When Jack Was Born

I have a hard time with birth stories. I love to hear or read other people's stories of when their babies were born, but I am a VERY private person, and I don't like to share a lot of details about myself with the world... especially personal details like those that go along with having a baby. 

But, that being said, I want to share my story of when Jack was born. Hopefully it's not TMI for anyone. And, it will probably be really long because there are little details that I want to remember.

My due date with Jack was Monday, the 23rd of April. As I got close to the end of the pregnancy, I seriously felt like I was going to see the doctor everyday, even though my appointments were only weekly. I don't like to go to the doctor, and I don't like to find places for my kids to go while I'm at the doctor, so if anything, I wanted to have this baby just to avoid another doctor's appointment. My doctor said he would start me at 39 weeks, which would be Monday, the 16th. I told him that I would rather wait and see when this baby decides to come on his own. I was 75% ephased and dilated to a 3 at my last doctor's appointment, which was at 38 1/2 weeks. (April 10th).

For the entire pregnancy (or what seemed like the entire pregnancy), I had really bad contractions. The last few weeks of the pregnancy were especially bad, and multiple times during the pregnancy, I was counting the minutes between contractions. 

Benson and Molly were both born at exactly 39 weeks. I went into labor with them both on a Sunday. With Benson, I let the doctor start me, and with Molly, I went into labor myself. It turned out to be a funny coincidence that Jack was born at 39 weeks and that I went in with him on a Sunday like the others.

So, for the story:

On Sunday, April 15th, I woke up NOT feeling awesome, as usual. I thought about skipping church and spending the day in bed. But, then I decided that maybe if I went to church and did what I was supposed to, that I would be blessed to go into labor. So, we all got up and got ready and went to church. We have been walking to and from church lately, but I didn't feel up to it, so we drove. Church was uncomfortable to say the least. I was HUGE!!!! 

We got out of church at 2:00 and we decided to go for a walk. We walked to the cemetery while Benson rode his bike. It was a nice walk on the way there, and I got to see my grandma's grave, which was nice. On the way back, I started having harder contractions. Good, the walk seemed to be working to put me into labor!!! 

When we got home, I decided I better get ready to go to the hospital, just in case. If not that day, then at least I would be ready when the time came. So Casey helped me pack a few things and we started getting the kids ready. As we were doing this, my contractions slowed down a lot. I could still feel them every once in a while, but they weren't very painful or regular.

We were going to go to my parent's house for lunch, so we decided to just take our bags and if the contractions got worse, we could just leave the kids there and go to the hospital. We got to my parent's house at 4:00, and I was feeling pretty good. Darn! 

My mom made a really good Turkey Steak dinner, and we visited at their house for quite a while. If I was sitting down or resting, my contractions didn't seem too bad, but when I stood up or walked around, they got worse. Everyone kept asking me if I was having pains or going into labor. Honestly, I don't think I really knew if I was or not. We visited with Andy, Muck, Brady, Shawnee, and my parents for a while. I couldn't decide if I should go into the hospital or not. With Benson, I went in on a false alarm, and it was NOT a fun experience, so I was worried that if I went in, they wouldn't keep me, which would have been really bad. But, I was 38 weeks, 6 days, and 18 hours.... so maybe they would say I could stay. 

My contractions seemed to be about 5 minutes apart at 7:00, so I told Casey we better head to the hospital. I was nervous about this delivery because the other two went so well, I thought the odds were against me to have another good delivery. I was VERY anxious on the ride to the hospital. When we got there, Casey gave me a blessing and I felt very comforted. One thing that he said in his blessing that really comforted me was that Heavenly Father really wanted this baby to be born and that my body had done this before and was capable.

We checked in, and they started monitoring me. I was dilated to a 3, and having contractions every 5 minutes. I was discouraged because I had been at a 3 for a couple of weeks, so I didn't think I was progressing. After an hour, my contractions were about 3 minutes apart, and I was dilated to a 4, so they decided I was in real labor and I could stay. YAY!!!! It was 9:00 when I got my IV and got settled in. Casey almost passed out while I got my IV. 

