What an eventful weekend! Jackson's arrive was literally a weekend affair! The first sign that Jackson was starting to get impatient came on Friday night. Hunter and I went to dinner at Dave and Buster's where I started to have some mild contractions. They were a bit uncomfortable, def not Braxton Hicks contractions. We started timing them, they were coming ever 5-7 minutes. We were told by the Dr. to call them if they were 5-7 mins apart. So we called the Dr. when we got home. He told us to come on into the hospital to be monitored. Once at the hospital I was hooked up to a fetal monitor and a contraction monitor. I was dilated 2 cm's and was 80% effaced (we already knew this from our Dr. appt earlier in the week) I was contracting ever 3-5 minutes but i wasn't dilating so it is not considered active labor. We got sent home after being monitored for a couple of hours. Dr. gave me an ambien to help me sleep... That was the end of me for the night!
The next day I was still mildly contracting but nothing to painful. Around 4 o'clock that afternoon I thought my water broke. Shortly after that I started having stronger contractions that were definitely more painful! I called the Dr. again who told me to come back to the hospital where they would do a test to see if my water did break and would monitor my contractions again. Around 6:30 that evening we went back to the hospital, where the Dr. found that my water had not broken but my contractions were def stronger but I was still only dilated to a 2. We got sent home again! We made it home around 9pm Enough time for Hunter to finish watching the FSU game! After we got home everything really started up. Within in an hour of being home, the contractions became extremely painful. To the point where I was laying in bed balled up, with an ice pack, in extreme pain! I knew this had to be it! I was still afraid of calling the Dr back for the third time! I didn't want to be the girl who cried labor! This was so much different though.. I could barely walk and was very nauseous.. Poor Hunter didn't know what to do! After about three hours of the contractions we made the decision to call the Dr back again. We once again headed back to the hospital. We felt like regulars! As soon as we got there they found that I had dilated to 4 cm since the last time I was there. I was in active labor! I was admitted right away and taken to a room. Luckily my mom had gotten in the car and decided to drive up from Key West earlier that day after we had gone to the hospital for the second time. She figured it was going to happen anytime and might as well get a head start! Such a good idea! Once I was admitted she was only a couple of hours away! We also called Doris and Charlie and my friend Kristin in Tallahassee. They all headed to the hospital! Everyone arrived around 3-4am. Once in the room I was hooked back up to all the machines where they found the contractions to be quite strong and pretty close together. At this point I was so ready for some drugs! It was about 2 am and I had enough of the pain! Nurses took my blood and ran some tests to see if I was OK to get the epidural. After what seemed like forever! The anesthesiologist came in! Getting the epidural was a breeze, not nearly as painful as everyone says they are. The relief was almost immediate. I could barely feel any contractions, but I could still move my legs and toes. It was amazing! I was able to talk and carry on conversations which I had not been able to do 10 mins earlier! Shortly have the epidural the Dr came back in and found that i was dilated to 5. She came back an hour later and i was at 10! it was time to push. By this time is was about 6:30 am. After 45 mins of pushing Jackson entered the world! at 7:14 am he made it :) I was able to hold him right after he was born while Hunter cut the umbilical cord. He was then taken across the room to be cleaned up while the Dr. finished up with me. Jackson was beautiful, he barely cried when he came out! Hunter went out and delivery the news to everyone that Jackson was born at 7:14am, weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and was 20 inches long. He was perfect! For the rest of the day we spent time visiting with family and friends and getting to know our new addition :) Jackson was perfectly healthy and slept most of the day.
