Jackson Paul

5.4.10 12:28 pm 7 lb 14 oz.


Monday May 3rd.



I went to school to teach. I was definitely dialated to 3 cm, BUT still no labor contractions, so why not go to work? By 11 pm, I was fairly convinced my water had broken--no embarrassing gush, just a little trickle. Still, no labor contractions. So, I told the poor secretary in our office, left a class of 15 students in the hallway, and called an advice nurse who told me to get to a clinic AFAP (as fast as possible).

Too bad we thought our car was dead, so I was relying on public transport. I called Mark, who had great news about the car--it had been in neutral, hence not starting. Good. And he would meet me at home. Amazingly we hit the same subway on the way home, and got to hold hands and get excited together.

We packed. We went in, and....we went home.

False alarm. No broken water.

Great. I'll go to work tomorrow.

Tuesday May 4th

12:40 am. I go to the bathroom. Back ache--it goes away. Was that a contraction?! I go back to bed. Ooo. Ouch. another one. I look at the clock. 12:50 am. Hmmm. 1 am. Another.

I get up, and start planning lessons for the rest of the week--b/c I'm probably not going to be going in to work tomorrow. I plan, uterus contracts, I write down the time, I go back to planning.

I wake Mark up at 2:38 am.
"Honey, I actually have contractions. They're coming 3-5 min. apart. I think it's finally time."

I did not feel so great driving in the car. I was predicting I would be 5 or 6 cm by the time we got to the hospital--I didn't want to get my hopes up too quickly.

3:30am



When the Dr. FINALLY checked me, she told me I was a 4+. Ha! No chance that baby was going to come out anytime soon.

We brought plenty of stuff, except the two bags we forgot--which Mark went home for around 5 am.



It took about an hour to get to a room. Because we had decided to go al-natural, I was really concerned I would be able to walk around and move. These beds were certainly cool--if you were 8 years old and liked to push buttons--but not the most comfortable things for labor.



Luckily, the dr. let me do "intermittent monitoring." We did a bit of walking, lots and lots of breathing, squatting, rocking, and Mark's hands are still recovering from the hours of pressure and massage he gave my back.

The last hour of dialating (from a 9 to a 10) was where a C-section started to sound REALLY nice. Pushing was probably the most exhausting thing I have ever experienced. Every push felt like -- OK, something's got to be coming out now -- and the dr. wasn't even there to catch him yet!

Finally, (after only 20 min) I yelled out if anything was even happening down there... and Mark goes "Shaunel, he has black hair."

Wow. New surge of energy, and we got him out of there.

Totally worth it.



The nurses and Dr. were amazing. We probably had 10 the whole time we were at the hospital, and definitely only took a picture of a couple. But all were fantastic.



We were at Fairfax Hospital--rated one of the top 50 hospitals in the US. They have an average of 30 babies born each day. Luckily we got a private room, so I could walk around in my skivies :)



(notice the crooked yawn...awww.)

First time in the car seat was a bit traumatic, (oh, those hard screams just break my heart!) But we after conking out, he had no complaints.



First night was kind of rough. Ok, really rough. Mark ran to the store at 2 am for some Vaseline, then we had our first of daily sprayings from his manly hose, and finally we went to bed at 3 am--with everyone exhausted. Needless to say, we didn't get up until 12 pm the next day. 3 nights of no sleep can do anyone in.



Despite extreme frustration, lots of tears (go hormones) and complete exhaustion, I look down at his perfect eyes, his beautiful skin, his gassy smiles, his little neck creases, and I'm overcome with gratitude.

What an incredible gift from God.