Friday, June 16 I was at my lowest point in pregnancy. I was so large and so uncomfortable. I was 39 weeks +4 days and so amazed that I was still pregnant! I had been on maternity leave for 2 weeks already and needed to get out of the house, so I decided to treat my swollen feet to a foot massage. I had tried everything else to help the labor process begin except a foot massage so I figured it wouldn't hurt. I left the massage relaxed but still feeling like this baby needed to come out so I called my mom on the way back home and broke down sobbing. "I just want this baby out now!" After pulling over and getting myself in control my mom was able to talk me out of calling my doctor to have her induce me. I went home, laid in bed, and put Iron Man on with every intention to fall asleep.
My husband came home early from work around 3 and we just relaxed and continued to watch Iron Man while discussing what we wanted for dinner. At this time I was timing contractions that were about 5 minutes apart but still irregular. By 4:40 my husband went to pick up dinner for us as well as insisting that I needed a yoga ball to sit on. I told him do not get me a yoga ball because, what he didn't know was, I had just used the restroom and felt a tremendous amount of pelvic pressure. So much pressure that I was unable to sit back on the bed. I moved into the living room to wait for him to bring dinner back. Well 5 minutes later I called my husband (who had not listened and was on his way to get a yoga ball) and told him to turn around because...my water broke! (side note: I had been praying towards the end of my pregnancy that God would allow my water to break. To me that's a tell tale sign of "hey, you're gonna have a baby!") My husband came home and handed me a towel to wrap around my waist as I stood up to get ready to go. All of our stuff was packed so we just grabbed it and headed out the door. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 5 o'clock on a Friday afternoon which meant that traffic was going to be rough. We drove halfway to the hospital with our hazard lights on while I continue to lose more amniotic fluid soaking the towel beneath me and my now dark grey joggers. On the way to the hospital we called our families and texted the prayer warriors that have been praying with me throughout this pregnancy. Everyone was so excited for us!
Once we arrived at the hospital I walked my soaking booty in the door and into triage. "Are you here to have a baby," the lady at the front desk asked me? "Yes, please" was my response. Like my soaking wet pants weren't a dead giveaway. I was admitted and dilated to a 4. On the way to my room we passed the anesthesiologist, I told him to feel free to follow us into my room. He came in and hooked me up with my epidural which went to work immediately! Now the waiting game began.
By 4am I was finally dilated to a 10 and it was time to push. I pushed for 2 hours and was not making any progress. Little Jax was not budging. I was tired and knew that I needed more strength. I asked my husband to put on Do it Again by Elevation Worship. I needed that delivery room to really be full of God's presence and I needed some supernatural strength. We then called my mom who was in Michigan and put her on speakerphone having her intercede and pray that Jax would move. I also asked my husband to get his mom from the waiting room and have her come in. I had one Mama praying in English and one Mama praying in Spanish. Jesus was in that place! After 1 more hour of pushing, it was decided that baby Jax would not be able to fit. We made the decision to have a c-section. I was exhausted and I had no desire to be a hero and keep pushing. I wanted a healthy baby over everything. And after 3 hours of pushing, I already felt like a hero.
Once the decision was made for a c-section everything moved quickly and in a little over 30 minutes we were hearing the little cries of our son. I remember being in the operating room and feeling so much peace. I knew I was about to have major surgery and that the recovery was going to be different but it all was overshadowed by the peace that I felt about the whole situation. God knew that this large little boy was going to have an amazing story and that there was a fight to bring him into the world.
At 7:37AM on June 17, 2017 our Jax was brought into this world. Words cannot describe the feeling his father and I felt when we heard his first little cries. We are both honored and so blessed to be the parents of this amazing little boy. We pray with him every night and empower him already to be the man of God that he will become.
