Keeping up with the Bakers: Labor & Delivery

On Sunday, February 3, 2013 our sweet Jett Owen Baker was born at 1:16pm. He was 7lbs 9oz and 19 3/4 inches and absolutely perfect!

I'm pretty sure he came out hungry!!

I was scheduled to be induced on February 3 at 8pm, but the little man decided that he wanted to make his own birth time. I still think it's pretty funny that he decided to come on the day that I was scheduled to have him, though. After eating dinner & visiting with Jon's sister on Saturday night, Jon & I went to bed around 11pm. Around midnight I started having contractions. So what do normal pregnant people do when they start having contractions? Download a Contraction Timing App of course! From midnight until 7am every time I had a contraction, I'd wake up Jon and he'd start the contraction timer. Obviously neither one of us slept any! Around 6:30am he called my parents to tell them that I was in labor and they needed to head to Jonesboro. Also around that time the contractions started getting harder and harder.

Jon called Labor & Delivery to tell them that my contractions were around 6 minutes apart. The Dr didn't want me to come in until they were 5 minutes apart, but I couldn't take it anymore. The L&D nurse told Jon they would check me out and probably send me home....which I wasn't too happy about! Reluctantly, we loaded up our bags & headed to the hospital though.

Once we got to L&D, I checked in while Jon parked the truck. They told me to wait in the waiting room out front & I vividly remember having contractions & the lady cleaning the area trying to have a conversation with me about how my husband was going to miss the Super Bowl since I was having contractions & in labor. I was not trying to talk to anyone at that point!! And, I definitely wasn't worried about the Super Bowl!

They brought me back to the Triage area to check me out. I honestly was shocked that I was already almost 8cm dilated & 100% effaced. Holy cow! The nurses kept telling me that I had done the hardest part of labor at home & that I'd be having a baby really, really soon. Because I was so far along, they had to use compression bags on the IV's to get them in quickly so I could have an epidural. It seemed like maybe 15 minutes later (I don't think I had much of a sense of time at that point) & the anesthesiologist was there to give me the epidural. The actual epidural/spinal took a lot longer than I what I was expecting. Probably because we had to quit several times because of my contractions. But after it set in....I was a brand new person!!

My parents got to the hospital after that & came back to the room so, so excited. I was so, so tired and just wanted to sleep! :) I must have slept for a while, but I do remember the nurses coming back & checking me quite a bit. With as far dilated as I was when I came in, everyone was a little surprised when I didn't deliver quickly. When the nurses checked me, they noticed that Jett wasn't turned the right way so they kept trying to move him. Not the most comfortable thing I've experienced! While they were trying to move him, they broke my water and noticed that Jett had already had a bowel movement so he would have to be suctioned immediately as he was born.

At noon, Dr. Ceasare came in to check me. By that point they told me that I had fallen off of the labor curve and hadn't progressed anymore. Also, the Dr. & nurses were concerned that Jett was going to be between 8lbs-10lbs & would not be able to fit & be delivered naturally. At that point, they highly suggested me having a C Section. I had been telling everyone for weeks that I did not want a C Section...funny how things happen. By that point, I was miserable and my epidural had started to wear off. I was ready to have my baby!

Suiting up for the C Section

Thanks to awesome nurses, my mom and Jon were both able to be back there with me when I had the C Section. Such a neat experience for them to both be there. I don't remember too much about the actual surgery other than being back there forever! But hearing the first cries from sweet Jett was the most amazing thing ever. As soon as he was born, everyone in the OR started talking about how big he was. Since the nurses & Dr said he would be a big baby, I was thinking he was massive! I remember them writing the APGAR score on a dry erase board close to me in the OR & it saying "9/9." I was thinking (and my mom too) that he was 9lbs! Haha! Good thing that wasn't the pounds & ounces. :)

Getting to see Jett for the first time

After they finished the C Section, I was in recovery for over an hour. It seemed like forever before I was able to see my baby! They rolled me from recovery past the nursery & I remember seeing our whole family on the other side of the window looking at Jett in the nursery while Jon was holding him. When I came to the other side, Jon walked with him over to see me. Such a sweet, sweet face and moment!