Baby Jackson

I know it has taken me a while, but here is Mr. Jackson Theodore Cole. He was born on August 29th at 9:25 pm (birth story is below). The last three and a half weeks have been so amazing and he is such a sweet baby. Here is a little about him: He was 19 in and weighed 6lbs 7oz at birth, he was born 27 days early, he is a way better nurser than Julia was, he laughs in his sleep, and he loves to look around.  He is also surprising strong and can nearly roll over (whoa) and holds his neck quite well. I decided to wait until now to post pictures because my wonderful friend (@ AO Photography) took his newborn photos and most of my home photos pale in comparison. I will post those too, someday...

I know this one isn't "edited" but I am completely in love with that mini smile.

Birth Story
So, I didn't know I was in labor. After our "false alarm" two weeks prior, I had been taking it easy and I was just trying to make it to September, because I wanted a September baby. The morning of the 29th I thought I was leaking amniotic fluid and after a lot of reluctance on my part and a lot of you-must-go on Brenan's part, we went to the hospital to get me checked. Luckily my mom was already down here since we were supposed to go shopping so she took Julia. We went to Orem Community (not where I planned on giving birth) because that's where the doctor was and I figured it didn't matter since I wasn't in labor. I got all checked in and after the test was run, I was told I was not leaking fluid. Bummer, another false alarm. Before I was supposed to be discharged the doctor came in (probably for good measure) and we chatted and he said that because I was dilated to a 3 and 75% effaced (when I got admitted) I was considered to be in pre-labor and that even though I was there he could not induce me because A) I was only 36 weeks and B) I needed to progress to at least a 4 on my own. However, he said he'd come back in a few minutes and check again, just to make sure. Alas I was at a 4, 80% effaced, and I had a bulging sac (meaning my water was ready to break anytime). So in a weird and unexpected turn of events we stayed. At 4:50 he came in and broke my water. At 6:30 I wasn't progressing fast enough so I was given pitocin. The first hour to 90 minutes I felt fine enough and I wasn't in terrible pain, we watched Seinfeld for most of this time. I got one shot of morphine to take the edge off before I was too dilated to get IV drugs. Then at about 8 or 8:30 the pain got horrible. Awful, terrible, the worst. Not getting an epidural brings a whole new meaning to a pain scale. My pain was a 10. I was put on oxygen because I wasn't breathing well enough and the baby's heart rate was dropping. When you are in horrible pain and have a mask on your face, all you want to do is punch someone for making you more sweaty and annoyed than you already were. I was not the nicest person at this point, and yes, I was vocal (sorry Brenan for yelling at you).  I don't remember how often they were checking me, but at my weakest point I thought I was still at a 7. I asked for the epidural. I did, I thought I was done for. The nurse (and Brenan) encouraged me that I could do it without the epidural and when she checked me and I was at a 10 and my pain immediately decreased because I knew I could push. But I couldn't. The doctor wasn't there yet. I'm probably the only person to apologize while giving birth. I remember I kept saying I was sorry that I was pushing, but I couldn't help it, my body was doing it naturally. Finally the doctor arrived (which felt like it took FOREVER) after about 15-20 min and I got to push. Since I could feel everything he basically let me do my thing, he didn't have to coach me on when to push (which by the way, pushing didn't hurt at all, at least not compared to the contractions). After about 6 pushes Jackson was here! Hooray, I made it without the epidural and even though he was also preterm, I had another healthy baby!

Also, I did not cry during labor. What up! I'm tougher than I thought.