This was a very different pregnancy for me - as those who have been following already know. It was, like-wise, a very different labor. I've never been aware of any contractions leading up to full blown active labor with my first four. This time, I've had plenty here and there - nothing that hurt though. Well, throughout the week of the family visit, I was really hoping something would happen. It would have been nice for Jacob to make his appearance when the family was around to welcome him here, but apparently he was too shy for that.
After that week, with random contractions here and there, I awoke Sunday morning for my normal nightly trip to the bathroom. I realized I was having contractions 4 minutes apart. But they were light - not hard at all. Still, they were consistent so I got up did some laundry and washed the kitchen floor - what else would you do when you can't seem to go back to sleep? Later in the day - after discouragement again, because I wasn't noticing the contractions any more - contractions were noticeable at 20 minutes apart, then 15 and then 10. But then they became less noticeable - though still 10 apart. Monday was between 7-10 but still light. By Tuesday I only felt crampy and backache - unless I was laying down I couldn't tell that anything was happening at all.
After a suggestion that I call the doctor, I laid down again and realized that the cramping was feeling more like a contraction again (light) and they were now 5 minutes apart. I went in to see the doctor and I was at the point that I should have been in what I knew was active labor. It was decided I would go to the hospital and have my water broken. It took longer to get to that point because I couldn't be found in the computer (apparently I was registered for a month later), and then it took four tries to get the IV lock in. Needless to say, it was 8pm before we started to break my water.
The membrane was so thick that it took 15 minutes to break my water (that's NEVER happened before). And because Jeremy was a two hour speedy deal after breaking my water, it was thought that I would "go quickly". Not so.... Contractions took a while to get going and even then they never got closer than 5 minutes apart. They weren't really hard either - I could feel them very low, and I knew the top of my uterus was tightening, but that was it. I walked and talked through all of them until I was a 9. At about that point, things started to "feel like labor" but were still 5 minutes apart, one would be long and hard, the next short and light. It was weird.
When I was all but a 10, I told the nurse that the last time I was told something like that the nurse never made it to the door - but that I didn't really think it would be that way this time. Sure enough, she got the doctor, he came in - it was determined I could begin to push... two hours later, nothing had changed - Jacob wasn't progressing either. At that point, the contractions got a bit closer together, I finally decided on pain meds (and was allowed), decided to breathe through four and was told it was time to push again - amazingly, everything had "taken care of itself" (which is not usually how things work with pain meds... usually that slows things down) - two contractions later, Jacob made his grand arrival. All together (from the water actually being broken) it was 8 hours. Still not bad, not my longest, not my shortest.
We love having Jacob here. He looks like Peter - in fact, that one picture of the "wink" is exactly what Peter looks like in a picture of his own arrival. The difference, Jacob is shorter (Peter was 22 1/2 inches long... Jacob was 20 3/4 inches). Jacob weighed 9lbs and 6 oz (the same as Jeremy). He has red hair - slightly darker than Peters. He has grandpa's hands and my eyes. And yes, as the pictures show, he found his thumb nearly immediately! He'll take a binky (some times), and doesn't put his thumb in his mouth much... he prefers to just be. He's happy, sweet, loves to be with people, and nurses like a charm. He was a little upside down with his schedule, but it's only been a week and I think we've got it figured out!
So welcome, Jacob Paul! We love that you're part of our family!
Beautiful!! I'm glad everything is ok, even if it was weird.
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