Jaxson David Potter- the birth story

So you have all seen my billions of pictures of Jaxson everywhere but here I am going to talk about my experience. Mostly for me to remember details, but I thought it was a good story too!

So after begging my ob to let me get induced he finally agreed to it, even though he didn't think I was progressing enough or far enough along to be induced, but he still thought it'd be smarter than letting me go more than a week over. Date was set for Saturday at 3. They called me at 2 and had me come in early. We got there at 2:30 and went to get all signed in. After about an hour, we finally got to our room and I got into my gown and hung out answering all sorts of questions.

Finally about 4 ish she started telling me how everything was going to happen. She said I was 1 cm and about 40% effaced. Basically no where. She said she would have to give me 3 pills, 4 hours apart. So 12 hours just to get to 100% effaced. THEN, I'd have to get induced with pictocin, which does all the dilating. So about another 12-15 hours. So baby would be there by Sunday night, if we're lucky. After getting stabbed once in the wrist, the iv got put in my right hand. So painful. They just put the port in to keep it open. Again, worst part of giving birth-the iv.

Well after 3 hours on the first pill, I started having contractions. Mind you I didn't want to sound like a whimp complaining over dumb cramps, so every time the nurse came in I would say ya my pain is at about a 6/10 from all these "cramps". She kept saying oh good good that's what is supposed to happen. Well when she came in a checked me, I was 100% effaced and she went to put the other pill in and had to go back in and take it out. She said "oh man your pain is for real! These are real contractions!" So as bad and as painful as contractions can get, I was feeling them all. Ya I was crying. My mother in law had come in that day after a 7 hour drive, so I'm trying to talk and be excited and crying at the same time. I always wondered if I could handle a natural birth. I think i COULD do it. I just never would. Right after the nurse checked me, she sent in the epidural guys. Best site ever. These guys were like 25. Or looked like it. Seriously my sisters might've gone to high school with them. But I'm not paralyzed so they were fantastic!

During the epidural I had 4 contractions. Full fledged contractions. Try being in that much pain and having to sit ridiculously still. It's tough. The nurse said she hadn't ever seen someone have that many during an epidural. Probably just making me feel good about myself haha. So, right after I got my epidural, I went to swing my legs back onto the bed, and my water broke! So crazy. The whole reason I wanted to get induced was because my mom and sister have had to be induced for all 10 kids and their water broken for them. So, another thing that was crazy for that day and defied everything I had been told to expect.  Oh my gosh the epidural seriously was amazing. Slowly the contraction pain just started to fade. I got to experience the magic of giving birth without having to cry through the whole thing. I didn't end up getting on pictocin. Another crazy thing! I didn't end up "truly" getting induced. Although I basically did.

So after another couple hours of waiting, I was progressing like crazy! Every hour another cm dilated. At about 10 pm I got switched nurses. Worst part of my night. Now I don't want to be rude but this lady had some sort of point to prove. The babies heart rate started dropping so they put an oxygyn mask on me. It freaked me out really bad. I went in with the idea that I'd have something horrible go wrong and would have to get a c-sec. Well it was beginning to happen. They kept having me switch side to side to keep the baby happy and heart rate good, and could not keep a heart beat monitor on the baby. They struggled forever. Finally they kept me on my right side rolled over. After a bit of this, the epidural-which works by gravity- started fading on my left side. Not too bad though. I just kept pressing the button to get more of it inside. Good stuff. Then the nurse decided to use a peanut ball thing to help dilate some more and open the cervix. She came in at about 12 and I hadn't been checked for about an hour so I asked her if she could check me. She said no because she didn't want to risk infection getting in. She wouldn't check my until 1 am. Stupid. My mom kept asking her questions and she kept saying no, here's why. Seriously she was talking to us like we had no clue of anything and we were just idiots.

So 12:30 rolls around and she finally decides to check me earlier than planned. Oh ya 100% everything good to go. Who knows how long I was actually like that. Stupid. So then she disappears forever to get things ready for me to start pushing. When she finally came back in, she decided to have me start pushing. Oooooh boy. That freaked me out. I had the idea I'd push twice and the baby would come out. I asked her if we could call the doctor first. Nope. Stupid. She says, oh for the first baby it takes about 3 hours on average to push. WHAT!! 3 hours are you kidding me?! So being the quiet person I am just said okay. Ya I pushed and she quickly said okay stop, put my legs back down and went and called the doctor. Stupid. Well 15 mins rolled by with a babies head starting to fall out and Dr. Beck shows up. Such a great guy. A wall to talk to, but seriously fantastic. I pushed one time and the baby came out! No tearing or episiotomy! Dream come true. He was just a little guy. 5 lbs 14.5 oz. 19.5 in long. Born at 1:31 am. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Such a surreal moment. Like I was just dreaming it all. I still feel like someday I'll wake up and it will all have been just a dream.

I was truly an incredible experience. Nothing went the way I or the nurses planned and I was so happy about that. From check in to delivery was just 11 hours. Could not have asked for a better, more smooth, and easy delivery. Here's to always having small and healthy babies!

Thanks for reading!