jaden's birth story

Jaden's Birth Story

Wow, I can't believe how having a newborn changes your life so quickly! I feel like I do nothing all day, but yet I don't have time to do anything I need to get done, either. I wanted to document his birth story before I forget details, and it took me two weeks to get to it. I don't know how I'm ever going to survive on a schedule! Oh well, one day at a time...

This is the face that melts me several times a day.
More pictures to come but this post is forever long already, so it will have to wait :)

Here's the story (more than you probably ever wanted to know):

The Contractions

On Dec. 22, we went to bed at about 11:30. I just laid there for awhile, feeling a lot of tightness and wondering if I was having mild contractions. At 1 am I gave up trying to figure out what was going on with me and drifted off. I woke up at 3 a.m. with a pretty intense contraction. I started timing them at 3:45, writing down the times and lengths in the dark because I didn't want to wake up Steve. However, he woke up to go to the bathroom around 4:30, so I decided to tell him what was going on. "Honey, I think we might be having a baby today. I've been timing my contractions for awhile now and I think I'm in labor. " He wasn't fully awake yet, so his response was, "No you're not, go back to sleep." (haha) It took a little convincing, between showing him my contraction pattern and actually having a couple, but he finally believed me (and got more than a little excited). So we were awake for the day.

The Labor

Oh, the labor...all 26 hours of it. We went to the hospital around 9:30 am on the 23rd after I had called my doctor and was told to go in. When we got there I was dilated to a 2 and told to go home and walk. So Steve headed to work and I went down to our apartment complex's treadmill and walked for an hour. It didn't do much-hardly any contractions at all-so I went home and took a nap. I woke up at 1:45 and got in the shower. Holy moly did that do the trick. All of a sudden my contractions started coming consistently about 3 minutes apart. So I called Steve and my mom and we were back at the hospital, dilated to a 4, and admitted to a room by 4 pm. Enter a badly wanted epidural soon after and I was good to go. It was just a waiting game from there. My doctor got there at 9:30 pm, when I was at a 7.

The Delivery

At 11:30 pm I was deemed ready to start pushing. I was happy about that because I had been trying really hard to not have a baby on the 24th. Ha. I pushed for two hours with hardly any progress. They kept lowering my medication so it got increasingly more painful, and finally they decided I needed a break when I no longer had anything to give. That was one of the most miserable and discouraging points I think I've ever had. I kept thinking, "Women have been doing this since the beginning of time, so why can't I?" I was really worried they'd take me in for a c-section, but luckily I have a patient doctor who boosted my medication back up, gave me petocin to help things move more quickly, and then let me sleep for as long as I needed. I woke up at 4:30 am on the 24th rejuvenated both physically and mentally and ready to push. The baby was at a +1 so in came a bunch more nurses and the doctor all ready to have a baby. I couldn't believe it was actually happening. Pushing took about a half hour; he was still having a hard time progressing so the doc used her final trick before resorting to c-section: the vacuum. That was all it took. Jaden came right out after a couple pushes, gave a couple little cries and then opened his eyes, ready to observe the world. The first thing the doc said when she looked him over was, "Wow, he's got the biggest cone head ever." Not the first thing you want to hear, but it was true :), he kind of looked like an alien for a little while and had a nasty bruise as well. Thank heavens for hats...but it didn't take long to get his cute little head back to normal.

The Hospital Stay

We had a great experience in the hospital. We loved the staff. It may sound weird, but it was so fun to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas together as a little family just laying low in our room. Steve brought over our Christmas presents from family, so we had gifts to open. We also had a few visitors-friends from our ward-while we were there. It was so nice to be thought of during such a busy holiday. We had the option to go home early on Christmas, but having no idea what we were doing as parents, we decided to stay till the 26th as scheduled. My mom caught a flight on late Christmas afternoon and made it to the hospital the next morning, right as we were being discharged. I was kind of caught off guard at how the hospital discharge went. There was no test to pass, no proof we needed to give that we were ready or worthy to be parents. I was thinking over and over, "Wait, we don't know how to do this yet! Don't let us leave!" But they kicked us out anyway. :)

Side note: It broke my heart in the hospital to see some perfect new little babies coming into less than ideal situations--teenage moms, families that reeked of smoke and other substances, etc. We're definitely not perfect parents, but at least we're married, committed to each other and to Jaden, and want him more than anything. I just pray for those darling little babies who are in for a rough road, even though it's not their fault.

The Past Two Weeks

Holy moly, do I ever love this kid. He hasn't even been in our lives for two weeks, but already I can't think of the person I was before him. I can't believe how instantly the motherly instinct kicks in. I still have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm so protective of him and my world revolves around him. I'm exhausted, but doing better every day, and I'm so glad my mom is here to help out anywhere and everywhere. It's been so fun to see her bond with Jaden. I don't know what I'm going to do when she leaves. And I think Steve is the cutest dad on the planet. He does so well with Jaden and it's so fun to see them together. Jaden is SUCH a good baby. Other than having his days and nights mixed up, he is pretty easy. He's so patient and such a happy baby. One thing he does NOT like though is the bathtub. We're still working on that one. But we feel so blessed to have him in our home and we love him so much!