Of course, I can't type a birth story without a little background. Ace is our gift from God which is what his middle name means! When Zoe was eight months old, we found out we were expecting. However, just a few short weeks later, we learned that baby had died and was now in the arms of Jesus forever. We prayed and cried and sought God's peace and amply provided it. We grew closer together as a couple and we grew even closer to God. At my two week check up after our miscarriage, we talked with Dr. J and then prayed and realized if it was God's will, He would allow us to get pregnant again or He would have us wait. Two weeks later, we learned we were pregnant with Ace! While the first part of the pregnancy was full of uncertainty, we learned to rely on God to carry us through.
And a funny from the first part of the pregnancy: I was about six or so months pregnant when the lab nurses suddenly realized I wasn't being seen for a miscarriage follow-up. Really. At each check up, they kept asking my the date of my LMP. And they kept marking up the check out sheet wrong. We giggled about that.
So, the day of the big birth arrived as planned. Yep, as planned. I was induced on my due date. I'm not sure what prompted us to want to be induced. Again, probably a lack of education, the convenience of scheduling a birth. Dr. J had been out of town the week before and his colleague was the one who left it up to me to schedule the induction. However, as before, I was a really good candidate for an induction (usually am...if you don't know what makes a good candidate, I can feel you in privately.) I had dilated to a total of 3 whole centimeters but wasn't really that close to labor. At least not like I was with Zoe.
After pitocin was started, I never really felt like the contractions were strong or regular. Dr. J came in around 9:30 in the morning and broke my water and I was still at 3 cm but could be stretched to 5. I kept getting stronger contractions but I never really felt like they were regular. Around lunch time, they were strong enough that I thought an epidural might feel pretty nice about that time. The nurse came in and checked me and I was at a 7. Of course, after now having three non-epidural births, I realize that I was transitioning and probably could have held off on the drugs, but at the time...well, the nurse asked if I wanted an epidural and when I said yes, she rushed out to find anesthesia and get them in quick. Epidural in place, we settled in to wait for the magic number 10.
However, as I got close to 10, Ace's heart rate started to drop slightly. I had to get on oxygen and lay on my side to get complete enough to push. When I got to 10, the nurse let me push once and then quickly stopped me to wait on Dr. J. This was not going to be a two and half hour pushing marathon like Zoe's birth. Dr. J came in, said he was going to change and to keep pushing and then stepped out. I pushed one more time and then the nurse quickly told me to stop. She searched out Dr. J and he (as quickly as he does) got ready. I pushed through three contractions and he was born. The umbilical cord was wrapped around Ace's neck at least one time and tightly which explained the drop in the heartrate.
Ace weighed in a chunker compared to Zoe at 8 lbs 14 oz. But he was gorgeous and we were thrilled to have our second addition to our family. Our precious gift from God!
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