Jackson's arrival

After being in early labor all day on Thursday, I had my membranes stripped at my midwife appt. My contractions got closer and more consistent so we headed to the hospital at 11:00 pm. By the time I was checked at 12:00 am, I was measuring almost 6 cm. My contractions were not all that horrible, so I was surprised that I had progressed that far. By the time I got to my room and my midwife arrived, about 1:15, I had progressed to 8 cm and she broke my water. Even in transition, my contractions were not that bad, intense but not unbearable.

At 2:45 I was ready to push, at this point I started experiencing the worst pain of my of life, no exaggeration. After pushing for about 30 minutes we realized why. He came out with his hand in his mouth! So not only did I have to accomodate his 14 inch head, I had to fit his fist as well. He was born at 3:27 am, perfectly healthy and really alert. This is where things started to go downhill.

Up to this point, I had had a fairly easy experience. When she tried to deliver the placenta, it was stuck. Now this should have been the easiest part. She worked for another 30 minutes trying to get it out, but it wouldn't budge. So in comes the ob on call to try to remove it. No luck. At this point I am told that I'm going to have to go into surgery to remove it. Great, so I made it through the delivery of the baby unmedicated, but I have to be put under general anesthesia to deliver the placenta. As she's handing me the consent forms to sign, she tells me that she will try to remove it but if it won't come out, she'll have to perform a hysterectomy, so no more children.

How do you take that news? Well, thank you doctor, I understand the risks and have decided to leave the placenta in? At this point I was losing enough blood that I didn't have an option so to surgery we go. Thankfully, the D & C worked and I didn't have to lose my uterus at age 32. We are so grateful that the Lord brought everyone through safely.