A Baby Story: Austin Xavier Jones

Who would have thought that about 30 minutes after my last blog post I would have gone into labor?!... If you just want to look at baby pictures keep scrolling...

The best way I can describe labor and delivery without dishing out all of the juicy (literally juicy) details: Exorcism.  I felt like someone was giving me an exorcism.  Here's how it started...

Columbus Day weekend, my brother and his girlfriend drive up from Maryland in high hopes that I have the baby over the long weekend.  I warned them it was doubtful, I really thought I was going late.  That Friday at my doctors appointment I found out I was 1 cm dilated, so she stripped my membranes.  But she warned me that I could stay this way for a whole week and not make progress.  Saturday I was feeling pretty crampy, which is normal after stripping membranes, so I didn't think anything of it.  I went to my high schools football game, went out shopping and went about my normal day.  Then (as we all know from my last blog entry) around midnight I lost my mucous plug.  Again, I didn't think anything of it because people lose their mucous plug weeks before going into labor. So I snuggle in to bed and write an entry about how nasty that was... then sure enough, just before 1 am I feel a pound on my cervix.  I knew that wasn't normal so I run to the bathroom and sure enough, my water broke.  It was the weirdest feeling.  I guess it's like peeing your pants and not being able to stop.  I holler at my mom, call the hospital and call the baby daddy (who couldn't believe it was happening the one weekend he decided to go to Boston). 

Around 1:30 my mom and I have gathered my things and her knitting bag (pshhh, she thought she had time for knitting) and headed to the hospital.  On the way there I experience my first contraction.  It was like a sharp pain that started in my back and wrapped around to my lower stomach.  It was tolerable, but uncomfortable. They were about 4 minutes apart.  We checked in at the hospital and I was 3 cm dilated.  I got into my room, put on those snazzy looking gowns, and enjoyed the increased pain of contractions. Bending over, rubbing my back, walking around, squeezing my moms hand, finding a focal point, breathing through them, a warm bath.  That only works for so long.

Around 6 am they give me a dose of Fentanyl, a pain reliever.  It worked for about an hour and mom and I caught some sleep.  I could sleep for a few minutes between contractions, and just breathed through the contractions.  Within the hour either the medicine wore of or my contractions were getting much stronger.  I asked for another dose in high hopes that it would knock me out, but to no avail.  I just kept grabbing my mom, telling her I want morphine and a c-section.  At this point they checked me again and I was 5 cm dilated.  My response: "What the f**k, that's it?" And as only my mom can do, she says "Sara, I know you're in pain, but lets not use this language." I then go to sit on the toilet to "open my pelvis" and that is when the horror began...

My contractions were coming on fast and furious and I was even in pain between contractions, too!  I could no longer breath through them, I had to scream, grunt, moan.  I was practically clawing at my mom anytime she was more than a foot away from me.  I looked up at my mom with puppy dog eyes and told her I WANT THE EPIDURAL! Of course, as a nurse, she knew it was too late, but I didn't care.  Give me the damn thing.  Then they tried another warm bath to relax me.  I was in there no more than 5 minutes and I knew, it was time to push.

Now it was 8:20 in the morning and the doctor wasn't there yet, so the nurse ensured me she'd catch him when he came out.  After about 10 minutes of pushing next thing I know I have an oxygen mask on, they run to get another nurse, they're changing my position, telling me to stop pushing. To anyone who has ever been in labor, it's feels next to impossible to stop pushing.  It's an urge I can't even explain. Come to find out after birth, my little man's heart rate had dropped from a healthy 140 to 50.  His head was being squished by my contractions so I had to stop pushing to stabilize him.  After about 10 minutes of not pushing I was in the clear again.  It was just like you see on tv, with an exhausted woman bearing down and everyone else yelling, you're almost there! keep pushing! one more! i see the head!

Then all of a sudden, I don't know what came over me, but my upper body practically threw itself off the bed and I let out a blood curdling scream. The head was out and the rest of him literally flew out after.  The best part of that pain? The one horrible, deathly scream I let out- my dad, brother and girlfriend are walking into the hospital and heard the scream OUTSIDE.  I was the only on in labor so there was no denying it was me.  

On October 7, 2012 at 9 a.m. my little man was born. I was in such shock of how fast everything happened.  Within 8 hours of my water breaking I was holding my wide eyed baby in my arms.  I was a mother. 

So here he is, Austin Xavier Jones.  Born 10/7/12 at 9 am sharp.  7 pounds, 1.4 ounces.  20 1/2 inches long. He is the love of my life!