Jakobe's Birth Story!

9 months pregnant. 1 week before Jakobe was born.
Jakobe's first picture.
Jakobe receiving oxygen.
Daddy and Jakobe.Our first family photo. 1/24/08


Jakobe's Birth Story.


Wednesday January 23, 2008 Today was an exciting day. I had been having minor contractions all day at work. We even had a staff meeting to divide up all of my work for when I would be gone for 6 weeks on maternity leave. David and I even had an appointment over lunch to go tour Koalaty Time Too. A daycare we were looking at for Jakobe. We toured the facility and meet a lot of the staff. We absolutely loved the daycare. We put our deposit down and got a spot held for Jakobe. I guess he was just waiting for us to decide on a daycare for him. Because later that night I went into labor.

7 pm

David, Ryen and I were watching the movie Ghost Rider and had just ordered pizza when I started to have very strong and painful contractions. Around 7 pm I went into the bedroom to lay down. They continued to get stronger, more painful and closer together. I started to time them and there were 3-5 minutes apart. I did this for about an hour. Finally, they were lasting 50 seconds to a minute a piece and were coming every 3-4 minutes. The contractions started in my back, wrapped around to my sides and continued on to the front of my stomach. I couldn't walk or talk during them. They were extremely painful. David was sitting on the bed next to me rubbing my back, talking to me and trying to comfort me. He knew I was in a lot of pain. I did my breathing exercises to help me get through each contraction. I finally told David that I wanted to go to the hospital. It wasn't like you see in the movies where the couple is screaming and frantically rushing to the hospital. We were both very calm and relaxed. David washed his face while I packed the remaining items in our already packed bags. I told David that we could take Ryen home and then go to the hospital, which we did. I told David on our way to Mercy not to be disappointed if they send us home. I was still unsure if this was true labor.

9 pm

We arrived at Mercy and I got checked in.

9:30 m

I was admitted. I was asked a million questions then hooked up to the fetal heart rate machine. We had a wonderful nurse named Anne (yes, spelled with an e). David and I both really liked her. She checked my cervix. Amazingly I was already dilated to 4 cm. She left the room and went and called my doctor. When she came back she said, "Well it looks like you are staying and you're going to have your baby tomorrow!" I threw my arms up in the air with excitement and said, " Yes! Are you serious? We're going to have our baby tomorrow?" I was so excited that I began to call people and tell them the great news. Anne told me that I could request the epidural whenever I was ready. I still wasn't ready. I wanted to try to stick out the contractions as long as I could. (Don't ask me why)

Midnight

I was finally ready for the epidural. I couldn't take the painful contractions any longer. Anne checked my cervix and was amazed that I was 7 cm dilated. She congratulated me for making it this far without any drugs. I ended up receiving the epidural at 12:30. The epidural felt like a bee sting. The outcome of the epidural was absolutely amazing. I was completely numb from the stomach down. I began questioning myself as to why I didn't ask for it much sooner. It was smooth sailing from here until push time! Now it was just time for me to get some sleep. (Yeah right). Between the excitement of knowing I was going to have my baby in the later hours, my nurse coming in every hour to turn me over to keep good circulation to the baby, and my damn machine beeping, I knew I wasn't going to get much sleep.

6 am

Anne came in and told me that around 7 am my doctor was going to come in and break my water. She stated that my baby was ready to come out now being 9 cm dilated and fully effaced.

6:30 am

I didn't have to wait for my doctor to come in and break my water. At exactly 6:30 am I heard a slight pop followed by a huge gush of water between my legs. "David! My water just broke!" I said to him with excitement. I called in the nurse and told her that my bag of waters had just broke. She checked my cervix to find that I was now fully dilated. She told me that I really needed to try to get some rest because I was going to start pushing in a few hours. I was supposed to let a nurse know when I felt the urge to push. I think at that time I was speechless. I couldn't believe the time was actually here. I remember laying in bed thinking about how in a few hours it is no longer going to be David and I. We are going to have a baby boy and be a family. I couldn't wait. I began to feel pressure. It felt like I had to go to the bathroom. I knew it was the baby making his way down.

9 am

I was ready to push! They turned off my epidural. David grabbed one leg and brought it to my chest while Heather (a nursing student) grabbed the other and brought it to my chest. I couldn't do this on my own until the end because my legs were still numb and I didn't have enough strength to lift them both on my own. I put my chin to my chest and when I felt a contraction coming on I pushed for 10 seconds straight. Then another 10 seconds right afterwards. During pushing I was making great progress. The nurse actually told me to stop pushing at one point. This was the most impossible request I have ever had. There was no way I could stop pushing. I was to stop pushing because the baby's head was crowning and the doctor wasn't there yet. They told me he was at Lutheran Hospital a few miles up the street. They even had me close my legs even though I continued to push during contractions. I just wanted this baby out NOW!!! By this time the epidural had completely worn off and I could feel everything. It was very painful. I even had tears running down my face because of the pain. Every time the nurse would say, "Don't push!" I would say, "I can't!" I did get a little snappy at this point. I kept asking, "Where is the doctor? Is he here yet?" They continued to tell me that he was on his way. I remember saying to them, "You've been saying that for 45 minutes now!" Even though it wasn't really 45 minutes, it just seemed that way. Then I hear, "He's here!" I looked up and saw Dr. Patten running toward me. "Give me a good push Anne." He said. "And another." Then I heard a female voice say, "Look down." I looked down and saw Jakobe's head and chest then saw Dr. Patten pull the rest of him out. The lower half of his body just slid out. Jakobe was immediately placed on my chest.

10:21 am Thursday, January 24, 2008 Jakobe was born. Weighing 6 pounds 4 oz. 19 inches long. He was immediately placed on my chest. I began to cry. I looked him in his eyes which he was trying to open. I introduced myself to him and told him his name. I told him how beautiful he was and that I loved him. David cut the umbicial cord. He was very clean when he came out. He wasn't covered in any blood or white stuff. He was just covered in a clear liquid. Jakobe never cried. This made me a little worried. A nurse took him over to the heater to clean him off, get his foot prints and check his vital signs. I knew he wasn't right. I saw a nurse slapping him on the bottom of his foot trying to get him to cry. Nothing. I kept asking if he was OK? Everyone kept telling me that he was but I just knew something wasn't quite right. A nurse came over to me and said that his oxygen level was low and that he needed to go down to the nursery to be put on oxygen. I told David to go with him. While David was down with Jakobe, I delivered my placenta. I told the doctor that I wanted to see it. I know, a strange request. It was really neat to see. It looked like a big piece of meat. After my placenta was out the doctor stitched me up. I tore on my own. I didn't feel it tear because of all the pressure with the baby coming out. Getting the stitches hurt really bad. There was a lot of blood pouring out from delivering the baby. About 3 hours later we were moved down to the recovery room where we spent the next 2 days. This is when they brought Jakobe to me. This was the first time I saw him after he had been born. He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. It was so amazing staring at this new life who had been living in you for 9 months. He was so content. As the joy of having my baby set in so does the pain. OMG! Now it began to get really bad down there. It hurt to move, walk, sit up, everything! I had to wear these HUGE pads and had to change them about every 2 hours. I definitely think the recovery is the worst part. It was the most painful. My soreness went away after about 5 weeks and the bleeding stopped after about 6 weeks, which both are completely normal. I was in labor a total of 15 hours. I delivered him at 36 weeks and 6 days. Even though I had a very rough pregnancy, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!!! I love everything about being a mother. Even getting up all hours of the night. It's just Jakobe's way of exploring the World!