The Rest of the (Long) Story

I figured while I have some time, I might as well jot down the (long) journey which took us to get here. It all started on Monday, December 14th. I had started my Christmas Vacation (thank goodness), T had the week off from work, and we were headed to our now weekly OB/GYN appointments.

We went into the doctor's office only to find our doctor wanted to induce us on Sunday! We were both shocked! I was only going to be 38 weeks on Sunday; was my body ready? Would the baby be ready? Will we have time to get all the things I wanted to get done before the baby came? There were LOTS of questions stressing me out!

The doctor explained the amount of amniotic fluid was still bothersome, and the best thing for the baby was to come out and make sure he/she was healthy. She also told us she would try not to use Pitocin, a powerful drug that MAKES you go into labor fairly quickly. I was only dialated to 1 cm at the time, and it would make my uterus very angry. She would try something called Cervidil, a drug that slowly ripens the cervix to make it more ready for labor. You put this drug in for 12 hours, if this wouldn't slowly get me into labor by then, she would need to use the Pitocin.

The following seven days before the procedure, we did EVERYTHING we thought possibly NEEDED to be done before that baby came. We deep cleaned the house, got out temple reccomends renewed (they expired this month), got all of our Christmas shopping done, did a little decorating, got ready for the long-term sub to fill in for me at the start of the new year, washed the laundry (including blankets and sheets)and did everything we could think of to get my body ready for labor (i.e. walking three miles a day, etc...). We thought it would be nice to come home to a clean house without any last minute rushing around, and in the meantime, it would keep us busy with projects so as to not to completely go crazy with worry about the upcoming procedure.

We got admitted to the hospital at around 3 pm. They hooked me up to the monitor, and found my uterus was already producing a lot of contractions. The nurse checked me, and I was still only dialated to 1 cm so far. I guess with my uterus making all those contractions, they couldn't put the Cervidil in until the nurse got the go ahead from the doctor. We ended up not getting the Cervidil put in until 6 pm.

I didn't have the most pleasant experience with the Cervidl. It was painful for the nurse to insert, and I wasn't allowed to get up or stand up for 1 1/2 hours afterwards. With all the back pain I was experiencing, this was not fun. My family came in to visit me at around 8 pm; it was so nice seeing them during such a stressful situation. I'm so grateful for the support I had around me, I really needed it.

At around 9 pm, it was time to bed down. I did have to sleep with the baby monitor around my stomach, and they strapped that thing on tight. With all the fluid, our little one was wiggling all over the place, thus making it difficult to montior the heartbeat. On the bright side of things, the nurse did a good job tucking me in so I was as comfortable as could be expected, and they did give me a sleeping pill.

I remember waking up in the middle of the night complaining about some back pain. T got the nurse, who gave some drugs through my IV for the pain. I think they might have given me something twice, I'm not quite sure. All I know I was out of it!

Fast forward to 1:30 AM, I was still out of it. I woke up to the nurse, acting in an urgent manner. She turned me over, moving the monitor frantically over my belly, and placing an oxygen mask over my mouth. Apparentally, with the position I was in, the baby's heart rate had dropped significantly.

While the Cervidil is in, no one can check my cervix. With the decreased heart rate, the nurse must have felt like she needed to check me. So she removed the Cervidil. At this time, I was still only dialated to 2-3 cm. Also, around this time I opted for the epidural because I realized this labor was going to take a long time, and I wasn't sure I could last through the pain.

Two drawbacks to epidurals (at least for me), I couldn't get out of bed (I would have fallen for sure, not being able to feel my legs and all), and I had to get a catheter, which felt very weird at first. In the end, however, I was glad I did it!

I got the epidural at around 4:00 AM; and I was still dialated to 3 cm. They gave me the Pitocin at 5:00 AM. It didn't really matter to me either way, I could only feel pressure. I didn't feel like I could walk on air, but I wasn't experiencing a lot of pain.

At 7:00 AM, the doctor broke my water with the hopes it would move things along. Remember, I had a lot of fluid up in there, so it was a good gush. Plus, everytime they checked me after that, a little more water came out. The doctor got a little worried because the baby wanted to put its hand above his head, which would have been a discouraging position to be in. So, while checking me everytime they were also making sure that hand was where it need to be.

