Jaxon's Journey:
We didn't think he'd ever get here, but once he did he was worth all the tears, all the pain, and all the frustration. I was supposed to be induced on Friday, February 22, 2008. Justin and I couldn't sleep on Thursday night. We couldn't believe that we were about to be parents! We got up early the next morning because we were told to be at the hospital by 6:45 a.m. At about 6:30, just as we were about to walk out the door, my cell phone rang. It was one of the nurses at the hospital saying that so many women had went into labor the night before (there was a full moon) and there were no empty rooms in the birthing center. She told me that she would call me as soon as a room opened up. I hung up the phone in tears. I told Justin what the nurse had said, and we called our parents and told them to hold off on going to the hospital until they got a phone call from us. To make a long story short, the 22nd was a long day. I went to bed the night before looking forward to holding my little boy the next day, and went to bed again on Friday, in my bed at home, without a baby.
I was told to be at the hospital at 7:30 Saturday morning, and they would induce labor then. Once again, Justin and I got up early and got to the hospital at about 7:15. When we walked in, the night shift nurses were all standing around the front desk, and when they saw me walk in, they all got a sad look on their faces. Candy, one of the nurses that I really liked, spoke up and said, "You're not going to believe this, but we just gave the last room away." I honestly thought she was joking, but she wasn't. Justin and I were beginning to feel alot like Mary and Joseph, as they were told there was no room in the Inn... They put us in triage, and yes, it was a lot like the stable. (j/k, kinda). It was honestly more like a closet. We had to stay here until a room opened up. While in the closet, I actually started having contractions on my own... I could not be officially admitted into the hospital until someone was discharged. There was one mother and child ready to go home, but they could not leave until a translator came in to help them sign their discharge papers and give them their discharge instructions. No big deal right? There are surely all kinds of translators at the hospital. Wrong. These people spoke a languge that no one knew. It was a mixture between spanish and something else, and no one spoke it well enough to accurately translate. At 2:30 p.m. we were finally moved to a room.
At 3:40 p.m. the nurses finally started the pitocin drip. At this point, I was dilated to 1.5 cm. They upped the pitocin by 1cc every thirty minutes. At 11:30 p.m. that night, I was only diated 3 cm and the midwife came in and broke my water. This is when my contractions got really strong. At 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, my labor got pretty bad. They gave me 1mg of Stadol (good stuff) and I rested until 3 a.m. At 3 a.m. my pain was really really really bad. The toco had actually got greater than 13o! I was ready for my epidural! The epidural guy (Bob) wasn't on site and didn't arrive at Mayfield until 4 a.m. By the time he got there, I was ready to die. When I got the epidural I was dilated 5cm and after the epidural, Justin and I both started throwing up. We were both pretty pitiful... I try to tell him he has no idea. I rested pretty good until about 6a.m. Sunday morning. I was dilated 6 cm and when the nurse checked me again at 7:20 a.m., I was 6.5 cm. I was resting, but still feeling quite a bit of pain. At this point the pitocin was at 24cc/hour. At 7:45 a.m., I received another epidural bolus. It turns out that the epidural really just didn't work for me, because after about 3 hours, it wore off. There was a "hot spot" on my left side that the epidural never reached. It was blocked because of my scoliosis, and instead of my contractions hurting me everywhere, they all went straight to this spot on my left side and were killing me! The pitocin was increased to 27cc/hour at 9 a.m. At 9:20 a.m. I was dilated to 8cm. They decreased the pitocin to 20cc/hour at 9:45 a.m. because there was not enough rest for my uterus between contractions. At 9:53 a.m. they decreased it again to 15cc/hour because there was still not enough rest. At 10 a.m. I was dilated 9cm, and hurting very badly. The nurse called the epidural gauy back in, and I received yet another epidural bolus. At 10:20 a.m I was dilated 9.5cm and in incredible pain. Our family and friends were getting very excited because everyone knew that it was almost time to start pushing. At 12:25, I was still 9.5cm and Jaxon's head was turned up and to the left. They were trying to get the baby to turn on his own. They also gave me more epidural medicine at this point. At 12:50, I was in excrusiating pain. The nurse gave me 1mg of stadol through my IV and I had to stay on my right side. At 1:30 p.m. I was finally dilated 10cm and it was time to start pushing. I was so excited. I thought that the worst part was over, and that within the hour, I'd be holding my baby.
