1/3/11

If you read my blog, you know I tried anything and everything to try and get Jaxon here before 2011.  Well, I can honestly say NOTHING worked.  Babies will come when they want to come.  Two days before Jaxon was born, I even tried bowling.  That didn't work either.

My mom, me, and Robie at the bowling alley.  One of these things is not like the other.  Can you guess which one?

Here is my final progression photo.

Around 8am on Monday, January 3rd, I woke up to the dogs begging to go outside.  Robie had just walked out the door for work, so I knew it was my job to let the dogs out.  I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom to pee as usual.  After peeing, I stood up and was concerned because I was still peeing my pants.  I seriously thought I had lost control of my bladder.  I sat down to pee again, since I guess I wasn't done from the first time.  When I stood up again, I realized quickly from the trickle trail I was leaving that I was not peeing my pants.  My water had broke.  I was super excited, and woke my mom up with the good news.  I decided to take a shower to pass time, because I knew labor was a long process and I didn't want to rush getting to the hospital.  After my shower, I decided I should probably call Robie and let him know what was going on.  I told him on the phone that my water had broke, and all he frantically said "Okay, bye" and hung up.  He immediately left work and came home.  By the time he got home, my contractions were super strong and we finished packing our bags for the hospital.  We got in the car, and I started timing my contractions on this ipod app we downloaded a few nights before.  My mom followed in a car behind us.  My contractions started at 7 minutes apart, then 5 minutes, 3 minutes, and 2 minutes apart- I knew we needed to get to the hospital fast!

Since I chose to deliver in American Fork, the drive to the hospital was a lot longer than it would have been if I would have delivered in Provo.  When we FINALLY got to the hospital, I felt like I was going to die.  My contractions were really strong, and all I wanted was an epidural before they got any worse.  I was admitted and thought for sure I would be dilated to at least a 5, but I was wrong.  I was only a 3.  Ugh!  As the contractions kept getting stronger, I started feeling nauseous and just wanted an epidural immediately.  Luckily, it didn't take long for the attractive looking anesthesiologist to come in.  He was a lifesaver!  The epidural was really not as bad as I thought it would be, but when comparing it to the contractions I was having someone could have cut off my arm and that would have been nothing.  I can honestly say an epidural is one of the best things invented on this whole planet.  Once things went numb, I was seriously in HEAVEN.  Since I was still dilated to a 3, my nurse decided to put me on a low dose of pitocin to get things moving faster.  She tried to put an iv in my right hand, but after digging around for my vein for a good 40 seconds, she gave up and moved on to my left hand.  That was probably the most painful part, besides the contractions, for the whole labor.

Since I was numb and not feeling anything, I decided to take a nap.  I slept for about 45 minutes, and was woken up when the nurse saw Jaxon's heart rate dropping during each of my contractions.  She wanted to get a better look at how strong my contractions were, so she put in an internal monitor which could measure the contractions more accurately.  She quickly realized my contractions were much stronger than she thought, and immediately took me off the pitocin.  Then, my doctor came in to check me, and everyone was shocked to learn I was already dilated to a 10.  Yes, I went from a 3 to a 10 in 45 minutes (and slept through the whole thing).  This would have been awesome, except for the fact that I had the Strep B bacteria and needed to be on antibiotics for at least 4 hours before delivering or Jaxon would most likely be sick.  So, the nurse made me wait an hour before I was allowed to start pushing, so I could try and get antibiotics in my system.

When it was finally time to push, it was just the nurse, Robie, and me in the room.  I pushed and pushed for 2.5 hours.  Robie was so good and didn't look down the whole time (he had strict instructions not to look down).  Finally, the doctor came in during the last few pushes, and I was so excited that I was about to meet my little baby.  As I gathered the strength for the final pushes, Jaxon Robie Fullmer was born at 4:40pm.  I waited and waited to hear Jaxon cry, but there was nothing but silence.  Suddenly, nurses were flooding into our room left and right. I finally knew something was wrong when a nurse got on the phone next to me and called for respiratory back up saying, "Run! Run Fast!"  It was the scariest moment of my whole life.  Robie's face went from the happiest moment of his life to panic.  Nurses were running everywhere saying things like, "He's not breathing" and "We need backup".  Then, my doctor held up the umbilical cord with a shocked look on his face.  It had a double knot in it.  He told me in all his years, he had never seen a double knot before.  Meanwhile, Jaxon was still not breathing.  After what seemed like an eternity, one of the nurses finally said the best words I had ever heard, "He's breathing."  Jaxon was breathing a little on his own, but he was still not crying.  They quickly took his weight at 7 pounds 5 ounces, let me give him a kiss on the head, and took him away to hook him up to oxygen in the NICU.

I think every mother imagines the deliver of her baby to be an amazing experience when they put your baby on your chest and you see the miracle you created for the first time before you.  Then, you look at your husband and smile at the life you created together.  Instead of that special moment, I was left alone with no baby and no husband (since Robie followed Jaxon to make sure he was okay).  I was so shocked and scared that I could not even cry.  I just prayed over and over again that Jaxon would be okay.  I had to wait until my epidural wore off (which took hours) before I was allowed to see Jaxon for the first time.  When I finally got moved downstairs to see Jaxon, it was bittersweet.  I was relieved to see him screaming at the top of his lungs, because it meant he was breathing, but it was so sad to see all the wires and tubes he was hooked up to.  Apparently, he was not only on oxygen, but he had to have antibiotics pumped into him since he had contracted the Strep B bacteria I had.  I couldn't even hold him, and I wished so badly I could take his pain away.

For the next few days, Robie and I visited our little boy in the NICU and watched as the nurses were able to slowly take him off oxygen and lower his doses of antibiotics.  He progressed a little every day.  Before he could go home, he had to show he was eating well.  That was no problem.  They boy LOVES to eat!  We were finally able to take him home at 10pm on Thursday night.  I was a little nervous to leave the comfort of the wonderful nurses in the NICU, but I was excited that we could finally take our little guy home with us.

Jaxon has been doing really well at home.  Like most babies, he loves to sleep during the day and be wide awake at night, so I am working to flip that schedule around.  I absolutely am in love with my baby!  I love being a mom- it's pretty much the greatest thing in the world- so great that there are no exact words for the feeling.  Even more, I love seeing Robie as a dad.  It is so cute seeing him react to Jaxon and take care of him.  I am excited for Jaxon to get bigger and for us to be able to interact with him more, but I am definitely enjoying him being little right now.  I'm in no hurry to have him get bigger anytime soon.

We are so grateful for Jaxon in our lives.  Thanks to all our family and friends who have texted, called, written, and given support for us and our new baby.  We love you all.  I am also so thankful for my mom who has been a huge help with everything.  She used all her sick days for the year to be with us during Jaxon's arrival, and we are so thankful for the big help she has been.  We are very thankful to our Heavenly Father that everything turned out well and Jaxon is healthy.  We are so excited for the many new adventures parenthood has in store.  We love you Jaxon!

Off of the surfactant and progressing...

Holding him for the first time

Progressing more and off the oxygen

Finally able to go home

So adorable!

Home at last!

Hanging out with Grandma Wright

and Grandma and Grandpa Fullmer

Cousins

Uncle Scottie

Meeting his friend Luther Gabriel Giddings

First family picture

We love you Jaxon!