It wasn't until 2:30 - 3:00 PM I actually started dialating more. I think at 4 PM, I was around 6-7 cm. After that, I began dialating a cm every hour. FINALLY, at 6:30 PM or so I had dialated to 10 cm. The baby still hadn't dropped that far, not even after the water had broken. However, they still had high hopes about a vaginal birth. Keep in mind so far, I'd been in the hospital for 26 hours, had the epidural/catheter/been bed ridden for 13 hours.




At 7 PM, they got me all ready to push. This hospital has the 'natural pushing' method, where you let your contractions naturally push the baby out, not the mother pushing and pushing for hours. I gave two big pushes. After the second one, the baby's heartrate dropped to an alarming rate (low 60s). We had to stop and put me in a more favorable position for the heartbeat to speed back up. They put me back on oxygen (I had been on it most of the day), and waited a half hour to begin pushing again.

At 7:30 PM, the baby's heart rate was up again, and we began the pushing. I gave three big pushes this time. At the end of the third one, the heart rate dropped yet again, and it wasn't making any progress down the birth canal. It was at this point the doctor told me a c-section was the only option.

The next 30 minutes were somewhat of a blur. It consisted of a lot of things, putting a more powerful drug in the IV in my back (they just changed out the epidural drug to this other one where I couldn't feel ANYTHING), shaving my stomach, notifying me of all the possible risks, and signing a bunch of waivers. I guess it was a good thing this part went so quickly because the closest thing I'd come to major surgery was getting my wisdom teeth removed when I was 18.

Although it was a short period of time before my c-section, it gave me plenty of time to freak out a little bit. This wasn't my plan! My dad came in to help me feel better; he reminded me though this was a major surgery, it was all going to be better for the baby AND me.

The doctor who did my surgery was really great! He was also very sympathic to my fears. He told me several times, the only reason this baby is coming out this way was due to minor logisitics (i.e. presentation of the head); this baby is 100% healthy.

They wheeled me into the surgical room, and within 10 minutes we had discovered a couple of things:
1.) Our baby was a boy.
2.) He had terrible bruises all over his face because his forehead and nose was pressing up against my pubic bone making it impossible for a vaginal birth.
3.) I guess I was doing a good job pushing because his face looked like he'd been in some kind of brawl.
4.) He had a set of lungs on him! Within 10 seconds of being out, he was screaming bloody murder.
5.) I have a tiny pelvis and our little boy has a big head, you do the math.
6.) With the size of this baby's head and his presentation, there was no way he could have been born any other way.




I was little disappointed because within the first 5 minutes of the surgery, the baby was born. I got one glimpse of the baby and T took him into the other room while I got stitched up. This took another 30 minutes! I had to wait 30 minutes to hold my baby. It felt like an eternity.

He had a bruise clear over his forehead, his nose was all red and it looked like it had been smushed or jammed in some way. They checked his vitals, and everything came up positively. The doctor was right: aside from the smushed/bruised face, he was perfect!

As for me, I felt ok the first 30 minutes after. Once the meds wore off, it was pain city! I couldn't even talk it hurt so bad. It has gradually gotten better. The key is to keep doing the unbearable, like walking around, going to restroom, etc...

For now, we're staying in the hospital. The recovery time for a c-section is much longer, and boy oh boy, has it been difficult! I guess you don't realize you use your stomach muscles for EVERYTHING until it hurts to use them. With the help of my dear friend Percocet, we're hoping to get out of here on Christmas Eve.

Here are our little boy's stats:

John Wayne Isom (Jack)
Born: December 21st, 2009
Weight: 7 lbs. 5 Oz.
LengthL 20 inches

We named him John Wayne for a number of reasons.
1. I am named after my grandpa. His name is John Wayne, but everyone called him 'Jack'. Hence, my name being Jackie.
2. For this reason, I've always wanted to name my son Jack.
3. T has a brother named John.
4. T's family are BIG John Wayne fans.

Our little guy already has some quirks:

*He certainly is an Arizona baby. He LOVES being warm. As long as you keep him warm, he will not cry.

*While he was circumcised, given his immunizations, and tests where they prick the heals of his feet; he fell asleep.


He is nice and toasty here...

*If he get cold, he will scream like you're cutting off his arm.

*While he was being weighed/examined by the pediitrician, he sreamed and screamed.










He is a funny little kid, but we sure love having him around! It's amazing to think how many people love him, and he doesn't even realize it!