Monday, March 9, 2009

We have a Son!!!

We welcomed Brennan Joseph Ackerman into the world Tuesday February 24th at 1:38 am.
Jon had the idea of Brennan after reading Brennan Manning's "Ragamuffin Gospel". After two days in the hospital, we finally decided on Joseph for the middle name to honor both our dad's (my dad's first name, Jon's dad's middle name).

Here's the delivery story:

On Saturday night, Jon and I were snuggling on the couch watching Hitch. I felt like the baby was kicking me in the bladder over and over again and couldn't get comfortable. I stood up and there was a sudden leakage- twice. And I looked at Jon in shock and said, "oh my gosh, I think my water just broke". But I wasn't sure because, hey, the kid was just kicking my bladder so maybe I just peed my pants (classy) and it was just a trickle, I was thinking it would be a gush. I leaked a little bit more during the night and didn't get one second of sleep- I was so high anxiety of not knowing what was going on!

Sunday, after much debate, I went to Trinity with Jon to help out with the Widows brunch his department was hosting. I wasn't leaking AT ALL and felt perfectly normal, so we didn't think anything was up. Sunday night, I started leaking again and again, NO SLEEP. I decided to call my doctors office first thing monday morning to see if they could see me and figure out what was going on. I figured if my water truly did break- I would of had contractions by then. So I called the doctors office Monday morning and they told me to PROMPTLY get to the hospital. If it was my water breaking, they wanted me to deliver within 24 hours because of risk of infection (whoops).

So Jon and I race around to pack our bags (totally unprepared), shower, look at each other and say, "what the crap is going on?", pray, etc. We arrive at the hospital, they triage me, take a sample and confirm that I was leaking amniotic fluid. Turns out I "sprung a leak but I still had fluid left". I was only dialated to a 1 and did not have a soft cervic, so I was going to have to be induced, yuck. I did not want to be induced, but the doctor insisted. My doctor kept saying to me scarily, "I want you in pain, I want you to have PAINFUL contractions". Seriously, she said this to me everytime she saw me- SCARY!!

So they put us in an OB special care ward to start the cervix softening medicine. As our Scottish nurse is about to put the medicine in me, she checks my cervix again. I'm now dialated to a 3 and my cervix is completely soft. All this without one ounce of medicine. So, I don't get the cervix softening medicine, and they wheel us over to labor and delivery. I get checked there, and I'm now dialated to a four. And I had yet to feel one contraction. Jon literally asked the nurse, "so, when does the pain start, we thought she'd be in pain by now?" Whenever I felt a contraction, it just felt like he was kicking my bladder, honestly.

All this time, we are on the phone with my mom who was vacationing in Florida (we all thought I'd go late, NEVER thought I would go early!!!). She found tickets that would get her in around 6:30 ish. Then her flight was delayed and she missed her connecting flight in Cinncinatti. So the airline put her on a different flight- that was also delayed! THANKFULLY, she arrived around 10:30- Praise the Lord!!

Finally, after long periods of waiting (hospitals, I tell you what), I get some pitocin to speed up the process (remember, the doctor wants me in PAIN! They want this baby out!). I was on pitocin about an hour and the doctor comes in to break the rest of my water. I'm now dialated to a five and Jon and I are contentedly watching Chuck.

Let me tell you what, about five minutes after she broke my water, it suddenly became very DIFFERENT. My contractions started to KILL, I could hardly breathe between them. I laid on my side on the bed (they made me stay in that position for the fetal heart monitor, not the most comfortable), clinging to Jon, and trying to make it through. An angel in the form of an anestesiologist arrived and gave me my epidural. By this point, I was shaking because of the pain and having three contractions in a row- staying still for the epidural was HARD! As soon as that took effect, the delivery from that point on was great, it really was. My mom arrived, the doctor checked me two hours later and I was fully dialated. I pushed for around 35-40 minutes and then met my baby boy. He was beautiful and healthy with a full set of lungs!!

I know you're wondering- Jon did great! He left during all the blood draws, IV's, epidurals, etc. But he was fully there the rest of the time! He even held a leg during pushing, watched Brennan be born and cut the umbilical. Everyone in the room was keeping an eye on him, he even had a chair behind him in case he needed it. It was so wonderful to have both him and my mom there- they made a great team coaching me.

I honestly look back on the delivery with fondness- I felt enough to know how to push and where, but the epidural took most of the pain away. It was so wonderful to know we had a healthy baby! The rest of the week was not so great. . . but we'll save that for another post, my fingers hurt. I need to go check on the boy, have a good one!!!

P.S., we had our first outing last Friday at Adam and Allison's wedding- you can check out Coastline Studios blog and you may see someone you know. . .

4 comments:

ckuretich said...

Oh Chaeli!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I just saw this - what a beautiful boy, lovely name! I admit I only skimmed through the birth story because - as much as I love hospital, surgery, colons (now) - I still pass out at the thought of giving birth. So I read it with one eye squinted shut....but still! I'm glad everything was ok and you had a good experience and memories from it! that's awesome. I'm really happy for you guys!!!

Laine said...

Congrats chaeli and jon! He's so beautiful and what a great birth story! I'm happy it went so well for you! Love the picture of the three of you at the wedding, its beautiful. I really wish I lived closer so I could come visit and meet the little guy! Praying for you! The first few weeks are so tough but it ends and you'll be shocked by how much patience and endurance you have from the expereicne!

C said...

I love the picture of you 3 dancing!:) So sweet:)
Congratulations...I've been anxiously checking for this update after seeing Jon write on someone's wall on facebook that "He's doing great" that let me know he was here!:)
He is a cutie -- good job getting thru the labor! It's an unforgettable experience, isn't it?
I'm so glad Jon did okay too -- Jay ended up doing great as well, though even he didn't cut the umbilical cord, so way to go, Jon!:)

Erin Morgan said...

What a great post!! I loved that regardless of how things happened, you were happy with the outcome and with your labor experience.

Hope all else is going well!! I think of you often and hope your enjoying your new roles. Chaeli, are you planning to go back to work or just taking it one day at a time?