Jackson Scott Spence

Here's the story of how he got here...

It all started the 15th of Feb. I was trying to get the house cleaned and all the laundry done since I was being induced on the 16th. I got most my stuff packed up and was up late. I set my alarm for like 4am. I was up a lot all night just so excited. I ended up waking up at 3:15am and then couldn't sleep so I just got up at 3:45. I showered one last time but held off on my hair since I did it the night before. Then a little after 4am I got a phone call. What the....? Maybe the hospital? So I answer and they tell me they are booked but have people scheduled to go home later on so they'll get back to me. So I called my mom and told her not to worry about coming over at 4:45 and I'll let her know when I hear. All morning goes by and we're rather anxious. Still nothing. So I decide to try calling them around 1pm to see if they had an update. They said my dr had just come in so they'd talk to him and see. I decide to pack up my stuff and we headed over to my mom's to hang out. I was getting antsy at home and had seriously washed every piece of laundry I could. I cleaned every bit of the house. Of course they call on the way to my mom's (the whole 30 to 45 second drive that it is) and they tell me that they would like me to come in the next day at 4:30am. Great. So poor Scott wasted a whole day of work. He could have had like 12 hrs. So he decided to go in the last bit of the day and get almost 4 hrs in. We could use every bit.

We ended up just having dinner with my parents that night since I was going to have Scott and my dad give me a blessing. It was kind of a good thing I had no sleep the night before so I could actually sleep that night. I got up at like 3:45am. Showered. Made sure Charlotte's stuff was set. My mom was coming over to hang out so she'd be there when Charlotte woke up. We got there just before 4:30am. The nurses said they almost called to reschedule us again but after the day before decided not to put me off again. Thank you! I was really afraid to go another week. I had had two weeks of horrible round ligament pain and didn't want to give my body another chance for that to happen. So I get in and get changed and they start setting me up. This is where the fun begins.

First iv attempt. Fail. Can't get a vein. I get lightheaded. I pass out. I throw up (thanks Scott for holding the plastic tub while I puked). Gotta love smelling salts too to bring me back. So I felt better and was doing ok and they try to find another vein. This time in my right hand. Second attempt. Partial fail. They kind of got a vein near my wrist but weren't sure how it'd stay. And I start to feel lightheaded AGAIN! Great. Throw up the rest of my yogurt from the morning (thanks again Scott for holding the plastic tub). At least I didn't pass out again. So once I finally have an iv they start my antibiotics for the Group B Strep (GBS) and fluids. So we're finally set up and then they get pitocin going. Around 7am my dr shows up and was gonna check me to see where I was at. I had to pee (those ivs kill me!) and change my gown (sick of smelling puke on myself). Then he checked me and I was still at a 3. So he broke my water. I didn't feel it when they did it with Charlotte because of my epidural. It seriously felt like I was peeing. Weirdest feeling ever. They also had to insert a catheter thing to measure my contractions internally. For whatever reason the external one wasn't tracking mine.Then he left to go do some appts and we just let things happen.

Well things started happening quick. They told me my blood pressure wasn't super high so they wanted me to have extra fluids before I could get an epidural so I had to keep in mind that I needed one more bag of fluid which would take about 20-30 min to run through before they could give me an epidural. A little after 8am I am starting to notice some rather strong contractions and it was getting pretty painful. So I told them I was going to want it soon. I wasn't quite done with the iv when the anesthesiologist came in. She started going over everything and my contractions were really painful. Scott had been having a hard time watching me the last 20 min because they were getting strong. I was doing my best to breathe through them but holy moly. That was painful. And I know pitocin really makes it worse. But I pretty much never want a natural birth thanks to that pain. It was rough. So they're trying to give me my epidural in between contractions which were like every 2 to 3 min and they were STRONG! I had one while I was hunched over and she was trying to get the catheter in. I'm pretty sure that was one that pushed me to almost a 10. I felt things that I never want to feel again. But once they got the test dose going I was feeling sooooo much better. Any relief was welcomed at that point.

It was probably around 9:30am once I got comfortable with the epidural. They sat me up and tilted me to the side a bit and the epidural was finally kicking in on both sides. I called my mom and told her to bring Charlotte down to say hi. Charlotte had been up since 5am. Of all days. My mom had taken her to get donuts at Nigh Time and they had been playing all morning. I thought they could hang out a little bit since it'd probably be a little while. But while we're waiting for them to show up the nurse tells me to let her know if I start feeling pressure. I already had been. She was like okay well is it consistent? No but I could feel quite a bit. She decided to watch my next couple contractions. Then just before 10 she checked me and was like. Ummm... I think I need to call your dr. You're about ready to push and I can deliver the baby but it'd be better if he was here. What? Are you kidding me? Then my mom walks in with Charlotte and we fill her in. Then my dr comes running in. Literally. He starts suiting up and they're getting the baby's stuff ready. And a nurse I had before with Charlotte was the one there for the baby when he came out. Scott decided to take Charlotte out. He doesn't do so good with stuff like that. So it's barely after 10 and he walks out and they tell me to start pushing.

With each contraction I push my heart out. I could always do good on the first push but really was losing it with the second and third push. But I was making progress. The dr. had me reach down a couple times to feel the baby's head. So weird! I won't ever forget that. I was doing so great and finally got the head out but then the shoulders got kinda stuck. And that's when I had a small tear. Dang! I came so close! So the dr finally gets him out and the dr wants a respiratory therapist to come in for the baby. I was slightly worried but everyone is so calm so I figured it'd be okay. My mom went to get Scott. He was in shock. He had been out of the room maybe 20 min. Yeah. So much faster than I thought! So he came in with Charlotte. The dr had just delivered the placenta and was stitching me up. They had to give me some shot to slow my bleeding a bit. Charlotte saw way more than we planned. She kept watching what the dr was doing to me and she'd look at me to see if I was okay. I'd just smile at her and she seemed to handle it okay. She didn't freak out. She liked seeing Jackson. She did tell my mom later about how Jackson came out of my bum. Guess she understood more than I thought!

