Honeymoon Stages of an Army Wife and Irish Twins Mommy!: Jonny's Birth Story

Jonathan Eberhardt Shaw III

Although an induction was not ideal, I chose to be induced so that I could have my mom, dad and littlest sister fly in from Florida to be there for the birth. Also, my husband wanted his mom there. We also had to plan a baptism because my husband's father was doing the baptizing so his sisters and grandpa had to buy plane tickets, as well. I was due March 21, 2012 but i chose to be induced a week early, so i could insure i wouldnt go into labor without my mom there. We dont live near any family, and probably never will, as we are an Army family, so i was induced the morning of March 15, arriving at the hospital at 6am.

I was checked in and started on pitocin (maybe something else?). I didnt pay attention to the clock all day cause i wasnt interested in that at all. My husband said contractions started around 9. I loved my nurse! I was unsure whether i wanted an epidural. I would have loved to believe i could handle the pain, but i didnt want to have "medically induced contractions" that were extra painful like evryone said and miss the anesthesiologist. I dont have a high pain tolerance but i still kinda wanted to try. The nurse told me she had five kids. She had an epidural with only the last one cause she said she figured she should experience it, being that she was a nurse, so she could recommend it to patients (for occasions such as this). She said if she knew then what she knew now, she would, hands down, have had epidurals with all five. It pretty much convinced me then, to have one. I was never afraid of getting an epidural. Little did i know, after the agonizing, months-long decision of epidural or not, wouldnt even matter, cause it didnt work. So anyways, the contractions began and it was pretty shocking to me. I "never had Braxton-Hicks" that i knew of, and my mom assured me i wouldnt KNOW if i had had them. Well, when they started, i realized i had been feeling them all along. What i thought was Jonny just pressing against my side, had been contractions for at least a month! When i went in for my 38 week check-up the doctor told me i was 3cm. I wondered how that was possible, since i hadnt had any contractions. Now i know why!

My doctor came around 10am. I hadnt progressed at that point, but it had all just begun anyway. So he said he would come back a little later to check on me and break my water if i was slowly progressing. Contractions never really hurt too bad, but maybe that was because i only got to 6 before i was offered the epidural. They were painful but nothing like "the demons ripping me apart on the inside" that my mother-in-law had described. My mother-in-law had a retroverted uterus and that caused her TERRIBLE pain during labor. She pushed for hours until finally they realized why. They turned her on both sides, once, and out her baby came. I found out later that i also have a retorverted uterus. At some point the doctor came back and i was progressing a bit- to maybe 5 cm. He estimated i could have the baby by dinnertime- though he assured me he only ever guessed for fun, not cause he had any clue! My husband stepped out of the room to use the bathroom before the doc got there and by the time he got back, the doctor had already broken my water. My hubby, a bachelor's in Kinesiology (study of the body's functions) was SO sad that he had missed that! He was SO eager to see every last bit of scientific stuff there was to see and learn about.

　
After that the anesthesioloist came in to give me my epi and i started shaking uncontrollably. I guess i was scared after all! Even if i wouldnt admit it to myself! I could not stop for what felt like 5 minutes. He was gruff but said it was ok, cause he had to prep anyway. The nurse assured me it would stop soon and it did. Luckily he caught me between contractions or i may have flinched! It would have been hard to sit still for! After the epidural i was immediately numb (my legs and belly) but the numbness wasnt going high enough. They do a temp test with a wet pad and i could still feel things where i shouldnt have. Or something like that. They brought him back in and he checked me out. He gave me a stronger medication in the epidural. Nothing changed. I didnt worry too much at the time. It was numbing my contractions, so i wasnt worried. At some point they checked me again- maybe around 5pm (the day was flying by! I had been there 12 hours already and it seemed like 3, surprisingly!) and i was 8 cm. However, Jonny was only at a -2 station. The way i understand that is that he had only dropped a tiny bit. (from -1, and he needed to get to somewhere around +3, which is crowning, i think?) Now, i think that that was maybe because of my retroverted uterus.

　
Around this time, i think, i started having some pressure deep inside me. It didnt bother me too much at first but eventually it was almost intolerable. It was constant, unlike contractions where you get a break. Around this time, they also noticed that the baby's heartrate was dropping a bit, with each contraction. The nurse kept going in and out of the room and at some point i heard "c-section" and it was that dreaded moment i had seen on "A Baby Story" when they tell you you need a C-section. But they assured me they were just going to watch him closely at that point. And about that time I started feeling the urge to push, which im told doesnt always happen, when you have an epidural. They never did take me off the epidural since it wasnt working well to begin with. The new nurse (who i couldn't stand, go figure), at about 9pm, checked me during my failed attempts not to push, and said i was at a 10. However Jonny was still at a -2. The doctor informed me afterward that he wasnt sure i was going to be able to push him all the way out from that far back.

