Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Baby Jack

My sister Jantina and her husband Doug had their baby boy!!! Jan always said she would go two weeks over, just like she did with her daughter. However, baby Jack had other plans! Last time, Jan was induced and it was a pretty terrible experience. It ended with her stalling at 5cm in a lot of pain and having a C-section. Then, she ended up back in the hospital due to a suspected blood clot and infection.

This time she had a lovely midwife and used more natural forms of inducement (is that a word?). She used Evening Primrose Oil and it worked! The plan was to do whatever it took to avoid another C-section. On Tuesday night, Jan called me at 9pm and let me know that she was in the hospital. I met her there at about 10pm.
She was having terrible back labour and was in triage waiting to see if she could be admitted. She was 4cm dilated and contractions were pretty regular.
They did admit her after an hour and by 11am, Jan was happily sucking back on the gas:)
Jan said from the moment she was pregnant that she wanted an epidural and any other drugs but definitely did not want a C-section. Therefore, we wanted to hold off on the epidural for as long as possible. (risk of repeat C-section is higher if epidural is given too early)
The gas worked wonderfully. When she was checked a couple hours later, she was 5cm.
Sometime between 1-2am, she was given an epidural. It took about half an hour to kick in and get comfortable and then we all tried to get a little nap in before she was checked again at 3:30am.
Jan was at 6cm for a couple of hours. You can see below that she was much happier with her epidural! She was still able to move around in the bed so that was good. I decided to go home at 4am as things were moving a little slower than we had anticipated and also, I have two boys, and a baby girl in utero, to take care of.
{I wasn't here for this part but this is the gist of it}
Jan got to 10cm at about 9am. She pushed for an hour but his positioning was not good. The doctor came in and said she would need a C-section and Jan basically said no. She pushed like crazy and the midwife continually manually repositioned the baby and then when the doctor returned closer to 11am, he said that he would be able to vacuum the baby out. After 2 pushes with the vacuum, out he came!
Baby Jack Lucas was born on his due date! He was 8lbs on the dot. He had to be admitted to the NICU because he had a high temperature and high white blood cells. He will be there for a couple of days. Jan and Jack are both on on antibiotics. She is able to go to the NICU to feed him but still, so hard to be separated by a 5 minute walk from your baby. They aren't sure exactly what is going on so hopefully there are some answers tomorrow.
I got to visit him this evening and hold him for a minute or two. He looks like a skinnier baby Koen with a big mix of Doug in there. I'm pretty sure I just slept 2 hours last night. Yikes. I'll be honest that I'm freaking out a bit that I am next. I'm pretty sure I'll have a C-section but if it's a small baby, I will try for a VBA2C...so, we wait.
I'm so, so proud of Jan for not giving up. She was hooked up to so many things (epidural, catheter, IV, breast pumps etc) but continued on giving 100%. Yay!!
Welcome to the world Little Jack! We are happy to add another boy to the mix and oh my goodness, it is so ridiculous that all 5 of us will have kids within 6 months of each other. Crazy.

9 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the birth of your new nephew. Hope he recovers well from his infection, along with your sister.

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  2. wow - that's so awesome!!! Sounds like she did an amazing job through it all! And he's so handsome :) Praying they can be home together soon.
    hope you get some rest!! :)

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  3. Congratulations - he is beautiful!

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  4. such beautiful pictures Louise! that just doesn't look like a lot of fun- i guess there's no turning back now! ;) your sis looks like a rockstar!

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  5. Praying he gets out of the NICU ASAP! Jan did awesome!

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  6. Yay Jan!! I love this story!!! I will pray for jack, too. Little peanut. so cute!! good for her. Do you think she would be open to submitting her birth story for mothers of change? I would LOVE to post it, it is a super example of a momma advocating to get what she wants/needs out of birth. Pain management, support, autonomy, choice, and a beautiful VBAC. So many women could relate to her story, or learn from it. Just a thought! xo Either she could write it out, or I could republish your post, or a combination. Do you mind asking her? It doesn't have to be right away, either...

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  7. Oh my goodness. What a little cutie patootie! Congrats!

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  8. So proud of Jon. Way to go! Her and Dougy were a great team, from what she tells me...now to get home!!

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  9. Thanks guys! Melissa you could use the VBAC story....i m just so happy it worked out. When the obstetritian came in after an hour of pushing and "threatened" a csection if things didnt change in one more hour, after he left the room, my exact words to the midwife "crying, i dont want a csection". They said, "its not a done deal lets think of a solution" and than i regained my composure and said "ill do whatever we need to do, lets get this done." and it worked! Sp happy. My recovery is 100% easier. Little jack is doing well, we hope to be home tomorrow night!!!

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