Jase Allen: A birth story, part 1

If you follow me on social media, you probably already know that our sweet boy made his grand appearance last week.  On Tuesday, January 13 at 9:41am, Jase Allen West made his arrival, a little earlier than expected.  Let’s back up a little.

On Monday, January 5, I went to the doctor for my regular 36-week appointment.  My blood pressure was elevated and my urine showed small levels of protein (a sign of kidney damage from preeclampsia).  I was sent to the hospital for further testing and to be monitored, and several hours later was sent back home on modified bed rest.  Throughout the week I made several  trips to the hospital for more tests and monitoring, and my bp slowly got worse.

Friday, January 9, I was put on strict bed rest (laying only on my left side and getting up just to use the restroom).  We were trying to make it to 37 weeks before inducing.  This worked well for the weekend, but by Sunday night my bp was pushing 150/93 even while lying down.  Back to the hospital on Monday morning and the doctor made the decision to induce the following morning (Tuesday).  I would be exactly 37 weeks, 0 days.

The entire night before being induced I was a wreck.  I was so nervous that he wouldn’t be ready.  I know that babies are delivered much earlier than 37 weeks all the time, but I still worried.  I delivered at Madison Hospital, which is fantastic, but doesn’t have a NICU, so there was the added fear that he would need to be transferred to Huntsville hospital NICU.  Without me.  All these fears made for a very restless night, and an endless conversation with God.

I was given a cervical softening pill around 4am, which made me start contracting about every ten minutes.  The family started arriving around 7:30 and there was a flurry of photos taken to document the morning.  The anesthesiologist came in at 8:50 to start my epidural.  I have a history of quick labors, so thankfully, the doctor thought we should get that started first.  (Although I don’t think any of us expected this labor to be nearly as quick as it turned out to be, but I’m getting ahead of myself!)  A few minutes after 9 am, the doctor broke my water and started the pitocin drip.

When the anesthesiologist came in, all the family walked out for a few minutes, expecting to come right back in.  I remember my mom texting Justin for an update and asking if the girls could come see me.  As soon as my water broke, I immediately began having back to back contractions and hurting pretty strongly, so we said no.  (Which I found out later really worried everyone!)

Time seems to fly by at this point–what seemed like 2 minutes was probably more like 10, but I went from 3 cm to 9.5 cm very quickly.  Dr. Loncar wasn’t on call that day but had agreed to come over and deliver me.  (She delivered both girls too, so this made me really happy!)  When I reached the 9.5 mark, my nurse called Dr Loncar to come over and I remember her saying “and she’s having a really hard time not pushing.”  I was actually already pushing at that point and remember thinking I didn’t care who it was but that someone better catch my baby!  Four pushes later, my precious baby boy was born.  For a 37 week baby, he was a chunky 6 pounds and 12 ounces, 19 1/2 inches long, with a head full of hair.  And perfectly healthy, praise Jesus.

This labor was by far my quickest (40 minutes from start to finish), but also the most painful.  I think I progressed so quickly that the epidural didn’t quite have time to kick-in all the way!  Justin was my anchor–telling me what a good job I was doing and putting a cold wash cloth on my forehead and rubbing my hair.  And I didn’t even have to ask him to do any of that 🙂

As soon as I heard that sweet baby cry, Dr Loncar was placing him (more like tossing him!) on my chest for skin to skin.  We were all three crying–me, Justin, Jase.  I was actually able to watch as Justin cut the cord, which is something I missed with the girls.

I even got to watch as Justin and the girls gave Jase his first bath, but that’s getting into part 2 of this story.  So check back Wednesday for part 2!