"Birth Story"

My husband told me that I needed to blog about having Jordan, because it is the "wifely" thing to do....so here it goes. It might be kinda long, so feel free to just skip down to the pictures, which is what we all really "read" people's blogs for anyways.

When I had our first little boy, Jackson, I ended up needing an emergency c-section, which meant that from then on out, I had about a 70% chance of being able to do a vaginal delivery with my next child. It also meant that I could never be induced, because the risks of my uterus tearing along my old incision line, doubled, and I could bleed out and it could ultimately be fatal to both me and the baby. So...needless to say, I didn't even argue with the doctor about the matter. My two options were to either schedule a repeat c-section, or just wait the pregnancy out even if that meant going all the way to 42 weeks. We opted to wait things out because we knew having Jordan vaginally would physically be better for me and him.

On Wednesday, July 27th, I had a normal check-up appointment with the doctor, and he went ahead and checked to see what kind of progress I was making. I was dilated to a whopping 1 cm and about 60% effaced. Aka, "Sorry girl...go home, nothing is going to happen today. Suck it up and be uncomfortable." The doctor didn't say those exact words to me, but that is all I heard when he told me I was at a 1. Trenton and I decided to make another appointment for that coming Friday, the 29th, just in case we decided to go ahead and schedule a c-section. By this point, I was having a lot sciatic nerve pain and could barely walk, let along pick Jackson up anymore. So having another c-section and just being done with everything was starting to sound incredibly appealing. About two hours after I got home from the doctor, I started having contractions. I refused to get my hopes up, because I had just been told I was only at a 1, so I just assumed it was false labor. Trenton was starting to get excited and made sure that I told him EVERY time I was having a contraction, so that he could write down the time. By the 5th hour of contractions, I let my guard down and I started to get my hopes up. Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. They stopped within the next half an hour. Disappointed, we both went to bed that night, me a little more agitated than Trenton. I had to go ANOTHER sleepless night because of how uncomfortable I was. Thursday came and went with nothing exciting happening. Before we went to bed that night, we made sure that we had a bag packed for me, and a babysitter lined up for Jackson just in case we went into the doctor that next morning and chose to do a c-section that following afternoon. At 2:30 am, I woke up to a contractions. This wasn't like the contractions I was having on Wednesday though. These were more painful than just noticeable. One came and went. Another one came 10 minutes later, and then 10 minutes after that, and after that, and after that. I wasn't excited, I didn't get my hopes up, I was just completely annoyed. I assumed this was false labor all over again, except this time I was losing sleep because of it. Needless to say, I never fell back asleep after that. I was curled up into a ball at one point, trying to find some sort of comfortable position, and Trenton woke up asking if I was okay. I told him that I was having contractions, and had been for about 4 hours. Of course he was wide awake after that. So there we both sat, wide awake, with the tv on at 6 in the morning, timing contractions. 7 o'clock came around and I started to get ready for my doctor's appointment. At 8:50, we went in and I told the doctor that I had been having contractions for about 6 hours, so he checked me, stripped my membranes, and I was between a 3 and 4, 75% effaced. I was officially in labor. I was hoping the doctor would just send me up to the hospital. I knew he couldn't give me anything to hurry things along, but I just REALLY DIDN'T want to be sent home and told to just wait things out. I was convinced that going home would stop my labor, and I refused to let that happen. So I kept telling my nurse, Jody, to convince the doctor to send me up. She did her best, but he wouldn't really give her an answer either. She asked him how dilated I needed to be and how close my contractions needed to be in order to send me to the hospital, and he just bypassed the question. Jody was completely on my side though, and kept nagging him about it all morning. Instead of sending me up, they put me on a monitor to see how strong my contractions were and how the baby was doing with it all. My contractions were about 5 minutes apart and getting stronger at this point. They made me lay still on my side while I was on the monitor. Not the most ideal situation when you are in pain. Jody would come in and check on me every few minutes to make sure I was doing okay since I hadn't eaten anything since midnight (just in case we scheduled a c-section, they told me not to eat before my appointment that morning). After being on the monitor for about 45 minutes, Dr. Evans came in and told us he was going to order an ultrasound because the baby's heart rate wasn't doing what they wanted during the contractions. On to a 30 minute ultrasound in an INCREDIBLY hot room, once again having to lay still while having contractions...not the most ideal situation. The ultrasound tech wouldn't tell us anything. She kept pulling faces at the screen and commenting on how the baby wouldn't move for her. Trenton and I just kept looking at each other like okay, I have no idea what is going on. The tech finally gave up and moved us to another room and told us the doctor would come talk to us. After waiting for a few minutes, having no idea what was going on, Jody came in and moved us yet to another room and put me back on the monitor. We asked her if she had any idea what was going on, and of course she didn't, but she said she would go pull the doctor in to at least give us a little information. Once again we sat waiting....and then Dr. Evans finally came in. He said he wanted to do the ultrasound himself. He told us that most likely the baby was okay, but that he wasn't moving around very much, and that his heart rate wasn't spiking like it should. After about 15 minutes of looking, he couldn't get Jordan to move around either. At this point, he left it up to us. He said that we could just keep monitoring things, or we could go up to the hospital and start prepping for a c-section. We all kinda sat and discussed things while he kept messing around with the ultrasound. When they do an ultrasound, they look for 8 different things, and Jordan was only passing 6 of those points. Finally, the doctor said, "Kath, what are you thinking girl?" After sitting there for a good 30 seconds, I said, "Let's just get him out." I didn't want to risk anything. We were all starting to get more and more worried as Jordan was moving less and less throughout the appointment.. Dr. Evans was completely supportive and said he'd go start the paperwork, and Jody came in to draw my blood to send up to the hospital. After 4 hours in the doctor's office, we hurried down the road to the hospital. They rushed me back and started prepping me and asking me a million and one questions, taking blood from here and there, starting my IV, asking me more questions, explaining the spinal block I was going to get, all while Trenton was checking me in. All of my nurses were great and were trying to make small talk in case I was nervous, while wheeling me down the hall towards the OR. Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous at all. Yes, I had had a c-section before and I knew what I was in store for, but it is still major surgery. They were about to basically cut me in half, and I was just fine with it. The only question on my mind was would they let me watch the procedure somehow....I've always been interested in medicine and these types of things, so I really wanted to be able to watch. I asked my doctor about it when he came in to check on me before he scrubbed in. He said, "Absolutely. We'll figure something out." I was so excited. When most people give birth, they get to see their child the second they arrive. I didn't get to experience that with Jackson. They took him straight to the NICU, and I didn't get to see him until he was about an hour and a half old. So I was thrilled about being able to see Jordan being born. They tried to set a mirror up for me, but the angling didn't work. I was disappointed because I thought that was really the only option as to how to watch. Next thing I know, Dr. Evans is telling Trenton to just record it on the camera. YES! I was going to be able to watch it later, and even better, I was going to be able to show anyone that wanted to see it.

