James Birth Story

Where do I start…. This pregnancy was very unique in many different ways. I thought by my third kid I would have everything down and know exactly what to do and exactly what to expect, but boy was I wrong! I had many people tell me that since this was my third he would come really fast and they were all positive it would be my shortest labor. YEAH RIGHT!! About a month before I had him I started getting “warm-up” contractions (or braxton-hicks). Sometimes they would come pretty regularly but I knew it wasn’t time yet so I would just kept ignoring them.  About a week before Halloween they started getting a little more regular and on the 24^th I experienced my first ever “false alarm”. After 8 hours of contractions that started out 10 minutes apart then got closer and closer. When they were about 4 minutes apart I decided at about 2am to go to the hospital to get checked out. I was still a little early (I wasn’t even 37wks at the time) and I wanted to make sure everything was going alright. I was a little worried because I didn’t want to have a problem with his lungs not being fully developed or something like that. When they checked me out they told me I was dilated to a 1 and about 70% effaced but they didn’t think this was the real thing so they sent me home. A little while after I left the hospital everything stopped and I was fine once again. My mom and sisters were secretly hoping I would have the baby on Halloween but the 31^st came and went and still no baby. I was still experiencing many episodes of contractions but nothing was regular or consistent enough to warrant attention. Another week went by and we had another false alarm. This time I thought that my water broke (I’ve never had my water break on its own and I wasn't sure if it was real or not). Daniel was at rehearsal  and I was home taking a bath and after I got out I felt a gush of fluid and wasn't sure if it was my water breaking or simply fluid coming out from sitting in the bath for a while. I called my mom and sister and asked them to come take me to get it checked out and again after sitting in the hospital for a while (and still experiencing many contractions) they checked everything out and said no, my water did not break it was just discharge (…weird) but I was now dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. They still didn’t think it was the real thing and recommended I go home. My sister asked the nurse what was going on with my contractions and the nurse looked at the monitor and said they had been between 3-5 apart the whole time I was there and they were lasting between 45seconds and 3 minutes each…WOW!  No wonder I was so uncomfortable. I went home and cried my eyes out for a little while (I couldn’t believe I had 2 false alarms) and finally fell asleep. Things slowed way down for the next few days and I had some time where I had all the energy in the world and got my house cleaned, the yard cleaned including raking all the leaves, and cooking yummy banana bread muffins.

