Connor Charles Jackson

I know it has taken forever for me to post this, but you have to understand how retarded you feel the first few weeks after giving birth. Add to that the fact that we have nothing prepared for Connor!! We thought we had another month and a half before we had to have the nursery ready!! The house is a mess, the nursery is still full of Katie-stuff and PURPLE, the cat is shedding everywhere (anyone want a neurotic 8 year old orange tabby that is completely declawed??), and of course we are entering the busy time of year. There is so much to do with Katie. I had to miss her first fieldtrip to the petting zoo because I was in labor. Sure, it is a good excuse but I don't have any pictures!!
So, here is the breakdown of the last month for the Jackson 4 ...
I worked up until the morning of the 7th, and when I woke up that afternoon we found out that my water had ruptured. Luckily it was a slow leak! We went straight to the hospital, and they ended up admitting me. I got a lovely stay at Hotel Desoto ... although with what they charge I should have flown to a world class spa!!! They monitored my fluid levels, but by Thursday they were super low, so Dr. Ryan decided he would induce me on Friday at 4 AM!!! That put me at 34 weeks and 2 days. Luckily we had those days in the hospital to settle on a name. Katie was partial to the name Brendan, but Chip and I both loved Connor. So, being the parents we overrode Katie. Though Daddy promised her that if we have another child (girl or boy) that we could name it Brendan. We kept Chip's first name for the middle name since it went back four generations. It seemed only fitting.
So, they finally got my IV run after four tries, and we got the Pitocin going. Chip fell asleep on the couch (in his defense he had worked the whole night before)and I waited. I was not dilating, or really just dilating very slowly. Finally I gave in and asked for some pain meds. They gave me Stateall (or however you spell it). And according to Chip they gave it to me twice, not that I remember it :) So I slept. Around 5 PM I was hurting bad and had Chip call the nurse about touching up the pain med. She came in and said that if I had dilated to 3 or 4 they would go ahead and do the epidural. Like I said, I was dilating SLOW! I ran to the potty, and when I came back I could barely get laid back down for the contractions ... and the nurse checked me. She did not have to look very far because he was crowning!!! Needless to say, I did not get my epidural!! All hell broke loose as they tried to get the room ready. Dr.Ryan made it in the room just in time! I was trying so hard not to push until everything was ready. I was just about to start pushing when Katie came running in the room!! Grammy, who had made it in town a few hours earlier had taken her to get a snack, and they had no clue what they were walking in on. They got shooed out, but only for a little bit. I pushed through one contraction, then through another. They told me to rest, and I think I grunted "uh-uh" and pushed one last time ...
Connor was born at 5:47 PM! He weighed 4 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19.5 inches. His head however was 13.5 !!! We were so lucky!! His lungs were strong, and he did not need to be put on oxygen. We were allowed to let the family in and let everyone see him. Katie was so excited to see her little brother!! My Mom was there, and both of Chip's parents. It was perfect!!




Connor did end up staying in the Level II nursery for two weeks. It was a lot of driving back and forth, but thankfully we had our parents to help us out. My Mom stayed a whole week, and Chip's Dad came back on Wednesday before we got Connor home. I don't know how we would have managed without them. Especially since I had to "room-in" the night before Connor came home, and the night he came home Katie had a school fair that PopPop took her to (once again, no pictures).
We have spent the past week adjusting to life with an infant! You forget what it is like after 5 years :)