Josiah Neal Rogers was born Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 12:58 a.m. He weighed in at 9 lbs. 8 oz and 20 3/4 inches long.
I'll start from the beginning. All Monday long, I felt like my body was preparing for something very big! I woke up early and immediately started getting last minute things accomplished. The fact that I was scheduled for Cervidil at 5 pm the next day on that Tuesday (the 25th) and the actual induction on Wednesday morning really got me in the "gotta get things done" mode. I was contracting heavily all day Monday and by the time I got in the bed that night, I was so worn out. At 11 pm, I told Jordan that I thought I was in labor. An hour and a half later, at 12:30 a.m. (early Tuesday morning), I still had not fallen asleep because I was so miserable. I wasn't counting my contractions because I had been doing that for weeks and always ended up disappointed when they would follow a very intense, close pattern only to subside an hour later. So imagine my surprise when I got up to go to the bathroom and my water broke! I was so excited that Josiah was coming on his own and that I wouldn't have to be induced.
So, I immediately told Jordan that my water had broke and I will never forget his reaction. My normally calm, collected husband was bouncing all over our apartment in excitement. He wanted to head to the hospital right away but I decided to take a shower first. I was done and the car was packed by 1 am and we headed out. The ride there was pretty funny because there was hardly anyone on the road and Jordan wanted to blow through each red light. He didn't, of course, but I could see it in his eyes and I felt him tapping the gas as if by doing so would make the light turn green! He also had the emergency flashers on and I told him to turn them off. His reply was, "But I've always wanted to do this!"...So I let him feel like the hero and have his fun.
After getting checked in and everything, they checked me and I was 2 cm dilated and 60% effaced. 17 hours and a few checks later, I had only progressed to 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced. I was so discouraged by this point. I had gone 17 hours without any pain meds and had worn myself out from breathing through the contractions and I had totally expected to be at least 7 cm dilated. The contractions had gotten so rough that my body was tensing up despite my best efforts to relax and breathe through them. So pretty much, the tension stalled the labor and my body wasn't progressing. At that point, my doctor highly insisted that I receive an epidural so that I could relax and rest and let my labor pick back up. Reluctantly, I gave in. Shortly after, I quickly realized that I should have asked for that darn thing a lot sooner! I was immediately able to relax, get some much needed sleep, and 7 hours later (around 12 a.m.), my body was 100% ready to deliver. And I was so happy that Josiah's blood pressure and heart rate stayed steady and stable the whole time. I had heard so many stories of how epidurals sometimes made the baby's heart rate drop so low that an emergency c-section had to be performed. But this was not the case, and he was doing wonderful. I had no idea at that time that the next two hours were going to be so much harder than the previous 24 hours of labor...painfully, mentally and emotionally...
I pushed for about 45 minutes before Josiah's head finally came into view. Things quickly took a turn for the worse after that. Josiah's shoulders were so broad and he was stuck despite already receiving an episiotomy. There's nothing that could have prepared me for what the doctor had to do next. For the next several minutes, he had both his hands and arms inside of me trying to turn Josiah's body every which way to get him out. When he told us that he would have to break Josiah's clavicle, Jordan and I both just started crying. Praise God that Josiah had some strong arms and shoulders and it didn't break when the doctor put all that force on it. He finally came out and I thought everything was great until they placed him on my stomach and removed him before I could even touch him. Josiah was blue and not breathing at all. They immediately started CPR. After 45 seconds of trying to revive him, during which Jordan and I were crying out to God to save him, Josiah finally took a breath and we heard the nurse say that he had a heartbeat! For the next several minutes, they used a pump to get him to breath. After he started breathing a little better on his own, they cleared his airways and we heard our beautiful baby crying! It was the most beautiful sound that I had every heard. They immediately took him to the neo natal care unit and I was crying so hard because all I wanted was to see him and touch him so badly.
My doctor then started stitching me up and it hurt so bad because my pain meds had worn off by that point. He could tell that I was in a lot of pain so by about the 15th stitch, he gave me a shot and I didn't feel much of the other 20 stitiches.
So here I am, 35 stitches later, with a beautiful, striving baby boy. He is so perfect in every way. They took his oxygen tube out Wednesday evening so we got to hold him for the first time last night! I can't even begin to describe how happy that made Jordan and I. And this morning, which is Thursday (my days have been so blended together) they brought Josiah to me to nurse for the first time and he took to it right away. His pediatrician told me today that depending on how well he fed, he will probably get to have his IV removed today...that means we can have him stay in the room with us! Every time I see him, he looks better and better...his coloring is beautiful now and the swelling in his face has gone down so much. His little arm/shoulder is currently wrapped up because it was slightly dislocated during the delivery. It breaks my heart but I'm so glad he's here and safe now. I can't get over how beautiful he is.
I've had several conversations with my doctor since the delivery and he told me that this was the hardest delivery that he has ever had to do. He said that most of the big babies that he has delivered were fat and squishy and had some give to them. But Josiah is strong and solid with a broad frame and that is what made it so difficult.
Looking back now, I am so amazed at what God accomplished through me. Josiah is truly a miracle and we are so in love with him! It was by far the most difficult thing that I have ever experienced, but it was so worth it.
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