Getting Jasper Here.

(This post is so I don't forget these things--be warned.)

Friday, March 13th, we were heading out to go to lunch with Grammie and Pappie who were in town to see our stake production of Lamb of God, when I got a call from my midwife. She was going out of town on Wednesday for the rest of the week, that combined with my high
blood pressure, she wanted to see me on monday so we could make a decision about being induced.  I have a justifiable fear of induction, because I was induced with Reuben and it was every horror story you could imagine.

I decided that we would not be induced. My due date was not even until the 19th, and both boys came so late that she would be back before I went into labor anyway.  Grammie and Pappie left after church on Sunday, and monday I had a dentist appointment to get the permanent crown put in, and then that afternoon meet with my midwife.

Monday the dentist appointment went great. We then went to the midwife. While talking to Stacie (my midwife) I just got the feeling that I was supposed to be induced. Justin could tell I was thinking that and was pretty shocked. Stacie gave us a couple hours to discuss it and then call her with our decision. The feeling that I should be induced persisted, and while it didn't make sense with my experience, we decided to do it.

I had been to a Stake Relief Society meeting the saturday before were Elder Packer was quoted as saying, "The light is always green, unless it is yellow or red." So we went ahead and called to say we would be induced, with the idea that if it was a wrong choice we would know. That feeling never came. I took the boys for a walk around the neighborhood, and the contractions came and were about three minutes apart, but stopped when I got home.

At Midnight, I woke up scared about reliving Reuben's delivery of my own choice, I went down and got on the elliptical thinking that if I could go into labor before I got induced it wouldn't be the same. I wrote Tammy an email, and she called back. It was so nice to talk to her while I was not sleeping anyway. I did end up falling asleep for a couple hours, and then we were off to the hospital. We dropped the boys off with the Barrott's at 6:30 AM, and Justin and I were admitted to the hospital.



The Pitocine started around 8:30. I was at a 3. 10:30, Stacie came in and broke my water by putting a heart monitor on Jasper because his heart rate was dipping with the contractions.  He had his hand in the way, but she got it. That was not comfortable. I labored for a while. The contractions were completely manageable, it was the wet and the dips in his heart beat that I was worried about.

Then, Jasper kicked a big kick, and his heart beat beeping stopped and I felt the probe come out. The nurse came in. This was the second nurse we had. She checked me which hurt more than the contractions, and then she said, "where is your baby? He's not there any more." because going to put the heart monitor back on him.  That isn't exactly what you want to hear, especially if you are not thinking rationally and you had to push Reuben down the birth canal the last time you were induced. They were going to call Stacie to replace the probe. And that's when I hit my pain threshold, the thought of something going in was so much worse then something coming out. So I was ready for some pain meds. That was about 4 PM.

Turns out the medicine that I had with Simeon's epidural is not available in Utah. That worried me a bit because the walking epidural was so much better for me than Reuben's knock out. We discussed all my fears and then it was in. The heart monitor was put back on, and I laid down to rest, because with the epidural, that is what you are supposed to do. I was at a 5 and 90% effaced.




As the hours ticked on, and I didn't really rest, laying down turned out to be a problem because baby's head went the opposite direction that it was supposed to. At 6:30 Stacie came in and put a contraction monitor on the inside, so we could better monitor the dips in his heart rate, and the strength of the contractions. I was at an 8, but Baby's head was till no were near where it should have been.

Almost immediately there was a new beep in the room. It turned out to be the epidural pump, the batteries were dying, and the medicine was running low. The nurses and Midwife didn't know how to change the batteries, and the anesthesiologist was in a C-Section. then the epidural was no longer doing it's job. It was nice to feel my legs and again, and be able to move on my own, but the contractions were a lot for me to handle. It seemed like a really long time before the anesthesiologist was able to come in. She changed the batteries, and gave me a starter dose, and it worked from my hips down, but I was still feeling the contractions. Then I stopped getting a break in between contractions, and then I had the urge to push, but was too afraid to because I could feel it and didn't want to hurt more than the contractions were hurting.

Around 8 PM Justin went out to get the nurses and Stacie, and things started moving fast. As I as moaning through the contractions, Stacie came in and said that was a good sound. There were nice quiet voices, accompanying the bustle, and then I was told to push. I pushed 4 times, and then I had a tiny slimy baby on my belly, and I started to shake.



Jasper was our first slimy baby, the other two were pretty clean, because they were so old. Stacie said it was turned out to be a good thing that we induced because of how the cord was wrapped around his arm, (that was what was making his heart rate dip). Had he been bigger there could have been complications with that. And, the placenta was already calcifying and not healthy looking.

I kept shaking, Scott and Jordan were watching the boys, and we wanted them to be able to come meet Jasper, I was a little afraid to have the boys see me shaking like I was, but they came to see Jasper when he was an hour old. It was so nice to have our whole family together, and I was able to stop shaking while they were there.

(this smile is directed at Reuben and Simeon)