Jaxon's Birth Story

On June 26 I started feeling what I thought were contractions although they were not painful at all. I really just felt a tightening across my lower abdomen that was slightly annoying. At Joe's urging I started timing them and realized they were coming at 3 minutes apart for about 30 -45 seconds. This persisted for the next 3 days with the only change being the length of the contractions (stretched out to 45 to 60 seconds). I really felt like all the contractions were just my body preparing itself but after a couple of days I really started to doubt myself. Everyone was telling me that I was going to go into labor any minute but I just didn't feel like labor was eminent. I woke up on Thursday June 29th feeling well rested after getting about 10 hours of sleep. It was the best I slept in ages. I just had a feeling that morning that labor was going to happen soon but I wasn't going to sit around and wait for it to happen. I took the day off work and met up with a friend for a haircut and then we all headed to the pool for the day. That afternoon Jaida and I came home from the pool and took a short nap and then this insane nesting urge set in. Joe and I buzzed around and cleaned the house up, did a couple of loads of laundry and made dinner. Around 5:00 p.m. I called my doula (Mary), birth assistant (Gwen) and sister (Noa) to update them and let them know that nothing (other than the usual contractions) was going on. Around 7:00 p.m. Jaida wanted me to come out onto the porch to see something. I stood up and made it half way to the front door when I heard a pop and then felt a small gush. There was no mistaking it ... my membranes had ruptured. I went into the bathroom and sure enough clear amniotic fluid and bloody show. I then called everyone back (including the midwife, Regina) and let everyone know they should head to our house ASAP. Mostly because everyone except Gwen was coming from Virginia and it was rush hour.

Gwen was the first to arrive and she immediately started setting up the master bedroom for the birth. She started pulling out all of our birth supplies as well as her own. She started the crock pot with the cloths for perinneal compresses. She warmed up all the baby blankets and baby hats using a heating pad. Joe and I continued folding laundry, sending out some emails and then ate dinner. We told Jaida what was happening and she ran around the house yelling my brother is coming soon. She was so excited. Next to arrive was Regina and my sister. Regina sort of interviewed me to find out exactly where I was at. Since I wasn't having painful contractions yet she returned some phone calls and wrote out some notes. Mary was the last to arrive and by then the contractions were getting to the point where they were slightly more uncomfortable. As I was talking I noticed that I would easily lose my train of thought during a contraction.

About 10:00 p.m. we decided Jaida needed to get some sleep in case it was a long labor. I went into her room with her and tried to lay on her little bed with her to get her to sleep. At that point the contractions really started to increase in intensity and I was quite uncomfortable. At 10:30
p.m. I went into our bedroom and rested on my right side. At 11:00 p.m. I got up and sat on the birth ball while sort of leaning forward onto Joe's lap. Mary the doula spent the next several hours rubbing my back and applying counter-pressure during the contractions. At this point I started having hot flashes and then I would suddenly get cold and was feeling a bit shaky and nauseous. Around midnight I was sitting on the birth ball and was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. I got up and went to the bathroom and then stood while Joe supported my weight. Around 12:30 a.m. I suddenly felt VERY nauseous and ended up vomiting. This scared me a little bit as I started having flash backs to my labor with Jaida when I was so nauseous and dehydrated from all the vomiting. Regina assurred me that this was a very different labor and vomiting is very normal and just my body clearing itself out. At this point I could feel the baby shifting postiions and he suddenly felt very heavy and I felt a lot of pressure.

At 1:00 a.m. I clearly think I was going through transition as I remember thinking there was no way I could do this any longer and that the baby was never going to come out. Joe, Mary and Gwen were all giving me tons of support. I remember my cat Percy laying on the corner of the bed. She has HUGE owl eyes and I remember just simply staring into her eyes as I was trying to get through each contraction since they were doubling up on each other. It really gave me something outside of myself to focus on. I got up and went into the bathroom to pee and while sitting on the toilet I suddenly became totally convinced baby boy was going to be born while I was sitting on the toilet. I suddenly felt tons of pressure and a strong urge to bear down. Joe told Regina that I was wanting to push and she brought some chux pads into the bathroom and put them on the bath mat just in case. I made it back into the bedroom and Regina suggested I lay on the bed on my right side. As soon as my body hit the bed I felt my body bear down and the rest of the amiotic fluid came gushing out. Regina warned me that the fluid was padding the baby and now that it was gone I was going to really feel a strong urge to push and a lot of pressure since the water was holding the baby back from really moving down into the birth canal. No more than she got the words out of her mouth I felt the most uncontrollable urge to push. It was incredible. The contractions were there but they didn't hurt any longer and the pushing felt so good and productive. I felt like I could push so hard I would rip in half. Regina reminded me that I needed to make small controlled pushes to help avoid a nasty tear like I had with Jaida. So I tried my hardest to make several small very controlled pushes through each contraction. I think it was possibly the hardest thing I have ever done seeing as how I wanted to just push hard and get it over with. Regina applied warm compresses to perineum to help it stretch and also did a massage with olive oil to help as his head was coming out.

At 1:58 a.m. Jaxon was born and it was the most amazing feeling in the world. Regina told me exactly what I was feeling as he came out. Head crowning (the burning gave this away), his forehead, brow bone, nose, chin, neck, first shoulder, second shoulder and then body. I felt everything. As soon as Jax was most of the way out our doula woke Noa and Jaida and asked them to come in. Jaxon latched on and started nursing about ten minutes later and then when the umbilical cord stopped pulsing and turned white/gray in color the midwife clamped it and Joe and Jaida cut it. We all laid on the bed staring at this new little human being in awe. Jaida was totally amazed at all of it. A few minutes later out came the placenta. We all inspected it and then Regina repaired a minor tear for me. No sponge bath for Jaxon ... he was covered in vernix (looked like a coating of felt) and we just vigorously rubbed it into his skin and that is where it stayed for the first three days of his life. We did not give him the Vitamin K injection and also did not put the antibiotic ointment in his eyes. It was so amazing seeing this little person just gazing at everyone in the room and knowing that his vision wasn't clouded (any more than normal) by the ointment. At 3:00 a.m. Joe brought me a sandwich, fruit and some OJ with an iron supplement in it. At 4:00 a.m. after the midwife, et al. finished their reports, cleaned up the room, started a load of laundry and checked on me they headed out and left our little family on its own. Simply perfect.

Jaxon had apgars of 8 and 9 ... he scored perfectly except on color ... it took him a bit to completely pink up. I have a feeling this is because the room was so cold ... I was a bit hot during labor. He weighed 8 pounds even 19 inches long and was born exactly a week before his edd. The birth experience was exactly like I imagined it should be. We had the lights dimmed and nice Native American flute music playing softly. Everyone stayed mostly silent but when talking happened it was in very hushed tones. Jaxon's birth was amazingly peaceful and I think it has carried over into every aspect of his early life. He is the most mellow and relaxed little guy. He rarely gets upset and peacefully nurses for prolonged periods of time. Just simply perfect in every way.