Jackson Thurman Maier Birth Story
"Come on now, come on and don't be worrying yourself. We'll get you to where you want to go."
This quote from the train conductor in leap year made this week a little bit better. If you've never seen leap year, it's a story about a woman who is trying so hard to make it to Dublin and everything gets in her way. I feel like that was my last month. I just wanted to have Jack and everything got in the way.
Disclaimer: I intended to write down the entire story from my journal but realized you probably didn't want every detail about my cervix and other weird things so this is the more appropriate version of the story. Hopefully I didn't leave out too much detail.
I was so nervous to be induced with Jackson. I guess it's partially because of how long, drawn out, and painful induction was with Zoey. I knew it needed to be done and was ready for it if I had pre-eclampsia but since I didn't I felt like induction wasn't the best idea. I was scheduled for induction on Sunday at 3pm. I wasn't sure I'd go in for sure until Sunday morning. Jon said it was probably the best idea for a number of reasons and I ended up agreeing with him.
The induction didn't take too long (about 16 hours). I did really well until I was dilated to about a 5. My contractions were extremely strong. I thought they would do things more naturally but Jon pointed out I wasn't being very specific about what kind of "natural birth" I wanted. Most people assume you mean no epidural. I meant no drugs/intervention unless absolutely necessary. In the end it all worked out. Because of circumstances being what they were, more medicine was used and my contractions were extremely close together on their own. I was no longer able to handle them and decided to get the epidural. I couldn't sit still through the epidural no matter how hard I tried because my contractions were so strong. The nurse said I did pretty well considering, I had two back to back contractions as he was putting it in. I was so nervous because I couldn't keep still. Thankfully it was over somewhat quickly because immediately after the epidural I threw up everywhere. Then I napped for most of the rest of my labor. Jackson's heart rate was going up and down so they had to take me off of the Pitocin (thank you Jack for listening to mom, they didn't need the Pitocin anyway!). I woke up periodically to poking and prodding but was basically tranquilized by the epidural.
Things started progressing quickly in my labor and I kept feeling the urge to "bear down" (a polite way of saying the urge to poop) but waited as long as I could before telling the nurses (I wanted to wait as long as I could to hopefully diminish pushing time). The nurse came in and checked to see where I was dilation-wise and she said I was at a 10 and started to prepare the room.
The crowd of people (doctors, residents and nurses) came in to watch me give birth and I started pushing. My legs were numb but I was able to feel everything I needed to. I had one contraction and pushed three times. I felt like he was coming quickly. I was super relieved. The second contraction you could tell I did good work because Jon was beaming. You could see his hair. This is when Dr. Kirven came in the room and quickly had someone helped her get dressed. He was coming and they were not ready! The third contraction I pushed three times and he was most of the way out. I gave a couple small pushes and Dr. Kirven asked if I'd like to 'catch my baby'. I helped her grab him and was able to put him directly on my chest. She let me wait on cord clamping/medicines so I could cuddle my baby. We cuddled for almost an hour. I was able to nurse him and bond with him. It was so wonderful. When the hour was up he was pleasant for all of his testing and I wasn't impatient because I'd already had my time with him.
It was such a magical experience. I hope every mom gets to have a similar experience. There was absolutely no fear when he was born. There was so much love in that room and everyone was so proud of how things went. Jackson restored Jon's faith in the birthing process and now he's even ready to have 8 kids :).
Jackson was named Jackson Thurman Maier after his great grandpa, Thurman Lee. He is the cutest man. He always has a huge smile on his face and a tool in his hands. He fixes up bikes in his spare time and plays a lot of pool. We hope some day Jackson can be just like his great grandpa. (Sidenote: his due date was on great-grandpa's birthday and we were hoping he'd arrive then. Too bad Jackson had other plans!) Here's a picture of Grandpa, AJ and me when we were kids.
We absolutely adore him and can't wait for all of you to meet him. In the mean time, here are some pictures to help you get by. In no particular order...
This quote from the train conductor in leap year made this week a little bit better. If you've never seen leap year, it's a story about a woman who is trying so hard to make it to Dublin and everything gets in her way. I feel like that was my last month. I just wanted to have Jack and everything got in the way.
Disclaimer: I intended to write down the entire story from my journal but realized you probably didn't want every detail about my cervix and other weird things so this is the more appropriate version of the story. Hopefully I didn't leave out too much detail.