　
The nurse told me i could push whenever i wanted to- which was this intense urge, that never stopped. On TV, its always this broken-up thing, between contractions, but i literally could have pushed for 45 five straight minutes without a breath if i could have lived. It was the strangest thing i have ever felt! The nurse and Jonathan both held my legs while i pushed, in the dark, and i kept thinking- arent there supposed to be lights and doctors and nurses? After a few pushes, she said, ill be right back and dropped my leg. She came back in right away with a little team of ladies who started turning on lights and pulling out blankets. They set one on me and my doctor came in out of breath. My mom told me later that Dr. Stroud went running by them in the waiting room and said "Im off to deliver a baby." My mother-in-law and mom started jumping up and down and dancing around the room. Good thing i wasnt there or i would have said, shut up and sit down! Behave yourselves! :)

　
He came in and after maybe 10 minutes (seemed like 2) but the most painful 10 minutes of my life, out came my baby boy! I thought i was going to die the whole time and they kept having to tell me to stop and breathe, cause i was doing 20 second pushes. All i wanted was for it to be over. I realized when they laid him on chest after he came out, that i had forgotten what was going on! I forgot why all this was happening and that i was about to meet my baby. It hurt so bad i felt like i was in another world. When he came out they laid my little Jonny right on my chest, he was perfectly clean. He looked like he had just been dipped in a bucket of water. I remember thinking, "Arent they supposed to be all bloody and white?" Now, Jonathan jokes that even Jonny came out clean cause he knew how important i think cleanliness is!
　

When he laid there, he just stated at me. He didnt wrinkle his nose. He didnt move, except for constant blinking. He didn't make a single sound. I started patting his back and worriedly asked "WHY ISN'T HE CRYING?!" They took him away and the doctor said- hes breathing, hes just a quiet little one! They stitched me up and i delivered the placenta a minute after they took Jonny away. Of course my hubby had to go examine it. He was so excited. He said Jonny looked like a quiet, proper, little Englishman. I never did hear him cry, but they said he was fine. They suctioned him out but he still just laid there quietly, blinking rapidly. They handed him to me and he just stared at me. Never made a sound. I didnt know this then, but he would only cry once- and that was when i wasnt with him and he was getting his sponge bath the next day! He slept through his circumcision and 6 weeks later he began crying. right before we scheduled a brain scan to make sure he was healthy. The pediatrician said she had never heard of such a thing (a baby not crying for 6 weeks after bith) and was worried about him. He started crying a few hours after we spoke on the phone. :) Smartiepants!

　
After Jonny was born, I remember thinking that there was NO way i could ever do this again. It hurt so bad and the thought of it would send me straight into tears. I wonder how women do it naturally, if i had some of the contractions numbed. Perhaps it was partly my retroverted uterus, or maybe thats just how bad the pain is. Thats my only experience so thats all i can go by: guesses. the hardest part, minus the last 2 hours of labor was breastfeeding. Jonny would touch my breast for a split second and then yank his head away. I had about 5 nurses/ lactation consultants come by and none of them coulg get him to breastfeed. It had been two days and he REFUSED to take any part in breastfeeding. They monitored his blood sugar levels and said he was fine thus far, but he did need to eat by the time he left the hospital. I had tried pumping and a nipple shield, but developed a blister in just 24 hours. So that became too painful. And the nipple shield helped minorly but of course whatever colostrum did come out- a drop or two, didnt make it to his mouth. Eventually I gave him some formula and tried and failed for 2 more weeks after his birth. I pumped even when the milk came in, and cried the whole time from pain, and the most that ever came out was a half ounce. I gave that to him but nothing more really came out. So formula it had to be. I am now pregnant with my second baby, a boy, and he is due February 24, 2013: just a few weeks before Jonny's first birthday. They say the first labor is usually the hardest, so i hope that that is true. I plan on an epidural this time as well, as I could barely stand it with the epidural last time!

　
Jonathan Eberhardt Shaw III is his name because his daddy is the second and his grandpa is the first. My husband grew up hating his middle name, but go figure he wanted to pass it on. He says "How many people are the III? Thats cool!" Hope he doesnt hate us for that one! But my husband did inform me while we were dating that his first son WOULD be named after him!

　
This little boy, is the GREATEST thing that has ever happened to me. He is the sweetest, kindest, most loving and gentle little boy I have ever met. He spends all day smiling and making gurgling noises, sleeps like a champ and even gives kisses already. So- I cant wait to be a mom to a second little one. Hoping hes as happy and healthy as my Jonny-boy!

Newborn baby Jonny

I never knew it was possible to feel such intense physical pain, such emotional relief and joy and such overwhelmedness all at the same time. And I never knew it was possible for me to look this rough!! this is moments after giving birth!

This is the next morning. My swaddled up baby boy. I was so tired but didn't want to miss a moment! I gave birth at 10:48pm and didn't go to bed until 2am. The nurses were in and out every hour or two after that. Let's just say theres no such thing as sleep in the hospital after your baby is born.