The past 42 weeks seemed to fly by at times... and other times seemed to take an eternity. I experienced things this pregnancy that I didn't with my first two, including being put off work due to extreme pelvic pain. Already parenting two toddlers, combined with working full-time and managing the pain, meant that I was often physically drained. I was very excited as the weeks passed by, and also a little sad, because I knew this would be the last time that I would experience being pregnant.
For those who haven't experienced it, there is nothing quite like the feeling of a little person moving inside your belly. There's a personal connection long before the baby is born, something that is incredibly personal and private, and just between the two of you. But the girls were growing more and more excited every day, and I knew they would just fall in love with their little brother once he was here.
After months of dreading "the penis," the end was near. It was my third, and everyone was fairly sure that I would have that baby "any moment" as friends (and complete strangers) would point out as I walked by them. I can't say that I felt huge this pregnancy... I certainly felt smaller than I was with Gracie, and I honestly didn't feel like I looked like I was ready to pop. The baby certainly felt the same way, since at weeks 38, 39, and 40, I was "checked" for progress and was told that, although anything could happen, Dr. Rudd expected to see me at Labour and Delivery to discuss my induction on the 18th of June.
I was busy wrapping up my Sunday School program for the year. On the evening of the 13th, I had Confirmation to get through, and the teachers of the Confirmation class and my program partner had been begging me to hold on until we were through with Confirmation. That night, after everything was finally wrapped up, I said to the teachers, "I know you've been praying for me to hold on so I could be here tonight, but you can stop now!" Someone commented on how funny it would be if I went into labour that night. I went home, fell asleep, and woke up at 12:45 a.m. It was labour.
I got out of bed at 1:30 and paced the upstairs of my house for an hour and a half before deciding to call the hospital. Since it was my third, and I had a history of hemorrhaging, and the contractions were about 5 minutes apart, they told me to make my way in. I paced another half hour or so before I decided to wake up Danny. When I told him it was time to go, he informed me that he had heard me on the phone with the hospital, which meant he had heard me tell them I was in labour, and decided to go back to sleep!!! What a man! :)
We made it to the hospital just before 5, where we waited in the ER for a good 10 minutes before someone showed up to let us in the actual hospital. They hooked me up to the baby monitor, and at 5:20 my water broke. The contractions were still about 4-5 minutes apart, which gave me some recovery time in between, but I have to say, they were stronger contractions than I had felt with either Gracie or Ella. I insisted on an epidural (I had missed out with Ella) and relayed my story about having to deal with the hemorrhage last time without any sort of pain relief. It had traumatized me, and I had nightmares about it for months afterwards. As soon as the anesthesiologist was available, I had my epidural (success!!), and tried to get some rest while I waited for baby boy to make his appearance.
At 9:15, they brought in Dr. Hamm. He was with me when I delivered Ella, and had dealt with the bleeding afterwards. I was very happy to have him again for this baby, he is a very calming presence! At 9:24 a.m., baby Jax was born, and I was surprised to find out that what I thought was my smallest belly actually held my biggest baby, weighing in at 9 pounds, 5.1 ounces. After he was born, we all held our breath and waited... waiting to see if the bleeding would be controlled, or if we would have a repeat of Ella's birth. We waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing happened. Which was not good either. We waited some more, and Dr. Hamm repeatedly reefed on my stomach. Still nothing. Not a spot of blood, but also no placenta. We waited some more and Dr. Hamm advised that he was going to have to take me to the OR to get the placenta out. Thank God, I already had the epidural!
Once the OR was prepped, they took me down. The epidural was numbing, but not enough to do what they needed to do. My right side wouldn't freeze, so they kept upping and upping the medication. Eventually the anesthesiologist said that he was going to flood me with the medication and if I still wouldn't freeze, he was going to have to put me out completely. The rush of medication made me extremely nauseous and my whole body felt like it weighed 300 pounds... but it worked! Dr. Hamm worked his magic, and I was in recovery 15 minutes later. I wasn't allowed out of recovery until I could lift and bend both of my legs. My right leg thawed within an hour, but it took until 1:30 in the afternoon before I could move my left leg enough for them to release me. I was finally taken back to my room, where Danny and Jax had spent the last 3-4 hours bonding. It was a rough afternoon, but by 4:00, I was feeling relatively normal again. The girls came and met their brother for the first time, and Nanny and Grampy got to meet their first grandson.
As the nurse told me later, after the retained placenta, followed by a pretty significant blood loss in the OR, I was not going to be feeling great. By the time I got home from the hospital on Sunday evening, I felt like I had been hit by a truck. My hands were aching from the IVs I had in each of them, my back was killing me, and my hips ached worse than I could ever imagine. Yesterday I left the house for the first time since being home, finally starting to feel like a normal person again.
Jax is fitting right in. He is a voracious eater, which reminds me again how much I dislike breastfeeding, but so far is the most calm and laid back of the three. Gracie constantly needs to be touching him, and Ella is amazed by him. Every day gets better and easier, and we are so thrilled to have him here, finally, as part of our family! We are officially complete as the Ford Family!
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