Samuel James Jackson

Baby boy #5 is here at last! Born Saturday, May 31, 2014, he weighed 7 pounds 15.5 ounces, measured 20 inches tall. We just passed the 1 week mark, and I thought I better hurry and write down a few thoughts about his birth before I forget the details.

The last few weeks of pregnancy were pretty hard on me.  I don't know if it's because it was my 5th pregnancy or because I'm getting older, but this pregnancy was a lot harder physically. Normally I try to at least keep walking for exercise until the end, but even walking became really uncomfortable and, at times, painful. So I kind of gave up trying at the end, for good or for bad. I had really bad round ligament pains in my lower stomach that would flare up at least once a day. And my braxton-hicks contractions were very uncomfortable and very frequent. I would sometimes get them every 5 to 10 minutes for an hour or two. And sometimes only a few an hour. I got a yeast infection a few times in those last couple months, which wasn't very fun (enough said). Rolling over at night would wake me up and would cause me to have contractions. Overall, I was just really uncomfortable that last month or so, more so than my other pregnancies, and was counting down to when the baby would be born.

A little more than a week before Samuel was born, I had an appointment with my midwife. She checked me and said I was dilated to a 2-3 and 80% effaced! It made me so happy to know at least something was happening. I wasn't doomed to be pregnant the rest of my life, this baby was actually going to come! And my body was preparing for the delivery. Well, a week later I went in and was the exact same. I had had a lot of contractions that week, as usual, and I was hopeful that something more would have happened. Actually I was really hoping I wouldn't even make it back in to see her, that the baby would come that week. Well, I left feeling very frustrated, and again began to think that I was going to be the first person that just simply wouldn't ever deliver her baby. I was going to be pregnant forever, there would be no end.

While I couldn't wait for this pregnancy to be over, I was actually quite nervous about the whole process of delivering another baby. You wouldn't think that would be the case with your 5th, but it was for me. William had come so fast, leaving me no options for pain meds or anesthesia (which truthfully is what I wanted), but I guess the pain had caught me off guard a bit. It's amazing that our bodies know what to do and can get a baby out of us, but it does not happen without some serious pain. So I was a little nervous thinking about going through that again and, even more, the thought of labor coming on quick and not being able to make it to the hospital, or delivering the baby in the car (which was almost the case with William... by 7 minutes).

Well, the much anticipated and somewhat dreaded day came on May 31st, very early in the morning. Pete was on call at the hospital overnight and I remember thinking right before I went to bed, "This would not be a good time to have the baby... let's not have the baby tonight." But lo and behold, I woke up at 1:30 am with a contraction that felt a little different than my normal braxton-hicks. There was some discharge that accompanied the contraction and I quickly went in to the bathroom and changed, having another contraction and another. I immediately got really nervous and started shaking a little bit. Having labor come on fast in the middle of the night with no husband at home was a little scary, I felt like I couldn't think very clearly. But I immediately paged Pete (he didn't get cell phone reception), telling him I thought I was in labor and to call. While I waited for his call, I called our neighbor, Dee, and asked if she could come over when we were ready to leave. Pete called me back and I told him to come home, I was definitely in labor. He said he could leave in 5 or 10 minutes. I hung up the phone, had another contraction, and realized there was no way there was going to be enough time for him to get home and take me. So I called my neighbor back and asked if her husband could take me to the hospital. They were over within 3 or 4 minutes, I scrambled around trying to throw a few things into my bag, stopping every few minutes to breathe through the contractions, then jumped in the back of their van (well, more like crawled), and kneeled on the floor all the way over. By the time we got to the hospital I was moaning a little through the contractions (one way I deal with a lot of pain) so knew it was getting close. Pete was waiting out front and I was relieved to see him and to have made it to the hospital. I was wheeled up to the 9th floor to labor and delivery and into a waiting room where a nurse was going to check me. I had a contraction and had to get down on all fours and once again moan through it, and she said we better just get me into a delivery room. So they wheeled me down the hall and I crawled onto the bed, contractions getting harder (and my moaning getting louder). I had really wanted to try laboring and possibly delivering in a tub, so they started filling the tub up as soon as I got in. After a couple minutes my midwife (actually it was just the midwife on call... Mary Milky) checked me and I was ready to go.  She said I could get in the tub if I wanted, so I waddled over and found a tub only 2-3 inches full of water. At that point it seemed like more work to walk back to the bed, so I just got in, kneeling down in the water. The water was really warm and it actually was nice to have a distraction. Contractions then got very painful, and within a few pushes our baby boy was born and I was holding him in my arms.  One of the first things I said was, "I'm so glad that's over!" And truly I was.  Grateful to have the baby here and grateful to have pregnancy over.

Samuel James Jackson was born at 2:59 am. Labor was less than 90 minutes from the first contraction to the birth. He weighed 7 pounds, 15.5 ounces and measured 20 inches long. Having a baby is such a miracle! It's still hard to believe that this baby boy was inside of me not more than a week and a half ago. And now he's here, a living, breathing little person.

One of my favorite moments at the hospital was having the other kids come and meet their new little brother. They all came in kind of quiet and you could sense the excitement. They came over to my bed where Samuel lay and quietly looked at him and touched him. Then they took turns holding him. Then took turns again. This little boy is certainly loved! I feel more than grateful to be the mother of these 5 boys. How lucky am I!