Before I get into our birth story and how we're doing I have to express our overwhelming gratitude. We have been on the receiving end of so much kindness, generosity and love. So much so that when I think about it I can't help but cry. Perhaps the crying has to do with all the extra hormones in our house because seriously, I'm in tears allllll the time. There are no words to adequately express how much support we've received. The only thing I can say is that I am committed, Erin too, to pay it forward.
Just a few things that come to mind - we've been home a week and we've already had 3 meals dropped off, invited over to a friends for dinner, had a car full (not fridge full) of groceries delivered, my sister Jami left her life and 3 kiddos at home for 5 days to come help out and allow us to get a few more hours of sleep during the day - and so many calls and texts affirming our ability to be great parents. We are thankful beyond words for our village!
So the story...
Jette Alice Nelson (pronounced Jet) was born April 24 at 10:11pm. She was 8lbs and 19.5 inches.
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| First picture of Jette - soon after she started to cry |
The birth story:
We went to the hospital at 8pm on Sunday, April 23rd (my brothers birthday!) and started the induction process by taking misoprostol. Erin ended up taking 3 doses of it. One at 8pm, another at 11pm and the last at 2am. We were walked through different scenarios as she took the 1st dose - if we did this particular thing Erin's body might kick in and she might not have to have pitocin to get labor started. If we do this other particular thing Erin would go on pitocin and baby would likely get here sooner.
As we were preparing for labor and delivery for the past several months it has felt important to Erin to do things as naturally as possible. She's the kind of person that doesn't like to put medicine in her body for anything so the idea of pitocin and/or an epidural wasn't particularly attractive - although it was on the table. We learned different coping skills at all of our classes. We wanted to try different labor positions and Erin thought that getting in the tub would be nice. One thing was for sure - she didn't want to be attached to all the monitors because she imagined that the monitors would make it hard to be mobile and you have to be on the monitors when you're on pitocin.
So after hearing the different scenarios we decided to see if Erin's body would go into natural labor with a little nudge (the pills she took). Turns out, it did. Contractions started around 4am. The midwife checked her at 10:00am and she hadn't progressed much. She was 50% effaced and 1cm. We revisited pitocin and planned to get Erin on it but right when they were about to turn on the IV Erin's body kicked into gear again and the painful contractions started at 10:30am.
We started doing what we learned in our classes. Erin got in different positions. I rubbed her back. We swayed together. She bounced on the ball then leaned on the bed then we swayed again.
This is where it gets a little blurry. I have to rely on my text message thread with Cynthia, Erin's mom to remember the timing, etc.
Erin's body stopped progressing and pitocin was back on the table. We weighed our options and decided to do it. The monitoring increased so we had to have more visits by the nurses which made it hard to keep focus.
At 5:40pm she was 100% effaced and dilated to a 5. She was getting tired and frustrated that her body wasn't progressing. Erin decided to get an epidural - which I was glad about because I didn't know how I was going to last several more hours watching her go through that much pain.
We took a (much needed) nap. Amanda and Philip DuBois came to visit and brought me dinner. Erin got checked around 8pm. She was still fully effaced and 5cm. No progression. The midwife explained that they hoped for women to progress 1cm per hour. She said she'd come back at 11pm and if Erin hadn't progressed to an 8 she recommended breaking Erin's water.
Amanda and Philip were getting ready to leave around 9:00pm when Erin said, "I think my water just popped!" The midwife came in to verify and sure enough her water broke! It was explained that her water breaking might speed up the process a little bit but no guarantees. She'd be back in a couple hours.
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| Right after her water 'popped' |
So - I am standing by Erin's bed at this point. I'm holding her hand. I have a good view of Erin, of the midwife who is up in Er's business and of the nurse standing by the computer. I am watching the midwife's eyes as she checks Erin. Her eyes get really wide - she looks concerned or surprised or something. Then she says, 'HOLY SHIT' and blurts out some numbers. The nurse who is entering in the information she blurted out also looks concerned or surprised or something. Then the midwife says, 'we're having a baby, her head is right there.'
That was at 9:25pm.
Erin pushed through 4 contractions (not four in a row - she had to wait for a couple to pass because baby's heart rate would drop whir Erin pushed and had to climb back up) and she was here at 10:11pm. It all happened so fast!
It was wild when Jette made her appearance. She wasn't crying and she was a blue/gray color. Erin couldn't keep her eyes open - she lost a lot of blood in delivery because of something that happened with the placenta. Jette was on Erin's chest for about 5 seconds and then given to a team to help her. I had a hand on baby and a hand on Erin and was completely paralyzed. I didn't know what to do - and was worried for both of them. The midwife was yelling at me to talk to my baby but I couldn't - I was worried about Erin and I couldn't talk to Erin because I was worried about my baby. BUT after a short amount of time (that felt like forever) Jette started crying and was placed on Erin's chest and although I was still speechless, I couldn't stop staring.
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| A moment I'll never forget... |
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| Our first of many selfies |
A few pictures from the hospital
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