Well, baby is here!! We did it! Baby number 5 turned out to be a baby boy! So us girls are getting massively outnumbered here in the Amell house. He was born on February 22 at 2:07 am and weighed 8lbs 4oz! We have quite the story here with this little man too. Turns out he was quite the miracle baby! Since I have updates available on the blog about my pregnancy with him, let’s just cut straight to the chase with this birth story!
On February 21, I had my 39 week appointment with my OB which you can read about here or watch the Vlog here. She did a good stretch and sweep but I was only about 3cm dilated at that point so I definitely did not feel encouraged that labour would be happening any time soon. I went home, cleaned, filmed the vlog about not knowing when this baby would come, etc. I also thought I was getting sick because I was exhausted and English was hard that day, speaking was a chore and thinking was difficult. Since it was a Tuesday, the boys had extra curricular sports that evening and I was for sure dreading that I had to bring them. Then Josh called around dinner time. He said he wasn’t feeling the greatest in the fact that he was exhausted and since the boys stayed home from school that day because Jonathan was actually sick with a cold and Joshua didn’t go because he just didn’t go, then we should skip soccer and track-and-field and we should all go to bed early. I was in full excited agreement with this plan! So after dinner, the kids and I went upstairs to watch a movie and I fell asleep at about 5:30 pm! Clearly I was tired!
I woke up suddenly at 6:45 pm or so and I didn’t know why. The kids were all still watching a movie and Josh had just gotten home and was eating. So I laid there resting for a while. Then, all of a sudden I felt something! It was the weirdest feeling ever! It felt like Saran Wrap was being peeled away from inside me! Once two corners had been peeled away, I felt a trickle. . . Am I seriously peeing myself?!?! Thank goodness my butt was already hanging off the bed due to everyone stretching out on the bed to watch a movie. I jumped out of bed, the rest of the Saran Wrap “unpeeled” itself and my water broke! Here I am trying to move a baby gate from the doorway to at least get to the laminate flooring and off the carpet in our bedroom while water is gushing out of me! Needless to say, the baby gate won most of that war. . .
So I’m standing in the hallway trying to call downstairs to Josh to get him to come upstairs but he’s on the phone. He thinks I’m calling him upstairs to come to bed or hang out with us so he tells me “yes I know, I’ll be up soon”. . . . “JOSH!” I yell and he again says “yea I’ll be up in a few moments!” So, by this point, my water is still flowing and I just run to the tub and call for Joshua. At least this Josh will listen to me! He follows me to the bathroom and I ask him to go get Dad! I’m not too sure exactly what he said but it had to be something along the lines of Mom is standing in the tub fully clothed asking for you. . . So Josh FINALLY comes upstairs and asks what I’m doing. Then he clues in! My water broke! And lots of it was everywhere! (Our poor carpet, but I missed the mattress! Score!) Also, it was a good call to stay home because my water would have broken either at the boy’s soccer facility or in the van!! Josh starts freaking out because some of the kids had started to wander into the hall now and if you know Josh, bodily fluids and excrement of any kind completely disgusts him. So, with the most hilarious but disgusted look on his face, he grabs towels and is dictating where small children need to step to make it back to the safety of the bedroom so he can clean up!
Then, Josh calls his Mom to let her know she should start making her way here. I’m just trying to get some underwear so I can get out of the tub. I ended up taking a shower and then Josh finally brought me some underwear. I got dressed and then I planned on moving to try to get contractions started. I did NOT want a repeat of Joshua’s labour and definitely did not want Pitocin! The good news was that I did have a couple of contractions in the shower and while walking downstairs, the bad news was that I forgot what happens when your water breaks. Yes, it constantly gushes out! So I ran to the bathroom and asked Josh to go to the store to get me adult diapers since pads were just not going to cut it. So I’m sitting on the toilet the entire time he’s gone because water keeps randomly gushing out of me and now Jordanna wants snuggles. . . Okay fine. So, we hang out in the bathroom for about 20 minutes until I convince her to go play with her brothers. I called the hospital because I wasn’t sure if they wanted me to come in or wait until I was having solid, regular contractions. They want me to come in.
Josh gets home and his Mom wasn’t too far behind him. We chatted for a bit and when I would walk around, the contractions were great. When I sat, they would stop. So we make our way to the hospital to get checked. I had maybe two contractions on the way there and they were so mild and infrequent at this point, I didn’t want to stay at the hospital. When we got there, they checked me and I was 4cm dilated and my water had broken for sure. I had some options: start Pitocin and get things rolling, or walk around for 1-2 hours and then come back. We opted to walk around. We had to get our suitcase from the car anyway and I couldn’t figure out why they didn’t want me to leave. It clicked in afterwards though. My OB kept telling the nurses, “Once she’s in active labour, she goes quick!” So they wanted me to stick around the hospital. We walked back downstairs, Josh got the suitcase and I did laps of the front lobby. Then, since all the gushing was still going on, I figured we should just stay close to our room. This was now about 10:00pm. My water had broken at around 7:15 pm and still no regular contractions. I bounced on the exercise ball, paced the room, did squats and no regular contractions. I was getting tired at this point so I sat on the bed and rocked back and forth and then got out of bed and paced the room for another hour. My OB called up and asked how things were going and was suggesting for them to start Pitocin but they pushed her off saying I was having contractions. I was thankful for this but during this time, many things were racing through my mind. 1) Was I going to need Pitocin to get this labour started or not? 2) Something inside of me kept telling me I HAD to get this baby out quickly and I didn’t know why. 3) I was getting completely exhausted at this point and was seriously debating my choices.
