Introducing!!!

Jonah Miles

For those of you who follow my wifes blog, this will most likely be a recap. If you don't follow it, you can read her story here.

Going back two weeks...

As Jamie's due date got closer, Jamie and I became more and more anxious. For some reason, we had it in our heads that Jonah would come early. But, God and Jonah had other plans. So we were a little disappointed when the due date came and passed.

Then on Monday the 16th, a little after 1pm, I got the call at work from Jamie that I had been waiting for (or so I thought). I rushed home, and shortly after Jamie and I left for the hospital. There, Jamie was hooked up to a monitor for about 30 minutes to see what her contractions were doing. When Jamie called me, her contractions were 3-5 minutes apart. But at the hospital when she was laying down, the contractions had spaced out to 8-10 minutes apart. So we were told to go home to wait until they got closer together again and much more intense. Thinking that night would be the night, we didn't want to be too far from the hospital. So instead of going home, we went to Jamie's parent's house, which is closer to the hospital.

Once at Jamie's parent's house, we were on a strict regimen of alternating walking and relaxing. We would walk around the neighborhood and then have Jamie lay down to time the contractions. It was pretty hot that night, so later on we ended going to Target to walk around. We walked up and down just about every ailse in the store. But the contractions weren't any closer together. After all that, we decided that we might as well go home to get a good night's sleep.

When we woke up the next morning, the contractions had pretty much stopped. So it was decided that I might as well just go to work. This time, there was no call. That was Tuesday the 17th

So on Wednesday that 18th, Jamie woke me about around 4am letting me know that she was having more contractions. I was very dazed and confused at that point. They were closer together and more intense. Jamie called the doctor, who told us to wait it out a little bit before coming to the hospital. So we sat around at home for about two hours before going to the hospital. I think we ended up watching something on Netflix about shark attacks.

When we arrived at the hospital, I thought it was going to be like Monday all over again. This time, the contractions were much closer together and more intense for Jamie. But when the nurse checked her, she was still dilated the same as on Monday. The nurse gave us some options. We could go home and wait out the contractions or stay and have them check the progress in about an hour. We decided on the second choice.

During that hour or so, Jamie's contractions were getting more and more intense, but she was handling them like a pro. After the allotted waiting period, the doctor ended came in to examine Jamie. Before he examined her, he was still talking like we might get sent home. But when he checked her, she had dilated 2 more cm. So it was decided that we were for sure going to stay. Which was good. Because no more than 15 minutes after the doctor left, Jamie's water broke. This is when things got interesting...

Now to clarify, Jamie had her heart determined on going through labor completely natural (no drugs involved). Also, apparently after the water breaks, the contractions get even stronger. The contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes, and it seemed like Jamie wasn't getting a break. Heck, I barely had time between them to scarf down a few bites of my breakfast. We tried just about every technique/position that we could remember from the child birth class (leaning against the bed, leaning on the birthing ball, leaning on me). There were a few contractions when Jamie was holding on to me that her legs gave out and we both just about ended up on the floor. Eventually, Jamie thought that she would be able to relax more in between the contractions if she laid down.

At this point, the contractions were probably at there worst. At first I kept trying to encourage Jamie, letting her know that she was doing great and that she could push through it. But eventually, it just became harder and harder to watch Jamie be in so much pain. She would literally be crying in fear of when the next contraction would start. I felt so helpless. Jamie was in the worst pain of her life, and there was nothing I could do about it. I'm not going to lie; I shed a few tears. I could tell by Jamie's face that she was beginning to re-think her pain management plan. So I changed the way I was encouraging her. I let her know that it was ok if she got pain medication. She quickly agreed and we pushed the button for the nurse.

When the nurse arrived, she could instantly tell that Jamie was not doing good. The nurse checked Jamie's progress and gave us some news. Jamie was fully dilated and was ready to push. The contractions were so bad because Jamie was going through the transition phase from 8-10cm. The nurse called the doctor to come (he was at another office) and quickly set up the room for delivery.
That's when they started to have Jamie push. Pushing for 10 seconds, three times, every contraction. The way the nurse rushed to get the room ready, I thought that this part of the labor would be over fast. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Jamie would end up pushing for over two hours. But slowly yet surely, our son made its way out into the world. At first I could only she a little bit of hair, then the top of his head, and finally his whole head. At 12:26, Jonah Miles entered the world, and our lives were changed for ever.  He weighed 7lbs 9oz. and was 20 inches long.

The hour or so after that was kind of a whirlwind. I remember cutting the cord. It was a lot tougher than I expected (more like cartilage, not spongy like Chandeler describes it on Friends). I remember them placing Jonah on Jamie's chest, and seeing his eyes for the first time. But beyond these few moments, the rest is a complete blur.

Eventually, our parents came to meet their first grandchild (first on both sides). The next two days at the hospital, we received a steady stream of visitors congratulating us and wanting to see the new additionto the family.

It's hard to believe that it has been two weeks already. Jonah has already changed a lot. Jamie and I, like all new parents, are working to get him on a schedule. It has been tiring and frustrating at times, but overall, it has been great.

I'm sure that my blog will proably be taken over by pictures of Jonah. Here are a few from our first photoshoot with him. You can see more on Jamie's blog here.