On Wednesday, January 30, 2019 my world completely changed. Just nine days after my twenty fifth birthday, our son Jasper Thomas Rogachenko-Devine was born. This day will forever be the craziest, yet best day of my entire life. Jasper came into this world a whole nine days early and we have not stopped loving on him since.

The second he was in my belly he gave me a run for my money and his entrance into this world wasn’t any different! Being an Aquarius (like his mama) he had to make sure his debut was dramatic. I know you guys have been waiting a while to hear his birth story, so I won’t keep you waiting any longer.

Jasper Thomas’ Birth Story (pt. I)

Let’s start at the very beginning…

Monday, January 28^th was just an average day. I was 38 weeks and 3 days pregnant, anxiously waiting for my son’s arrival. That morning I was babysitting our friend’s little girl and then was headed to my doctor’s appointment for the week (those who don’t know, once you hit 36 weeks in your pregnancy you go to the doctor every week up until you deliver). These appointments aren’t anything too crazy- the doctor checks your vitals, baby’s heart rate, and your cervix if you choose, so this was routine for me.

It wasn’t until my doctor couldn’t find Jasper’s heart beat and once she did, she said, “He’s pretty mellow today, when was the last time you felt him move?”. Now, this may sound bad considering you should be kick counting, but I didn’t even realize if he was moving or not because I was pre-occupied babysitting. She then proceeded to tell me not to worry and she’ll hook me up to the Non Stress Test (NST), which is a test to monitor the baby’s heart beat and movement.

While I was hooked up to the monitor his heart rate wouldn’t stay at a consistent rate of 130 or higher (it was at 120 or lower). My doctor wasn’t too concerned because everything had looked great up until this point, but she scheduled me for an ultrasound later that day just to be sure.

So, at 4pm we came back. For this ultrasound the baby has a thirty-minute window to show movement, breathing, heart rate, brain function, etc. They then are scored on a scale of 8, scoring only in twos. Jasper was not moving, and his heart rate was now at 104, therefore he got a six out of eight (anything that isn’t an eight out of eight is technically failing). So, with these results, my doctor prompted us to come back the following day for the same tests.

Fast forwarding to the next day, Tuesday, January 29^th, I went back in for another NST and ultrasound. He showed some improvement on the NST as his heart rate was higher and more consistent. Unfortunately, on the ultrasound he scored a six again because there was no movement.

It was literally like déjà vu, except this time it was different when my doctor walked in. As she walked in and sat down the first thing she said was “Where are your bags? I think it’s time to head to delivery”.

I about lost it. No, I did lose it. I was a huge ball of sobbing tears. Scared, anxious, pissed, worried, frustrated, confused, and sad all at once. Of course, this wasn’t my birth plan and although I was okay with not having my birth plan go as I hoped for, the last thing I wanted was an induction. I wanted my body to do what it had to do on its’ own and not force something if it wasn’t ready.

I immediately started questioning myself, hoping to convince myself and everyone else the baby would move, and it was just all in my head. Because I did feel him move, but it wasn’t the movement you except this late in a pregnancy. My doctor straight up said he’s not going to move in 24 hours if he hasn’t moved yet and while we are both still healthy she wants to give me a chance at a natural birth as much as possible. Still sobbing, I appreciated her even more for that even though I had zero interest in getting induced.

So, to the hospital we headed! Well, almost…

We obviously had to go home to get our bags and take care of the dogs, but I also felt the need to vacuum and clean one last time, lol. Yes, clean my house…clearly, I was stalling! By this time, it was going on 6pm. After about another hour at home we started heading to the hospital. But wait, I had to stop at Target and also eat dinner, lol. So, to Target we went and then to get french fries and pizza as my last meal!

You guys, I stalled so much we didn’t get to the hospital until 8pm, lol.

To my surprise, they had a room all ready to go and they weren’t about to waste any time! The second I stepped foot in the room the nurse prompted me to put on the gown and she would be in to take my vitals and get me hooked up to an IV.

