The long-awaited birth story

I finally wrote about Jacob's birth, for those of you who are interested.

A week before Jacob was born, Dr. Vaughan and I discussed a date to induce me. Wednesday and Thursday (Thursday being Thanksgiving) worked for him, but I suggested Friday. That day was less convenient for him, but he said he was willing to do that. I was still a bit unsure whether to be induced just yet, even though the doctor was encouraging it due to the baby's estimated size. I had a checkup already scheduled for Friday, so he suggested I come in for an earlier appointment—8:45—and we’d talk about inducing me for later that day. Paul and I discussed it and I decided to go ahead and get induced Friday. So on Thursday, I called the clinic for Dr. Vaughan to find out what time I would be induced (wanting to inform Brenda Jones, who would be watching our other kids that day). He said he had two appointments out of the hospital that day (which he hadn’t known about yet at my previous appointment), so he’d be out of the hospital in the afternoon until about 5:30, but said if I delivered before he got back, his partner would deliver the baby, and he said he’d trust his partner if it were his wife having a baby. He asked if I’d be comfortable with that, and I said no; I’d rather have him deliver. So he suggested I come for my appointment at noon and after my regular appointment, we start the induction, and then he’d be back by the time I needed to deliver. (This made for a long day for him, bless his heart).
So, on November 28, the day after Thanksgiving, Paul and I showed up at noon. When I went to the OB desk for my appointment, the nurse said Dr. Vaughan said for me to go upstairs to Labor and Delivery instead of going through my regular appointment first, because he was doing an emergency C-section at the time. This was fine with me because it just meant that the induction would be started sooner.
I went upstairs and changed into the flowery hospital gown. The nurse started me on the IV (with fluids only), which hurt my forearm quite a bit, and I cried. I felt like a wimp for crying from that pain! I didn’t even cry from labor pains later on, but I cried from that! Maybe it’s because it surprised me how much the IV needle hurt. I had forgotten to bring lunch to eat in the car on the way, so they brought me hospital food for lunch. It was good. Dr. Vaughan showed up at 1: something. He checked my dilation and I was at 2.5 cm—not as far as I thought I’d be, because I’d been having some contractions for a few days. He then put in the epidural catheter. He didn’t succeed at the first spot he tried (which hurt quite a bit), so he did it at a second spot, which was less painful and didn’t take long. At about 2:00 they started the pitocin. The contractions were extremely mild for quite some time, and I wrote some thank-you cards for baby gifts and rested. When the contractions were getting more painful, I finished the thank-you cards, which distracted me from the pain. After that, the contractions were getting quite painful and I was thinking about the epidural. The nurse on duty was a 60 year-old lady (by my estimation) who spoke very little English. I felt a little trapped there with just Paul and her there and no English-speaking nurse to understand me well. I told her I was thinking about getting the epidural. She asked if I wanted it now. Paul knew how to say “not yet” in Japanese, unfortunately. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to say “not yet”! But Paul was right—I shouldn’t get it too soon in case it wore off before delivery. So I didn’t correct him and reluctantly went along with the “not yet.”
Dr. Vaughan got back around 5:30. I think I was dilated to 3.5 cm or so by then. The contractions were getting painful by then, but I still didn’t need the epidural. He broke my waters and said the baby’s head was pressing hard down on the cervix by then, so he expected me to get some hard contractions really soon. And let me tell you, I did! They felt like they were pulling so hard on my cervix that I was sure I was dilating fast. I was ready for my epidural! After a half hour, he checked my dilation again to see if I was progressing quickly. If I was, he wasn’t going to go take his walk, but if I wasn’t, he felt that he’d be able to take his walk and be back before delivery time. To my dismay, when he checked me, I was still at 3.5 cm! Bummer. So he went and walked his dog. Dr. Vaughan suggested I get only a half dose of the epidural at first in case that was enough pain relief, and then I could get the other half dose whenever I wanted without having to wait the required amount of time for a second dose. The epidural took well on my right side and less on my left side, but I was quite satisfied with the pain relief it brought me. With Dr. Vaughan gone on his walk, Paul and I were again left alone with the little-English speaking nurse. My contractions got harder quite fast and she saw that I was suffering a lot again by the anguished expression on my face. She came over and said, “Big pain?” I replied, “Yes—big pain!" Without even asking me if I wanted the other half dose, she made a phone call to Dr. Vaughan, and then came over and gave me the other half dose. I was very grateful! So it turned out that she didn't need to speak much English to be a big help! The other half-dose helped some, but soon the pain increased so much it didn’t feel like I’d gotten an epidural at all. But who knows how it would have felt without it. All this time in my mind I’d tell myself that I just need to make it to 9:00 pm. I had estimated that by then I’d be going to the delivery room. Dr. Vaughan came back and checked my dilation, and I can’t remember what I was dilated to. Not much more. But in less than an hour after that, I felt like pushing! It wasn't a great urge to bear down, but some, so I thought I should tell the nurse. So she checked my dilation and I was at an 8 or 8.5, and said it was time to go to the delivery room (since I was progressing so fast, I guess, so I would be at 10 cm in no time). I was so glad. It was almost 9 p.m., so I was right about the time! The nurse went and got Paul, who had gone to the waiting room a few minutes earlier (to sit for a little while on something more comfortable than the hard chair they had in the labor room for him, or the hard floor, which he had reclined on during part of the labor, which the nurses chuckled at.) I was relieved that I’d be delivering soon, but I was unable to feel very excited because I was in so much pain! I remember them putting up a bar above the bed for me to hold onto, and I wasn't able to talk much to Paul when he came in as they wheeled the bed into the delivery room. Paul and I were both amazed at how fast I had dilated in less than an hour.
