10:06

Around 7AM, the nurse checked my cervix.  I was 8 cm dilated plus.  They were still having a lot of trouble getting Jackson on the monitor, made worse by how low he was.  They decided to put the fetal scalp electrode in him.  This I didn't like.  It's basically a screw in his scalp that tells his heart rate and oxygenation more accurately.  This for some reason made me dilate extremely quickly.  Maybe it was just transition.  within about a half an hour, I was completely dilated.  I didn't feel ready to push yet, probably because my epidural was still working well.  But as my feeling returned, I could start to feel like I needed to push. 

Pushing was surreal.  After 6 weeks on bedrest, I was in the worst shape of my life.  It was exhausting.  I pushed for 2 hours.  There was a mirror set up at the foot of the bed so that I could see Jackson born.  Seeing his little head come closer and closer to this world was incredible.  Christopher was so excited.  He kept saying "He's so close! He's so close!"  Eventually I could tell he was almost here (about an hour after Christopher's proclamations) and I really gave pushing everything I had left.  At this point I was half asleep, on oxygen, and half wishing for a C section.  Finally, his little head came out with one extremely long hard push.  But instead of his body slipping out behind him, he stayed.  His shoulder has caught behind my pelvic bone.  This was terrifying.  All of the sudden, the nurses were pushing on my stomach very hard and yelling at me to keep pushing.  Finally the midwife dislodged his shoulder and he came out crying at 10:06 AM on Sunday the 26th of September, one month ahead of his October 23 due date. 

They cut his cord immediately (mad about it) but put him right on me.  Feeling and smelling his slippery little body was the best moment of my life.  They took him away soon, because he was early and they wanted to make sure he was okay.  He was, but he had to be under nursery observation for 6 hours.  Enter the longest 6 hours of my life.  His blood sugar was low because he wasn't able to nurse in the nursery, so they gave him formula (even madder) even though I specifically requested to pump if that happened.  Finally they brought him to me.

Aside from the magnesium they had me on to prevent seizures, our post partum stay was uneventful.  We went home 2 days later, and started our life as three.