I was so nervous to be induced with Jackson. I guess it's partially because of how long, drawn out, and painful induction was with Zoey. I knew it needed to be done and was ready for it if I had pre-eclampsia but since I didn't I felt like induction wasn't the best idea. I was scheduled for induction on Sunday at 3pm. I wasn't sure I'd go in for sure until Sunday morning. Jon said it was probably the best idea for a number of reasons and I ended up agreeing with him.
The induction didn't take too long (about 16 hours). I did really well until I was dilated to about a 5. My contractions were extremely strong. I thought they would do things more naturally but Jon pointed out I wasn't being very specific about what kind of "natural birth" I wanted. Most people assume you mean no epidural. I meant no drugs/intervention unless absolutely necessary. In the end it all worked out. Because of circumstances being what they were, more medicine was used and my contractions were extremely close together on their own. I was no longer able to handle them and decided to get the epidural. I couldn't sit still through the epidural no matter how hard I tried because my contractions were so strong. The nurse said I did pretty well considering, I had two back to back contractions as he was putting it in. I was so nervous because I couldn't keep still. Thankfully it was over somewhat quickly because immediately after the epidural I threw up everywhere. Then I napped for most of the rest of my labor. Jackson's heart rate was going up and down so they had to take me off of the Pitocin (thank you Jack for listening to mom, they didn't need the Pitocin anyway!). I woke up periodically to poking and prodding but was basically tranquilized by the epidural.
Things started progressing quickly in my labor and I kept feeling the urge to "bear down" (a polite way of saying the urge to poop) but waited as long as I could before telling the nurses (I wanted to wait as long as I could to hopefully diminish pushing time). The nurse came in and checked to see where I was dilation-wise and she said I was at a 10 and started to prepare the room.
The crowd of people (doctors, residents and nurses) came in to watch me give birth and I started pushing. My legs were numb but I was able to feel everything I needed to. I had one contraction and pushed three times. I felt like he was coming quickly. I was super relieved. The second contraction you could tell I did good work because Jon was beaming. You could see his hair. This is when Dr. Kirven came in the room and quickly had someone helped her get dressed. He was coming and they were not ready! The third contraction I pushed three times and he was most of the way out. I gave a couple small pushes and Dr. Kirven asked if I'd like to 'catch my baby'. I helped her grab him and was able to put him directly on my chest. She let me wait on cord clamping/medicines so I could cuddle my baby. We cuddled for almost an hour. I was able to nurse him and bond with him. It was so wonderful. When the hour was up he was pleasant for all of his testing and I wasn't impatient because I'd already had my time with him.
It was such a magical experience. I hope every mom gets to have a similar experience. There was absolutely no fear when he was born. There was so much love in that room and everyone was so proud of how things went. Jackson restored Jon's faith in the birthing process and now he's even ready to have 8 kids :).
Jackson was named Jackson Thurman Maier after his great grandpa, Thurman Lee. He is the cutest man. He always has a huge smile on his face and a tool in his hands. He fixes up bikes in his spare time and plays a lot of pool. We hope some day Jackson can be just like his great grandpa. (Sidenote: his due date was on great-grandpa's birthday and we were hoping he'd arrive then. Too bad Jackson had other plans!) Here's a picture of Grandpa, AJ and me when we were kids.
We absolutely adore him and can't wait for all of you to meet him. In the mean time, here are some pictures to help you get by. In no particular order...
Grumpy old man face.
The most surreal feeling was looking in the back seat at my two children. How do I have two children? Where has the time gone?!?! Also, how is it possible to have so many pieces of my heart in so many little bodies. <3
Zoey missed the memo. My hospital bed was moved all around when she came to visit. haha
In love with her brother. She tries her best not to let the poor boy sleep!
I wish everyone could have been there when Zoey met Jack. I have never seen so much love between two little people in my life. They are definitely best friends already.
Even though they're best friends do you see this face? She's ready to start torturing him already! haha
So much love.
The first time she held him. She wouldn't let him go.
His pretty eyeballs.
He is huge by the way. He may not be fat but he's solid. 97% height and 76% head. None of the hats fit properly! haha
Up close and personal on his squishy newborn face.
Although he's a good sized baby he's still tiny! I can't believe I forgot how small they come.
Bigfoot.
Goofy faces.
I think this was right before I decided to get the epidural. Or maybe right after. You decide if the face is desperation or relief. Lol.
Squishy newborn in a cute hat.
This reminds me, right after he was born they put him on my chest. He kept climbing up my neck to curl up around my throat and he'd pat my face. It was the cutest thing ever.
I love my little family. <3
Thanks for sharing, little Mama. I am so happy for you. :)
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