Jax’s Birth Story
When you are 19 days overdue with your ninth baby, having had contractions on and off for weeks, it’s hard to know (or maybe just to believe) when you are finally in labor. But after intense prayer on Sunday, at around 2 am, those unmistakable contractions began and remained, confirming that I would not, after all, remain pregnant for the rest of my life.
Aaron and I, so excited to be facing “the day”, got up, brewed coffee and red raspberry tea and read some Psalms together.
After about five hours, we decided to head to the hospital, just because the contractions were getting much stronger, though still around 6 minutes apart.
And as my history goes, once in the car, they spread out again. But once we arrived at the hospital and I started walking, they resumed.
My brother and his wife had come to visit from CO, thinking by the first of April I would have recovered from having my baby 
Instead, they rode with us to the hospital and got to share Jax’s entrance with us!
My two aunts had also come with my mother (he was so anticipated!) so we had quite a room full of people for a little while.
I had already decided that I wanted an epidural, but I wanted it later in labor so as not to risk stalling things. I was 5 cm and contractions getting stronger when I arrived at the hospital and I labored until I was 8 cm and then asked for the epi.
The doctor asked me if he could break my water because of the high risk of meconium since I was so overdue. I allowed it because that was a concern of mine too. All was clear.
The epi only worked on one side, so I later got a boost. The boost was wonderful except that when they asked me to push I started laughing….”I can’t push.” So I performed what I could only tell was the act of squeezing my eyes shut really tight, but somehow I was pushing just fine.
Three pushes and that 9 lb. 12 oz boy was out!
Witnesses to the birth all agreed that after my natural birth with Ellia I was much “happier” and was able to enjoy the baby more this time right after he was born. I realize that is probably not the norm, and I want to emphasize that I hold natural birth in high regard, it just wasn’t for me this time.
He was wide awake and bright eyed when they laid him on my chest and he even attempted to lift his head. I was so impressed with the nurses that assisted me in that instead of insisting he lay under the warmer, they immediately brought him after his stats and told me to warm him “skin on skin”. The staff were very accommodating to all our requests and we did not encounter any opposition at all…an answer to prayer.
It was about an hour after his birth that I began to feel faint and told the nurse. She laid my bed down and I drank some Sprite. It didn’t help. At this point they were bathing the baby and everyone else was just sort of talking and then I waved to get my mom’s attention….“I’m fainting and I just wanted y’all to know”.
She told the nurses and then they came to check my blood pressure when they found it had dropped to 60/30. She didn’t announce that out loud, she just said, “OK, let me go get some other nurses.”
Two other nurses came in and the three of them began to massage pulverize my belly. I would have thought the epidural would prevent me from feeling that but hands down, that procedure was worse than any labor pains I had that day. It was at that point that I heard one whisper what my blood pressure was.
Aaron had ducked behind a curtain by then because he was getting sick, and my mom stood with me holding my hand. It was a feeling of drifting away and I was so afraid I was not coming back. I was trying to find the words/energy/concentration to call to Aaron and I couldn’t. I remember praying…”Lord, please let them save me…Lord, if I die, please comfort my children….” I whispered once to my Mom, “I don’t want to go”. (My mom is still recovering )
Perhaps I wasn’t in quite as much danger as I felt, or at least not yet, but the feeling was all the same. They finally got my blood pressure back up and I returned to a normal state of consciousness.
Without going into gory detail, apparently there was a great deal of “matter” that needed to be expelled that was preventing the cervix from “clamping down”. Once that was solved, the bleeding stopped.
My friend teased me that since I didn’t go natural, I needed some drama, so there ya go.
All in all, a pretty easy and beautiful delivery. Recovery has been quite different, probably a combination of the intense massage and the big baby, but I’ve got a fabulous servant-hearted husband and children who make it easy to rest.
The Lord has been so gracious, teaching me to wait on Him to trust in Him and to depend on Him when I can do nothing. I praise Him with all my heart for showing forth His glory in every detail of this pregnancy and delivery, for bringing forth friends like you as well as in the flesh who have poured out love and encouragement.
I can’t say enough about my church family who is now showering us with food after our friend stayed for weeks and helped with the meals, cleaning and children. The Body has truly come alive for us and revealed God’s heart in a way we will never forget.
motherhood, pregnancy | Word Warrior | 
April 7, 2011 11:35 pm | 
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