Jordyn Alexa's Birth Story

In the beginning of January, I found out that I was pregnant. I’d never been happier!

Then the side effects of pregnancy kicked in. I experienced most of the negative aspects of pregnancy, and very few of the good ones. I had morning sickness all through the pregnancy and because of that, I only gained a total of seven pounds.

My due date was set for September 15th. On the night of July 14th, I started having slight contractions. I figured it was a false alarm, but went to the hospital just to make sure. My heart literally stopped when the doctor examined me. I was 2 cm. dilated, and 75% effaced. I was only 31 weeks along, so I was immediately put on the drip to stop my contractions. Luckily, it worked. I was given steroids to help mature my baby's lungs in case I went into early labor again. I was also placed on strict bed rest for the next five and a half weeks.

On August 14th, I was sitting on the couch watching TV. I stood up and realized it was really wet where I’d been sitting, and there was fluid leaking down my legs. I’d always heard that when a woman’s water breaks there's a gush of water. I didn’t really know if my water had broken or if my bladder muscles had suddenly stopped working! My husband was at my mom’s, so I called and had him come home. We went to the hospital yet again and found out that my water had indeed broken. I wasn’t having any contractions though. This was at about seven o'clock in the evening.

By then I was 35 weeks along and the doctor thought that was close enough to my due date. If I didn’t start having contractions by six o'clock the next morning, they were going to induce my labor.

They ended up having to induce. I was having mild contractions until late morning. At noon, I asked for an epidural because I felt I was coming close to breaking my husband’s hand. After the epidural, I was the happiest person in the world. I’d been stuck at 4 cm. most of the day and I wasn’t feeling any pressure. My husband felt it was safe enough for him to run home to get some stuff done. I was to call him, and the rest of the people that were going to be in the delivery room with me, when I hit 7 cm.

At 6:30 p.m., the nurse checked me. She said I was at 8 cm. and growing as she watched. I got on the phone immediately and called everyone.

Most of the people showed up about two minutes before I started pushing. My mom, however, almost didn’t make it in time. When I was able to start pushing, it was extremely easy. I pushed four times and everyone started yelling for me to stop. My daughter was crowning and the doctor wasn’t in the room yet. Not pushing was the hardest thing I had gone through all day Even though I wasn’t moving, the baby decided she’d had enough, and wiggled her way out. My mom popped into the room right before the doctor and the head and shoulders were already out. I gave one last push and she was born.

Even though she was five weeks early, my baby's as healthy as if she’d been born at full term. She weighed five pounds, eight ounces at birth. If I’d carried her full term, the doctor told me she’d easily have been a nine pound baby.

Normally she would have come home the next day, but she was having some slight problems feeding. She came home with me two days later and is still as healthy as can be.