You guys already know I’m psycho and brought anything the hospital usually provides you myself. So, I put on the gown I brought, and the nurse says I can’t wear it because the buttons were incorrect, and it would mess with the IV (it did not). I was already annoyed and didn’t want to be there so this just made me even more pissed. She then proceeded to tell me I couldn’t walk around, that I had to stay in bed and that I also couldn’t eat (mind you, we brought the pizza with us to eat when we got there). Even more hangry and annoyed she told me to get some sleep, so I had energy to push tomorrow (yes, she was totally right but I was not getting any sleep that’s for sure)!

I march to the beat of my own drum so guess what? I ate the damn pizza and french fries without a care in the world! I was not about to go hungry and have no sleep. The nurse probably hated me but ya girls got to eat! Once I had food in my system I felt calmer and not so pissy, lol.

So, at about 10pm is when the action really starts…

She checked my cervix and I was still only 1cm dilated and 50% effaced (effaced means how thin your cervix is). They were starting me off with Cervidil. For those of you who don’t know, Cervidil is a medication that is applied to a long strip of paper that inserts like a tampon and is placed behind the cervix. It’s job is to “ripen” the cervix and prepare you for labor, or in my case before you receive Pitocin which is the drug that puts you into labor (I wasn’t getting the Pitocin until the next morning). And yes, getting the Cervidil put in hurts like a b*tch!!!

The nurse said I would have to keep it in until tomorrow morning when they give me the Pitocin and that I should only feel what most women describe as “bad period cramps”. No biggie, I could handle that! No, that was FALSE. They weren’t just “bad period cramps” they were legit contractions.

At about some point in the middle of the night (by the way I did end up staying up all night and Mark was sound asleep on the couch that was in the room, lol), the contractions started to pick up and get really uncomfortable. At about 6am they only got worse and I was really starting to question why the nurse referred to them as just cramps because they were way worse than that. 8am rolls around and the Cervidil is finally taken out. The nurse checked my cervix again and I was just barely 2cm dilated.

Finally, the doctor comes in and at this point what I was still being told were cramps started to pick up to every 90 seconds. However, they came in clusters of three with only a second pause before the 90 second break (yeah, they were definitely contractions). The first thing the doctor said to me was, “why are you here?”. Being in pain, this really pissed me off, so I told Mark to tell her what led us here. She responded with “well we monitored you and the baby all night and you both look perfect and I’m afraid the Cervidil didn’t work and your body doesn’t want to be in labor at this point. The cramps you are experiencing aren’t contractions that are dilating your cervix. I don’t feel comfortable going through with this induction.” I WAS LIVID. I was literally having painful contractions for the fun of it and didn’t even need to be here. I was not only pissed but sadden because I felt like I failed my baby. She then proceeded to tell us since my body wasn’t ready to go into labor I had a few options but they all ended up with needing a possible emergency c-section since the Cervidil didn’t work/I was forcing labor. Luckily Mark convinced her to wait a few hours and come back to see if I made any progress- I was not about to go home after all of this!

At about 11am she comes back to check my cervix (I’m still having contractions at this point). I was at 4cm!!! The Cervidil worked and my body was officially in labor!!! At this point I didn’t need Pitocin as long as my body kept progressing. Still frustrated that she told me I didn’t need to be induced, I was also happy to see my body making progress on its’ own!

Here’s where it gets even crazier…

The doctor informed us the baby’s ultrasound scans were sent to the high-risk doctor and he was the one who said I needed to be induced. He found that if Jasper stayed in there any longer his abdomen growth would be stunted. However, Mark or I were never told that until this moment. So, long story short, I was where I needed to be and that 8am conversation was null and void. At this time the doctor asked if I wanted an epidural because if I did she would come back later to break my water but if I didn’t she would break it now and there’s no turning back.

I got the epidural.

I told myself I wasn’t going to get one but that all went out the window when I had to get induced. I feel like without the induction I would have been fine, but this induction was so intense and traumatic already that I needed it. And I have NO regrets! The epidural allowed me to relax and enjoy the remainder of my pregnancy.

Moving forward a few hours, I was now 7cm dilated and it was time to break my water! This was really happening! I was going to meet my baby boy so soon!

To be continued…

 

READ PART II HERE.

 

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XOXO,

D.J.