Jameson's Birth Story, Part 1

The Lead Up

This past September, Wyatt and I found out that we were expecting a child, due June 6,  2014. We, along with the girls, were overjoyed.

As with my previous pregnancies, I soon began experiencing symptoms of Hyperemesis Gravidarum-- constant nausea and excessive vomiting-- which feels similar to having food poisoning or norovirus for the better part of 9 months. I became hypersensitive to smells (including the smells of my home and family), sights, climate temperatures, and various foods, felt worse when fatigued or overwhelmed, or whenever HG decided to jerk me around. I continued to struggle with HG throughout the pregnancy. October through February were by far the most difficult months for me, and for the family, particularly as we were adjusting to a second life change; Wyatt was promoted to Assistant Manager and was transferred to a store 30-40 minutes from home and assigned 10 hour shifts, five days a week. Thanks to supportive family and friends, we managed to muddle through those most difficult months and find some sort of normalcy again.

When we found out that we were pregnant, Wyatt and I chose to pursue a homebirth, assuming baby and I were low-risk and healthy. In November, Wyatt’s promotion caused our insurance to change and made the homebirth financially much more feasible. We found a wonderful group of midwives and began prenatal care with them around 12 weeks into the pregnancy.

Initially, I saw a local OB who came highly recommended, and I continued under his care until I was about 25 weeks along in order to have the necessary medications to help ease the HG symptoms I experienced.

Midwife Tacy checking the baby the weekend before he was born.

Our anatomy scan occurred at the beginning of February. We found out that not only were we expecting a healthy baby, but that this baby would be our first son! Having a boy in the family seemed surreal, but it also felt right. God knows exactly what we need. Elizabeth was particularly delighted as she’d been guessing for some weeks leading to the ultrasound that the baby was a boy.

Wyatt and I had previously decided on both a boy name and a girl name, and we were particularly excited to be having a boy to use the name we’d chosen 7-8 years ago during our first year of marriage. Our son would be named Jameson Michael Wyatt.

Around 27 weeks into pregnancy, I monitored my blood glucose levels thrice a day for four days. I discovered that my blood tended towards the overly sugary side of the spectrum whenever I ate grains or sugar. To confirm, my midwives had me drink Glucola and have a blood draw. My numbers came back high then, as well, and rather than put myself through the 3 hour diagnostic test, I began changing my diet, increasing my activity, and monitoring my blood glucose numbers in order to treat my sugar issues. I hadn’t had any blood sugar problems in my other pregnancies, at least none confirmed, but my girls’ high birth weights may have been influenced by some sort of glucose imbalance.

Along with the increased activity (trying to walk 10-20 minutes after lunch and dinner) and cutting out grains and sugars, I was trying to eat mainly protein, vegetables, and fresh fruits. It’s a lifestyle change that came with difficulty in the beginning but that I am thankful for. My blood glucose numbers were healthy and stabilized, and I even lost some weight, which was ok as I’d started out the pregnancy overweight.

Two weeks before Jameson's arrival.

At about 30 weeks into pregnancy, it was time to start gathering and ordering supplies and readying the house for the homebirth. We took gradual steps and did a fair amount of nesting, and by the time of our homevisit with the midwives at 35.5 weeks, we were prepared.

Legally, in California, homebirth can only occur between 37 and 42 gestational weeks. Since Elizabeth was born at 37w2d I was concerned that this boy could potentially come too early for a homebirth. I’d been feeling Braxton Hicks contractions since before 30 weeks along, and they were becoming stronger and more frequent. By 36 weeks along I decided to just take it easy with housework and activity so that I didn’t push myself into an early labor.

Also during 36 weeks, I daily monitored my blood pressure after having a high reading at my weekly prenatal check. As it turned out, it was a one-time high reading and all my following numbers were well within healthy range.

Once 37 weeks came around, I was less concerned about labor being kicked off by activity, and as chance would have it, I had energy to nest! That weekend, Wyatt and I got a major amount of work done around the house and yard. All told, the kitchen was cleaned, dining room curtains washed and ironed (necessary after smoothie splattered all over them), dining room slider door windows washed (with the girls' help), dining room swept, living room vacuumed, towels washed, and back patio/garden area swept and weeded a bit. I also wiped down doors and baseboards in our very tiny hallway, deep cleaned the bathroom, and washed/dried/sorted/put away several loads of laundry. That was all 2-4 days before the baby was born.

The last night of our cleaning spree, while I was showering, I told Jameson that he could come anytime, that the house wouldn’t likely be this clean again for a while.

At 37w 4d, I had an appointment with my midwives, Wyatt had his first day of his work week, and the girls and I had our typical afternoon and evening routine. My appointment went well, baby was positioned optimally for delivery, his heartrate was good, I was measuring on track, amniotic fluid levels were good, and baby was estimated to be around 7-7.5 lbs.

After my appointment, the girls and I had nap and rest time and then headed to my parents’ home for dinner and company. I remember driving to their house, drinking a cup of coffee, thinking that life was pretty darn good. I briefly wondered at my feeling of euphoria-- I recalled the evening that Anastasia was born, before labor started, that I had a feeling of elation. This time I shrugged it off and assumed it was the coffee, nice weather, the sense of accomplishment for all that we’d gotten done at home during the weekend, and the joy of a healthy check up.

My three babies, the day before Jameson was born.

I’d taken over hot dogs for the girls’ dinner, and my mom made dinner for me: chicken, roasted Brussel’s sprouts, roasted carrots, and a dish with zucchini, tomato and onion. We stayed until bedtime, or a little later, and then headed home to bed. After the girls were tucked in and asleep, I had some down time. I either watched a show or putzed around online. Either way, I stayed up later than I should have. I decided to take a shower, during which Elizabeth came in to let me know about an accident she’d had. I let her come into the shower with me for a few minutes before tucking her into the big bed so I could change her sheets. I was just finishing up cleaning, getting ready to throw bedding into the washing machine, when Wyatt got home. By this time I was feeling utterly exhausted. I assumed that the nightly sleep aid I take the entirety of pregnancy (it helps take an edge off of HG symptoms) was doing its job. Between 12 and 12:30, Wyatt and I went to bed.