Jace Michael Keth

Jace Michael Keth made his way into the world on January 11^th, 2015 at 5:12am, just one day past his due date! I have just got to say that this labor and delivery experience was definitely different than Emery’s was. I would say that Emery was a fairly quick and easy birth with no complications and smooth sailing. However, Jace’s birth didn’t quite go as smoothly, but overall it was still a great experience!

On January 10^th, (my due date), I still had no sign of oncoming labor. I had experienced contractions earlier on in the week after a visit to my midwife when she swept my membranes, but they died off completely by Tuesday morning (the day after the sweep). I was feeling pretty discouraged that I had reached my due date and still had nothing, so we decided we were going to go bowling and go have fun. I went upstairs to get dressed and asked Shaun if he had any feelings that today would be the day. He said it would be nice, and I had said I had a feeling but I didn’t think anything would happen that day. I went into the bathroom and got dressed but as soon as I pulled my pants up I felt a familiar feeling of water leaking (like I peed myself a little). I was kind of shocked but I didn’t want to get my hopes up, so I called Shaun in to let him know and continued to get ready. About 15 minutes went by with no other sign, so I texted my midwife and walked into the living room to give Shaun the update. As soon as I sent the text I felt it again and knew for sure that time it was my water.

I called my midwife to let her know my water was indeed leaking and she told me since I was not contracting that I could wait up to 2 hours before I came in to see if I could get contractions going. Two hours passed (it was now 3:30pm) and after what felt like peeing myself for two straight hours I still had no contractions (besides a few). We left for the hospital and I was already pretty emotional. I had a hard time leaving Emery and was disappointed that contractions weren’t picking up, but I knew it would be okay. We got to the hospital where my midwife checked me and told me I was only a 3 and my cervix was still hard. We discussed options of inducing but I wanted to wait it out. I was contracting every 2-3 minutes but I couldn’t feel all of them. We agreed to let me go until 10pm, after that we would check again and see my progress. In between monitoring’s  I was up walking the halls, bouncing on the birthing ball, and frequent trips to use the restroom.

By 10pm I was still only a 3, and even though I was 80% effaced they still needed to start Pitocin. They began the Pitocin and immediately my contractions began to get hard. I decided to go ahead and get IV medication then. I tried to rest as much as possible between contractions but they were coming hard. At 2:30am I couldn’t take the back to back, sudden and sharp contractions. They were so hard I could see my stomach “jump” and get hard instead of gradually building up like they had before Pitocin. I no longer felt like I could breathe through them and knew another dose of IV meds wouldn’t help. I decided for an epidural, a decision that I never thought I would make due to my deep, deep, fear of them. Luckily the whole process went smooth and I didn’t jump when he was inserting the needle! I do have to admit that after the epidural and my legs went numb I started to freak out mentally; I didn’t like the feeling, or should I say lack thereof, and had to tell myself mentally that I was fine and it was temporary. Right after I got the epidural my blood pressure dropped to 86/40-something. I told the nurse I was going to pass out and I was sweating terribly. Shaun started to panic a bit and some people came in. I turned on my side and felt immediate relief. Then my blood pressure went up to 168/something, most likely from my panicking. Things settled down and my blood pressure went down and the pain had subsided. I could only feel pressure.

Right after things calmed down the nurse checked me and I was a 4. I decided it was time to get rest, so they cranked up the Pitocin and I slept while I could. Around 4am the nurse checked me again and I was a 7, so they called the midwife and she came around 5am and checked me and I was a 9, almost a 10. Things obviously were taking off quick and I started to feel some major pressure from the contractions. I was feeling ready to push. Shaun got my leg on my right side and my mom got my left leg and Reanna was wiping my head with a cool clothe. I began to push at the end of one contraction, took a break, than began to push on the next contraction. I pushed twice and my midwife told me I needed to stop! I rested and at the next contraction I pushed two more times and he was out! My epidural was wearing off at this point so I could feel most all of it, and I still stand by my statement that the feeling of the baby coming out is so empowering! I was afraid that with an epidural I wouldn’t be able to feel it like I did with Emery, but I did and I’m so happy it worked out. I had no tears and everything was great!

Jace weighed 8lbs 7oz and 20 inches long! I got to feed him after Shaun cut the cord and they weighed him and such. He latched great! He’s been such a quiet and calm baby so far and things are going way better than expected. I’m still breast feeding while supplementing two feedings a day (give or take) and am also pumping when I supplement. I’m obviously tired but Emery has done AMAZING with Jace. He loves to help and watch him when we feed or change him. He only got jealous when we were putting him down for bed and I needed to feed Jace. It was mommy and Emery’s cuddle time that Jace cut into, so I sent Shaun out with Jace to get a pacifier and Emery happily fell asleep cuddling before Shaun could even come back to his room. It’s been great and I feel so blessed with my boys and my amazing husband. My birth could have gone wrong in many ways, but luckily I had my amazing “birth team” (Shaun, my mom, and Reanna) and my amazing midwife and nurses! All that was missing was my sister who couldn’t make it out this time, she was truly missed.

Thank you for reading and for all the thoughts and prayers for my family! We are happy and so in love with life right now! God has truly blessed us!