Labor and Delivery

Last night Hardy and I checked into the hospital for the induction around 8:00 p.m. About 45 minutes after they gave me the medication to get us started I apparently had such a long, hard contraction that little Jack’s heart rate plummeted. The doctors and nurses rushed in and started talking about the possibility of an emergency C-Section, but Jack recovered and did pretty well for the rest of the night. I got my epidural at 12:30 a.m., they started the pitocin at 1:00, broke my water at 3:30, and by 7:20 I was pushing. According to Dr. Clark, my hips were built for giving birth (thanks for passing on those genes Mom) so I didn’t have to push for very long before Jack popped out at 7:54 a.m. He was and still is pink and perfect and looks incredibly healthy. It’s hard to believe anything could possibly be wrong with him.

After Hardy cut the cord, they passed him into the NICU at the U where they stabilized him. A little later the Life Flight team picked him up and transported him to Primary Children’s. Thankfully they made a stop by our room on the way and because he was doing so well I even got to hold sweet Jack for about two minutes. It was more than I was expecting and was so wonderful.

I didn’t make it over to Primary Children’s until later in the afternoon and then another trip to say good night, but Hardy spent most of the day walking family and friends who came to visit back and forth between my room and the NICU. We are both thoroughly exhausted. Thankfully Hardy’s extremely thoughtful friends reserved us a room over at the University Guest House for the week so he’s crashing there tonight while I recuperate in the hospital. Little Jack is doing so well and in such good hands that I think we will both sleep well tonight.