On Nov 15^th was when the real fun began!  *Note: Time wise the next few days were kind of a blur for me. I didn't want to watch the clock or it would have made me crazy so my sister was the one that monitored how long things were and when things happened. Just know that after my sister counted everything out she figured out I was in labor a total of 56 hours* When the contractions started up they were really intense but kind of far apart and not exactly regular, but they felt different than anything I had experienced thus far. They kept going for a while and I kept brushing them off because I didn’t think it was the real deal so I just went about my night as usual. I kept waking up all night and had a terrible nights rest but at least I got some rest. The next day I planned on having a normal day and I even planned on taking dinner to one of my good friends who had her baby just 2 days previous. I was hoping that by being around her little guy it would force James to come a little quicker! But unfortunately by the afternoon my contractions were much much closer together and still really sore so I stayed home and tried to relax my mind and body a little more (Thank goodness for Hypnobirthing and the HypnoBabies CD's I listened to. They were such a wonderful help to me throughout this whole process). That night things were still the same and Daniel left to go to his performance (he had an Opera performance the 16^th and 17^th). My mom and sister came up again and were helping me get the kids ready for bed when I had another discharge of fluid (which I thought could have possibly been my water breaking…which it wasn’t…again!) and I was sure my mucous plug was coming out. When Daniel got home I made him call his sister to take the kids and we went to the hospital again to get checked out.  I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced but the contractions were just not consistent enough for them to classify me as “progressing” so they sent me home again. I was bawling my eyes out and couldn't believe it. I kept thinking to myself that I was just going to have the baby at home by myself because I didn't want to go into the hospital again! All that night I was up every 5-10 minutes and at about 5am I got in the bathtub and soaked in the water for a while. I was so much happier when I was in the water. All morning they just kept coming 3-5 minutes apart and lasting about 45sec to a minute and a half each time. I managed to eat a little bit of breakfast but I wasn't that hungry. I made sure to keep my water bottle filled so I wouldn't have a problem with dehydration but even that was hard to remember. My sister brought her IPad with her and had the movie “Brave” on there. We started watching it and she would pause the movie each time I would have a contractions, wait, and then we would keep watching it. About half way through the movie (and about 1:00ish) my contractions went to 1 minute apart and they were lasting about 1 minute each. I got in the bathtub again (which made everything so much better) and labored in the tub for HOURS. Daniel was in there with me helping me keep calm and trying to relax. At about 3:00ish I felt the urge to start pushing but after checking myself his head wasn't down far enough yet. I knew I was really dilated (I was probably about an 8 or so) but his head wasn't down enough. By 5 o’clock I started getting to that panicky “I can’t do this anymore I’m so exhausted” stage and decided to get out of the bathtub and go to the hospital (I really was going to have that baby in my bathtub but I couldn't figure out why he wasn't coming down.  Daniel told me he would have to leave soon to go to his Opera performance and asked if I thought I would have the baby soon or if he should just go to the performance. Since neither of us knew when the baby was actually going to come and I did have my mom and 2 sisters there for support I told him to go to the performance and we would let him know what was going on after we went to the hospital. We left at 6 for the hospital and Daniel went to his performance. My sister rushed us over there and dropped my mom and I off at the front and my mom wheeled me up to the L&D. The nurse came in checked me out and said I was complete and ready to deliver. They took me straight into a room and after getting me into a gown and doing a blood draw (which the girl missed and pulled out the needle before taking the tourniquet off so blood was gushing out of my arm all over the place!) the midwife came in with the delivery nurse. The midwife asked if I wanted her to break my water and I said no because I had a bad experience with that when I had Johnny. After 45 minutes of trying to get that kid out she asked me again and I told her I didn't want to have the same problems I did with Johnny so we kept going. After another 15 minutes or so she asked me for the 3^rd time and told me that if my water were to break she was positive the baby would come right out. My mom and sisters thought it was a good idea too and I finally said yes. My sister Brittanny asked me if I wanted to call Daniel and tell him to get over there but I knew he was right in the middle of his performance and I just wasn't bothered about him not being there. Instead she grabbed my camera and filmed the whole thing! I was a little nervous about having my water broken but on the next contraction the midwife popped the water sac and James was out in 3 minutes. I remember feeling relief when the water sac broke (completely different than Johnny’s birth). I found out from the midwife later that the reason James wasn't coming out (because in her opinion he should have…and would have…been out hours earlier if this had not been the case) was because he had his little hand up over his head and every time I would have a contraction he would press against my water sac (which was apparently super thick) and it made it so he wasn't coming down like he should have. This was definitely not an emergency situation but it was pretty funny that he was perfectly content to stay inside of me even though my body was obviously ready for him to come out….hence the 56 hour labor!

I was expecting them to plop him on my chest like they did with my other two boys but the umbilical cord was too short for them to move him too far so I had to wait a few minutes until the cord stopped pulsing and my mom cut the cord to be able to hold my baby for the first time. He was so tiny! Definitely smaller than my other two but I wasn't ready to give him up for them to weigh him.  A short while later the placenta came out and the midwife showed me how thick the water sac was…trust me, that thing wouldn't have popped on its own! We called Daniel and left him a message on his phone while the baby was still crying and making noise. Daniel called us back at intermission and announced to everyone backstage that the baby was born. Everyone was cheering and screaming congratulations into the phone. He finished out the performance then raced up to the hospital once the curtain fell. After holding him for a while I decided to let them weigh and measure him. They did this in the room with me which was really nice because with my other two boys they had to take them to the nursery to do the measuring. He weighed in at 7lbs 7oz and was 19.5in long. We took lots of pictures with my mom and siblings (my brother had been waiting in the hall with my nephew until the baby was born then he came in to be with us) and then when Daniel arrived they decided to go home and I took even more pictures of Daddy meeting baby for the first time. So much fun!

The next day was Sunday and after picking up the boys Daniel drove over to spend some time with us at the hospital. John and Josh were so excited to meet the baby then they got distracted with Spongebob on the TV and Joshua was stole Daddy's phone to play Angry Birds. After what seemed like a really long day they let us go home that night (I did NOT want to stay there any longer. They said I could stay an extra night so I could relax and get some sleep but how are you suppose to do that when people keep coming in every few hours checking on you or checking on the baby?). 

And now for a whole lot of pictures.....

Right after they handed him to me

There's that pesky little hand that gave me so much trouble!

Look at all that hair! 

The best midwife and delivery nurse EVER!!

Right after Daniel got to the hospital

Our first family picture 

First bath

Johnny watching Spongebob

Joshy playing Angry Birds

Nap time for everyone!

This picture was taken the morning after we came home from the hospital. 

Now we’re home and things are great! I love having my 3 musketeers together and even though this transition from 2 kids to 3 kids has been a bit difficult for me I’m loving life more and more with each new day. I’m so happy to finally have my sweet baby boy here and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world.

WELCOME HOME BABY JAMES!!!