Javier Don

Javier Don

7 lbs. 13 oz., 21", 13 1/2 cm head

March 12, 2007 at 11:16 a.m.

2:00 a.m. on Monday, March 12th and I can’t get comfortable. Awake every 30 minutes, going to the bathroom, tossing and turning from one side to another.

At 4:30 a.m. I am awakened by a contraction. I practice my slow paced breathing technique. I stay awake to see if there is another one to follow – there is, 8 minutes later. After 4 contractions every 7-8 minutes apart, I wake Roy.

I tell Roy to keep sleeping and I’ll wake him if anything changes… it does. At 6:15 a.m. I call my doula to let her know that my contractions are 7 minutes apart lasting 30-45 seconds. I let my parents know and I wake Roy to have him help me time and breathe.

At 7:00 a.m. I take a warm bath to relax. Roy calls my Dad to have him come help with Paco, who decides to wake early and not watch any video he requests… he knows something is happening.

By 7:30 my contractions are 5 minutes apart lasting nearly a minute long and I am breathing through each one with slow deep breaths. My Mom arrives and we leave for the hospital at 7:50. Kissing my little man and Dad good-bye, we head to Meridian with the Monday morning traffic.

God is so good! Of all the mornings to go into labor, and of all times, we did not drop below 50 mph on the freeway!! No stand-still traffic, accidents or any other “rubber-necking” incident to slow things down.

Upon arriving at the hospital at 8:30, I am checked in triage where I am told I am dilated to 6-7 cm and need to be admitted since I am in active labor.

I loose track of time from this point forward. Let’s just say, things happened fast. Roy was my rock. He coached me, held me, encouraged me and labored with me. He kept me focused, breathing and alert the whole time.

My water broke on its own in the room while the wonderful L&D nurse rubbed my lower back to ease back labor pains. Through that, baby turned into a better position we think, water broke and we continued laboring on the birth ball. Since I had a prior caesarean section, I had to be monitored once in active labor per hospital policy. They let me labor on the birthing ball next to the bed while the nurse held the monitor in place to keep a bead on baby’s heart rate.

Jennifer, my doula, arrived and assisted with massage and coaching. I was checked again and told I was 8 ½ cm and moving right along. We discussed pain methods at this point and I was told my only option at this point was an epidural – and we were cutting it close for the team to come and have everything in place before delivery. My doula informed me that it wouldn’t get any worse than it was and that I was nearly there. I declined the epidural and the contractions kept coming. I think this was about 10:30. My mother prayed without ceasing the entire time. I watched her pray and that gave me such strength. It was a blessing having her by my side.

The next time I was checked, I was 9 ½ and “nearly there.” The nurse had us do a practice push and then a real one. With the real one the baby crowned and they had me stop pushing and breathe through the contractions. I hear her on the phone telling my doctor that she needed to get over here as baby was coming!

Within 5 minutes (2 contractions with the urge to push and told NOT to) doc was there and we were ready to push.

Things took a scary turn at this point. Baby’s heart rate drops and drops and drops. They think the cord is around his neck, pressure on his head or doc’s words, “We need to remember she has a scar.” My doctor informs us that she is going to assist the baby out with vacuum extraction but that, “Joy, you are going to have to do the work and push this baby out.”

Two contractions later, at 11:16 am, Javier Don is born weighing 7 lbs, 13 oz and 21” long. Yes, the cord was around his neck. He has swallowed meconium and the baby team is on hand to work on him immediately. His APGAR was 9 the first time and 9.9 the second test. He’s perfect – he’s fine – he’s here!!!

While the baby team worked on Javier, my team stayed with me and “put me back together again”, so to speak. With having him so fast and doing 20 minutes worth of pushing in two minutes, my body just didn’t have time to stretch and thin and move slowly. I have a wonderful doctor and she did a great job and we made it!

Before I knew it, I was holding our son and he latched right on!!! He nursed/suckled for 50 minutes!!! It was such an awesome experience.

We came home the following day and are enjoying recovering at home versus the hospital.
Big Brother Paco and Baby Javi

More pictures are on our family website.