One year ago today, Jordyn decided that it was time to enter the world. Now, I know that her birthday is not until tomorrow, but the ball started rolling on Monday September 3, 2007 (one year ago). Here's how things went...While I was pregnant, I worked at The Sports Authority (and GNC for a short time). My last day at TSA was Saturday September 1, 2007. Sunday came and went, and no signs of labor thankfully (Jordyn was due the 3rd but I didn't want to have her on my birthday, the 2nd). Erik had taken off work in anticipation of Jordyn's arrival, so we had the whole day with nothing planned. Erik did some homework that morning and then we decided that we'd go to the Tanger Outlets in Gonzales, Louisiana to check out their Labor Day sales. After spending most of the afternoon there we headed home. We got home at about 5:30. I dropped Erik off at the apartment so he could continue to work on homework while I went grocery shopping. I got home at about 6:30 I hadn't been home for more than a few minutes when my water broke. I was sitting at the counter when this
happened and the first works out of my mouth were "uh-oh." Erik said, "uh-oh, what do you mean uh-oh, I don't like the sound of uh-oh". I told him that my water had broken and that we needed to call Dr. Ryan (our ob) Erik was almost done with his homework and wanted to wait until he finished (about an hour) before we did anything, but I insisted and we called Dr. Ryan, who told us to grab our stuff and head for the hospital. So off to Touro we went. I was surprised at how fast the whole check in process was. By 7:30 I was all check in and settled into my room. By this time I was dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced. Dr. Ryan wanted to wait and see if I'd go into labor on my own so we sat and waited. Since nothing was going on I sent Erik home to finish homework and said I'd call him if anything changed. Before Erik left, they put my epidural line in. I wasn't sure that I wanted an epidural until I went into the hospital and talked to Dr. Ryan. He told me that having a dry birth (when your water breaks) and pitocin (the drug that helps to induce labor) usually makes contractions a lot stronger and more painful. That was enough to convince me to get the line put in. At 10:30 I still wasn't having any contractions so it was decided to start the pitocin (at this point Erik was called to come back). The pitocin drip actually got started about 11:00 and contractions followed about an hour later. Once I had the first few 
contractions they started the epidural line. It took 15 long painful minutes for the drugs to start to work. This was making the anesthesiologist very nervous because it's only supposed to take a few minutes. Once the pain was gone, I was able to get a little bit of rest. At 3:00 the nurse came in to check on things and discovered that I was fully dilated and that Jordyn had dropped significantly. Dr. Ryan was called back in and once he got there things really got started and at 6:02 am Jordyn entered the world weighing in at 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 inches long. She had a head full of dark brown hair and was absolutely beautiful. There had been no complications with the birth, but it was close. Jordyn's umbilical cord was unusually short and the placenta came out right after she did which startled the resident that was taking care of her to the point of almost dropping Jordyn. Other than that, the only other slight hiccup we had was that Jordyn's body temperature rapidly dropped and they had to keep her under the lamps for a few hours to warm her back up. Jordyn was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen and now a year later, she's grown into the most beautiful little girl. One year ago, my life changed for ever and I'm so glad that it did. I can't wait to see what the next chapter of her story holds.
happened and the first works out of my mouth were "uh-oh." Erik said, "uh-oh, what do you mean uh-oh, I don't like the sound of uh-oh". I told him that my water had broken and that we needed to call Dr. Ryan (our ob) Erik was almost done with his homework and wanted to wait until he finished (about an hour) before we did anything, but I insisted and we called Dr. Ryan, who told us to grab our stuff and head for the hospital. So off to Touro we went. I was surprised at how fast the whole check in process was. By 7:30 I was all check in and settled into my room. By this time I was dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced. Dr. Ryan wanted to wait and see if I'd go into labor on my own so we sat and waited. Since nothing was going on I sent Erik home to finish homework and said I'd call him if anything changed. Before Erik left, they put my epidural line in. I wasn't sure that I wanted an epidural until I went into the hospital and talked to Dr. Ryan. He told me that having a dry birth (when your water breaks) and pitocin (the drug that helps to induce labor) usually makes contractions a lot stronger and more painful. That was enough to convince me to get the line put in. At 10:30 I still wasn't having any contractions so it was decided to start the pitocin (at this point Erik was called to come back). The pitocin drip actually got started about 11:00 and contractions followed about an hour later. Once I had the first few 
contractions they started the epidural line. It took 15 long painful minutes for the drugs to start to work. This was making the anesthesiologist very nervous because it's only supposed to take a few minutes. Once the pain was gone, I was able to get a little bit of rest. At 3:00 the nurse came in to check on things and discovered that I was fully dilated and that Jordyn had dropped significantly. Dr. Ryan was called back in and once he got there things really got started and at 6:02 am Jordyn entered the world weighing in at 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 inches long. She had a head full of dark brown hair and was absolutely beautiful. There had been no complications with the birth, but it was close. Jordyn's umbilical cord was unusually short and the placenta came out right after she did which startled the resident that was taking care of her to the point of almost dropping Jordyn. Other than that, the only other slight hiccup we had was that Jordyn's body temperature rapidly dropped and they had to keep her under the lamps for a few hours to warm her back up. Jordyn was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen and now a year later, she's grown into the most beautiful little girl. One year ago, my life changed for ever and I'm so glad that it did. I can't wait to see what the next chapter of her story holds.
I always love reading about other birth stories as the memory of Shelby's birth comes flooding back to me. I remember those same feelings- so awesome. Happy Birthday, Jordyn!
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