In the days leading up to Jack's arrival we had countless one sided conversations. I can't tell you how many times I told him that he'd better wait until Grandma got here to make his appearance! You'd better believe she chimed in over Skype every chance she got! During our 20 week anatomy scan the little stinker flipped us off so we've known for awhile now that we've got our hands full. When the time came, he actually listened and it couldn't have worked out better. I picked Mom up from the airport around 9:30 am on December 31st. We met J at our favorite little cafe on base for some brunch, ran around getting her a visitor pass, then headed to the commissary around 1:00 to stock up on some groceries. Toward the end of pregnancy I had been feeling pretty miserable. Over and over again people would tell me that I didn't look big but let me tell you... I felt enormous. In those last days I could feel a shift and knew we'd be meeting our boy soon. You know how in the movies the woman's water always breaks in the grocery store? Turns out it happens in real life too. It wasn't the dramatic gush but things had definitely begun. I was having some cramping at this point but nothing serious enough that we couldn't keep filling that grocery cart. Since we live about 45 minutes away from the hospital, I called to see if they wanted to check me before I left base. They did. I bet you can imagine the emotions my sweet husband felt when I called to say, "Don't panic... and you don't need to come to the hospital just yet... but I might be in labor..." At around 2:00 they confirmed that it was, in fact, amniotic fluid and admitted me. I was dilated to a 1 or 2 and 75% thinned. Now let me tell you... this was not how things were supposed to go. I was supposed to labor in the comfort of my own home until I was at least a 6. I'd enjoy my shower with its fantastic water pressure and my lovely view of farmland and the East China Sea. We would hardly have to be in the hospital at all. Since things don't always go as planned, I went with it and requested the birthing ball and a room with a view. The hospital staff was awesome and accommodating. I even borrowed my nurse's phone charger so I could call my dear husband back and ask him to please bring my "go bag" and make his way to the hospital because we're not going home without a baby!
Jacob arrived and we settled into our room. It didn't take a whole lot of bouncing on the ball and pacing the room before my water really broke. Contractions got much more intense with each gush. We took the time to read some notes of prayers and words of encouragement that friends gave me during Jack's baby shower. They helped to focus me and made me extra excited for things to get going! I wasn't progressing as quickly as the doctor thought I should be so I was given a deadline and told that pitocin was going to be necessary. Mobility was something that was very important to me throughout labor. The doctor wasn't too happy about it but she agreed to monitor me intermittently. I was able to alternate 30 minutes of walking, swaying, bouncing, showering, etc. with 30 minutes of in the bed monitoring. When the 7 pm shift change rolled around everything changed. My new nurse asked me what I was hoping for during my labor and what I'd done to prepare for it. When I told her Ina May's "Guide to Childbirth" was extremely influential for me, her face lit up. She told me that's the best preparation I could've done and that I was going to be amazing. It seriously made all the difference in the world to feel supported in my choice to have a natural childbirth. Never once did they mention an epidural or pressure me to do anything outside of my birth plan. For the rest of labor I was able to walk, sway, bounce, shower, etc. without being hooked up to anything. Katie, my amazing nurse, monitored me intermittently in whatever position I happened to be in. As the day went on there was lots of talk about who would be the first baby of the New Year. We were the only ones there all afternoon and evening until another couple arrived around 9 pm (and the race was on)! Our respective nurses made bets on which babe would make his appearance first. Midnight came and went and those fireworks (that I'm sure were super cool from our room with a view) and that friendly competition with the couple down the hall were the furthest things from my mind. I was completely in the zone. One contraction hardly gave me time to take a breath before the next one would begin. It was all consuming and incredibly intense. Jacob was my rock. He was exactly the support I needed to get through each contraction and keep going. He never wavered... even when I broke his fingers by squeezing them so hard.
At 12:30 am I was dilated to a 4. That's not what I wanted to hear. It took everything in me to keep going. With each rush I became more inwardly focused and oblivious to my surroundings. All I could do was listen to Jacob as he reminded me to breathe and relax. I meditated on God's promise that "He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength (Isaiah 40:29)." I'm confident that He increased my strength in those moments that felt like an eternity. By 2:40 am I was dilated to a 6 or 7 and was 90% effaced. Things were definitely more intense than I could've imagined. An hour later, at 3:40 am, I was fully dilated and it was finally finally finally time to start pushing. My nurses, doctor, and a handful of Corpsmen were all in the room. Jacob and my mama stood together and encouraged me until the end. It felt so very real when they rolled that bassinet near my bed. My baby boy was about to be here. I pushed holding the birthing bar for awhile before moving onto my side. Just when I thought he would never come, my nurse asked if I wanted to touch his sweet little head. Doing that kept me motivated through the exhaustion until Jack Thomas Jones was born on January 1st, 2015 at 4:45 am. He was absolute perfection. 6 lbs 14 oz and almost 19 inches long. Jacob surprised us both by stepping in to cut the cord. Jack stared at us with wide eyes and we were head over heels in love with our boy.
Being his mama is beyond amazing. I can't explain how it feels to wake up to his sweet smiles and cuddles. What an enormous blessing! I'm forever thankful for a smooth labor and delivery and the team that encouraged me the whole way through. Oh, and I almost forgot! We're the proud parents of the first baby born in 2015 at Naval Hospital Okinawa!
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