Jonah Jordan Henderson was born on April 25, 2013 at 3:44 PM. He was 6 pounds, 5 ounces and 20 inches long, and so perfect. Jonah was born at 37 weeks and 6 days, a little over 2 weeks early. He has stolen our hearts! Below is his birth story, which is intensely personal and a little graphic, so you’ve been warned! ;)
My last official belly shot a few days before
Let me preface this by saying I had the worst day at work on April 24 - I was charge nurse and had 3 discharges, 2 admissions, and a staff meeting to attend. I usually am at work for only 8 hours, but that day I was there for 11 hours. It was so stressful! I had been planning on getting groceries and packing my hospital bag when I got home, but I was so tired, I just sat on the couch and cried. I told Jordan, “If I have another day like this, I will go into labor!!” Ha! Jordan went to The Alamo to get dinner and then we went to bed. At 11 PM my water broke, and I jumped out of bed so I wouldn’t ruin the mattress! Funnily enough, I had bought a waterproof mattress cover...and hadn’t put it on the bed yet. Oh the joys of procrastination! I started to run down the hall to the bathroom, while yelling out to Jordan, “My water broke!” He didn’t believe me, haha. I knew it was my water though because every time I would move a gush would come out.
At this point I wasn’t having contractions, so we decided I could still go to work the next day. Around 2 AM I started having cramping in my abdomen. It felt like menstrual cramps! That surprised me. They were irregular, about 30-40 seconds long and every 2-7 minutes. I lay in bed waiting to see if they would continue and they did. At 2:45 AM I called my coworker, Laurie, to ask her to do ECT that day because I obviously couldn’t! Then I texted my mom and my boss. My boss was so funny, she texted back, “Don’t know why you can’t do ECT??? LOL.”
At 3:30 AM I got out of bed because I couldn’t sleep and just wandered aimlessly around the house, doing dishes and things like that. I finally laid back down around 5 AM but still couldn’t sleep. I listened to some calming music and breathed through my contractions, which were getting stronger.
At 6:30 AM, I called my doctor’s cell phone and left a message. I also asked Jordan to not go to school that day because we were definitely having this baby! He texted his classmate and they said he was good to stay home.
I took a nice, long, hot shower at 7 AM. When I got out and was getting ready, Dr. Mead finally called me back. Unfortunately, he told me that he would be at another hospital until 7 PM that day, and that his colleague, Dr. Malkman would be covering for him at St. Mary’s. He knew that Jordan was in medical school and had recently taken his OB rotation, so he asked if Jordan had checked me. He seemed surprised when I said he hadn’t, haha! I asked him if I could get a smoothie before coming in and he agreed, and then said to come in whenever.
I packed my bag after that and we left for Panera for a mango smoothie. Jordan went and got it for me while I waited in the car, listening to my Liquid Mind CD. We got to the hospital around 8:45 AM and walked in through the ER entrance. The nurses there seemed surprised when I said I was in labor. I guess I seemed too relaxed! They offered to wheel me up to the unit, but I wanted to walk as much as possible. We got to the unit and my nurse, Tiffany, got me checked in. She was awesome and was all for my low intervention plan. She was also totally my advocate; when she called Dr. Malkman to let her know I was there, Dr. Malkman wanted to start me on Pitocin and Tiffany said no! Great nurse! At 9:30 they did an amniotic fluid test to make sure I was really in labor, and it was extremely positive! She checked me after that and I was at 3 cm and 60% effaced. I got an IV placed in my left forearm (yay for avoiding joints!) and they saline locked it.
At 10:30 AM they let me off the monitor. They would do intermittent monitoring every hour for 20 minutes. I was so glad! I walked around the room, kept the lights low, and turned on my Liquid Mind CD. It was really relaxing. Jordan went to get some lunch at 11 and Tiffany brought me a birthing ball and a peanut ball. The peanut ball was for when I would lay in bed so I could keep my hips open. She encouraged me to get up, move around, and drink lots of water to speed up labor. I sat on the birthing ball just rocking for a few minutes. When Jordan came back, we walked up and down the hall for 20 minutes. With every contraction, I would pause and rest my head against the wall while Jordan would rub my back, telling me what a good job I’m doing. So many people in the hallway were encouraging to me, saying sweet things like, “Keep going!” “Walk that baby down!” We also saw Dr. Malkman in the hallway and talked with her for a bit.
