Jaxsen Isaiah has arrived

Our wait is finally over. Jaxsen Isaiah decided to arrive very quickly on Saturday evening, October 10th at 9:15 pm. It was quite the labor and delivery. Derrick and I are still in shock of what transpired so quickly. For those of you who haven't heard the story yet, here it is. I apologize for the length but I wanted to document it so that I have it somewhere to write down for Jaxsen one day.

My most recent appointment was last Thursday morning. At my appointment, my midwife checked me and told me that I was 2-3 cm dilated. She also stripped my membranes which can sometimes start labor. I left my appointment excited to know that some progress was being made to our little man entering the world but nervous since the midwife had me schedule an appointment for Friday, October 16th incase I had not gone into labor yet. I couldn't imagine being pregnant another week.

Thursday night and Friday was full of cramping and contractions but nothing serious. Derrick and I spent Thursday night and Friday walking around a lot to hopefully move things along. Each night I went to bed hoping that I would wake up in labor but NOTHING. Saturday was full of lots of lots of contractions but nothing that I couldn't keep walking or talking through. Since this was my first time going through this without being induced, I felt like a newbie. I wasn't sure what to expect.

Saturday afternoon our friends contacted us to see if we wanted to hang out and get subs from Ninos. It is a joke in our group that Nino's subs will put you into labor since it worked for our friends. We didn't have any plans and I needed to get out of the house so we said sure. We got together with our close friends (Anthony, Holly, Corey, Carrie, Ken, Lauren, Dwayne, and Meghan) for dinner and to just hang out. By the time we got together my contractions had subsided. Derrick asked me around 7 or 7:30 whether I was having any more contractions which I informed him that nothing really was going on. Around 8 pm, I was sitting on our friend's couch and felt this POP in my stomach. It was a weird feeling and I wondered if my water broke. I got up to walk to the restroom and felt a little water but nothing major (like the gush that everyone describes it as) so I talked to a friend about what it felt like and decided I would wait to see if more water came before I called into the hospital.

Not even 5 minutes after the POP occurred, my contractions started back up and they were coming close. I was feeling very uncomfortable so I asked Derrick if we could head home. We gathered everything together and headed toward our house. On the way Derrick asked if he should call into the doctor but I was skeptical since I still had not timed my contractions and I just felt that it was going to get worse. I didn't want to go to the hospital just to be turned away. I ended up telling Derrick to go ahead and call in on our way to the house since my contractions seemed to be coming very close together and I was pretty sure my water had broke. He called in and was told that a midwife would call him back within 10 minutes or he should call in again.

We got to our house and Derrick told me that he thought we should just head straight to the hospital. Again I was skeptic and thought that maybe I should just wait at home for a few minutes to see how things went but once another contraction came, I decided to listen to him. Derrick ran into the house to grab my bag, came back out, and called his parents to tell them to meet us at the hospital so that they could watch Camden for us. He called my parents on the way as well so that they could start heading up to Lancaster which is a 2 hour drive for them. The hospital is only a 8-10 minute drive from our house. As we got closer to the hospital, Derrick called the midwife again to tell them we were coming since he had not been contacted. He just told them that he hoped it was okay that we were coming in because we were already there. We were lucky to have Derrick's parents waiting for us as we pulled up so that we didn't have to worry about Camden at all. We arrived around 8:45 pm.

We quickly went into the hospital and were sent to triage. A girl was asking me all these annoying but required questions about what my address was, what was my phone number, date of birth, etc etc. These questions can become very annoying when you are experiencing contractions every few minutes. I had to stand up after only a few questions in order to get comfortable to get through my contractions. I must have been worrying the one lady because after I stood up she said she wanted to take me to a room. I was making her too nervous. Derrick stayed back to answer the rest of the questions for them while I was walked down to a triage room. The nurses came running in and told me that the midwife would check me soon to see how far I was. It took me forever to get changed into the gown and into bed because my contractions were still coming every few minutes apart. My water had clearly broken by this time since the floor was completely soaked. I finally was able to get dressed in the gown and the midwife came in and told me that I was 9+ cm dilated. (For those of you who don't know, you have to be 10 to start pushing). All I could say was, "So I don't get any pain meds??!!" The nurse quickly told me that I wouldn't be getting any pain meds because it was too late but that the baby would be arriving within the hour.

They quickly pushed me to a room. Everyone was rushing around to get things ready for Jaxsen to arrive. Everything happened in such a blur. I think I had 2-3 more contractions after I got to the labor & delivery room and I was then told that I should push once my next contraction came because the baby's heartrate was going down. I started pushing at 9:11pm and after only 4 minutes, Jaxsen Isaiah made his appearance into the world. I couldn't believe that he weighed in at 9 pounds 3 ounces.

Derrick and I are still in disbelief at how quickly things transpired. I was seriously going through nothing and an hour and 15 minutes later Jaxsen had arrived. I feel blessed that my labor did not have to go long since pain meds were not an option. We are so grateful for wisdom from the Lord and his hand over our child. There are so many things that could have gone wrong that could have prevented us from getting to the hospital on time - me being home by myself, hanging out at our friend's house longer, Derrick not being persistent about going to the hospital, or just being too far away from home. Of course our friends thought it was a joke when they got a text from Derrick at 9:15 saying that Jaxsen had arrived. We had just left their house 45 minutes before and all that they knew was that we were headed home. They thought we might end up in the hospital later that night but had no idea that we would be there so quickly. :)

So there is the story of little Jaxsen Isaiah. My experience with each of my children has been completely different. We were so thankful for Jaxsen to arrive quickly and safetly. He did not have to be sent to the NICU so our time in the hospital was relaxed unlike our stressful experience with Camden. We are now home from the hospital and trying to adapt to a life as a family of four.

Unfortunately in the rush to the hospital, we didn't think to pick up our camera. We had to wait and take pictures yesterday when things were settled down. Here are a few pictures of our new little addition. We hope to take more pictures over the next few days and weeks however it may take more time for posting since we are now busy with 2 kids instead of just one. Thanks to all of you who were praying for us. We definitely felt your prayers and appreciated God's hand on this experience.