birthstory

Jackson arrived on Feb. 21, 2001 at 11:25pm. He was delivered by Pat Jackson, CNM at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia. He weighed 7 pounds and 2 ounces and measured 19 inches long. He had blue eyes and red hair. We named him Jackson because he is God�s gracious gift and Christopher for his dear uncle.

My blood pressure began to rise significantly in the last trimester of pregnancy. I had transferred out of the care of an OB/GYN into the care of some lovely midwives in Alexandria. We were planning to have our baby at the birth center in Alexandria. In late January of 2001 I began to have severe in pain the left half on my tummy that went straight through to my back. At first it was pretty mild but it got worse and worse until I eventually called Andrew and asked him to come home. We called our doctor thinking that it wasn�t baby related and we were told to go to the ER immediately because it sounded like a kidney infection. The pain continued to get worse and worse. I eventually took some regular Tylenol which actually helped a little bit. We waited in the ER for a couple of hours and the triage nurse thought that we might be sent up to L&D if they couldn�t figure out what was wrong with me. When we finally were able to see the doctor we learned that I had a kidney stone and that there was blood in my urine. The doctor said that the baby should be just fine and to go home and hope that the stone passes soon. The next couple of days were hard. My blood pressure was high, we had birth classes to attend, and all the while I was in pain from the stone that still hadn�t passed. Three days after the ER visit I finally passed the stone during an UNC v. Duke basketball game. It was such a relief that for the next few days I just kept going around the house saying, �ahhhh, I feel so much better!�

So, we didn�t have a January baby. The baby was due March 2 but we didn�t know if we were going to be able to wait that long since my blood pressure was still high. At a regular appointment at Birthcare to see my midwife in mid Feb. I was informed that my blood pressure was extremely high and that I should rest in their office for 30 minutes and that they will retest me. In the past, when my blood pressure was high I could rest for a while and it would go down, at least a little. This time it was still very high after lying down for 30 minutes so they sent me to the hospital. We were devastated because this meant that once we were transferred to the hospital, we were no longer under the care of the very special women that we had grown to trust and love. I was now high risk and must meet my new care providers. I transferred to a practice called Physicians and Midwives. They were great.

I went to the hospital where they monitored me and the baby overnight and I did a 24 hour urine annalysis. I also had a level II ultrasound. Everything but my blood pressure was normal. My blood pressure just didn�t go down. They checked me to see if induction was possible but I was still tightly closed up and very unfavorable. They sent me home hoping that a few days would pass and that I would be more ready to deliver.

I called the ladies from Birthcare and they gave me suggestions on how to make myself more favorable. For about 48 hours I took primrose around the clock. When I went back to see my doctor on Feb. 20th I was 2 cm. and very very favorable. They couldn�t believe the difference. I had also been on blood pressure medication for 2 days but my blood pressure was still high so they decided to induce me. I was sent home to get my bag and go to the hospital.

When I got to the hospital they administered the first round of gels. It was awful. I was put on my back in a hospital bed and they adjusted the bed so that my head was very low and the rest of my body was very high. They were hoping that gravity would help the gels work. After an hour of this terribly uncomfortable position they let me up to walk around and hope that labor would start. It didn�t. I did another round of the gels a few hours later and then walked some more. I had intense cramps but no labor. They sent me home and asked me to come back in the morning unless the contractions started to come 5 minutes apart. I was in terrible pain all night and didn�t get much rest. I went back to the hospital in the morning after nothing more than very very bad cramps all night. They started the pitocin around 8 am. They upped the dosage about a dozen times until my contractions were right on top of each other with no break at all in between. I had some nubane in my IV and then about 20 minutes later got my epidural when I was around 4 cm. It took me about 6 hours from the time they started the pitocin to get to 4 cm (keeping in mind that I started the day at 2cm.). Once I got the epidural I went from 4 cm. to 10 in a few hours. I could still feel the contractions and I even had an incredible desire to push before I was complete so they had to give me more medication in my epidural to keep me from pushing before my cervix was completely dilated. I was finally at 10 cm. but the baby was still very very high. They told me I could start pushing at any time but that I might want to wait and see if the baby comes down more on his own so that I wouldn�t have to push as long. So, we waited a while but the baby just wasn�t coming down any farther. They told me I should have a C-section or be prepared to push for 3 hours to get this baby out. I told them I�d like to get started on this pushing so we can get it over with. I pushed and pushed and pushed! I had no idea how hard it was going to be. I couldn�t catch my breath. I was on oxygen and I was starting to hyperventilate. Finally I got really determined to not have a C-section. The nurse let me pull on her arms as I pushed (and she was sore afterwards too) and I finally got my baby out after 90 minutes of pushing. No one thought he was coming that soon and I was very pleased that I was able to surprise everyone. The whole time I was pushing everyone (the staff and Andrew) was telling me what a great job I was doing. I don�t know if it was the nubane or what but I just didn�t believe any of them. I thought I was failing so when he finally came, I had this huge feeling of accomplishment. He was born at 11:25pm after an incredible day that I will never forget. Jackson was beautiful with red hair and blue eyes. His apgars were 8,9. I got to hold him for a few minutes until the nurses took him away to the nursery for a couple of hours. I got to hold him through the night and in the morning he was checked by the hospital�s Pediatrician. He had a clogged tear duct in his left eye (finally cleared up on it�s own at 4 months after I put some breastmilk in his eye). He had a slight case of jaundice and low blood sugar levels. His temp. was a little low so they put him under the heat lamps for an hour or so. They gave him some formula to help with his sugar levels without asking me and I was very disappointed not to be the first one to feed my baby. But, overall I was very happy with our experience at the hospital even though I was planning an out of hospital birth.

We took Jack home 36 hours after he was born and that is when the real fun started!