My last post was a long long long time ago! Three trimesters ago to be exact. Since then our lives have changed forever - in a crazy amazing wonderful way.
Jordan Keith Clark made his grand entrance into the world on September 21, 2010. He weighed a grand total of 7lbs 7oz and was 21 inches long. He's priceless. He's my son. I love him.
Life has sped up and slowed down since he got here. I don't want to forget a minute of it. Knowing myself, there's no way I could ever journal with paper and pen...but hopefully computer access (and this blog) will make it easier.
Here's the story...
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Induction Day! Finally, we could pack up and leave for the hospital. Enough of the endless waiting, worrying, and wondering about when he would get here!
Jordan was due September 11. Contractions kicked in on September 4th. They stopped a couple days later - false labor. September 4th to the 19th was a long boring wait. Thursday, the 16th, Dr. Freeburger recommended an induction to get things going and the hospital scheduled it for Monday the 20th at 7:30pm.
We went to church that morning, came home, and packed and repacked. We were too excited to eat, tried to nap (like we could sleep), and got a block or two into a walk until the weather decided to cancel it with rain. After packing and repacking our bags it was finally 7:00 and we took off!
Pulled up to emergency, parked, and got right in. The nurses at the hospital were wonderful. I got the first dose of the induction starter around 8pm. Bryan stayed the night on the extremely (un)comfy hospital pull-out bed. We really didn't get much sleep that night. They woke me up 4 hours later for the next dose and had us up early the next morning to start the next step - Pitocin.
Monday morning (and Pitocin) brought on lots and lots of contractions. Oooh....let's just say it was a long Monday. Calvin brought in breakfast for Bryan and stayed for a little while before leaving for school. We also had a visit from Pastor Maynard Belt and his wife. They brought a baby book and prayed with us; thank you Lord!
Around 5pm Bryan & I were sitting on the couch in the room when my water broke. Hooray! After that, the contractions stepped it up and grew more and more painful. Dad & Mom Clark stopped by for a few minutes around 6:00 and Mom Prins came around 7:00. She and Bryan sat with me for the worst of it. During the contractions it hurt to talk or even breathe. They told us Jordan was "sunny-side-up" so I was having back labor in addition to the contractions. I caved and asked for an epidural around 8:30; and by 9:00 I was feeling sooo much better!
The Dr. came in around 9 and gave us a disappointing update. Progress was slow going; we could probably expect a baby late-morning or afternoon of the next day. Whew! Bryan decided to go home and try to get some (good) sleep and I tried to rest at the hospital.
In addition to the IV for Pitocin and the epidural drip I also had an external monitor for the contractions and another one for Jordan's heartbeat. Quite the hook-up! The nurses were very watchful and were in around every 15 minutes to either increase the Pitocin or check how things were progressing.
Then around 1am things took a turn for the worse. I started shaking all over and couldn't stop. It got worse and by the time the Dr. came in I could hardly talk. They told me that it was normal; my body was just reacting to the stress of all the contractions.
Then around 2am, the nurse ran in the room, quick put an oxygen mask on my face, pressed the emergency button on the bed remote and called out for the Dr. to come right away. She told me that Jordan's heartrate and dropped to under 70 for over a minute - half of what it should have been. Dr. Freeburger was right there and immediately decided to do an emergency C-section.
The other nurse tried calling Bryan twice but couldn't get through. I texted him, then called again and he picked up. All I could say through the shaking was, "you need to come to the hospital. We're going to have to do a C-section." Poor guy...but I couldn't really say more than that. I talked to him at 2:10. He was in the room by 2:30.
As Bryan came in the door they gave him scrubs to change into and an update. I really don't remember much more than that. They took us down to the operating room, prepped me for surgery, and Jordan Keith was born at 3:15am.
Bryan was right there the whole time...even got pictures and cut the cord. As they were taking Jordan out and he gave his first little cry, Bryan started talking to him and he quieted right down - he knew his daddy's voice!
The whole thing was like a dream. I finally got to hold Jordan for the first time in the recovery room. Surreal.
Well! There's the story. Actually...this is only the beginning...
