Jace’s birth story FINALLY!

I had a few weeks of the pregnancy left and I had to get an ultrasound because my belly was measuring about 3 weeks too small. I got the ultrasound on March 17^th, and the tech told me that everything looked great, in fact, Jace was measuring exactly what he should. On the 22^nd, I got a call from Dr. Wenzel. She said that my fluid was very low (it was a 4 or 5 and normal is above 10), so I needed to come in the next day for a non-stress test and be prepared for induction if there were any problems. Kassie Abarca took the kids the next morning (Wednesday), and Brandon and I went to the hospital. We had mixed emotions about having Jace that day- Brandon had his big internal medicine exam on Friday, but we were really excited to meet Jace. Again, Jace looked great, so they said the induction could wait. We were a little disappointed, but we scheduled induction for the next Monday (the 28^th). Brandon got a day off of his next rotation (family medicine). I liked knowing when it was because I got a lot of organizing/cleaning done before hand.

I woke up at 6 on Monday to call and make sure there was an open room for me. There wasn’t! We were so anxious to meet Jace so it was hard because we had no idea how long we would have to wait. I hadn’t slept the night before because I was so excited, and it would be hard for Brandon to get another day off of work. As I lay down to take a nap around 10, Brandon came running up the stairs and handed me my ringing phone. They told us we could come and be there by 11:00! We rushed the kids to Elsha Haberle’s house, and then went to Mercy Hospital in Iowa City.

We got there right around 11:00. Dr. Wenzel was very excited to see me. They had been very busy all morning and she had been asking the nurses if I was there yet. She pulled some strings so I could have priority to get in faster. I had been having minor contractions through the night, so I was ready. They broke my water and started a normal does of pitocin, but my contractions started coming too close together, so they backed off on the pitocin. I think I might have gone in to labor that day even if they had not induced me. Because of the past 2 labors we knew that the epidural would take a long time to work, so I started getting it when I was at a 4. Brandon told the anesthesiologist about my issues, and so when the epidural didn’t work (for the third child in a row!), she did an intrathecal injection, which felt GREAT! But about an hour later, it was wearing off. I started feeling pressure with the contractions, then pain, then I was feeling everything. I wanted something else for the pain, but the doctor came in and said I was ready to have the baby! It was 2:45. She got prepped and came back in at 2:50. I could feel everything and it hurt so bad! But I pushed for 5 minutes and he was out at 2:55 pm. The entire labor was only 2 hours long! I keep cutting 2 hours off my labor time with each kid. Kayla was 6 hours, Tessa was 4 hours and Jace was only 2. I better just camp out at the hospital for my next kid!

With my past labors I didn’t feel a thing because the epidural s eventually started working. I couldn’t even feel if I was pushing with each contraction. All I did when they told me to push was hold my breath and it seemed to work. With Jace I could feel EVERYTHING. I think if the labor had lasted longer the epidural would have finally kicked in because in the past it took a couple of hours to work. It was such an intense feeling when I had to push. It made my eyes water because it hurt so bad, but I loved the feeling of accomplishment I had once he came out. There was such a sense of relief. Feeling that intense pain made the experience even sweeter when it was over. Brandon cut the cord and they placed Jace on my chest. Brandon didn’t cry, just like he didn’t cry with our other two children or at our wedding. Jace was so cute! He weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 20 in. long. His little bottom lip was trembling when he cried and he had little stork bites all over his body. The stork bites went away after a couple of hours. He definitely looked like he belonged in our family. It is so fun to see that we have a family look going. He looked different than the other kids, but also so similar. He really looked a lot like Tessa. Sometimes when we see a baby picture of Tessa we think it is Jace until we see that she is wearing pink.

I stayed in the hospital for 2 days and my mom came that Thursday. It was so nice to have her here to help. I think she helped a lot with the transition for the girls because I was able to give them the same amount of attention as I had been before since my mom was here to hold Jace for me a bunch. She was here for three weeks and about the day she left, Jace was one month old, he started getting fussy a lot more. We really didn’t know what to do to help him, but we put him on an acid reflux medicine that seemed to help a little, but he still cried for hours every day. It was a difficult time because he just wanted to be held all day, but because he is a third child it just wasn’t possible. He just screamed and screamed and screamed. I never left the house because it was such a process and I usually made a big scene where ever I went because he would just cry the whole time. We really loved the little guy so much, I was just so exhausted mentally and physically because of what was being demanded of me.

When Jace hit 4 months old we hit a breakthrough. He let me put him down! Up to that point I knew that if I ever dared to lay him down he was going to break out into a blood curdling scream. One day I put him down expecting to hear his wrath, but he didn’t do anything. I couldn’t believe it! His happy moments began to linger and his angry moments began to disappear. I felt like we were starting all over again and I was getting to know my precious baby boy all over again. I started running errands with the kids again and taking them to the park and I was able to do all these things successfully! He remained calm and happy the whole time. He would even coo and giggle and smile! It has been so wonderful! We love this little man so much! He has such a sweet personality and is always all smiles. He loves his sisters. He follows their every movement. He still isn’t a great sleeper, but I would much rather have him happy in the day and rough at night than vice-versa. In the beginning when he was colicky he was actually a pretty good sleeper. I only had to get up with him twice a night to feed him and it lasted about 15 minutes and then he would go right back to sleep for about 3 more hours. Now he isn’t eating at night, but he wimpers all through the night. We are now making him cry it out and it is going a bit better, but there is still A LOT of room for improvement. He is growing so big. He is greater than the 95^th percentile in both weight and height (and of course head).

I’m so grateful to have this boy in my life. I can’t imagine my life without him and I truly am in love. I feel so blessed to be living the life I get to live.