Once they made sure he was good to go and his breathing was okay I finally got to hear how big this "little" boy was. Jackson Scott Spence came out at 8lbs 4oz and 21 in long and his head was 33.5cm. He was 1/2 in shorter than Charlotte and just about 2 lbs bigger! Big boy!

 This is when Scott and Charlotte came in to see our new addition!

So things went well. Once they got him all cleaned up I got to hold him and so did Scott. Then I was able to feed. He did really great with his first feeding. Once everything calmed down Scott went with my mom and Charlotte to lunch. Then he came back and my mom took Charlotte to her house for a while. They planned to come back later when my dad and brother were home from work. While they were gone I got my epidural out and all my iv's unhooked. They also gave Jackson his first bath. I felt so good. Even after the epidural wore off I was hardly in any pain. I ended up only taking a couple motrin at the hospital. The only pain I had was some cramping but that was manageable. I was just amazed at how good I felt. The dr even told me I could go home the following afternoon. Yahoo! Here's a few more pictures.

Charlotte's favorite part of hanging out at the hospital was the complimentary refreshments.They had ice cream which she could always sucker daddy into grabbing for her.

So that night I planned on keeping Jackson in the room but just could not sleep. I was up until 2 or 3 with him. The nurse did my vitals and his then took him so I could rest because at 5 am she was supposed to draw my blood but said she'd wait until 5:30 so I could rest a little longer. She got me up and could not find a vein. So they brought another nurse in and she was able to get the same one they had my iv in. And I didn't pass out or puke! Yahoo! Then I was able to get a little more sleep. Scott and Charlotte came in after I got up later and they brought Jackson back in for me. My parents, Scott's parents and his bro Aaron and his family and Scott's grandparents all came the first night. Then his brother Rick came out the next morning and then Mark and his family came out too. My parents came by when they were there too. So we all sat and visited. I was expecting to be discharged that afternoon but got word from Jackson's pediatrician that he needed to stay one more day for observation. I was GBS positive and normally they combat that with penicillin. I've had a couple weird reactions the last couple times I've been on penicillin. Not like a serious allergic reaction but enough to bug me. I never had an allergy to it before but I've developed some weird allergies as I've gotten older. So we just went with a different antibiotic to be safe. Well because of that you can only take 1 dose every 8 hrs. You need 2 for GBS and I delivered in 5 1/2 hrs. Grand. So there is a chance I passed on GBS to the baby. He said I could be discharged still but he'd really like to get vitals of the first 48 hrs to make sure there is no sign of infection. So I had to stay one more night.

Luckily things looked good. His vitals seemed fine. He did have some jaundice and we had to wait for the billirubin levels Sunday morning before we could leave. They were still okay but the dr told me to watch it. It felt so good to get home and get comfy. My milk actually started to come in Sunday morning at the hospital. I couldn't believe it came in so quick. I thought it'd be at least another day. The first night home was pretty good. I forget how much newborns sleep. And this baby is cake. So far he only cries when I change him or when he's hungry. He started out as a binkey baby but doesn't care for it much now. He's a big cuddle bug. Once he's been changed and fed he loves to just cuddle up and crash on you. It's cute. He has been so great though. So far I feel so spoiled. I had an amazing delivery and I'm so lucky to feel so good. The baby has been so easy to take care of. I told Scott to go back to work on Monday. We could only afford one more day off anyway and Monday's aren't bad for him. I was fine with the kids. Charlotte is good with keeping herself busy when I need to take care of the baby. So he worked and I did laundry and got back into my groove. Tuesday was another good day. I found time to get my cleaning done. We went and did our stake temple recommend interviews that night. Wednesday I took Charlotte to my mom's because I had to take Jackson to his newborn appt. He is topping the charts at 8 lbs 9 oz now. He was 8 lbs even when released from the hospital on Sunday. The dr said his weight is no concern at all. The only thing he is unsure about is the jaundice. So he wrote me an order to get his billirubin checked at the hospital. I took him over right after his appt and got that done. Poor guy just screamed the whole time. Then crashed from the trauma of it all. I have to go back Friday to check them again but so far no lights so that's good.

Wow this is long but overall I had such an awesome experience. I told Scott that after my rougher pregnancy with him, Heavenly Father is making it easier for me so I'll have more kids. It's all a trick :) It's funny how different things have been. After having Charlotte I kind of missed being pregnant. I missed feeling her kicks. Totally opposite with him. I am so glad he's out and so don't miss being pregnant. But I'm already wondering how long we'll wait before we consider more kids. I know we'll have more but I am so enjoying this "little" guy right now and its fun to see Charlotte with him. She won't hold him but she loves to kiss him and hug him. She calls him her and she a lot but we'll work that out. She tells me how "she" has cute ears and cheeks and a chin. I think he's just the most handsome little guy ever. I love how much he looks like Scott. Can't get any cuter than that. At least I think so :) Well hopefully my next update is still good and this baby is still treating me good. He lets me sleep about 2 to 3 hrs in a row and I am loving getting so much sleep. He's so good to me. So all in all everything went great. Baby's health is good so far. And we're all still alive after 6 days. Yahoo!