Jack finally arrives on July 15, 2009 at 3:22am, the day before my scheduled induction... what a sneaky boy!
It was Tuesday (7/14) evening around 7pm and I was cooking dinner. Jaime and Jon came over to drop some stuff off, Jaime and I chatted in the kitchen for a while and before she left she told Jack to come out. Around 7:30 Josh and I sat down to eat and watch Jeopardy. As we sat there eating I was getting a little crampy and it felt like I had to poop. I finished eating and made a trip to the bathroom... nothing. Maybe I was constipated? These cramps continued and I made a few more unsatisfying trips to the bathroom. At one point the cramps started to feel a little different. They started in my back and made their way to the front. The thought crossed my mind that they could be contractions so I started timing them but they didn't feel like menstral cramps, which I was expecting, so I wasn't getting too excited. I called my sister, Bethanie, to describe what I was feeling to see if she had an opinion. I told her that these 'cramps' were about 5-7 minutes apart and lasting 20-30 seconds. She suggested that I call my mom. I made the call around 9pm and told her what was going on. She offered to come over but I didn't think she needed to because I wasn't convinced I was in labor. While talking to her I got a 'cramp', I stopped talking and starting breathing a little heavier. When she heard that she said that she's coming over because it sounded like I was in labor. She came over with my dad. Josh and my dad were watching the All Star game and my mom and I continued timing the contractions and they were getting longer, closer together and a little painful. Bethanie checked in every now and then and when my mom told her that my contractions were now every 3 minutes and lasting about 55 seconds she decided to come over too (this was at about 11:30). We stayed at the house until a little after midnight when the contractions were 2 minutes apart and lasting about 75 seconds. Josh drove his car while my mom and I were in the back so she could rub my back when a contraction would come. When we got to the hospital I got all checked in and the nurse checked my cervix. I was already dilated to 7cms, that was nice to hear! They needed to monitor the baby for about 20 minutes so I had to stay in bed while they did that. Once everything looked good I headed off to the jacuzzi. The water felt great but the room started heating up and that made me feel sick so I decided to get out. I was feeling a lot of pressure so the nurse checked me again and I was 9cm... that was only an hour after the first time I was checked. The contractions hurt but they weren't unbearable so I didn't feel that any pain medication was necessary. The next few hours are a little fuzzy. I remember being checked again and I was almost fully dilated but there was a tiny bit of cervix left so I was told to push to see if I could push past it. After that I was fully and ready to go. While pushing my water EXPLODED and soaked the people surrounding my bed and even splashed myself on the face... gross. It sounded like the onlookers got a kick out of it. In between pushes I was having a hard time catching my breath so I was given oxygen which helped a little. I pushed as hard as I could for 39 minutes, breaking blood vessels in my eyes and face, and then Jack was here. They had me reach down and pull him up on my stomach. Josh yelled out something like, "You just had a fucking baby!" Jack's grandparents took turns holding him. They weighed him (7lbs 14oz), measured him (21in) and did all the other stuff they do to newborns. Finally around 7am everything was done and it was time to rest. They put Jack in a crib thing next to my bed. I wasn't able to sleep... I just stared at him for a few hours. I couldn't believe that I just had a baby. And that he was the one that was inside me for the last 9 months. It was all so overwhelming but in a good way.
