Jackson’s Birth Story

Our second little boy is almost two months old, and this week I’ve been reflecting on the day that we met him for the first time! His birth wasn’t exactly how I expected it to be but it was beautiful and we are grateful to have a healthy, happy little boy.

Since Caleb arrived a few days before the 38 week mark, I was secretly hoping that Jackson would do the same. I’d had a lot of the same pre-labor signs I had with Caleb and was already dilated to a 2-3 and 80% effaced at 36 weeks, so I really thought Jackson might be early too.  But then the 38 week mark passed with no signs of anything and the days kept ticking by closer to my due date.  I was trying to soak in the time with Caleb and Jordan but at the same time was so uncomfortable that I was more than ready to get this show on the road.

Right before leaving for the hospital!

The day before the 39 week mark was a long one with Caleb (lots of fits and neediness and all the fun stuff that two year olds do).  We did some grocery shopping in the afternoon and I came home feeling absolutely wiped – tons of Braxton Hicks contractions, my belly just felt so hard and uncomfortable, and I felt exhausted.  Jordan got home to wrangle Caleb so I could lay down but the feeling just didn’t go away.  Around 6:30 PM, I got up to use the bathroom and felt a small gush of fluid.

As every pregnant woman knows, it’s always a question of whether you peed yourself or your water broke. 😉 But since more kept coming out during the next hour I knew it was time. Within an hour I started having some contractions.  We got Caleb to bed and gave him some extra long goodnight snuggles since we knew it would probably be the last time we saw him as a family of three.

Over the course of the next five hours I labored at home.  We watched Jimmy Fallon as I paced around the house, walked up and down the stairs, and bounced on a ball to keep things moving.  By 11 PM my contractions were about a minute long and 2 minutes apart.  After an hour or so of that we headed to the hospital.  The car ride was rough since I had almost constant contractions but we survived.

When we arrived they checked me and I was dilated to a 7 with what’s called a bulging bag.  So my water actually hadn’t broken, but instead was blocking baby’s way out and just leaking.  They suspected some deep squats and walking around would break my water and allow baby to drop and told me to get moving!

I paced around the hospital room and chatted with Jordan and our sweet doula, Sarah.  At this point I’d been laboring pretty intensely without pain meds for almost 8 hours and it was 3 AM, so I was exhausted.  After an hour of walking around and squatting with very intense contractions, I was reaching my breaking point and  I asked if we could break my water.  The nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 9 so they agreed it was time to break my water and get things moving.

I got up on the table and the doctor came in to break my water.  Once he did, things started moving pretty quickly.  I didn’t realize it but at the time, but when they broke my water, baby dropped quickly into the birth canal.  The cord was wrapped around his neck and as I started to push his heart rate was dropping.  As it happened I was confused why they were putting an oxygen mask on me and making me change positions as I pushed, but now I know it’s because they were worried about baby.

After about 30 minutes of intense pushing that wore this mama out, he arrived! Jackson Alexander English arrived at 4:11 AM weighing 8 lbs 8 oz and sporting a handsome head of hair. He was a little limp from the cord being wrapped around him but they quickly got him pink and healthy and put him in my arms.  We were cracking up because he was HUGE compared to Caleb.  He was 8.5 pounds compared to Caleb’s 6 lbs and and had all sorts of chunk in his cheeks and little arms!

Overall, Jackson’s labor was very different than Caleb’s.  Maybe I’ve just forgotten it, but the most intense part of labor seemed to last longer with Jackson.  I had intense contractions every 1-2 minutes apart for several hours as I dilated those last few centimeters and it was absolutely exhausting.  The pushing phase wasn’t as sweet and exciting as it was with Caleb.  I think this was partially because they were rushing me to get him out and partially because baby boy is HUGE! He was much bigger than big brother and that made pushing much harder and more painful.

Those arms and those cheeks!!

The speed and intensity of the pushing to try and get him out quickly also meant I had a pretty bad second degree tear it took almost an hour to stitch up, and this was maybe worse than the labor itself.  Recovery was tough this time around and it took almost three weeks before I could sit or move around comfortably.  I’m so grateful my mom and Jordan were both around to help those first few weeks because it was incredibly hard.

All in all, this labor was beautiful and I’m so grateful for another healthy, uncomplicated, and unmedicated birth. We have so much to be grateful for in our sweet family, and our chunky, smiley, kissable Jackson is one of the best gifts God has given us.