Jonas James, we waited 40 weeks for you and then we waited some more. But you didn’t keep us waiting too much past your due date…..
Late Friday night around 11:30pm I started having what were undoubtedly contractions. Not sure what did it, most likely it was just time for you to come, but that day I took a hill filled walk with your grammie, did a round of jump squats, shopped at target, and made “labor inducing” ginger snaps. About an hour after eating the yummy cookies, the contractions began!
I was so excited when I started feeling that undeniable pain. I excitedly said to Will after I had felt a few “wow, i don’t want to sound like a wuss, but these really hurt!” Will stayed up with me until about 1:30am when I decided if this really was it, we should try and get some rest. So we made sure all of our stuff was together and climbed into bed.
What was I thinking?? After two contractions I was back in the living room by myself. There was no way i could sleep through the contractions that were between 5-8 minutes apart. BUT I wanted Will to sleep as long as he could. The contractions stayed just like that, lasting about 60-90 seconds until about 4 am, when all of the sudden they began coming every 3 minutes. After 3 of those I decided I needed to wake up Will. My first attempt to wake him was unsuccessful, so I thought to myself, “maybe I’m jumping the gun here, maybe I’ll see how a few more by myself go.” The next one came 2 minutes 45 seconds later. I sat down on the bed next to my sweet husband and pleaded “what do I have to say to make you know I’m serious? It’s really time to go.” He heard that loud and clear and we gathered all of our things and headed out. There was moment while we were packing to leave that I started to feel the urge to bear down, and I worried Jonas was going to be born on our kitchen floor, or worse, in the car. We grabbed a towel just in case.
I called my mom in the car and told her we were heading to the hospital and would let her know my progress and if she should head over once we got there. Since it was after hours when we arrived we entered through emergency where I paced through contractions while we waited to be helped. It was 5:15am when we were finally checked in and on our way to the the labor and delivery room.
The nurse checked me and I was 6cm and fully effaced! Great news! I was more then half way there! So we called my mom and told her to hustle over. They asked if I wanted an epidural. I told them I wanted to see how much harder it got and I was considering it depending on how things went. BUT I really wanted to try to go without.
My mom arrived just before 6am at which point Will went down to move our car which he had abandoned in front of the emergency room entrance. My mom stayed with me and we worked through the contractions together. I began to feel the urge to bare down again and asked the nurse to check me. She hesitated and said they checked every two hours. But the urge persisted so I told her I thought maybe my water had broken. She gave in and checked me. It was a good thing she did because I was already 8cm by 6am! They were calling the doctor! I was in amazement at how quickly everything was moving. Will returned from moving the car and we shared the good news!
So with my mom at my side stroking my forehead, holding my hand and speaking words of encouragement and Will on my other side massaging my legs and making strong eye contact with me, both breathing at a slow steady pace that I could follow we worked through the contractions. They were the perfect team to help me through it all. I would have hyperventilated without them and definitely needed an epidural. With the two of them by my side though, and God’s grace I was able to make it through drug-free.
Dr Pearson arrived at 6:30am and broke my water. He headed to another floor to check on his other patients and the labor nurse began to teach me how to push. She told me I was going to “practice” through 5 contractions and then Dr Pearson would come back and we’d do the real thing. After 2 contractions she was telling me to stop, because apparently Jonas was coming quick! So we waited while Dr. Pearson made his way back (which felt like an eternity!) Then the pushing began again. After the second contraction Will could see his little hair filled head! I was so excited. The pain was serious, but the rush of excitement that I was about to meet my little boy was so much greater. I felt like I was drowning each time I pushed, completely depleting my energy and oxygen. The third contraction his little body started emerging. They told me to look down, now I could see his head! It was all I needed to finish the contraction out with the biggest push yet and welcome Jonas into the world. It was that quick. He arrived at 7:35am on September 24, 2011. I can’t even put into words the immense joy I felt in that moment they placed him on my chest. Everyone tells you how in love you’ll be and how incredible parenthood is. I didn’t get it, until that moment of utter joy.
Its been 7 weeks now. And each day is filled with more joy then the last. Jonas has begun to smile and coo and it melts my heart each and every time. One of the greatest joys has been watching my husband turn into a daddy. He is so incredible at it! He has such patients and love and its so fun to watch him soothe his baby boy. He encourages me when I’m tired, he takes over when I’ve had too much, and he just knows, I never have to ask. I am so blessed. I don’t deserve this life that I cherish so dearly, but I am so thankful. Thinking back to delivery day I remember being left in the room alone after the boys had left for the nursery and just feeling an indescribable thankfulness for how smoothly the whole process had been. Though Will and I suffered through a miscarriage months before we knew I was pregnant with Jonas, from start to finish the pregnancy, delivery and Jonas, were perfect. I couldn’t have imagined it any more perfect. God’s amazing that way. He is so faithful and so good.
I am so thankful.
