Jaxen Tyler: A Birth Story

We headed Willow Creek Women's Hospital around 4:30am on April 4. I was scheduled to be induced at 5am. The closer we got the more nervous I became. This was completely new to me and I didn't know what to expect. I wanted this to be over and my baby boy in my arms.

We checked into the hospital, I got changed, and settled into the room. I got IVs (finally after the third time the nurse tried) and all my monitors hooked up then waited impatiently for my epidural so I could get this show on the road. A couple hours passed and still nothing. Finally, the anestesiologist (spelling?) came in around 9am and gave me an epidural. It wasn't very painful, just uncomfortable. It started taking effect pretty quickly.

And then the wait. We had quite a few visitors throughout the morning and early afternoon so that really helped the waiting process. The doctor came in a few times to check me and the same news every time: no progress. My body wasn't getting me to where I needed to be for delivery. Therefore, around 3:30pm, my doctor told me a c-section would have to take place and he'd be back in with his team in about half an hour to get me. I noticed I was starting to get anxiety as soon as the doctor left the room. Not even five minutes later, the team of nurses came in to get me which gave me no time to get myself together.

I was taken to the operating room alongside Tyler. Family and friends waited in the waiting room area after the doctor explained it would be about a 45 minute procedure. I got all of the numbing medication in me to where I couldn't move whatsoever from my rib cage down. Luckily, I never felt pain at all just a lot of pressure. What was supposed to be a 45 minute procedure only took about 15. And that last big rush of pressure I felt brought our baby boy into this world. Jaxen was born at 4:03pm on April 4, 2012. He weighed in at 8 pounds 14 ounces and 21 inches long (whoa, baby!).

Tyler then brought him out of the operating room and took him to the nursery while I finished up in recovery. I started feeling a lot of pain after the c-section. I was given a lot of pain medication which made me extremely drowsy. After about 30 minutes after being in recovery, I was taken to a room where we could get settled in. A few minutes later, Tyler came in to be with me and our sweet boy followed. Things start to become a blur to me at this point. A few people came in and out to take a peek at our new addition, but my medication was so high I don't remember a lot of it.

Was this the way I wanted to bring Jaxen into the world? No. I would have preferred to have a vaginal birth. Things didn't work that way though so what was best for the baby was my main concern. He was quite large, therefore having a vaginal birth could have led to many more complications that I didn't want to put him through.

I didn't realize that having a c-section was going to be so painful afterwards. The first time I went to get up was horrible. I wasn't prepared for such a long recovery process. It's been almost three weeks and I'm finally feeling back to normal. My incision is healing well and isn't swollen anymore. My abdomen doesn't hurt very much anymore when I bend or go to raise up in bed. And speaking of bed... I'm finally sleeping in one again! It's magical compared to sleeping on the couch.

Love.