Birth story: J

 J was easy.

I was 37 and a half weeks pregnant with him - I went to 40 weeks and 6 days with L, so I was picking up a bunch of overtime all August trying to stay active and help him move down to have a good birth experience and hopefully not go quite that long this time.

I’d been floated to the ER the past 2 nights and had been running beds all over the hospital.  I felt kind of sick and exhausted, but figured it was just from that.  I’d been contracting all night but slept through it mostly, until 3am when I finally just got up and went for a walk.  I was kind of like, okay little dude, pick a lane - either chill out or come out.  With J, I had a lot of morning sickness and felt like crap a lot of the time.  Being pregnant with him (especially at this stage) felt a lot like what I imagine being pregnant with a starfish made of elbows would feel like - I was constantly getting jabbed and shoved from the inside while he was doing jujutsu in my belly.  At work, sometimes I’d be talking to a patient and watch their eyes scan curiously to my chest - noticing my badge was bouncing around from his kicks.

I got back around 7am and took a looong nap until about noon, woke up still having Braxton hicks which is nothing new for me - I had those from the first trimester with both kids. Not wrapping around my back or taking my breath away.  Strong, because my entire belly was involved with pregnancy, but nothing out of the ordinary.

I called the doctor around 230pm to let them know maybe we should move my checkup sooner - I just wasn’t getting a lot of breaks between Braxton Hicks and J was moving less.  COME ON IN!  They said.  I HAVE TO CLEAN THE FISH TANK BEFORE WE GO! Said my husband.  Lol!  So clean it he did.  He figured we wouldn’t be back from the hospital empty handed.  I figured we should hurry up because I’d decided I wanted chicken wings for dinner and if we leave now, hopefully they say we’re all good and let me go before the restaurant closed. I was certain they’d check me and send me right back home. 

They kept me.  I was progressing perfectly, got hooked up to some Pitocin and just went clicking right along.  Labor wasn’t comfortable, but up until about an hour before I delivered, I was just mildly uncomfortable.  I got my epidural around 11pm and had a little trouble with a hot spot on my right side for about 20 minutes before it finally settled down.  That hot spot was the worst part, my contractions were on top of each other and it was just a little spot about the size of a silver dollar in my abdomen that wouldn’t stop hurting. It was like the worst stitch in your side ever. But I rotated around like a rotisserie chicken for a few minutes and got it under control.

They checked me again once I was comfortable, and I was ready to push!  Yippee!  Except the doctor was busy performing a C section.  So I literally took a nap for 45 minutes and watched the food network with Andrew (I was starving - I’ll never forget the burger they were showing on there, it looked like the greatest meal ever cooked) and then the doctor showed up and said okay, go!

So I did.

Okay STOP STOP STOP. That’s perfect, let me gown up!!  

3 pushes and he was out. August 10th at 12:10am. 

Unlike L, J cried a HUGE, loud cry immediately.  Unlike L, they slapped his slimy hot body right on my chest and started massaging, much to his great annoyance.  I have never heard a roar so great and so cute all at once.

But also yuck!  

His head was perfect since he came out so quick, I had zero tearing and he was on the breast during minute number 7 of his life.  Now that he’s a year old, not much has changed - that boy is starving at all times!! I thought he was in a growth spurt and realized after 4 months of him eating nonstop, it was probably just how he was.

We went home the next day.

I kept waiting for life to get difficult.  Waiting for the moment I would feel overwhelmed or discouraged.

But it never did.  L immediately loved her brother and to this day hasn’t stopped being obsessed with him.  My husband was (and is) extremely helpful and I was able to shower every day, take naps, and was going out on runs again within 2 weeks.

J snorted and snuffled and made all sorts of noise in the pack n play next to us every night ALL night and earned himself the nickname “bush pig” - Andrew and I would lay awake and look at each other and look at J like, is this a joke? He can’t seriously be this noisy while he’s asleep? But he was. Lol! 

And above our bed was a wood cut out sign that said “home” - at about 3 months old, J noticed that sign and fell in love with it. His first adorable toothless smiles were to flirt with the “home” sign. 

Now he’s just over a year old. My handsome little dimpled chunk.