a birth story

Last prego pic. Water broke the next day!!

Nate's "sympathy weight"

 He came! My little baby boy is finally here. I was not prepared to go into labor by my water breaking, especially on my DUE DATE!! Whose water breaks on their due date?  I had prepared myself to be induced on June 24. I guess I was preparing myself mentally for going a week over.

I was at my parents house when it happened. I sat down on their couch, put my lap top on my lap and felt a gush! The thought that I might have just peed my pants did cross my mind. That thought quickly left realizing what had happened and I rushed to the bathroom. I text Nate..." I just got really juicy down below!" He got the picture of what I was telling him and left work in a frantic rush.

Off to the hospital. Nate was so proud of himself for being prepared and having a towel in the car and the car seat ready to go. (I made fun of both preparations.) I felt my little baby moving inside of me on the way to the hospital. I had mixed feelings of this being the last time I would feel the movement inside. Love feeling his kicks, yet VERY ready to be done being pregnant and meet him. I waddled up to the 2nd floor trying not to drip along the way. As we were signing in there was a larger lady behind us. Nate turned around and said, "you too?" Really Nate? (She so wasn't pregnant.) We got taken to our room and the 12 hour process began.

Details I hope I never forget about giving birth to my little baby Jax Nathan Erni.

• I was so upset that I couldn't eat or drink anything now that I started laboring. I was STARVING. Hadn't eaten anything since 12:00 at lunch time and my water broke at 3:45. I'm sorry ice chips and suckers just won't hold me over. Nate sure got to eat. His sandwich smelt amazing. He felt bad eating it in front of me, but did so none-the-less.
• The IV was the most uncomfortable part of the process weird enough. (Slight exaggeration.) It felt like it was pinching me the whole time I had it in.
• Nate and I played phase 10 while we were waiting for me to dilate. I would stop playing during contractions as they became stronger. I got nervous that the anesthesiologist would take a long time to come in and quickly requested that she come when she had a min. We didn't get to finish of game, but Nate was on a role and I was quickly falling behind.
• The epidural really wasn't bad. I think Nate's had hurt worse from my death grip than the needle. She did great. When a contraction came, I couldn't feel pain just pressure. SOO glad that I got it. I don't know how people go natural. I'm sure I could if I HAD to, but thank you modern day medicine.
• I was so tired of laying on my left side. I pretty sure I was well on my way to bed sores. I Gave up and rolled over to my right side. The nurse soon came prancing in and rolled me back over. Apparently Jax and the monitors didn't like me being on my right side. Arrg.
• Nate took Notes on my progression... (In a nut shell I quickly progressed to 9 cm and it took me a long time to finally get to 10 cm)
• Water broke at 3:45 pm
  Dilated 2 cm and 80% effaced
• Epidural at 8:00pm
• 8:30 -
  Dilated 3 cm and 80% effaced.
• 9:30 -                                                                                                                              Dilated 4 cm and 90% effaced. 
• 10:30
  Dilated 5 cm and 95% effaced. 
• 11:30 pm
  Dilated 6 cm and 100% effaced and a 0 station. 
• 12:30 am
  Dilated 8+ cm. and +1 station. 
• 1:15 am
  Dilated to 9 cm. 
• 1:40 am
  Dilated to 9 cm. 
• 2:45 am
  Dr. K came in and measured. Dilated to a 9 and 3/4. Leslie has a temperature so they are going to give her some Tylenol and some antibiotics. This means Cheerio will need to go to the NICU. 
• 3:20
  Still just a little lip of the cervix. Check again in 30 min. 
• 4:00
  Starting to push.  
• My fever spiked suddenly and Jax's heartrate dropped. They immediately put me on antibiotics, which meant that it was assumed that I had passed the infection on to Jax and he would also need antibiotics as well. Not sure where the infection came from or why it flared up during labor. It was just termed "bad luck" :(
• My parents came to witness him coming into the world. My family is close like that. They had witnessed the first child of both my sister's so it only seemed appropriate. My dad delivered babies for a long time so it is very natural for him to be in that environment. Plus, him and Dr. Kirkman work in administration together, so they are like buddies. It was a PARTY!!
• As his head was crowning my mom announced that he had light hair. NOT what I was expecting. The ultrasound tech informed us that he had hair, but for some reason I thought it was going to be dark like mine was when I was born.
• Dr. Kirkman asked if I wanted to feel his head crowning. I reached down and felt. So crazy. He was so close to being born!
• After a half hour of pushing he was officially delivered. Nate was very brave and cut the umbilical cord. He was slightly concerned because the scissors had blood on them. So proud that he didn't faint. He was nervous about that. 
• I can't explain the feeling of what it was like to hear him cry for the first time. I got pretty emotional and so relieved that he was hear and breathing. What a miracle he is. I just love him so much
• He weighed 6 lbs 8 oz. 20 in long. I thought he was cute right out of the womb. But, as said, they keep getting cuter.
• He looked like a ginormous baby when I first saw him.
• The picture of him on my chest of me holding him for the first time captures the face of exactly how I remember that moment. Love pictures. Cutest face ever.
• He was MAJOR mister cone head. It went away in a day.
• I didn't know I could love him this much.
• We had some time to be together, the 3 of us, as a family before it was time to take Jax to the NICU. I was so confused that I couldn't take my baby to my room with us. I think I asked the nurses about 10 times... "So, I can't take him with me?" We dropped him off knowing that he would be taken care of. It was so hard saying goodbye to my little baby boy. (Yes, we were only a floor away, but it was hard at the time.)
• It was such a fiasco when we would try to go visit him on the second floor. (Dr. Labrum called it "baby prison.") Nate would push my wheel chair and I would pull my IV along with me. Getting through doors, and into the elevator was a fight. It was such a PAIN. We did it many times, because we couldn't get enough of our new addition. It was worth the trek.
• So sad seeing all the tubes and needles in him. The saddest was the IV in his head. Looked so scary. Although it was scary, there are many things that could have been worse. I am thankful for our minor struggle. 
• When it came to visitors in the NICU, only 4 people were allowed in his room at a time. Shana, Melese, Jordan, Jake, Mom and Dad where the ones who came to visit him while there. Dad got to visit him a lot where he was his pediatrician along with Dr. Barrett Labrum.
• Papa, Nate, and Jake gave little Jax a blessing while he was in the NICU.  I got really emotional when I heard they did this for him. I am so greatful for the priesthood and that the 3 of them could do that for him and bless him with a quick, successful recovery. Nate was the one to bless him. He expressed to me that it was a VERY humbling experience. I love my Nater. Guess there is no changing his name now. Jax Nathan Erni was used in the blessing :)
• Jax stayed in NICU for about 30 hours. He fought the infection grrreat. The lab results came back good, meaning that he could leave the NICU and come to our room.
• We thought that he looked like his mommy. But, when we looked at Nate's baby pictures it was a perfect match. He looks a LOT like his daddy. Like father like son. Nate says he has my ears and chin though. (Being that it is a double chin.)
• A camera crew came into our room to tape us. Jax is famous at 3 hospitals. They used the footage as training for nurses on how to develop good relationship with patient and bedside manor. Lucky us. It was the same camera man that filmed us before the Gran Fondo a year ago. He remembered us. Unforgettable faces we have.

