jake's birth story

i think it is well documented that i was ready for mr. jake to make his appearance.

after we hit 37 weeks there was no hesitation.

we were ready.

and in all honestly i was not worried about giving birth at all. i was actually excited about that part. weird maybe, i know.

so when i was dilated to 3 cm at my 38 week appointment and the doctor told us after 39 weeks we could elect to be induced. we were in. i don't like to rush these things, but i had a nagging feeling that it was time.

my 38 week appointment was on monday december 28th. we decided we would wait through the week and at my 39 week appointment the following tuesday we would set up the induction. those next 7 days were full of pains, contractions, anticipation, and some sleepless nights. i was getting tired and its no fun to be tired before you have the baby when you know the exhaustion that is to come. i did use the time to finish up a few last minute projects for brother's room, to catch some naps, and to try to relax.

however over the weekend, we decided it was just time. on sunday i had contractions every 7-10 minutes for over 8 hours. we decided i would call first thing monday morning and get the induction set up. i went back to school on monday january 5th and made my phone call. four phone calls later we were set for induction the next day. the hospital was to call us between 5:30 and 7 am with a time.

we did have a snowstorm rolling in so we thought the timing was just perfect. i mean why have a winter baby during mild weather. :)

and boy it did snow.

here are a few pictures of the girls enjoying the snow. ok, maybe maggie didn't really enjoy it all that much.

my mom came up monday around noon to beat the snowstorm. my principal sent me home early from school to beat the traffic. and poor tim had an almost two hour drive home from ames. in total i think we got around 7 inches.

at 5 am on tuesday january 6th my phone rang. it was the hospital. they wanted us there at 7 am. we were so thankful my mom was staying with us so she could get the girls on the bus and watch maggie. this allowed us to head early to the hospital. i had been worried we would get a time later in the day so i was relieved to have to come in early.

a couple final baby belly pictures

tim snapped these pictures of the snow and sunrise out our delivery room window. it was a beautiful winter day.

the roads on the way to the hospital weren't awful but they weren't great. we made it to the hospital by 7. we checked in and they took us to our room. when we walked in we were greeted by a familiar nurse. the same nurse that had worked with us during maggie's labor and delivery. i was so happy. tim laughed that he hadn't seen me so happy in days. my response was that i was going to have my baby boy AND i had the best nurse to help me! it was a huge relief.

we got settled in and started some pitocin around 8 am. at this point i was dilated to 3-4 cm. which was a little disappointing given i had been having contractions pretty much non stop for a week. when i was told that i was so glad i was there and we were going to make this happen today.

a little before 9 am the doctor came in to see me. i was now a full 4 cm dilated. the doctor broke my water. tim said there is no going back now. our nurse's response was actually there was no going back 39 weeks ago. :)

over the next couple hours they continued to increase the pitocin and my contractions became stronger and stronger and closer together.

around 11 am i was 7 cm dilated. our nurse was very pleased with how well i was progressing. i wasn't in a huge amount of pain so we continued without pain medication.

about 30 minutes later the pain had increased quite a bit. my nurse checked me again and i hadn't progressed. it was then that we decided it was time for the epidural. i could feel my body tensing up and my progress starting to slow. i didn't want to slow this down.

around 12:30 the epidural was doing its thing and it actually had taken stronger to my right side than my left. my nurse was having my lay in a couple different positions to balance it out. which seemed to work. in the mean time i was resting up. i could still faintly feel the contractions and i could tell them were much stronger than before and coming very quickly.

we were getting close.

around 2 pm i was ready to start pushing. maggie had been born at 3:13 pm and we had been laughing that it was a race and brother was going to win. we all figured he would be here within the hour.

boy were we all wrong.

i started to push and that is when we realized this was going to take some work.

honestly, i have never worked so hard to have a baby as i did for those next 90 minutes. baby jake was a little crooked in the birth canal. and he was just bigger. our nurse was amazing at helping me work through the pushing.

and tim. wow. he is my rock. he did an awesome job urging me through the contractions and pushes. and reminding me to breathe.

we worked and pushed and rested and pushed. i didn't think i had anything left to give. i was wiped out. but they kept me going. honestly this was my 4th, i had thought this part would be easy.

finally a little after 3:30 pm they called in the doctor.

baby jake was almost here. just a few more pushes.

i rested through a couple of contractions and then we started.

one big push and his head was out.

then the doctor said one more push for the shoulders. i thought....what?!? another push for the shoulders. i have never had to do that before!

one more big push and jacob james was here!

the doctor said this is a big boy. she asked the weights of our other babies and guessed he was much bigger.

they handed baby jake to me and i thought he was they most beautiful baby boy i had ever seen.

after a few minutes they took him and cleaned him up and weighed him. we all really wanted to know his weight.

8 pounds and 14 ounces of BOY!

my nurse said i could round up to 9 pounds if i wanted too.

i remember saying i am glad he wasn't my first and the doctor replying you might not have had him if he was your first. he was a big boy and a lot of work for momma.

it is funny he is crying in most of these pictures, because he actually did cry all that much after he was born. he was actually pretty calm and content. 

we already loved him so, but in those first few moments that love grew and grew. we fell instantly in love with our little man. i thought he looked so similar to our girls, yet so like a little boy.

baby jake found his hands right away and began sucking on his fingers.

baby jake was the missing piece to our family puzzle. he fits right in.

we love baby jake so much and are so happy he is here!




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say hello to baby jake {here}

see pictures of the girls meeting baby jake  {here}

read about the girls' birth stories {ellie} {cecilia} and {maggie}