An Early Entrance - Part 3

Catch up on Part 1 and Part 2

Monday 3/17 - St. Patrick's Day
Sunday night into Monday morning was probably one of the worst sleeps I've had.  I'm guessing it was due to the nerves, but I couldn't really sleep for any longer than an hour or maybe 1.5 hour stretch.  I was up a little before 3am for my antibiotic pill and vitals check, then again around 5am for a blood draw that would determine how we would proceed.  Waiting Monday morning was a little agonizing, without knowing if we would be starting or holding off I was advised not to eat or drink anything until we heard back from my OB.

I started to feel a tightening feeling and asked the nurse if she could hook me back up to the monitors to see if they were contractions. My OB stopped by to talk to us about the elevated white blood cell results, noted what seem like contractions and we all agreed to head on over to labor & delivery. We settled into our room in L&D and that tightening feeling was indeed the start of my contractions.

I was hooked up to the pitocin by 10:30 am and in what felt like no time, I was already at 4 almost 5 cm dilated.  By 11:19 am I had progressed to the pain point of having the epidural administered.  I felt much better after the epidural, and was able to get into a couple of different positions with the assistance of the nurse.  My nurse estimated that I would probably be at a 10 and ready to push by 4 or 5 pm, so Chris and I relaxed and watched TV.  Much to our surprise, when the nurse checked right before 2 pm, I was already at 10 cm and ready to push.  From here it seems like everything was a blur as they prepared the room, quickly assembled the team (which included the NICU team since we were 6 weeks early) and my OB came running over from his office next to the hospital.  Once my OB was suited up, I pushed through 2 contractions and heard that little cry I had been waiting to hear since our first sonogram!

Cutting the cord

Jackson William was born at 2:17 pm, weighing in at 7lbs and 18.5 inches long. Thankfully we were able to get some skin to skin time in before they took him away to be monitored for his temp, sugars and feeding skills. After 48 hours of monitoring he proved that he could have the antibiotics IV removed, no longer had to have his oxygen or sugars monitored, had the feeding tube removed and was removed from the heat lamp bed.  The focus for discharge was to get him to finish 8 bottles of formula in a 24 hour period.

I was discharged on Thursday 3/20 and that was probably the hardest day ever.  Having to leave without our son broke my heart, but I knew he was in good hands at the NICU.  I also count my blessings, because I knew that our son was in much better shape than the other babies in his "pod".  I pray for those families and hope that their little ones are able to develop and thrive in the outside world.