Maternity leave began for me at 3:30pm on October 22nd. My sister and adorable nieces visited for a fun-filled weekend. They left mid-afternoon on Monday and Pressley and I went to her weekly dance lesson. I told my dance parent friends that they would probable see me the following Monday--still pregnant. We came home and I crawled into bed sometime after 11pm.
I didn't lay there for very long. Around 11:45 I felt and even sort of heard a popping noise. I waited for a gush of water and nothing happened so then I became concerned that the baby had done something so I pushed around on my stomach and felt him/her move so I felt a little better. At 11:55, I jumped out of bed for some reason and felt a small gush of fluid. After googling "water breaking" and several small gushes, I called the hospital and spoke to Dr. Forrest and she told me to come on in.
I hobbled back into the bedroom to wake Benjamin up. He was already in a deep sleep and it took him a few minutes to register what "We need to go the hospital" meant. My mother-in-law came over to stay with Pressley. Benjamin took a shower and I put together the last minute items in our hospital bag.
My husband is normally a speed demon and I play passenger-side driver and one would think that taking his pregnant wife to the hospital would mean that he had the green light to go as fast as he wanted. Instead, he drove five to ten miles under the speed limit. I was frustrated because I wasn't really having contractions, but I needed to go to the bathroom and wanted to get to the hospital as soon as possible.
We pull up at the emergency entrance and I fill out some paperwork before being wheeled up to to the labor and delivery ward. It was confirmed that my water had indeed broken and at 3:00am we were in our room. Pitocin was used to start some contractions. I was at 3 cm when I arrived at the hospital. By 5ish, I was at 5 cm. Contractions started coming on strong at 5:15am and I had no pain medicine going yet. I told the nurses that I wanted my epidural, but they told me that two other people were ahead of me. It would be awhile. *groan*
I spent the next hour in unbelievable pain. Kudos to the women that do natural births. I was almost one of them. Contractions were coming every minute and a half or so and poor Benjamin just sat there helpless at seeing me in so much pain. This birth was the exact opposite of Pressley's. I had only had minor contractions with her and got my epidural and had enjoyed hanging out with my family during labor with her. This labor was complete misery. At 6:15, I pushed the nurse call button and politely asked, amidst a contraction, if my epidural could come ASAP. Lynn, the epidural goddess in my mind, came in soon after. Our nurse was an awesome lady named Jennifer and she helped me get on of the side of the bed and held me while Lynn prepped me. The contractions were coming on very strong at this point so being still was practically impossible. It took longer than I would have liked for the drugs to kick in, but I was finally able to relax. Then they checked me and I was 8cm. Looking back, I'm not sure that I would've gotten the epidural if I'd known how close I had been. The epidural made me feel icky during delivery and after.
At this point, Benjamin was calling people to let them know the baby was coming and to update my mother-in-law. A lady came from Lander and asked if I'd mind if a couple of nursing students observed my delivery. I consented and two cute college girls came in and I immediately felt self-conscious. They were sweet though and I hope they learned something.
I was checked at 8:45am and I was nearly complete, but there was a lip of my cervix still there so they asked me to lie on my right side to help that along. Dr. Russell had arrived at this point and I was happy with that because I love him as a doctor and he had also delivered Pressley. He said to give it about 15 minutes and we would be ready to push. Nancy, our new nurse from shift change, broke the bed down and we began to push after those 15 minutes. I think it took about five good pushes and we were ready to go. However, we were told that Dr. Russell had went to do a tubal surgery. So my bed was put back together and I was told to cross my legs and lie on my side!!! I wasn't a happy camper. Finally, he came in the room and the bed was broken down again around 9:15. I couldn't feel a thing but I'm obviously a very good pusher. The head was there at 9:23 am and our baby arrived.
I had went along with Benjamin's "let's not find out the sex" because I thought it would be super cool and exciting to hear "It's a ....". Well, at this point I was already sleep-deprived, groggy from the drugs, and just plain ole exhausted. I honestly hadn't been wondering whether it was a girl or boy because I was just so not there. Benjamin said it was worth it for him, though, so I guess that's good for him. All I know now, is that I have the most handsome little guy in the world and that I love him to pieces. And his name is Jackson Neil Grier.
My brother-in-law asked us if we named him after Andrew Jackson since he knew that I was a history buff. We didn't. Jackson was simply one of the very few names that Benjamin and I agreed on. But Neil is in honor of my dad, one of the greatest guys I know. And now my dad and Benjamin both finally have a little guy in their family.
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