Joy in the Journey: 10/1/10

Saturday, October 16, 2010 Jaxson Cash Bodily was born at 9:21 pm. I woke up early that morning with contractions coming 5 minutes apart. Unsure if this was true labor, since I was only 38 weeks along, I tried to relax and slow things down. Brian had been working in Jackson Hole (4 hours away) for the past couple of days and I didn't want to call him home unnecessarily. However, my mom came over, assessed my condition, and said I should call Brian and have him start driving. I took a bath and a nap, getting the contractions to slow down and sometimes even stop for a couple hours. Brian made it home and I tried to decide what to do next. My midwife and doula both had plans to be out of town that evening. My labor would start up again, then I'd calm it down, and I'd go back and forth. Finally I called my doula, she decided to cancel her plans, and I decided that I was doing this and it was time to get serious. The first thing on the list was to get one last belly picture.

Here's the description of my labor and birth...and since I don't journal anymore, as this has become my journal of sorts, I'm recording the details for my own benefit. If you don't want to know the details, skip down to the next picture. My doula, Alexis (who is amazing, by the way), worked with Brian and I through my contractions. In the Hypnobabies program you call them "pressure waves" instead of contractions. But I felt every pain along with every pressure, so they were contractions to me. They quickly increased in speed and intensity, and I needed every bit of help I could get. Alexis would push on my hips, Brian would push on my back, and even Kylie got involved rubbing my forehead and shoulders. I wasn't able to get into a good hypnosis, to really release myself from feeling responsible for what was going on around me, which is why I think I experienced more pain than I anticipated with the hypnosis. After we ate some dinner I felt an unexplainable urgency to get to the hospital. As soon as I decided that's what we should do, the contractions came one after another. At the hospital, the nurse informed me that I was only 6 cm, which discouraged me so much that I was ready to give up the hypnosis and get an epidural. Alexis and Brian continued to encourage me through the contractions. I felt my water break (like a balloon popping) and the nurse said I was a 9 and broke what was left, which brought the baby down and I knew it was time to push. My midwife was still out of town, due back in the next hour or two, but there was no waiting for her! Dr. Benedict, the on-call doctor, walked in as I started pushing. I first tried laying on my left side and letting the contractions do the work and followed my body's urges. This was not very productive and the doctor said it was stressing the baby. I then rolled onto my back and pushed with the contractions, which was a terrifying feeling. In between contractions I would go limp and relax (as practiced in hypnosis). As soon as another contraction came on, I was clawing for someone's hand to squeeze. It felt like it would never end, that he would never make it out. In reality, I only pushed for 10 minutes. I remember the brief second of relief when his head came out, which was quickly followed by his shoulders being squeezed through. As soon as the shoulders were free, the rest of him slithered out. I had my eyes squeezed shut so tight, I never looked in the mirror or did any of the things I wanted to do. He was brought up to my belly and I gathered him in my arms and told him what a good job he had done. I later learned that from the time we got to the hospital to when he was born was only 1.5 hours.

Jaxson weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and measured 19 inches long--not bad for being 2 weeks early!

Brian's parents couldn't wait to meet their new grandson and came up right away. So did my sister Laura. My mom couldn't come because she was sick.

Early Sunday morning Jaxson started having a hard time keeping his airways clear and was choking on fluid. They suctioned his stomach a couple times, trying to get all the amniotic fluid out. Brian tells me that he even turned blue a couple times. They admitted him to the NICU, put him on oxygen and an IV, and did some chest x-rays. They ruled out any structural defects and after 24 hours decided that he simply had an immature swallow/breathing reflex. He spent a total of 3 days in the NICU before they felt good about sending him home. It was terrible to see him in there with wires and tubes coming out of everywhere. He struggled to nurse and they put a feeding tube up his nose (which he later ripped out and waved triumphantly in the air). I didn't get any sleep because I was always sitting down there with him, knowing that I couldn't rest with him on a different floor than me. Brian spent all his time with him when he wasn't home with Kylie. We got permission to have Kylie come in and finally meet her baby brother.

Mike was our day nurse and made our stay in the NICU bearable. That guy is good at his job! We can't say enough good things about him.

Kylie is a very proud big sister! She has been such a good helper and has been very patient with all the changes. She is not very happy to learn that newborns can be quite difficult, and has said a number of time, "Babies sure are a handful!"

We sure love this little guy! He's had a rough start and keeps me up all night (literally) with colic and because he never gets very full and eats every 30 minutes. For some reason he can sleep for hours during the day (usually when it's time to get Kylie ready for school or when it's dinner and homework and piano practice time) but is miserable all night. He's a terrible little nurser and I'm told it will take a good 2 weeks for him to get his little chin to come out and his little muscles to be strong enough to nurse well.

Can you believe Kylie is turning 8?! I can't either. Knowing that I was going to be 37 weeks pregnant, I tried really hard to talk her out of having a friend birthday party and bribed her with a day at the spa. It almost worked, but at the last minute she chose to have a friend party. Thank goodness Brian was home, and my sister Joe'E came over to help! They are good sports. We started the party by making little pizzas.

After eating the pizzas, it was time to open presents...but not before the girls had a wild dancing/singing show, complete with all the latest songs.

After presents the girls decorated their own cupcakes and we sang Happy Birthday to Kylie.

Immediately after the party Brian had to run to work. He had a weekend of interesting jobs, but the best of them all was flying for the guys of Nitro Circus, which is a tv show that films a group of guys doing all sorts of crazy stunts. Brian was excited to meet Travis Pastrana, a famous Motocross rider and one of the guys on the show. My sister Laura went with him to ride in the helicopter and take pictures...and to meet Travis.

4 guys climbed into Brian's helicopter strapped with parachutes. At 5,000 feet they stood on the helicopter skids and fell backwards into the air, then parachuted down into the motocross arena. Then they jumped on their motorcycles and showed off their sweet skills.

Pastrana giving one last interview before getting in the helicopter.

The other jobs for this weekend included flying in the game ball for the Kearns High School Homecoming game, and flying a bajillionaire and his real estate agent (a millionaire) around Wyoming and having lunch at one of their cabins. Hopefully these awesome jobs will off-set the boredom of his time in Jackson Hole, sitting around waiting for a search & rescue call to come in. To date, he has had ZERO flights in Jackson.