The Adventure of us: The Labor

For those of you who want to know how the labor and birth went, this post is for you, those of you NOT interested, I would skip the writing and just scroll to the pictures! I have been asked quite a few times about the delivery and rather than telling it over and over again, I figured I would just include it on here for those that are interested!

This unfortunately WILL be the long version...

Going into it I planned to deliver as naturally as possible, knowing that if it was too much, I would opt for the drugs and do an epidural. I knew without a doubt from others that labor is long and painful, so my goal was to go as natural as possible for as long as possible.

With that being said, yes, I did do it completely naturally, and while being very thankful to have done it that way, it was certainly very difficult!

It was Thursday August 7th, exactly 1 week before Jedidiah's due date. I had been very tired all day and not feeling super great. I hadn't had ANY contractions leading up to that point and all of the sudden around 8pm I started to get them very regularly, about every 5 minutes though they were not very painful, at least not compared to what I was expecting it to be, so I assumed they couldn't be the real thing. I called the doctor after about an hour and a half of regular contractions who said to go in to get it checked out just to be sure. Soon after talking to the doctor, I was pretty sure my water broke while going to the bathroom, and we went into the hospital around 11pm, still thinking it was just a false alarm because I felt very calm and not in much pain.

We arrived and they checked my cervix when we got there. I had had a doctors appointment the day before and was dilated to 2 cm. When they checked me that night I was at 4 cm, so they said since I dilated that quickly in one day and was already at a 4, they were going to keep me and I was going to have the baby before leaving the hospital. They also checked to make sure my water indeed broke, and it had, but not completely. We were then moved into a labor room where I had contractions until about 7am. I dilated up to 8cm by about 4am, so I was moving surprisingly quick, and the contractions really didn't start to get bad until about 3am.

Around 6AM the nurses said that I was dilated to 9cm. I stayed there for quite a while, but they said I could not start pushing until I was fully dilated to a 10. That was when it got really hard because the pressure of the contractions on my back was extreme and I couldn't find a comfortable position. The nurses told me that my water had not completely broke, which was why it was taking so long for me to dilate the last centimeter. Unfortunately they couldn't break my water until the doctor was there, so I just had to continue to wait through the contractions. When the doctor finally arrived and broke my water, I was able to start pushing. However, Jed's heart rate kept lowering through the contraction process so they were worried about him and kept having me do different things in order to try to keep his heart rate up.

At one point the doctor was concerned about Jed's safety and told me that if his heart rate continued to drop we may have to do a C-section to get the baby out as soon as possible. At this point, I was ready to do whatever was needed in order to get the baby out. After hearing that news I continued to push and the baby was having a hard time continuing down the birth canal so the doctor then informed me that we might need to vacuum him out. Praise the Lord, this little fighter did what he needed to do and we ended up not having to do the C-section or the vacuum.

The worst unfortunately wasn't over yet... in order to help him come out the rest of the way they had to perform an episiotomy. When he finally came out he had the cord tightly wrapped around his neck twice and the doctor had a hard time cutting the cord as he was moving and squirming when he first came out. Ben said the room was a little panicked at this point, but I was sort of out of it and had no clue that Jed was not in good condition. After he was out all I could say was, "Ben, is it a boy or girl??" He couldn't tell right away because the doctor had him turned and because of the panic in the room I asked again, "Ben, is it a boy or girl??" ... he told me it was a boy!

The cord wrapped around his neck helped explain why his heart rate kept going so low. They put him on my stomach, but he wasn't getting enough oxygen so they had to take him to the NICU...he wasn't doing well, they were pretty worried.... again I was unaware that Jed wasn't doing well, I believe it was God's grace that kept me uninformed and allowed me not to panic and worry about our son. Ben went with Jed to the NICU, my mom was with me as I got stitched up.

After about an hour and a half they brought Jed and Ben back to me and it was like nothing had gone wrong at all. He was perfect and perfectly healthy! Praise the Lord!! Ever since then he has done great!!

Jedidiah Benjamin was born at 8:05am on Friday morning, August 8th. He was 6.lb 5 oz 19.5in. long.

Ben asked me shortly afterwards if next time I would want an epidural. I haven't really decided yet. Every single moment that I went through I look back on with good memories. It was all worth it! I would do it over again in a heartbeat to bring this sweet little boy into the world again. As for next time... I will decide that when it gets closer! I feel accomplished to be able to say I did it naturally, that was my goal. I don't feel the need to do it again naturally, but there is something really amazing about my body and Jed's body doing exactly what is needed in order for him to enter the world. I look back on our time in the hospital as such a sweet time. The next few days with Jed in the hospital were precious and something I will forever cherish. Holding him, feeding him, simply staring at our little miracle were some of the best moments of my life. I am blessed. I have an amazing husband and we get to share our life with our son Jedidiah. Praise God for His amazing works and the miracle of LIFE!

Getting ready for Jed to make his entrance!

Right after he was born they put him on my chest...Jed's color was not good because he didn't have enough blood in his body right after he was born, which was why he went to the NICU.