It's a Little Bit Funny...

Remember how on June 2nd I posted that I was 34 weeks pregnant?  Can you believe that just 5 days later I gave birth to a beautiful, perfect baby boy?  5 days!!

Our little miracle made quite an entrance this past Thursday. Are you ready for a birth story? This is the first one I've ever told and it's a good one, at least as far as birth stories are concerned.  Buckle up, here it comes.

Jackson Prescott Tatum

On Wednesday night I went to sleep next to my adoring husband, just like every other night.  We had a pretty normal day.  We took Kevin's grandma to the airport, went grocery shopping, and had chocolate cake to celebrate Matthew's birthday.  Nothing extraordinary, nothing strenuous.  So anyway,  I went to sleep while Kevin played Pokemon on his DS next to me.  I, however, had a normal night of not being able to sleep.  I had to use the restroom and my back was hurting, just like every other night for the past couple of weeks.

The next morning we had plans to go play frisbee golf (I would have been watching, trust me), but since I hadn't slept well and was rather tired and my back was still aching, I opted to stay home.  So Kevin changed plans and was picked up to play at 8:00am.  My back took a turn for the worse after that.  It wasn't a constant pain, but more of a come and go so I didn't think too much of it.  It was just weird how much I felt like I needed to pee and poop (TMI- and there's probably a lot more where that came from coming soon). So on one of those times I actually did pee and when I wiped there was bright red blood.  I think its safe to say that I freaked out at that point.

I hope he still wants to hold my hand when he's a little bigger. And don't give me any nonsense about reflexes, this little guy wanted to hold my hand.  Mommy's instinct.

Luckily, Kevin had left me with our one and only phone, so I called him via the phone of the person he was with.  I told him about the back pain, but more pressingly about the bright red blood on my kleenex.  He told me to call my OB and just ask her what I should do.  Her office didn't answer.  Meanwhile I grab What to Expect When You're Expecting and flip to the section about how you know when you're in real labor.  I read over the symptoms and I had every one, except for my water breaking.  So Kevin calls and tells me he's heading home just in case we have to go somewhere in a hurry, remember the OB's office didn't answer my call and I'm officially freaking out. 34 weeks, remember?

When Kevin gets there about 10 minutes later I showed him the book and how I thought I might possibly be in labor.  And the little note that says if you have any bloody show then call your doctor immediately.  I told him they didn't answer, and he tried and got ahold of them.  The doctor was busy, but the nurse asked some important questions and then said she would check with the doctor and give us a call back.  A couple minutes later she did just that and said we should go to the hospital as soon as possible.  OK. Absolutely not.  I'm not having this baby, it's too early.  This must be false labor.  I had convinced myself.  I even called back and asked if I could just come to the office and be checked out before going to the actual hospital.  The answer was an emphatic "No, go to the hospital." Ok, I get it.  I'm going.

Just Jackson relaxin'

We took one very long and excruciating drive to the hospital. Those city streets felt like a gravel road as every crack, bump, and pothole was a nightmare on my aching back.  We arrived and were admitted and we went to triage to run some tests and see if I really was in labor and they were going to stop it if I was.  They sent me to the bathroom to put a gown on and leave a urine sample.  They took some swab tests and hooked me up to the ultrasound/contraction measuring thing.  It was clear to them that I was having some serious contracting going on.  Then finally measured my cervix to see where I was at only to not be able to find my cervix.  "Olga, can you come check this for me..." The second opinion was the same as the first.  All the tests went into the trash and I was rushed ER-style to labor and delivery.  I was having that baby today.

I was understandably nervous about how under developed he would be and if there would be any problems once he was born.  I was being asked question after question, stabbed with an IV, told there was no time for pain medication (THERE'S ALWAYS TIME FOR PAIN MEDICATION!... apparently not) and getting ready to push this baby out.  Might I remind you that I'm 6 weeks early (and they thought I was 8 weeks early according to their "records").  They were preparing me to only see my baby for a second after he was born and told he would then be rushed to the NICU in case he wasn't breathing.  That was probably the scariest part.

They broke my water around 11:00 am and the contractions, despite what they had said about them getting less painful at first, intensified and I felt the urge to push.  And push I did.  Every contraction (which were about 2 minutes apart) I gave 3 strong ten-second pushes.  It didn't take long, and Jackson made his appearance at 11:24 am.  They rushed him off.  As I lay there (I take it back), that was probably the scariest part.  They came back a little while later to tell me that he was breathing on his own and doing just fine.  He was 4 pounds, 11.5 ounces and 16.5 inches long.  My little man had made it.

Our little man, and Kevin's hand so you can see his size.  And his muscles. 

I couldn't go see him, which was terrible, as the doctor was sewing me up and letting me rest.  But the neonatal specialist doctor came to report on all the things they were doing and how wonderful our little guy was (and so cute).  He told me they were going to put him under the light for his jaundice and test his reflexes, etc. But that if everything went well we could probably take him home in 5-7 days.  I was expecting weeks, so you can imagine my excitement at hearing that.

So here we are 4 days later and the doctor is telling us that he will more than likely be discharged tomorrow morning.  Maybe he didn't come on time, but he got this right on schedule.  Our precious angel gets to come home.

The proud papa.

I guess we better go buy a car seat...