Jackson Howard Meyer was born Saturday, May 30 (his due date!)
at 10:26 am.
Weighing 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and 19 1/2 inches long.
He's been a bit jaundiced and I ended up with an infection in my uterus, but we are both doing pretty good now! Now if only I could figure out how to get him to sleep without being cuddled at nite!
As for his name, we had already decided to use Howard as the middle name, but had no idea for a first name until a few weeks ago. We were picking rocks out of the garden one day and got talking about names. We really had no ideas. So Rick asked the kids what they thot we should name the baby if it was a boy. Gabriella hollered out "Jack!" William said "NO! Zack!" Gabriella turned to Tabitha and said "What do you think we should name the baby? Jack or Zack?" and Tabitha said "Jack." Rick turned to me and said, "Well, there you go. We'll name him Jack." But I wasn't that big on Jack. Just too plain and simple and boring for me. Though I did think it funny that Gabriella came up with it and it was my Grandpa's name. So anyways, we came up with Jackson. It's a good name - I wouldn't say I love it, but I like it, and it is definitely growing on me!
And to add a little spin on it all, as Rick puts it "Howard is Lisa's father's name. Jack is Lisa's father's father's name. So, Jack's son Howard is Lisa's dad, and Jackson Howard is Lisa's son. (say it...it's fun)"
If you want to know all the wonderful birth details, keep reading!
If not, stop! :)
So all that week, I had been ready to have this baby! I had never felt that way with any of my other kids - Tabitha was even 10 days late and I was totally fine with waiting longer (but I was induced). But I was just READY to have this baby! So I started going on walks, jumping on the trampoline a little bit, just trying to get things started. Well, nothing was happening and I was rather discouraged on Tuesday of that week when my doctor told me I was only dilated to a 2+.
So Friday afternoon I got me some castor oil. Mixed it with some OJ, prepared for the worst, and drank it as fast as I could. And waited. Half an hour later nothing was happening. According to my dear expert friend on this, I should have been on the throne, miserable. So I gave her a call to find out why nothing was happening. Turns out I hadn't taken enuf of the castor oil. So I downed some more. And waited.
Dinner time I started feeling kinda crampy, but nothing bad. When I FINALLY had to spend some time in the bathroom that evening, I was SO Excited! After about 20 minutes I started having contractions that were 5 minutes apart. They lasted about an hour and stopped. It was about 11 pm then so I went to bed, thinking for sure that I'd wake up in the middle of the nite, in full blown labor.
Instead I woke up just after 6 (thank you little birdies singing outside my window!). At 6:15 the contractions started. They came every 2 minutes, occasionally 3 minutes, or even just 1 minute apart, but pretty regularly 2 minutes. I had been hoping to labor at home as long as possible, but that made me a bit nervous, being only 2 minutes apart. By 8 am, they were starting to get a little uncomfortable, so we got ready to go to the hospital.
Just before leaving, Gabriella told me "Mom, it will be ok if the baby is a boy." And I reminded William that I thot it was going to be a boy and if so, then yes, it was ok, we would love him. The kids have all wanted a girl. William would even say "I don't like boys. I only like girls. If it's a boy I'm not gonna love it." So I was a bit worried, since I really did feel like it was a boy.
When the nurse checked me at 8:15, I was dilated to 4+. I was a bit disappointed, not even being halfway there and already at the hospital. But I told her that I was wanting to go natural and did not want to be hooked up and monitored unless I absolutely had to me. A world of choices was then opened to me! And hour later I was to a 7! And yes, at this point the contractions were definitely uncomfortable, not painful, but uncomfortable. I was excited because with Gabriella I had wanted to go natural, and only made it to a 7 before I was BEGGING for an epidural! So I was way excited that I had made it that far already and things were going good.
The nurse asked if I'd like to take a hot bath. My first big CHOICE! All my other babies I'd been stuck in bed being monitored or had already had an epidural by then. So I got into a nice, hot tub and within 10 minutes I was at an 8. And then things got really uncomfortable. Ok, painful even.
I was in the tub maybe 40 minutes at the most, when my water popped. I say popped instead of broke, because that it exactly how it felt. I'd never had my water break on its own. It felt just like there was a water balloon inside of me that had suddenly, and painfully popped and everything gushed out of me. I yelled out. (According to Rick, it was NOT a scream, just a good yell) And the nurse came running in my room. She helped me get out and to my bed for a quick check. I was ready!
The doctor walked in just then and asked "Ok, so how do we want to do this?" I was completely confused! "Standing up, lying down, or sitting?" It was pretty cool. So in a semi reclined position I got ready to push.
I pushed through about 6 contractions (I think). And it was NOT fun. At all. Pushing was very painful. I felt like everything down there was just going to burst open! Once or twice I said that I couldn't do it. And the nurses just said "Oh yes, you can!" Though there was no turning back now! I wondered why it was taking so long, with so many pushes. At least it felt like so long to me - in reality it was maybe 15 minutes.
At one point the nurse said "I see a baldy! You have a bald baby." "I don't have bald babies," I told her. And that's when they realized that this baby was not cooperating like he/she should have. Instead of coming out face down, it was posterior, or face up. The reason the pushing was so bad.
As soon as I felt him finally pop out of me, I felt such relief. But I was SO drained. So completely physically and emotionally drained. The doctor had immediately placed the baby on my tummy, so it was me who announced that it was a boy and I just held him in one arm, crying. (and Rick was immediately updating our Facebook status!) I really had no desire at that moment, no strength really, to hold him or pay much attention to Jackson. So after they had taken him, weighed and measured, and cleaned him, I told the nurse to give him to his daddy. It took me probably a good 20 minutes after that before I felt like I was ready. I really just needed time to lay back and relax, to recover a little after what I'd just done. And I must admit, I was/am rather proud of myself. I accomplished what I'd wanted by birthing naturally. Though it wasn't the calm, peaceful, or graceful birth - yes, there was defintiely some screaming involved! - that I had envisioned, I DID IT! And it was all over with.
We came home from the hospital the next afternoon and overall things are going good. Jackson is a bit jaundiced and I developed an infection in my uterus. THAT was horrible, excruciatingly painful when it started! I was in tears, telling Rick that I would rather go thru my natural birth all over again. 3 different antibiotics seem to be getting it cleared up though!
First day of school! Ok, technically not Gabriella's first day - she'd already gone a few days, but bad mom here didn't take a picture then! Oops! So here's the 2 on William's first day of Kindergarten!
Waiting for the bell to ring! 
