Jonas' Birth

This post will probably be terribly long but I like to remember all the details of each of my children's births so the blog is the best place for me to keep track. Plus I don't know why but I like reading other people's birth stories so maybe other people like reading mine. =)

Tuesday night was the worst night and I had a lot of contractions that kept me up so when Wednesday morning rolled around I was so incredibly grateful to go in for my induction. We got to the hospital around 7 and they got me in a room with an i.v. but they had a lot of babies coming so they had to wait for some personnel to free up before they would start my pitocin so it was 10:00 before that got going. They checked me and I was only at about a 2.

I told Mark the night before that I wasn't going to be a hero and I would be taking my epidural as soon as I felt like it. This last month of this pregnancy was really hard on me so I was just plain done and wanted some relief before we launched into a whole different kind of pain. Around 12:30 I felt like the contractions were severe enough that I was over it and got my epidural. I had felt SO much pressure with each one so I really thought that maybe this time I was dilating past a two on my own but they checked me after my epidural and broke my water at about 1:15 and sure enough, I was only a 2 still, just like with Weston and Saydi. My body literally is not capable of going past that point on it's own!

When Dr. Leavitt broke my water he said there was quite a lot of meconium. I also had a lot of thinning out to do still so I wasn't really encouraged by the progress we were making. Around 3 Mark's mom came by to meet Miss there and exchange our kids. My plan was to just say hi to the kids for a second and then send them on their way and they would just meet Jonas the next day. Well, at 3:15 they came and checked me again and I was only at a FOUR. I was frustrated. But she said I only had about 10% more to efface and then she thought I would probably go quickly after that. Literally 15 minutes later I felt this tremendous cramping low in my uterus. A lot like menstrual cramps. It was really intense and I paged my nurse and told her I was thinking maybe my epidural was wearing off or something and she said she would just check me again really quick. I was super irritated by that because I was in a lot of discomfort and that was the last thing I wanted her to do, especially since she'd just done it fifteen minutes ago! So she checked me and said, "yeah, it's time to have a baby". WHAT?! I seriously thought she was joking. A four to a ten in 15 minutes? So I called Mark in from the hall, told him to send his mom to the waiting room and text Miss to go there with the kids when she got there and come in so we could have a baby. He said, "What? They're going to have you push before you're at a ten?" I said, "Uh, I AM at a 10." It was pretty funny how shocked we both were. =)

My nurse was getting last minute things and I was literally holding the baby in waiting for my doctor to come in. I told her I was not going to even push once until the doctor was there because my last one came out on the first push. So Dr. Leavitt got there and told me to go ahead when I felt I was ready. I did and I immediately felt Jonas coming out and let me tell ya, I've never felt so much relief!! It was awesome. Dr. Leavitt even had to tell me to go easy because Jonas practically came shooting right out. Our NICU nurse was running down the hall because there were lots of other babies that day and he just plain came out so fast that nobody was really ready! Jonas Glenn Carlson was born at 3:43 pm on June 22nd.

Mark and I both admitted to each other we were a little disappointed to find out he weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. because he just felt so big in there and I looked so big! But I think it was just the way I carried him. Anyway the poor little guy had two black eyes and a swollen, black nose for the first day or two because he came down so quickly. But he still was adorable to us! He had a little bit of a hard time breathing during those first several hours because of the meconium and he spit up for a long time afterwards but there were no other complications (including no jaundice for the first time! yea!) so we were home almost exactly 24 hrs. after he came out. I hate hospitals and was so glad to leave and spend the night at home the next day.

He has been a really good eater and now that my milk has come in he's sleeping a lot better too, although days and nights are still very mixed up. I'm so grateful he doesn't have jaundice. He does however have really bad gas and his stomach makes these rumbling noises that I've never, ever heard in a baby before and it seems to make him uncomfortable. I feel bad for the guy. He was that way before my milk ever came in so I really doubt it's something in my diet or whatever but he's going in tomorrow for his circumcision (boo) so we'll see what the doctor says about it then. Other then that things are going well and we are so in love with him already!

The kids are kind of on the fence I think. Saydi always says "I wanna hold it" when I get him and when she saw him for the first time I asked her who he was and she immediately said "Jonas!" Weston really doesn't want much to do with him but doesn't mind looking at him. They both kind of just act like he's always been around. They've been a LOT more emotional lately but luckily they're not showing any hostlity towards the baby or anything like that. It's hard to believe I have three kids now and at the same time I'm not sure what I would do without any one of them. We feel very fortunate to have such healthy, beautiful kids and to have the means and good fortune to get to bring them into the world!

This was the first time the kids saw Jonas. I wasn't decent so you can't really see him because I wanted to be covered up but his little hat is poking out. =)

My dad with his namesake. His very first grandson named after him.