Once I was fully prepped and ready, they started the surgery right away. Everything was going well and I could hear the doctors just chatting back and forth about family vacations and stories about their kids. You'd think that you'd want your doctors to just have straight tunnel vision on the procedure they were performing...but I found it more comforting that they were just chatting back and forth. In my eyes, that meant that everything was going perfectly normal and right on schedule.

Right before Jordan was officially born, Dr. Evans stopped talking to the other doctor and turned his attention to me. His exact words were, "I think we made the right decision here Kath. That little feeling we were all having was right." He went on to explain to Trenton and I that my old incision line on my actual uterus was incredibly thin, and that it might not have held up if I had stayed in labor very much longer. At the time, I don't think we realized how fully blessed we were that everything turned out okay. Along with potential complications to me, the umbilical cord was wrapped around Jordan's neck, and they had to unwrapped it as they were taking him out. There were a lot of potential problems that could have happened, but ultimately both Jordan and I were just fine. Happy and healthy at the end of everything. I like to think that Jordan was playing the role of my little guardian angel while we were in the doctor's office trying to decide what to do. Surgery? No surgery? Jordan knew something wasn't right and refused to cooperate with everyone just long enough so we'd decide to do a c-section. He wanted to come out as much as I wanted him out.

Trenton all ready in the OR.


Jordan and I in the recovery room.







Jackson holding Jordan for the first time.




















The boys. I'm incredibly out-numbered now.


Jackson would come sit on my bed with me to eat his snacks


It was a long day for everyone


Jackson always gives Jordan kisses


Jackson was trying to climb up to help Dad change his diaper


Just about the same size as the laptop...


Getting ready to head home...




He hates to be naked


Jordan ALWAYS has his feet crossed


Our first family picture


Things have been a little bit more crazy lately at our place, but we wouldn't change a single thing!