Labor and Delivery Story: Jackson Taylor Hunt

Its about time I write this down before I forget all together what happened on Thursday, April 30th, 2015. This labor and delivery was so quick, I really may forget it! 

We were scheduled to go into the hospital and check in at 7am to be induced on Thursday morning. This was ideal for me because I had a good experience with Jane's inducement, and we were also able to have family in town and ready to watch over Jane. Plus, my body was already starting to go into labor on its own. On that Tuesday before, I was 1cm dilated and 50% effaced. 

So once we were checked in and I changed into my hospital gown, they started asking a MILLION questions. I don't remember there being so many questions when I was induced with Jane, but maybe it was because I was in so much shock with Jane. I even asked the nurse if it was hard to get answers out of some woman who come in with hard contractions and far into their labor. I was annoyed answering the questions, I could only imagine trying to answer them in the middle on having contractions. 

I had to wait until my doctor made his rounds to come and check me one more time and have a chat about the "plan" before they could hook me up to the pitocin. In the meantime, the nurses set up my IV and took some bloodwork. Once my doctor came in, he checked me, and I was at a 2-3cm which was good progress on my own from two days prior, so he was happy about that. He also "tried" to break my water. With Jane it was a quick, simple task. This....not so much. I think he tried about 6 or 7 times to break my water with no luck. He said that my cervix was still just really thick. I was super uncomfortable, but didn't really hurt. So they started the pitocin around 9am. 

I told the nurses that I definitely wanted the epidural and they were willing to call the anesthesiologist whenever I wanted. I told them that I wanted it once my water broke or before if my contractions started to get rough and they were good with that idea. Only problem is that I had no idea that I needed at least one full bag of IV fluids in me fore they did the epidural. 

My contractions started to get pretty bad right away, so I asked for the epidural soon after the piton started. Thats when they started the IV bag which seemed to take FOREVER to empty. I was having contractions about ever 2-3 minutes that were pretty strong. Mr. Hunt would sit and coach me through them. Or really just look at the monitor to see when they were getting big and when they were tapering off. Even though I could feel that myself, it was nice to know that he could see that too, and that I was right in what I was feeling. Sometimes he could see one coming before I could feel it too. Sure enough my water broke on its own after a few hard contractions. It wasn't one big break like it was with Jane. It was more like half after one contraction and the rest after another contraction. 

Finally it was time of rate epidural around 10:30am. I also mentioned how the first epidural with Jane didn't work, and they assured me that this anesthesiologist was "one of the best." They probably say that for everyone. 

For some reason I don't remember the epidural hurting as much with Jane as it did this time. It was pretty painful, but I just kept telling myself that this was worth the few minutes of  pain, to not have to feel those awful contractions. After that, they had me lay on my side for awhile because Jackson's heart rate was dipping a little when I would have contractions and they thought it was probably because I was laying on my back all morning which you should really do while pregnant anyway. It definitely helped his heart rate, but not my epidural. It seemed like only my legs were numb and not my belly. My belly is the main thing I wanted numb so I didn't feel the contractions. After switching to my other side, I was convinced the epidural hadn't worked again. 

They called the anesthesiologist back in and he gave me more of the meds and also suggested that I lay all the way down flat and back on my back for a bit. Sure enough that worked! Thank goodness because I didn't want to redo it. At the time I was just glad that it finally had worked, but little did I know how strong the epidural was. I was originally told that the epidural takes about 15 minutes to set in, but all of that took about an hour. By this time it was about noon.

After I was finally numb, the nurse checked me one more time and I was a "stretchy" 7cm. I have no clue what that even means. I told her that with Jane, once I got the epidural, I went from a 6cm to 10cm in one hour. She said that the second baby is usually faster so to let her know as soon as I felt pressure. 

I knew exactly what she was talking about. I had hard pressure with Jane when I was 10cm, I knew that something was up. I remember the nurse thinking I was crazy since it was only an hour later, but sure enough I was right...10cm. So I was just waiting to feel that again this time. In the meantime, my nurse brought me a red popsicle which tasted amazing for some reason. 

RIGHT after I finished my popsicle I stared feeling some preset. I twas nothing like with Jane so I figured maybe I was a 9cm or something and I was just waiting for the pressure to get worse. My nurse came in to check me and I told her that and she said she would wait to check me then if I didn't think I was ready to push or anything. RIGHT after that, my doctor came in just making his rounds. I told him the same thing, but he wanted to check me anyway to see if he could go back to the office or stick around to deliver the baby. 

He checked me and then made a funny face. Then said "Call the nursery, this is a ONE PUSHER!" All I remember is Mr. Hunt popping up off the couch. I must have had a blank look on my face because then my doctor said "Don't you know what that means? Your baby will be here in a few pushes!" I was so shocked. I still didn't feel any pressure! With Jane, I had to push for an hour and a half. I think I didn't really believe him to be honest. I thought for sure I knew what my body was doing and I didn't feel like he was coming anytime soon, there was still just little pressure. 

My doctor got his scrubs on faster than Ive ever seen and the nursery ladies rushed in so fast. Next thing I knew, my legs were in the stirrups and I was pushing. One push went by and he had Mr. Hunt look to see Jackson's head already half way out! Then my doctor told me whenever I felt the next contraction, to push again. I had to tell him that I wasn't feeling pressure or contractions at all, I had no clue when to push. This again was so different than with Jane. With Jane, I felt every single contraction. No pain, just pressure, but I knew when to push so I kind of did it all on my own for awhile with the help from the nurse a little bit. This time, the nurse had to look the monitor and feel my belly to tell me I was having a contraction and to push. It was very strange. Push number 2 went by and my doctor told me that even though I wasn't having a contraction, if I pushed one more time, he would be out. So I did, and sure enough, at 12:56pm, Jackson was born! I pushed for a total of 6 minutes!

Mr. Hunt said he kind of felt cheated. He didn't have to do much. He didn't have to coach me through hours of pushing like he did with Jane. One minute we were relaxed watching TV, then the next, he was HERE!

My doctor said he was glad I decided to be induced, my body was definitely ready, and that was one of the easiest deliveries he's ever had. Let me recap....it was only 4 hours from the time I was hooked up to the pitocin. Jane was 10 hours. 

It wasn't until after I had him that I realized that the epidural was just MUCH stronger than I had with Jane, which was why the pressure was so little this time around. Also, with Jane, my legs were back to normal within 30 minutes. This time, it took a good 2.5 hours for my legs to be normal again. Mr. Hunt got some really good pictures, but everything went so fast that he isn't in any pictures which makes me kind of sad.

All together it was an easy easy delivery and that's all I could have asked for. I was in a little more pain with contractions this time while I waited for the epidural, but I would pick this delivery over and over again. Mr. Hunt joked that we could have 10 more kids if it was always that easy!

Jackson Taylor Hunt

April 30th 2015

12:56pm

7lbs 12oz

21 inches long

Perfection

Love,

Jackson's Mom