Our beautiful baby boy was born on Friday May 31st!!! We are so excited to have him finally here. He even made his appearance 2 weeks early...you can't ask more than that :)
He is so sweet and precious and has added more to our family than we knew we were missing...that always seems to happen when you get a new addition I think...one day before they come you can't picture having a new little person and then after they are here you can't imagine how you lived without them.
Jarom's birth story started at about 5:00 pm on Thursday. I had had my 38 week appointment earlier that day. I was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced We had discussed stripping my membranes. I was a little nervous since I am a believer that babies should bake as long as they need. My OB told me that if he's not ready he won't come, stripping membranes just kind of helps babies who are on the edge get things started. So with that info we decided to give it a go. It was probably the weirdest feeling I've ever had. So anyways that evening right after Derek left for work I started having pretty consistent contractions. I waited a little while and then told Derek that maybe he should come back home. So of course he was more than thrilled to leave work :). We decided to go out walking, we needed to get a pack of diapers for Drew to send to my sister's house and my parents for when we were gone so we walked down the street to Smith's and happily the contractions were still coming...they weren't changing how far apart they were though and they weren't getting stronger...hmmm I wasn't ready to admit that this really could be the real thing.
By this point my mom had decided to drive up (since she missed Drew's birth by ten minutes she did not want that to happen again) so I started feeling anxious about having her up here and what if it was a false alarm...blah blah. Well Derek wanted to go and get some things at Lowes so we figured that we could keep walking (by this point our kids were pretty exhausted since it was 7:30 and past their bed time, but they were troopers). By the time we headed home we still weren't sure if this was it because the contractions were still about 10-12 minutes apart and not getting closer. So we put the kids to bed and decided to just relax. At this point Katie and my mom were on high alert (we're an anxious family) and they were ready and waiting. Derek and I decided to relax and just watch a movie together...until our land lord called. He said there was a couple wanting to come look at the apartment...sweet. So much for relaxing I guess.
Around 8:30 this couple came and did their walk through so finally after they left Derek and I popped in 17 again, popped some popcorn and tried to time some contractions. They never got closer...pretty frustrating. But they were still coming so after the movie was over I suggested that we go get rest just in case this labor picked up in the middle of the night, Derek said he wanted to try and just stay awake because he felt he would be more tired if he went to bed for two hours then had to get up. Well after a couple of hours NOTHING WAS CHANGING! So I finally convinced him to get some sleep. We attempted to tell my mom to sleep too (come to find out later she was never able to). I planned on just resting in between contractions since I figured I wouldn't be able to fall asleep with the annoying pings of contractions....and then what to you know I woke up 2 1/2 hours later! I was so upset I figured things must have stopped. I wasn't having any contractions anymore. Man, then the water works started I woke Derek up and cried to him how frustrated I was and how I really thought this baby was coming. He calmed me down and I finally was able to lay down and relax again...after about 20 minutes THEY STARTED AGAIN!!! I was so excited, this time they stayed 12-10 minutes apart still, but they got STRONGER! After a few contractions we called up my sister and said we were going to bring the kids over and we were going to head in to the hospital to get checked. So at 3:20 a.m. we loaded up the kidlets and hauled them over to my sister's house. Linnea went right back to sleep...Drew was a little bit more excited. It was amazing though as soon as I got up and started walking around the contractions started coming about 5 minutes apart. We stayed at Katie's for about 20 minutes trying to get Drew back to sleep, but the contractions got closer so finally I told Derek we needed to leave. Katie and my mom told us they would be right behind us.
We go to the the hospital at 4:00 and they got us all back into a room and checked me, I was dilated to a 6 and we were admitted! I was so excited I couldn't believe this was it we were going to meet this guy that we were so anxious to meet! I put in my head phones with my hypnobirthing CD and really started focusing on what I needed to do. This was my second natural birth and I wanted it to go a little smoother than Drew's had, not that his was bad, but I kind of lost control sooner than I would have liked so I was really focused with this one. I was so amazed at how much the recording and the type of breathing I was using was really working, I had only minimal discomfort. Katie and my mom showed up and we were able to joke around and laugh all while I was continuing to have contractions. I progressed to an 8 1/2 around 5:30. The nurses decided to call my doctor and have her come break my water since it was starting to bulge. We were still calm and I had Derek doing some counterpressure against my knees, but I was so happy to find that if I continued to focus I could literally sit in the bed while he just rubbed my calves or feet and breath and even at an 8 1/2 I was not in pain. The doctor came in and broke my water then things really sped up, I felt the urge to push at about a 9 1/2 and then the ouch factor set in!
Holy cow, Drew's pushing was painful, but this big headed boy...ouch! I stayed relatively calmer still than I had with Drew, I was begging for it to stop, but with Drew I needed oxygen with Jarom I was able to keep breathing. I find it funny the types of things you say when you're in pain. When I was pushing with Drew, I begged for a C-section with Jarom I just kept telling the doctor to just pull him out of me!!! All in all I went through 3-4 contractions and Jarom shot out, literally my doctor had to catch him! Once his head was out the rest of him came out so fast it was amazing!
He was here. The doctor nurses told us his head is in the 85% and he also had a hand next to his face, along with the pubic symphysitis I had my whole pregnancy all these contributed to the major pushing aches. I was so happy though that we had nearly the peaceful labor and delivery that we had been practicing as a couple for months. Derek was the most amazing coach I could ask for, he spoke so calmly it's like he knew exactly what I needed. Jarom was born at 7:09, 3 hours after arriving to the hospital and about 14 hours after the first contraction! It was amazing to see his incredibly dark hair and his more olive complexion! He is my largest baby, we are so happy to have him. He is calm and seems to be eating well. No complaints with this guy.
Linnea is in love with him and finally today Andrew is showing interest in holding him and being around him! We couldn't be happier to have Jarom in our lives.!
sorry for some of the picture quality...
