As we are preparing to meet our newest family member, Nick and I have been discussing certain things about the day Jackson was born and although it hasn't been that long and we haven't had any other births to confuse it with, we're already forgetting some details. Oh and by "we" I mean Nick of course. So I decided just in case I start forgetting or mixing up details I would post Jackson's birth story.
Nick was on his OB rotation in medical school and he had an overnight shift on Wednesday, May 23rd. I had my weekly appointment that morning but nothing had changed from my previous appointment so the doctor did a membrane sweep and sent me on my way. Later that day I started having contractions, nothing painful and not too consistent. That night I met Erin for dinner at Flying Biscuit and I realized through dinner the contractions were definitely consistent although not quite close together yet. I updated Nick and enjoyed the rest of our dinner.
I got home and got ready for bed...realizing later there wasn't going to be much sleep that night! To my surprise, a short while later Nick came home early, they figured it would be better to let him go just in case I was in labor. At about 3am the contractions were painful enough to wake me up so I got up and started keeping track of the consistency, length, pain, etc. At around 6am they were bad enough for me to wake Nick up although not quite 5 minutes apart yet. We both showered and got ready and by that time they were increasing in every sense including time so we called the doctor and were told to head to the hospital.
A minor sidenote to this story...I had been rotating through all of the doctors at the practice during my pregnancy. There was only one appointment I left feeling annoyed with the doctor. That morning when the OB on call returned my call, I was relieved to find out it wasn't the one doctor I disliked, that is until the end of the call when the OB told me her shift ended in a few minutes at 7am and the new OB on call would meet me at the hospital. Well of course the new OB was the only one I was hoping wouldn't deliver my baby. However, I quickly realized she was totally different that day than she was at our appointment and definitely made me feel I had her complete attention and more importantly, she gave me a perfectly healthy baby boy and a successful surgery for myself too.
Okay back to the actual birth story. We arrived at the hospital on Thursday morning around 7am and got settled into our labor and delivery room. I was going into labor with an open mind, without having decided on getting an epidural although not totally against it either. Well things changed pretty quickly. Dr. Fairbrother came in to check how far my labor had progressed (4 cm) and unfortunately realized immediately there was meconium present. She explained that meant there was something that happened to the baby that caused the baby to poop and that led her to believe a c section might need to be considered. So without any hesitation or delay, she advised I had to have an epidural in case I had to have a c section, they didn't want waiting for meds to cause a delay. Needless to say I was so upset and the waterworks started immediately. Looking back I know none of it makes a difference but at the time I was mad I didn't get to make the choice of whether or not I was going to have an epidural and then of course freaking out that something could be wrong with the baby. On a lighter note, a few minutes later the anesthesiologist walked in with a big smile on his face and asked, "Someone wanting an epidural in here?" He was probably used to having moms in labor ecstatic to see him but I was far from it, so much so that I sobbed, "NO!" right back at him. At first he was shocked and started backing away until Nick called him back over. The epidural was the most painful part of labor, since I was only 4 cm I hadn't gotten to the really bad part yet.
The rest of the morning went pretty quickly. They were monitoring the contractions and the baby's heartbeat and saw that with each contraction, the baby's heart rate would decelerate which wasn't a good sign. They gave me some meds to stop the contractions and waited for Dr. Fairbrother to make the call. She came in a little before noon and said it was time for a c section. About an hour later, we were off to the OR to meet our baby. Dr. Fairbrother announced during the surgery (as she was quizzing Nick since she knew he was a med student) that the baby had tied the cord in a true knot. But none of that mattered anymore, she had safely delivered our baby BOY and we were finally able to relax knowing he was okay.
Jackson David Kelly was born on May 24th 2007 at 1:37pm, weighing in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces and 20 inches long. They took us to the recovery room but unfortunately, Jackson's blood sugar was low so they had to take him away and give him some formula and wait an hour to retest it. This went one for a couple hours before his blood sugar was back up and he was ready to meet us in our room. Unfortunately, our room wasn't ready for us for another couple hours but eventually we all made it and got to introduce our son to our family members.
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