•  Nursing was as challenge. We used a tube called an SNS to trick Jax into thinking he was getting milk from me. It required some serious team work between Nate and I. So glad when it came time to get rid of that thing. 
• Pumping hurts like a mother. No wonder people don't breast feed for very long. It is way dang painful. I hold my breath for the first 30 sec/min and wiggle my toes until the pain eases up.  
• My dad walked in our hospital room as I was just about to place the pumps upon me. "That's a sight for sore eyes," he says. I didn't even care. All modesty/privacy had left right out the window. He got a real kick out of it. 

It did come time to go home. We left the hospital on Thursday morning. There are no nurses or call buttons at home. Scary! We chose a going home outfit for the little man. (Tributes to Janette Kelly who gave us the cute onsie.) Mom helped us get him dressed, (not an easy task turns out.) I finally got out of my hospital nighty/mu-mu that I had been wearing for 3 days straight. It never felt so good to get my own close on. One of the nurses walked us out to the car and off we went. They didn't even check our car seat or anything. We just hoped we put it together right. 

We stopped at Lee's on the way home. My milk hadn't come in yet and thought we would need to pick up some formula to supplement until it did. Nate ran in while I stayed with baby Jax. I was in full tears by the time he got back to the car. I'm such a boob. This wasn't the first, nor the last time the water works was was on the go. I'm definitely on the emotional side. Yes, I'm crying Nate. I was just so happy that we had our little baby Jax and that he was a happy, healthy little boy! 

LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN!!