Jon and Summer Buchanan: Axton's birth story- long post :)

On the evening of Thursday, November 10th I started having regular painless contractions. I had been experiencing Braxton Hick’s contractions for several weeks at this point so I didn’t think much of it. Starting at about midnight, they started becoming a little uncomfortable. They were further apart however. They eased up slightly so I decided to try to get some sleep. This happened all night- resulting in little to no sleep.

I woke Jon up at about 5:30am because the contractions were becoming more painful. He asked if I wanted him to take me to the hospital but I was afraid that they would just send me back home so I decided to lay down again to try to rest.

Around 7:15am, after calling my mom for further confirmation that I was indeed going into labor, I told Jon that we needed to go to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital at about 8am. My contractions were more painful then, radiating around my hips and lower back, and getting closer together. However, when the nurse checked, my cervix was only dilated 2 cm. She told me they’d monitor me for an hour and go from there. But not even 20 minutes later she came back in with IV supplies and said that my doctor said to admit me.

I asked for my epidural quickly because there were many c sections and inductions scheduled that day and didn’t want to have to wait later. Once I received the epidural my contractions slowed down so I was given pitocin to make them stronger and more effective. So we started the waiting game.
My doctor came in just before 1:30pm and broke my water, where it was discovered that there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. Since baby’s heartbeat was stable and showing that he was tolerating the contractions, no immediate action needed to be taken.
When my cervix was almost completely dilated, my nurse had me turn on my left side because there was still one side that was thicker than the other. Then after waiting some more, my doctor came in to check the position of the baby. Ideally they should be face down for delivery and he was face up. So I was turned to my right side, almost on my belly, with my leg tucked under to get him to turn. The nurse also dimmed the lights so I could try to rest because it was almost time to start pushing. And since I hadn’t eaten all day, I was given IV fluid with dextrose.

Finally, at about 7:15pm we started the pushing process. After pushing for what seemed like forever, we could see his head- covered with dark brown hair!! The pushing continued for a little longer but at 8:46pm our baby boy was born! They told me his length first: 21.5 inches! I couldn’t believe how long he was! His weight: 8 pounds. He was absolutely perfect.

Because there was meconium in the amniotic fluid, 2 NICU nurses were present for the delivery. Unfortunately, both of us had a fever after delivery. He was also a little grunty. Because of these things, he had to go to the NICU for monitoring. Fortunately, Jon was able to go with him. They also brought him to me after I was taken to maternity so I could breastfeed him.