In addition to the bar above me to hang onto, they also pulled out handles on either side of me to pull on as I pushed during each contraction. I tried using those, and Dr. Vaughan said I made more progress when I used them rather than the bar, so I didn’t use the top bar after that. After I got home from the hospital I noticed my forearms were sore, and finally figured out it was from pulling on those handles so hard! I think I pushed for about 20 minutes. When the baby's head became visible, Dr. Vaughan said he could see some hair. I commented on how all of our kids were born with a lot of hair, and he said it wasn’t anything to get excited about! Turns out that Jacob has much less hair than any of our other kids had when they were born! (But I think it's really cute.) I delivered the head slowly and was so relieved once it was out. Dr. Vaughan had me push when I wasn’t having a contraction to deliver the shoulders slowly. When I was done, I was excited about how slowly and carefully we had been able to get the head and shoulders out, and I remarked happily, “So I didn’t tear at all, did I?” He said, “Oh, yeah, you tore when the head came out.” I was so disappointed! He said, “With a baby that big, you couldn’t not tear!”
Very soon they put little Jacob on my chest. I was lying flat so I couldn’t see his face very well, but it felt so wonderful to finally hold him! My relief that I was DONE with the delivery was immense! Still, it felt a little unbelievable that I had made it to this point, that the pregnancy was over, and I actually was holding my baby. Dr. Vaughan told us he sent the nurse away so that I could have more time to hold him. (She was going to weigh him and do all the initial stuff they do to babies.) That was kind of him. When he was done sewing me up, he said a prayer with us, as always. (It's a Christian hospital.) It was a wonderful prayer, asking that Jacob would bond well with his siblings and that my laceration would heal well, and everything else that was appropriate. I wanted to find out what the baby weighed, so he then got the nurse to come and take him. They weighed him in another room this time (unlike my other two babies that were born there). Dr. Vaughan was going to go home and I said something about how he wouldn’t find out for a while how much the baby weighed, and he said, “Oh, I can wait and see.” He left and came back a few minutes later and told us that Jacob was 9 pounds, 5 ounces—by far my biggest baby. Wow. Then he went home.
The nurses wheeled me back to the labor room and brought back Jacob. Paul and I took a few pictures of each other holding him and then I nursed him. He latched on easily. I suggested Paul leave pretty soon so he could get Josh Jones home since it would be 10:30 p.m. by the time he got home. (Brenda brought her teenage son, Josh, to our house with the kids for bedtime, and then Josh stayed there until Paul got home).
I asked the nurse when I’d be able to go to my room, because I was very tired. She pointed to the clock and indicated that at 10:55 p.m. I could go to my room. I don’t know why I had to wait. I asked her, but she didn't understand me.
A nurse came to get Jacob. I reluctantly let them take him away. I loved having him with me, but I also was anxious to go to bed!
Then a nurse came and gave me a sponge bath on my upper body. This was something they'd never done for me after giving birth. That was a kind thing to do since I had gotten sweaty. She did one area at a time so I didn’t feel all naked at once.
Finally I got to go to my room. I didn’t bother to wash my face or brush my teeth (since I didn't throw up during transition like I did with the previous two babies). I had to go to bed with the IV still in my arm since I didn't succeed at going to the bathroom. In the middle of the night, I got up tried again and succeeded, so I called the nurse and she took out the IV. Much better! The epidural catheter had to stay in my back until morning, unfortunately.
My hospital stay was pretty good. On Saturday my after-pains were quite painful, especially while breastfeeding, and my back hurt a lot in the epidural spot, even after Dr. Vaughan came and took it out. But by Sunday that felt much better. In fact, the last time I took pain meds was midday on Saturday, less than 24 hours after giving birth.
On Saturday around 1:00, Gail Hanks came to visit. We had a nice visit and near the end I asked for the baby to be brought in so she could hold him. Later on, Paul came with the kids. That was also a really good visit, and I felt remarkably good compared to the last two times Paul brought kids to visit me in the hospital. Those visits were harder for me, and I remember it being painful to have them climb on me, but this time, Nathan even pushed on my belly and it didn’t hurt! When it was time for them to leave I even wished they could stay a little longer (which is not how I felt when they visited after Nathan was born), but they needed to get back for dinner. When they were about to leave, Emily said she really missed me, and she got teary. That made me cry, too!
Saturday night after dinner I felt a little down—lonely and tired and a bit depressed—so I went on a walk outside for about 15-20 minutes. I was amazed I could do so and feel so good. The exercise and the time outside made me feel better.
On Sunday I didn’t get any visitors. Paul couldn’t come with the kids since visiting hours weren’t until the afternoon, and they had church in the afternoon. But in the late morning they called and I talked to the kids—especially Emily—for a long time. I asked if she still felt lonely for me, and she said she didn’t feel lonely anymore when she was talking to me on the phone. So I stayed on the phone as long as she wanted (more than an hour), until they had to go to church.
Paul and Nathan came to get me on Monday morning. We had just a little while before Brandon would be done with preschool, so we went to a park near the preschool. It felt so peaceful to be there together. I felt like things would be okay.