Jack's Birth Story

I wanted to have a record for myself of Jack's birth story. Feel free to read along. Here it goes. December 25, 2010 - Christmas Morning: 4:30am - I woke up early Christmas morning, not only because I was excited that it was Christmas morning, but because I was feeling what I thought felt like cramps. I tried to go back to sleep but sleep would never come with the off and on occurrence of these cramps.

7am - My alarm clock went off. Of course I popped right out of bed since I had been laying there somewhat uncomfortably for the past 2 and a half hours unable to sleep. Off to the kitchen I went to start on making a Christmas breakfast - breakfast pizza - yum, I'll have to share the recipe another time.

9am - We leave to have our annual Christmas morning gift exchange down the street at my parents house. My parents asked how I was doing and I let them know I was a little uncomfortable with some minor cramping, but that I was fine. They asked how often they were happening. At this point I wasn't even really thinking they were contractions, just cramps so I hadn't even thought to time them out. But apparently contractions really do feel like cramps. They seemed to be convinced that I really could be in the early stages of labor. I sat through the fun time of the gift exchange (where my mom gave me a baby's first Christmas outfit "just in case") and then headed back on home.
11am - At home Barrett and I (along with his parents who were staying with us for Christmas) exchanged our Christmas gifts. While sitting on the couch opening gift I would glance at my watch every few minutes when I would feel what I would now call a contraction. They seemed really close together - anywhere from 3-5 minutes apart. They were not horribly painful in any way, they didn't stop me in my tracks or anything, just a minor annoyance. It did strike me as odd that they were so consistent and so close together. I decided to go lay down for a while and see what would happen. Still the same. Next we decided to go for a cold walk outside to see if that would make a difference. Still the same, every 3-5 minutes.

3pm - The contractions were still 3-5 minutes apart and were the same whether I was sitting, standing, walking, or lying. Although they were not super strong yet we still decided to go ahead and call the doctor since they had been going on since 4:30 that morning. Of course I felt really bad calling the doctor on Christmas day, but what else was I going to do? I described to him what was going on. His thought was that it could be the start of something but right now it just sounded like braxton hicks and that I would be more uncomfortable if they were real contractions - like toe curling, take your breath away type pain. I felt better having at least talked to him. So now we were off to enjoy Christmas dinner with the Walch family at our house. Thanks to Barrett and my mother in law there was a Christmas dinner to serve. I was no help at all in preparing for it.

Sunday, December 26th - 2:30am - I tried really hard to just go to sleep but still, no sleep came for me. The contractions were still close together and by this point were what I would consider strong. We called the doctor again and were told to go ahead to the hospital to get checked out.

3am - The car is now packed and we are headed to the hospital

3:30am - Once we got to the hospital and got checked in, the nurse checked me and I was at 4-5 cm already! All Barrett and I wanted to know was if that meant we were staying or not. "You are here to stay" was what the nurse told us. We were both relieved that this was the real thing and that we were going to be in that hospital and meet our little boy that day. Right away we called/texted our parents and let them know we were officially going to meet Jack that day. They made their way to the hospital right away, also excited for the fun day ahead.

10am - I was about 6 cm and the doctor wanted to give me pitocin to help speed things along. The nurse informed me that I can expect the contractions to get stronger and closer together now. I figured that this was about the right time to go ahead and get my epidural. At this point I wouldn't describe the pain level as being horribly bad, but I wasn't up for more pain. The main thing I was really wanting by now was sleep! I had been up since 4:30am the day before and was sooooo tired! I wanted to be alert for the delivery and then be as rested as possible to take care of my baby. I will say that the epidural was wonderful! The anesthesiologist was very good and did a great job. It took away the contraction pain but I could still move my legs and have the sensation to push when needed.

12pm (noon)- 10cm and ready to push! Barrett and the nurse were great coaches during this time! It was nothing like what you see on TV, it was a very peaceful time.

1:20pm - the doctor and whole delivery team came in the room for the delivery

1:25pm - after one push once the doctor arrived, Jack Ryan entered the world at 6lbs 5 oz, 19 in. What a moment! After all the years of waiting for a child, he was HERE!!!!! I am not a crying girl but I had tears in my eyes for this! We spent the next 2 hours in the labor and delivery room getting to know our baby boy. The new daddy took a trip out to the waiting room to deliver the good news to the 30 or so family members waiting to hear the new of Jack's arrival then to later take Jack into the newborn nursery to give everyone their first glimpse at our little guy. What a day! It could not have gone any better than it did. The day of Jack's arrival will be a day we will look back on as one of the happiest days of our lives!