They moved me into the delivery room and called the doctor. At 9:45, he broke my water. Then I laid there and waited. At 11:30, I was dilated to 5 1/2 and the contractions were about 2 minutes apart. I decided to get my epidural. Since Casey had such a hard time with the IV, he did not want to be around for the epidural. When I had my epidural with Molly, the nurse and the anesthesiologist both left me in the middle of my epidural to attend to Casey, who was nearly passed out.... So, he decided to step out into the hall while I got my epidural this time. It was pretty fast and painless and I was happy.

We tried to get some rest since we knew we'd be up all night. I wanted to have him on the 16th, mostly because it's my Grandma and Grandpa Haws's anniversary, and I thought that would be cool. And I love even numbers, I didn't want to have him on tax day, or Cory's worst day ever. So, I was glad when midnight passed, and I knew I'd have him on the 16th. 

At 12:30, I was dilated to a 6, and contractions about 2 minutes apart. At 1:30, the nurse decided to start pitocen. I really didn't want it, but I also didn't want to be up ALL night and be too tired to take care of the baby, so I let her give me the smallest dose possible.

I started to notice that I could feel my contractions. The nurse called the anesthesiologist, and he gave me a dose of something stronger in my epidural. He told me it would be about 15 minutes until it kicked in. This was at 1:50. I was dilated to 9.

15 minutes later, at 2:05 am, the epidural still wasn't working. The anesthesiologist gave me another dose of something. Another 15 minutes, he said. He also said that the epidural was as strong as a c-section epidural, so I shouldn't feel a thing, Except that I felt pretty much everything. Also, every time they gave me more epidural or pushed the button to make it stronger, I got REALLY sick, and puked. Every time!!! That was annoying because I had only thrown up once with each pregnancy, and I didn't like my record being ruined.

At 2:08, I was a 10. They called the doctor. Since I could actually feel what was going on this time, unlike my labors with Benson and Molly, I really felt like I needed to push. It was all I could do to wait for the doctor to get there.

Dr. Bierer got there at 2:20 am.  He got his gloves on, and got all set up. I seemed like he took his sweet time to get ready. Finally, I could push. It was a lot different than with Benson or Molly, because I could feel what was going on, and I felt very in control. I'm sure I couldn't feel EVERYTHING and that the epidural helped some, but I actually thought it was good that I could feel a lot of what was going on, and when I needed to push and everything else. I had a mirror, so I could see that he had a LOT of dark hair. I could also see when he was close to being born. I actually yelled to the doctor "get him!" because I was afraid he'd drop him? Not sure.

At 2:26, he was born. It took 2 contractions, and very little pushing to get him here. No tearing or episiotomy, which was great! My mom always used to say that having a baby was easier than baking a pie, and I can honestly say that his birth was VERY easy for me. I felt very blessed and I know now that the Lord was with me. What could have been a very terrible experience turned out to be one of the most special moments of my life. Casey keeps trying to get me to say which baby is my favorite, and I tell him that I love them all the same. But I will say that this labor and delivery was my favorite of the three.

After he was born, they did skin-to-skin, which is when they put the baby right on the mom's chest for a few minutes before they weigh him and stuff. It's supposed to help the baby's temperature regulate, help with the overall health and healing of both the baby and mom, and help bond the baby and mom. That was really special too.

He was a beautiful baby!!! He had SO MUCH HAIR, which I love. He weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce, and was 19 inches long. After they cleaned him, they handed him to Casey. We still hadn't picked out a name, and I told Casey that he was in charge of naming this one. When he held him for the first time, Casey looked at him, with his dark skin and dark hair, and said that he looked Italian. He asked if we could name him after his Italian grandpa, Ernie. The kids had been calling him Jack for months, and it seemed to fit, so he became Jack Ernest Dalpias.

Post-labor was great. I immediately felt really good, and recovering wasn't bad at all. Jack is our biggest baby, (8,1- Benson was 7,13; Molly was 6,13). He has been fantastic so far. He eats well, sleeps well, and is such a cutie that I never want to put him down or let anyone else hold him!