After pushing for 2 hours, they called Dr. Wynstra in. Up until this time, the midwife had taken care of me, but apparently after pushing for two hours, a call has to be made to the doctor. After I had been pushing for three hours, I was completely exhausted. My contractions were coming less than a minute apart, but I was so tired that I was actually falling asleep in between them. Apparently the limit to push is 3 hours before a c-section has to be performed. The doctor made the decision to use the vacuum. They used to vacuum on Jaxon's head 4 times without any luck and Dr. Wynstra walked out of the room to scrub up for an emergency c-section. I looked up and two of my nurses (one of them being my aunt) and my mom were crying. I wasn't scared until now, and it hit me that something was wrong. I made eye contact with my aunt, and she said, "Kendra, you have to get him out..." His heart rate was dropping, and it was becomming very serious. They used the vacuum one more time, and at 4:35 p.m. my son was born...
I can remember my head hitting the pillow out of pure exhaustion. My little boy was here, but he wasn't crying. I remember thinking to myself, "he's supposed to be crying... why isn't he crying?" Justin did not get to do what most fathers do and cut the umbilical cord because it was wrapped around Jaxon's neck twice. The next time I looked up, all I saw was nurses. So many nurses. There were the two that were already in the room for delivery, plus two more regular nurses and three or four respiratory therapists. They were all surrounding Jaxon. I remember being scared, but I was too tired to ask questions. They let me hold him for about 5 seconds before they took him out of the room. I asked Justin to go with him, and he was scared to leave me. I apparently looked as bad as I felt. Justin finally left to check on Jaxon, and I thought that the hard part was over. I was ready for a nap. I had forgotten about having to deliver the placenta. I pushed for an hour. The placenta wouldn't deliver. They called the epidural guy in again, because they were going to have to go in and take out my placenta. The midwife asked Justin and my Mom to leave the room. The epidural once again did not work, and I would have never dreamed that I could hurt that bad. The midwife (sorry about the details) literally stuck her hand and arm up into me and pulled out my placenta. It was falling apart and she had to go in three or four times and pull out the pieces. Throughout the whole delivery, I never screamed. During this, I screamed. It makes my stomach hurt now to even think about it. They sent my placenta to pathology and we later learned that it was calcified and "old." Jaxon was delivered 2 and a half weeks before his due date, and it turns out that this was a very good thing, because he may not have grown anymore inside of me because he would not have received any more nutrition through my placenta.
That night at about 9 p.m. I finally got to go into the nursery and hold my son. My husband and family had sheltered me from all of the details and scary stuff that was going on with Jaxon since birth. His chest was disproportioned. His APGAR score was only a 6. The doctor thought that he had a hole in his lung and he was immediately put on oxygen. The xray later told us that there was no hole. Jaxon's family only got to see him through the window because he wasn't well enough for visitors. There were 62 people in the waiting room when he was born! He has been so very loved from the beginning! Jaxon had to stay in the nursery overnight since he was on oxygen... Justin and I got to go in and visit with him for about 15 minutes. They let us sit in the rocking chair and hold him. I held him for about 13 minutes ( :) ) and let Justin hold him for 2... I was just so happy that he was finally here...
February 24, 2008- was quite possibly the best and the worst day of my life. And on February 24, 2009, I would do it all again, in a heartbeat for Jaxon. He's everything to me. It was a long, hard journey, but he was worth it all.
Happy 1st Birthday Little Man... Your Mommy sure does love you.
I decided that since Jax got soooo many toys for his brirthday, that I would open them up a few at a time. Today, he walked up to me and handed me this toy, still in the box. I assume that meant he wanted it open. All I can say is that we have a little slugger on our hands... Thanks for this toy Bridge and John. Oh yea, and before watching the video, don't forget to pause the music at the bottom, and ignore my voice talking in the background... Enjoy!
