His Arrival

Once arriving to the hospital my contractions were about 6 minutes apart. I don't remember them hurting too bad at this point.
The nurse set us up in the triage then took us to the room where Jackson would be born.
No matter how prepared you are for labor you never really know what to expect. Justin and I took the basics, birth and breathing class thinking this would prepare us for how labor will be. All of this information went out the window as I was walking from the triage room to the labor room, I don't know if I could have told you my own name as I was making this walk... I just knew in my head this was the real thing, we FINALLY made it past the triage room!

After I got all hooked up to the monitors and got situated in my bed, I told Justin it would be okay for everyone to come on in. My mom, my dad, Ashley and Don, Justin's parents, Melissa, and Papa all came into my room, as they stood there and looked at me my contractions were getting closer together and longer.

Of course as our luck it was getting close to 7pm which was shift change, I was told that if I wanted an epidural it would be a little while until the nurses for the new shift came on. I was given poticin to get my contractions more regular and closer together. I also had not dilated past 3cm so I still had a while (so the nurse told us!)
Once I was given the poticin my contractions did exactly what they were supposed to do, become more regular and more intense. It seemed like forever until I was able to get the epidural. After the epidural I honestly felt like a million bucks! The nurse warned me of this and said that even though I felt great and did not have any pain, I needed to take this time to relax, rest and possibly sleep as I will need all my energy when it comes time to push.

Soon after the epidural was given my right leg went completely numb, it felt as if I only had one leg! All my visitors came back in the room to give their support. I felt like I was on display, no one really knew what to say so I was just watched!
Everyone kept asking the nurse, "how much longer, how is she progressing, when will he be here..." the nurse assured everyone that it would be a few more hours. She assured everyone Jackson would not arrive until the early hours in the morning. This made me sad as I did not want Jackson to have his birthday on a holiday.
Justin had not eaten so Ashley and Don went to dinner and brought him back whataburger.
Soon after I had my epidural I told the nurse that I was feeling a lot of pressure. She said she would check me when they rolled me onto the other side to get the epidural to work efficiently.
Once again everyone had to leave the room, everyone accept for my momma and Justin. The nurse rolled me onto my back from my left side and checked me.
After checking me she looked up at me with shock in her eyes and said, you are fully dilated and his head is right there, she told me that we were going to try some practice pushes and then call the doctor. At this point the fear set in...I was going to have this baby and it was going to be soon. "What happened to my nap, to my long hours of labor, they didn't tell us in our class that it could go this fast." Everything seemed to be happening so fast. I now know why your legs go numb after an epidural....so you can't get up and run out of the room. Trust me the thought crossed my mind a few times.

Justin decided he would go and tell everyone about my progress and would try and eat his dinner before the "action" started. Most of you know that Justin is not the fastest eater in the world, in fact could very possibly be the slowest eater...
I felt more and more pressure and kept telling the nurse that I felt like Jackson was going to come out. It was then that she said she was going to remove the end of the bed and get me ready to push. She asked if took classes for breathing, I told her yes, but had no memory of what to do or how to do it! She assured me she would direct and guide me. The nurse started looking around the room and was like "where's dad?" My mom told her that he stepped out to eat his dinner, the nurse looked at us like, come on people if you sneeze your son will be here. So my mom went on the mission to get Justin and bring him back so we could start our practice pushes.
Mom found Justin in the waiting room with everyone eating his burger with my dad. Mom told him the news that we were going to start pushing and she said she had never seen him eat sooo fast, he litteraly swallowed the burger in one bite!

Once Justin arrived back in the room, it was time to start the "practices pushes".
My mom had my left leg and Justin had my right leg and the nurse was the "catcher" she explained to me how we were going to push on my next contraction (which I had no clue when I was having them since I was numb from my belly down!) The next contraction came and I did just as she said and started to push, only to be told instantly to STOP that he was right there and we needed to get the Dr there. If I remember correctly the nurse told me to "shut my legs" and she would go and call the Dr.
By this point I was having second thoughts about this whole thing, I looked at my mom and told her that I was not ready, I didn't know what I was doing and so on, she assured me that I was going to be fine and to relax...THEN she had the nerve to say, don't you want to see your little boy, he has dark hair just like you wanted" It was then that I freaked out..."YOU CAN SEE HIS HEAD" I panicked. If I could have felt my legs I would have jumped right up and walked out of there, not sure why because I would have been taking my problem with me!
Mom and Justin were cracking up, thank God for them because some how some way they calmed me down and talked me back into having Jackson.

It seemed like forever until my Dr arrived, every few minutes I would tell the nurse that the pressure was getting more and more intense. She just told me to hang tight and NOT TO PUSH. Finally the Dr arrived, by this point my mom , Justin and I have had a few good laughs, I think to keep me from crying, so we were in a good, relaxed mood.
The Dr now took the "catchers" seat, the nurse had my right leg and Justin had my left and my mom was behind my head filming the birth.
The Dr explained to me again just like on our practice pushed what I was to do. They would tell me when I was having a contraction and all I was to do is push. Now I must say here, that I have been known to be emotional, I have been known to cry on a dime, laugh when I am nervous and get really quiet when I am in pain. Never did I know how I was going to be in active labor!

Finally a contraction came and I took my deep breath and started to push, the nurse was counting (I think) and directing me on what to do. They told me to stop and take a breath and we would start again. Well I got tickled and started to laugh, everyone in the room was looking at each other like "are you serious, she is laughing right now?!?!?!" On my next contraction I started out pushing great (so I thought) then got a mental picture of how dumb I must look to the Dr and everyone who could see my face. I could feel it turning red as I held my breath and pushed...with this mental picture in my head I burst into laughter again, I didn't even push for my 10 count. Again everyone was looking at each other, this time laughing with me. The Dr was laughing and said "well you can laugh him out, that works". Here I am with people holding my legs for me (which I could not feel at all) in labor and I am laughing. What is wrong with this picture?!?! On my next push there he was...my little boy. The boy I had waited 9 long months to see and hold in my arms. Jackson Ryan Hayes born at 10:59pm (Justin swears 10:57pm) weighing 7lbs 13oz and was 21 inches long.

They laid him on my chest; poor little guy was just evicted from his warm, cozy home into this cold, bright room loud with laughter and people poking him and wiping him off. He was bright eyed and hardly crying and trying so hard to fit his little fist into his mouth. He was beautiful...absolutely beautiful. Time stood still, we finally had our baby boy, there in our arms nothing else in the world mattered.