At 11:30 I got put on the monitor again. Tiffany let me sit on the birthing ball while I was being monitored! I loved not having to lay down. At 11:50 I decided I wanted to take a bath, so Jordan started the water going. I labored in the bath for almost an entire hour. During the bath I started to fall asleep in between contractions. The contractions themselves were becoming much more strong and painful. The warm water was so relaxing. Eventually it became uncomfortable to sit in the tub and completely relax, so I decided to get out around 12:40 and move to the bed.
At 12:50 I got on the monitor again and he was so low in my pelvis that Tiffany couldn’t get a good reading if I was sitting on the birthing ball. I decided to stand up by the monitor to allow him to continue moving down. Jordan was putting counter pressure on my lower back. I was starting to get nauseated because of how strong the contractions were, so Tiffany got me some ginger ale.
I was completely in “labor land” at this time so I don’t really remember the timeline of everything after this. I labored in the bed for a while on my side with the peanut ball in between my legs. I was really feeling the contractions all the way to my hips. They were super strong and it was very difficult to relax. I was breathing a little hard and Jordan kept trying to calm me down by putting counter pressure on my back and doing the relaxation exercises we’d practiced. I know I was hitting transition at this point because I was sooo irritable and because I was starting to doubt my ability to do this. I got mad at the peanut ball because it made the contractions stronger (because it helps keep your hips open). “Get this dang thing out of here!” I also got mad at Jordan because I didn’t like how he was putting counter pressure on my lower back. “Push! You’re not pushing, you’re rubbing! No!! PUSH!” It makes me laugh now, haha!
Tiffany came back to check me and it was so painful having her touch me while I was having a contraction! I was at 7 cm and 90% effaced. The contractions were so intense that I was gripping the side rails and shaking during them. She put me on the monitor and Jonah was so so low in my pelvis. He was having some variable decelerations, possibly due to the cord being around his neck or the cord being compressed by his foot. This part was scary for me. Extra nurses came in the room and they, along with Jordan, helped me rotate side to side to help Jonah. This was SO hard during contractions! All I wanted to do was lay there! They also started some saline in my IV and oxygen via face mask. The face mask smelled gross, like a beach ball. During this time, they started getting the room prepared for delivery, including getting a gown and gloves for Jordan.
Eventually the contractions got so intense that I started groaning and I just knew I was close to the end. Tiffany notices me groaning and checked me again (20 minutes after she last checked me). She said, “Wow, she’s complete! We need to call Dr. Malkman to get over here now!” My body started involuntarily pushing during contractions and it was the absolute hardest and most painful thing to not push during those contractions. I let it all out verbally, and felt like I was really loud, haha! Jordan said I wasn’t too loud. It felt like we waited forever for the doctor! She ran in and said, “I’m glad I didn’t get a ticket trying to get here!” They had a mirror set up near the foot of the bed so I could see the delivery, which was awesome.
Dr. Malkman put on her gowns and gloves and the nurses helped me to a seated squat position and held my legs up for me. I took a deep breath and started pushing! It felt SO good to push with the contractions, to work with my body! It basically (sorry for TMI) felt like I was going to have a giant BM all over. During the first push, Jonah came down really far in the birth canal. The second push brought his head to the edge. The third brought him into this world!!! Dr. Malkman delivered his head and Jordan delivered his body! Jordan placed him immediately on my chest afterwards and then was able to cut the cord!
The first thing I noticed about Jonah was how long his eyelashes are and how long his fingernails were, as well as how amazing he smelled. Love that new baby smell. He has gorgeous brown hair and is such a good mix of Jordan and I. He just kept looking at me! I immediately fell in love.
After Jonah was born the doctor allowed my body to continue to contract to let the placenta be delivered, which was painless. But then she put pressure on my belly to make it contract down, and that killed! They were also giving me pitocin IV at the same time to help the uterus contract down. I had a second degree tear that she stitched up. Jonah and Jordan and I were just all sitting there loving the moment. He started breastfeeding and I was amazed at how he just seemed to know what to do! The nurses then allowed us about an hour together as a new family alone. Jenae came in around this time and helped take tons of pictures and videos. It was so nice having her there!
The whole weight of what we had done came to me then - Jordan and I had actually created this little person! He was living and breathing! I could not, and still can’t believe the love that Heavenly Father has for us to allow us to be creators alongside Him. It’s amazing. I also can’t believe I’m a mom - and responsible for this little person!!!
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