It's a BOY!
List Member ~ Jennifer Blo.
Due Date ~ July - 4th - 1999
Baby's Name ~ Justin Douglas
Birth Date ~ July - 9 - 1999
Weight ~ 8 lbs. 11 ozs.
Height ~ 20 1/2 inches
~ Mommy's Comments ~
On July 8, 1999, Mike and I headed to yet another OB appointment with our
fingers crossed
for some news. I was now 4 days overdue and extremely impatient. I had had
a problem
with preterm labor at the beginning of June and had anticipated going into
labor every single
day since then.....with no luck! To add insult, I had been 3 cm dilated, 80%
effaced with the
baby at 0 station for 3 weeks.....with no luck! On top of that, I had my
membranes stripped
3 times, had been walking several miles a day - to the point that the dog was
avoiding me -
tried every old wives tail around that promised to induce labor....with no
luck!! I was ready
to gouge the doctor’s eyes out if he didn’t promise action within the next 5
minutes!
Luckily for the doctor, he suggested we head to the hospital the following
morning to get
things moving by breaking my water. We headed home in a state of fog,
called my mom,
went out for our last dinner for the forseeable future and tried to get some
sleep...no luck on
that either!
We arrived at the hospital bright and early the next morning, completely
excited, scared and
overwhelmed. The doctor broke my water at 7:45 a.m and things took off
immediately.
For an hour or so, we laughed through the contractions and I suddenly
understood why the
doctor said I would know the difference between a braxton-hicks contraction
and the real
thing. We walked the halls a bit and I took a jacuzzi bath. After the bath,
things didn’t seem
so funny anymore. I started to get pretty serious about the task in front of
me. By 11:00 I
had really had enough and was pretty much begging for an epidural. I was
starting to feel
out of control of the contractions. The nurse checked me and discovered that
I was still just
at 4 cm and said NO to my epidural. I felt such sadness at that one word!
She offered
Nubain, but warned that it could slow my labor down even more. I decided to
try to tough it
out a bit more and see what happened. Half an hour later I decided I didn’t
really care if I
was going to be in labor for the rest of my life, but I wanted some drugs and
I wanted them
right now!! I went for the Nubain. It allowed me to relax a bit in between
the contractions,
but really didn’t do a thing for the pain. I really tried to will myself to
relax and just
concentrate on getting through each one. At 1:30 the pain began to get even
more intense
and I felt so much pressure - it was worse than the pain. I told the nurse I
really felt like I
needed to push, even though I knew I was probably only at 5 cm or so. I
thought maybe I
was in transition. I started begging for the epidural again ( I was
determined to get one!)
The nurse agreed to check me again and told me she had good news and bad
news. The bad:
I was not going to get my epidural. The good: I was fully dilated and it
was time to push!!
Ok, now I was under the impression that the pushing was the relief part, the
easier part of the
process. So, I was glad at the news that it was time. I figured it was
almost over. I was
hoping to catch “A Baby Story” on TV at 2:00! I was still pushing at 4:30 -
3 hours later.
It was all a fog. The baby was stuck under my pubic bone and we just didn’t
make any
progress. I pushed so hard that my eyes swelled shut and for the last 2
hours of pushing, I
never knew who was in the room since I couldn’t open my eyes at all. I was
at the point of
giving up and just pretending to push when I realized that the only way this
baby was going
to get out of me was by me. I gave it 10 or 12 more serious pushes and with
the doctor
holding on to the baby’s head to keep him from going back in, his little head
finally made it
out from under my pubic bone and appeared! I reached down and pulled his
little body out
from the chest down and pulled him onto my chest. He was out and in the
world!
He was perfect. Just perfect. He was pink and chubby and he opened his eyes
and looked at
me for several minutes. I swear at that moment, he knew who I was and was
just
comisserating with me on the agony of birth. My poor husband; who was a
complete trooper
through the whole thing - being rather squeamish when it comes to blood;
wasn’t up to the
cord cutting, so my Mom did it. That really meant a lot to her. Justin
Douglas Blowers
made his way into the world at 4:46 pm, after almost exactly 9 hours of
labor, weighing in at
8 pounds 11 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches.
Today, my little angel is 2 weeks old. It’s been the most challenging,
complicated,
emotional, frustrating, fulfilling, joyous, wondrous 14 days of my life. I
am no longer the
same person I was on July 8 and never will be again. I have been given the
gift of a perfect
little person that I get to call my own. His birth has given me a new faith
in God that I never
knew before. How else can you explain such a miracle?
Visit Our Other List Members!
~Christine~
~Jennifer MG~
~Della~
~Mel~
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Lori~~
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Mandy~
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