrast to our first experience because this time around, we weren't petrified first-time parents but seasoned veterans, and though it had been years, caring for a newborn came back immediately. 

Brec caught a piece of this time on video. I'm pretty sure I was talking to Carrie on the phone.  You can see how vacant our room was. With Clara that would have terrified me, but after Jack's birth, it was a welcome respite to have some one-on-one time quiet time with him so soon after his arrival. He's a little over an hour old here, and you can see how alert he is.

In the quiet of the early morning, Daddy takes a turn holding his son. The other variance between our two births being that we didn't have a name for our baby boy at this point. Since we let the sex be a surprise, it was as if we couldn't get serious about our choices until we'd eliminated half the field.

Time is now 3:25 am, and we are still alone in the L&D room. I decided, what the heck, let's going ahead and try to nurse. He took to it like a champ.

Shortly after that, someone came and got us settled into our post-partem room on the floor above. So weird that you go into L&D two and leave three! They took Jack away for his bath and a hearing test, and once again I laid awake reflecting on the night's events. Actually this time, I put my insomnia to good use and took to the computer. As proof I have a time-stamped blog entry! They wheeled him back in an hour or so later, nice and clean from his first bath. 

And there we are greeting his first sunrise, me and Brec awake and newly-dubbed Jack Baylis sleeping through it.

Welcome to the Carson family, Jack!