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Jack Branson Sex: boy Born: 02 March, 2008 Age: 0 years & 190 days Birthday in: 175 days Starsign: Pisces Development: See the 6 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

Birth details

Type of delivery: Vaginal (with pain relief)
Duration of labor: 13 hours of hard labour + 12 early labour
Weight @ birth: 7 lbs 7 ounces
Length @ birth: 19.5 inches

Jack-Branson-`s birthstory

Well it all started with a little bit of live music on Friday, February 29th. I had joked over the past several weeks that, as long as Jack would stay put until my husband and I went to see Josh Ritter perform, then I'd be okay with him arriving any time. Boy...did he take me up on that offer.

So, after attending the Josh Ritter concert Friday night, my husband and I went out for a couple of drinks and munchies with another couple. I drank 3 glasses of pineapple and sprite - I'm thinking this may have sped things along, as I've since heard that pineapple can be an inducer? Who knew?

We got home around 2 AM (Saturday, March 1st) if I'd of known then, the long hours I'd have ahead of me, I would have went straight to bed. But, alas, my insomnia was in high gear and I decided to watch some TV before hitting they hay. About 20 minutes later, as I lay on the couch watching some bad tv, I felt a warm gush of liquid down below. I was shocked...could this REALLY be it? When I got up to go the washroom, it was clear and wet - but not that much. I told my husband and he seemed so confident that Jack wasn't coming that he went to bed! Well...20 mintues later a second and BIGGER gush of fluid comes out. Now there's some blood in there and I'm SURE my water has broke. I think my first instinct was to get on this website and chat...I was super excited/nervous/overwhelmed. Thanks to the ladies that chatted with me EARLY Saturday morning...I was in such a strange place.

I finally called the hospital around 3:30 AM to see what I should do. I wasn't having any contractions at this point, but I just wanted to check in and see what they'd say. Well...they told me to come down right away b/c they wanted to test the liquid to see if it was Indeed amniontic fluid. So, at 4:30 AM, my husband gets up and drives me to the hospital. The attending physician was an intern (yippy) he swabbed the fluid and said it was not amniotic??? I was totally confused now. They told me it was probably pee (to which I took some offence - I THINK I know the difference). As I was getting up off the bed to go back home, another Very LARGE gush of liquid came out and covered the bed. This time the nurse swabbed it and confirmed it was definitely my water that had broke! Stupid intern. Anyway, b/c I wasn't having contractions yet, they told me I had the choice of either being induced or going natural. I chose natural and went home thinking it could be up to a week before the little guy arrived....no way!

About 2 hours after arriving back home (around 7 AM Saturday) I started getting contractions. At first they just felt like REALLY, REALLY strong menstral cramps. They weren't too painful, but uncomfortable enough that I couldn't sleep. My DH was out like a light. I just tried to keep myself busy. Again, I logged on to this site and started chatting. *Thanks Sterling for being so great to chat with at that point!! In the next couple of hours the contractions became stronger and stronger. They were now coming every 5-6 minutes apart and I had lots and lots of bloody/mucusy discharge every time I went to the bathroom. I knew this was happening soon. I tried to hold out as long as possible before going back to the hospital. Around 3 pm, the pain was VERY intense, so my DH and I headed back to the hospital (bags in hand and hoping we'd be staying this time). No such luck!

The nurse we had this time was a BAG. She treated me like a kid and told me that these contractions were "nothing". I was in so much pain I couldn't believe these weren't real contractions. A doctor came in and did an internal. They told me I was effaced but not dialted at all! I was shocked and saddened, how was I going to go through childbirth drug free as I'd Always planned. I wanted so badly to stay at the hospital at this point, but they sent me back home. But first, they gave me a shot of morphine in the butt to help with the pain. I wasn't overly happy about this. I'd actually said I DIDN'T want the morphine - I didn't want it in my system and I certainly didn't want it in my babies. But it was really odd b/c in the middle of a contraction they literally jabbed it in my ass without telling me. My husband didn't realize they were giving me Morphine at the time, the nurse was brutal. I immediately felt GROGGY and tired and I was so upset b/c I didn't want this experience dulled by drugs. The doctor assured me that b/c it was my first baby and I wasn't dilated at all that the morphine would be long gone before the baby actually arrived. So...morphine injected I went back home again. Oh, and by the way, Morphine does not DULL pain - it just makes you sleepy.

Well, I had serious, painful and constant contractions at home for the next 3 hours. It felt like 8 days and my morphine-induced state had everything feeling a bit surreal. Finally at around 7:30 pm my husband decided it was time to go back. My contractions were coming fast and hard (every 3 to 4 minutes). I didn't want to go back just to get sent home again - but my DH was severely worried about me b/c I was in such agony and I wouldn't even talk to him anymore. Finally he convinced me to go back. So...around 7:30 off we went - trip #3! This time I WAS SOOO happy to hear I was 4 cm dilated and that I could STAY! yayaaaayy. They put me and my husband in a delivery room and we waited.

We had and Awesome nurse attending and she made things very nice for us. My contractions were so intense I was very withdrawn and barely talked. Around 10 pm the nurse offered the epidural again. This time I accepted. I had been contracting since noon and made very little progress. I decided to take the epidural (which initially made me feel very disappointed) but then I realized I was just SO EAGER to see my little boy and I didn't want to deal with the pain any more. My husband had to look away as they put in the epidural b/c he HATES needles, but I didn't feel a THING! It was almost instant relief and I felt like a whole new person. I was chatting and laughing and happy again. My contractions kept coming but they were very manageable now! By 1AM I was 8 cm dilated - not long now! By 3:30 I was 10 cm and ready to push! The nurse wanted me to push, but when the Dr. came in he said we had to wait until the head was a bit lower - so I had to wait another HOUR! At 4:30 the head was lower and I began to push. It seemed like NOTHING would happen with each push and I began to get frustrated.

By this point the morphine was TOTALLY our of my system and the epidural was losing a bit of it's numbing power. I was feeling the pushing - but it was manageable. I wanted to meet Jack so bad, I pushed SOO hard. At 5:30 my Dr. came back and said that if I didn't deliver in the next half hour he'd use forceps, a vaccuum - or some other "aid". This terrified me. I didn't want my baby to be squished with forceps or suctioned with the vaccuum and I certainly didn't want a c-section. I pushed so hard for the next half hour that finally the head started to crown, just as the Dr. came back. He took one look at me and started unwrapping forceps. Let me tell ya - that was ALL The motivation I needed to push Jack all the way out! Jack was born on Sunday, March 2nd at 6:25 AM. They put him on my chest and I instantly fell in love. My husband was so AWESOME throughout the whole labour that I feel guilty about all the many times I bitched about him throughout this pregnancy. He was so active in the birth of our son that it makes me tear up just thinking about it. He actually had one of my legs and was pushing it back for me the whole time I pushed! He kept his eyes on the progress and got SOO excited when he saw a full head of hair coming out!

Anyway, I better not ramble too much. I just want to say that no matter HOW long, or painful labour is - it's SO worth it when you meet your baby. I LOVE Jack more than anything I've ever loved and with more intensity than I thought I was capable of. He's perfect and I stare at him for hours and cry tears of joy every day. He's breastfeeding like a champ which has been an incredible experience all unto itself. The whole experience has brought me and my husband so much closer and makes me soooooo happy to be where I am right now. When you give life, life truly gives back.

Good luck to all of you moms to be and congrats to all of you new moms. The past nine months have been incredible and this website has been such a support. Take care everyone and may God Bless you and your loved ones!

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