labor and the arrival of Jameson

So it started in no fancy or exciting manner. I was sitting on my mom's couch and started to feel a few pains. I kept it to myself until they seemed a little more consistent. it was around 9p.m. on a Thursday night. before grey's anatomy so I have no idea what was on T.V. I called Chris and he started to laugh because he had just returned from a hard day of training. He had I think a 15 hour day "in the field". He was six hours away, the best thing was for him to get some sleep and then make the trip in the morning. Besides first babies can take a while, I had no idea how true that statement would be. Around 11 I went downstairs to my apartment to rest, I was still in the early stages of labor and who knew how long that would be. By 3:00 a.m. my contraction were pretty consistent and amazingly enough Chris called to say he was leaving New York. It was a stress relief he was going to be home for the birth. Something we did not think was going to happen. There is a very special LT. Procida that I thank that for. She pulled some strings to have him held in New York for longer so he could come home for the birth. I am enternaly grateful to her.

About 5a.m. I crept into my mom's house to wake her up to tell her that it was time, or so I thought. She was upset I did not wake her earlier, I told her it was fine and that I was going to take a shower before we left. they looked at me panic stricken and like I was crazy. Showers aren't the easiest in labor but thankfully my grandmother lived in my apartment before me and there are handicap rails in my shower. I would hold on tight during a contraction and continue with my shower when it passed.
We journeyed to the hospital about 6ish. I got all settled, signed myself in and I was ready for Jameson to come. Well surely he was not. The nurse showed me a chart of what in looked like for each centimeter of dilation. I believe the phrase she used for me was a dimple and that did not even register on the chart. By 10 a.m., I was sent me home. WHAT! I am having a baby and you want me to go home! The thought was I would be more comfortable at home and a nurse told me to hold onto something and do squats to push Jameson down a little more.
I called Chris and told him to go home NOT to the hospital.

This would repeat for the next 36 hours or so on top of the 8 hours I was in mild labor. Because that 36 hours were strong fierce contractions with front and back labor, I was on my hands and knees at home to try and get some relief. We had gone to the hospital three times and sent home three times. We had nice nurses and some real doozies. One nurse that was short stocky with gray, short, tight curly hair was the worst. One of the times I went in she came in and said ok get on the bed and lay on your back. She needed to hook me up to the fetal monitor. the bed flat, not elevated or anything. I looked at her like she must be kidding. I said well I can't do that I have back labor as well as front and that hurts. My mom chimed in with can she sit in the chair, she did last time. The nurse curtly said no and I have to wait for the doctor. I relunctly laid on the bed. As soon as I hit the bed it wasn't I started to cry it was instant tears. the pain was ripping through me, I was like a beached whale flailing to get up. My mom grabbed my arms and pulled me up. I looked at the nurse and said sorry I can't do that. She was obviously annoyed and not nice the rest of my visit.
The good nurses tried to get me relief and I got two shots in the 36 hour period to take the edge off. It was something but didn't do much. My contractions were to strong.

FINALLY on Saturday night they kept me. My water didn't break but it was leaking. they broke it for me around midnight. This started the process to move along, FINALLY!!!!!
My contraction still strong, long peaks and little time in between.
By 5:30 Sunday morning and 54 hours later I was able to get an epidural. This was a savior, I had not slept since Wednesday night. Not for lack or trying but those of you that have had contractions of the fierce kind know there is no sleeping.
I slept and it was nice, the nurse came in and flipped me from side to side me to try and move Jameson. he was sunny side up. This nurse was wonderful and did all the work for jameson to come out. her name was Sharon and I will NEVER forget her. She truly was an agel.

By 130p.m. or so I was ready to push I dilated YEAH!!!!!!
Again nothing seemed to be easy about this, you would think I see this on t.v., push down and count to 10.
Well they decided that I needed oxygen or Jameson did, which I know now really wouldn't get to him. But because of this I threw up in between pushes. the oxygen was making me sick. My poor mom was holding one leg and getting the puke bin with the other hand. She was amazing. Chris I think thought the birth of his son was wonderful but could have done without the visual of the baby coming out. There is no hiding from it, since he had the other leg.

After pushing roughly for two hour or so and 64 hours of labor, Jameson Salvatore DiModica was born at 3:23p.m.

He was not the easiest delivery buut he made up for by being the most amazing baby. he was so easy and still is for the most part. he is now 4.

pregnancy

I had your typical pregnancy. No odd cravings and no issues they needed to monitor. It was a little lonely, Chris left for New York in July and I was due in December. I had lots of family for support. The unfortunate thing is that there are too many families that this is the norm of their life. having such an important time and your significant other is not here with you to experience it. As awful as this sounds it didn't help that I did not LIKE being pregnant. I loved my baby and it was amazing to feel him move all around but the whole thing was just uncomfortable, odd pains all the time, sleepless, and long. It didn't help that I gained 50lbs, yes that's right 50lbs. I was a cow by then, I mean fat. Sometimes I feel bad saying it but really it's just the way it is. My mom would tell me how she LOVED being pregnant and i cannot understand how. Not even now and it's been a couple of years. I realize that I am not alone in my dislike for the whole process but love the end result.

The Shock of my Life

What was the biggest shock of my life turned out to be one of the greatest of my life. My now husband was going to be deployed to Iraq and the last thing on our mind was a baby. In fact it was the one thing we wanted to prevent. It started with the typical not feeling well, but since I was on birth control I associated it with that. My mother in law as well as my mom were convinced that I was pregnant, of course I thought they were CRAZY and if I knew at this moment how to make the word crazy bigger I would have. Just to really drive the point home. After a weekend of what I thought to be a bug of some kind, although I was not throwing up, Chris and I stopped of at Walgreens and picked up a pregnancy test. My goal was to prove the moms wrong so they would stop with their banter. WELL, when those two line showed up as I stood in the downstairs bathroom I was immediately IN SHOCK! I went into Chris's room, yes he still lived at home, and just sat on the bed in a daze. he looked at me and asked Well. All I could say was "I am". Chris was very calm and said ok, whatever you want to do is fine. The first thing I did was cry, he held me and was very calming. After a while he looked at me and said you should call your mom. At midnight I called my mom to tell her that I was pregnant. Not your ideal moment of telling your mom, sobbing on the phone. It took me a few days to tell anyone else, I needed to wrap my head around it and determine how I felt. I decided I was excited!!! Then came my wonderful Jameson. His arrival is a whole different story!!