The birth of Jackson Paul, according to his mama :-)
As you probably know, Jack was 5 days "late." In our desperation, we tried multiple ways to hurry him up and get him out; we were on a deadline to have him out before multiple family members left the state to move and leave for vacation. Jack, of course, had his own schedule.
The Monday before he was born, I tried to have my membranes stripped, but my cervix was still so high that my midwife couldn't even tell me if I'd dilated or not. Wednesday I tried acupuncture with my chiropractor and then went to the midwife to try to have her strip my membranes again, but
again she couldn't reach. Feeling very let down, I went home and proceeded to have an uneventful evening.
Thursday morning I woke up to a couple of small contractions, but since I'd been having braxton hicks contractions for several months it wasn't of any concern to me. The day progressed, and Ryan and I decided to head to Home Depot with the kids to get a couple of things for the yard. I had two pretty strong contractions in Home Depot, and told Ryan it was time to get out of there. As I lifted Luke to put him in his car seat, and as he fought me with all his strength, I had my first REAL contraction when I thought, "Oh crap, what the heck did I get myself into? Is it too late to go to the hospital for drugs?!" We came home at 4:00 and they kept coming, only every 10 minutes or so. A little after 5 I decided this was real labor, and we called my mom and asked her to come back (she'd been visiting family nearby). They started off slowly but pretty hard, I was finishing folding up some laundry on the bed since I knew we'd be back home with a new baby soon! At some point I wanted to lay down on the bed, and only minutes after that we figured it was time to head to the birth center. We wanted to get there earlier than when we'd arrived with Luke, so we wanted to leave before my contractions got too close, and at this point they were coming every 5 minutes or so.
At about 6, Ryan loaded the car and we left, the ride was long but it wasn't as horrible as it was when I was in labor with Luke. I felt like I was doing an awesome job managing the pain with low moans and deep breathing, and they didn't feel too bad. When we got to the birth center, my midwife Melanie was waiting for us. She wanted to check me to see how far I was, by my lack of discomfort and how quickly things were going I told her I thought I was about a 6. She checked me and said I should be very proud of myself because I was an 8-9! I told her holy cow, no way! They filled the bath and I hopped in about 10 minutes later. As I labored in the tub, I felt my water break naturally (the first two times they'd broken it for me), and at that point things went quickly.
I soon felt the urge to push, it was about 7:20. I love that my midwife told me to follow my body's urges, and other than checking the baby's heart rate every so often, there was no other intervention. I couldn't believe how fast my labor had progressed, so I counted my pushes, thinking I might be one of those crazy women who birthed her baby in 4 pushes. I lost count after 6, but it took about 20 minutes from the first push to birth! While I handled the rest of my labor well, and felt on the whole it was relatively painless, pushing was definitely
not painless. Crowning and pushing out his head was in fact the most painful thing I've ever experienced! But it was quick, and the endorphins of post-birth bliss and "catching" my new baby boy as he emerged from my body suddenly overtook all the pain I was in.
As we counted his fingers and toes, we all took guesses on his weight: I thought he was upper 8s, Ryan said lower 9s, and the nurse said lower 9s. We were all shocked that the scale read 9 lbs 12 oz, and 23 inches long! I'm still getting comments on how my small body handled such a big boy, and I can tell you now (4 days later) that it wasn't without a price! My abs (or what's left of them) are still incredibly sore, and I'm even having difficulty walking. I'm so thankful I didn't tear and need stitching because that's one less thing I need to recover from. But I'm also trying to comprehend how my biggest baby gave me my easiest labor. Sort of a miracle, I think.
He's a wonderful nurser, and so far he's pretty mellow. He just spent at least two hours napping in his swing! We're celebrating this new little guy and we're so happy "Frisbee" decided to finally come out and join our family!
Cousins! Luke and Christopher played together a little bit.
Beth was all over Christopher, being a little mommy.
Beth with Aunt Ramona, after opening some presents.
We got Jack dressed in his "tie" onesie (thanks Lauren!) before we put on the gown that was worn by Beth and Luke.
A quick picture after he was dressed.
"I baptize you in the name of the Father..."
Luke wanted to steal a quick kiss!
Ryan, me, Father George, Ramona, Matthew
Aunt Ramona and Uncle Matthew, Jack's godparents
Luke was upset, he's very dramatic these days
Jack slept through most of his party, first on Grandpa...
...Then on PawPaw
Gettin' holy is hard work!
Beautiful cake
Luke actually napped through the entire party too! By the time he woke up, everyone was gone!
Laying on Daddy's lap
Our best family picture so far
Ramona and Christopher. Thank you for flying in to see us!
See the little feet poking out from under her dress? Mama Beth was nursing her little Eric. Sweetness. :-)
turn off that flash, man! i'm trying to sleep here!
We have a couple of fawns that live in the empty wooded lot next door to us, one came to visit our "pond" yesterday during a break in the rain.
Beth, Luke and Finley were very excited to see him galloping around our backyard.
Jack slept happily through the whole ordeal. :-) This is his first and last time to wear his "little brother" onesie. It's a size newborn but the arms were like a muscle shirt on him and I could barely snap up the bottom!
Uncle Matthew, Jack's Godfather
My grandma, Jack's first visitor
Balloons on the mailbox to announce his arrival!