I was getting mild to medium contractions that were not regular for the hour from 10:00-11:00 pm but then from 11:00 -12:00 am, they completely slowed down. I knew the Pitocin was coming and this feeling inside of me that kept telling me I NEED to get this baby out was growing stronger. I only had about 2 contractions for that hour and so at midnight, I decided to ask for an Epidural so we could start Pitocin and get things going quickly. The anesthesiologist came to my room just after midnight and started prepping for things. He was an out of town doctor and didn’t know the set up here at all. It took him 1 hour to get himself prepped, insert the epidural catheter and do all of his stuff. I distinctly remember looking at the clock and I had been bent over, hunched back for 45 minutes. He still hadn’t done anything and the contractions I was getting, though infrequent, were seriously intensifying. The back labour was disgusting! I remember thinking I should tell him to stop and say never mind but he was just about to insert the numbing needles to get started. I desperately wanted a nap. I chose not to stop . . . He FINALLY gets the epidural catheter inserted and tapes everything. Then he went to give me the “test dose” for the epidural and injected sterile water into the catheter! I felt like my entire body had been electrocuted! My back spasms out, my legs go rigid and I almost broke down crying. I definitely screamed in pain though! My back was already cramping from the back labour I was having and this just intensified the pain in my back and then it radiated all over my body. Everyone jumped up to get me to turn so they could lay me down so I wouldn’t potentially fall off the bed and then before actually putting in the real test dose of the epidural, which would alleviate the immense pain I’m feeling, he starts to clean up all of his stuff! At this point, I was done with this anesthesiologist! He didn’t even apologize for the mistake! You don’t have to admit to it, but a simple “sorry about that” would suffice. So by 1:00 am, the epidural was in. I was still having to breathe through each contraction and was having intense back labour. I feel like this epidural worked to take the edge off for a short amount of time, but I was still feeling the pain and pressure with each contraction. I definitely should have just told him to stop before he started!
They started the Pitocin while the epidural was kicking in and by 2:00 am, I knew something was up! My epidural completely stopped working, if it ever did actually work. I felt my cervix snap beside Jonah’s head. I was now ready to go and he was coming fast. My back felt like it was breaking and I was ready to have this baby out and end the pain! Needless to say the entire hospital probably either knew I was having a baby or thought someone was being murdered! He was born 7 minutes after my first push and I’m still not sure whether I will ever fully recover from my body feeling like it was being ripped apart! Jonah decided to come out like the “cool kids”! Sideways, with his hand up by his face! John Cena style “you can’t see me!”
Jonah also had the longest umbilical cord ever and it was wrapped around his neck twice and his chest once! Perhaps this was why I had that inner feeling to get him out. I’m not sure if it’s because of his umbilical cord being wrapped around his neck but he was freaking out the nurses with his chillaxed, “cool kids” demeanor. They weren’t sure if he was breathing or if he was just relaxed and chillin on my chest. He did lose a point on his Apgar scale test for this but he started to breathe and slowly pink up. I was also in a state of complete shock over what had just ensued. I had an epidural, it failed, and I had just birthed a baby’s hand, arm, and head at the same time! Josh also was in a state of shock. He was on the bathroom floor! The mask was making him feel light headed and sick. When he stood up to stand over by my head before anything had even began, his blood pressure dropped. So he missed the birth but he got an orange juice as a consolation prize!
The reason Jonah is a little miracle is that, not only did he have the cord wrapped around his neck multiple times and around his body, but his umbilical cord was not implanted properly. My placenta was formed correctly but the umbilical cord was implanted into the membrane away from the placenta with blood vessels running to the placenta. Had that part of the membrane broke when my water broke, he would have bled to death! My OB said we just birthed an extremely lucky baby boy!
We hardly got any sleep the rest of the night trying to recover from everything that just happened. We were exhausted but not tired. Fortunately for us, we were allowed to get discharged early and we were out of the hospital by noon the day he was born! One thing was starting to build at the back of my mind though. Jaundice! Joseph had it and we were in the hospital for 5 days in total with him and since he developed it, every baby after him now has an increased risk of developing it. Jonah had pooped right after birth and about 3 or 4 times in the hours we were in the hospital, but no pee! He has to pee within 24 hours of birth or that raises red flags. So, once we got home, I pumped and we fed him breast milk in a bottle and by 11:00 pm, he had finally peed! Victory! Or was it?
The kids were so excited to meet Jonah and it was definitely such a special moment to see each of them holding, hugging, kissing, and caressing their little brother when he was only 12 hours old and in the comfort of our own home! We did have to return to the hospital the next day so they could perform all of the newborn tests on him: a heart test, the bilirubin level to test for jaundice, and perhaps the hearing test. It was nice to know and actually be able to be discharged early, go home, relax at home, and get a good night’s sleep the night he was born! I definitely prefer that over staying in the hospital that’s for sure and I would definitely do it that way again in the future if and when we have more children!
So that is how Jonah came into the world! Fast and furious! I have to admit though that my experiences with birthing atmospheres mimicking a baby’s personality is completely wrong with Jonah! I had negative feeling during birth because of the anesthesiologist, screamed so loud and for 7 minutes straight that I still have a hoarse voice days later and was in such a complete state of shock after he was born that I didn’t actually touch or hold him for a couple of minutes and yet he is the most relaxed baby so far! (I also didn’t want to interfere with the nurses trying to get him to breathe to their satisfaction). He reminds me so much of Joshua as a baby and is just so calm, loves cuddles, and just relaxes. So Jonah has proved my labour and delivery method completely wrong although it could just be how the pregnancy went as well. My pregnancy was a little stressful with Jonathan. Perhaps Jonathan is just our wild child because that is who he is! And I am totally okay with that!
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