Cash Jackson

It was Wednesday morning around 7:30 and I just barely made it to the bathroom. The gush of fluid streaming out of me was...unlike any sensation I had any recollection of. The last time I wet my pants I was under the age of 7. Uh Mom? I think my water broke. And so began the longest 2 days of my life. I called Kerri (our resident doula) to figure out if I should be worried. Should I be worried? Her advice--try and start labor on your own. The hospital's advice--come in as soon as your water breaks if you are not in labor. What to do, what to do. Eh...let's see if we can get this started. I don't think I exercised through my whole pregnancy as much as I exercised that Wednesday. 5 hours later. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I was pooped and took a nap.



Around 2:00 I finally called the hospital to let them know I was on the way. They only lightly reprimanded me. Eh. :) So off we go. We load up the labor ball, the hospital bag, snacks for the coaches (my mom and Mat), put the dog in the car to take to my in-laws and head off to have a baby. My ever loving husband decided that this day would be the day he would take the scenic route. Through the schools. On their first day back. And be kind to every driver who wanted to get in front of them. Um, hello?!? Pregnant-mom-not-yet-in-labor trying to get to the hospital here! Please be kind some other day.



When we got to the hospital the only thing that Mat was stoked about--we got the big room. The one with the widescreen TV that only has 23 channels on it. 20 of which have nothing good. They then begin testing to see if my water had really broken. And they determined that no, it hadn't. Oh wait, yes it had. Hmm...never mind it didn't. Can we get a pap smear thingie in here and we'll take those big lights for this exam thank you. Ahhh yes your water did break after all. So make yourself comfortable because you're staying. By this time we had packed everything back up into the car to head back home and wait this child out. So off Mat went to unload everything again. My mom in the meantime is texting the world updates. Updates that never stopped and allowed everyone on the roller coaster ride with us.



And what a ride. They starting inducing labor that evening and it turned out to be a long evening full of contractions, breathing, coaching and not sleeping. And if I never have another exam to check how dilated I am and how thin my cervix is I will be a happy woman. Those are the worst! So overnight we labored and managed a couple hours of sleep on some pain meds. The next morning I had only dilated 1 cm. 1 CM!! In other words, nothing. Not enough to talk about. Booooo. And so began the process all over again Thursday night. By Friday morning I had made a little more progress...another whole centimeter. This kid was killing me. He just did not want to come out. So I finally agreed to an epidural on Friday. The upped the meds and I slept. Finally I woke up and felt pressure. PRESSURE! NURSE!! It was finally time...to wait for an hour while they called the doctor. Wait to push. Still waiting to meet my little man. Oh, and wait for Mat to come back from running whatever errand he was running at that moment.

At last it was time to push. And push. And push. For an hour and a half I pushed. It felt like a reaaaallly long half hour but I was exhausted. So, so tired. But finally after an hour and a half my baby's head finally emerged. Very cone headed. Very. THAT is why they have the beanies. So their poor heads don't freak everyone out. After two days of trying to get my body to progress my little man finally made his appearance. Healthy, beautiful and...jaundice. Sigh. Add one more day of hospital stay, tears from me because I was a hot emotional hormonal mess and just wanted to go home but instead took pictures because this was all part of it.



Three weeks later we're happily at home. Happily (ha) getting little sleep and happily loving being a new family again.

STATS:
Date: August 20, 2010
Weight: 7lbs 3 oz
Length: 19 in
Time: 1:11 pm

Welcome to our little world Cash. Mommy and Daddy are so glad you're here!