Jackson Paul Stringham

Welcome to the world littlest man! His name is Jackson Paul Stringham. His lineage is contained in his name: Jackson - who is the son of Jack - who is the son of Paul - who is the son of Jack. Cheesy? Maybe. But we like it.

He weighed in at 8 pounds 9 ounces and measured 21 inches long. He has fuzzy blond hair and the tiniest little face. He is so soft and smells so good. I just love holding and staring at him!

Birth Story:
All day on Thursday (3/18, my due date) I felt nauseous and felt a dull ache in my lower abdomen and back. The pain was annoying and I decided that if it did not go away I would call my doctor on Friday. I did not think I was in labor since there were no contractions.

We went out to dinner with my family for my mom's birthday. I couldn't stand sitting at the table because the pain had begun to radiate into my back. All I wanted to do was go home and put on pajamas and lie down.

By Thursday night around 11:00 the pain became almost unbearable. Jack begged me to call the doctor, but I knew that if I called she would just send me to L&D to be checked and I didn't want to go in in the middle of the night just to be sent home. So I held out, again rationalizing that if it did not go away I would go see my doctor in the morning.

We went to bed around midnight and I fell asleep for maybe a half an hour. By 1 am I was having contractions about every 10 minutes but still was not sure whether or not they were really contractions or just intestinal upset.

By 1:45 am the contractions were about 5 minutes apart and I still thought I just had the stomach flu. I got up to go to the bathroom and decided that whether or not it was the flu, I should probably go to the hospital.

At 2:00 am I woke up Jack and told him we needed to go to the hospital. He was grateful that I had finally made that decision. I called my parents who rushed to our place to stay with sleeping Hannah. As we were walking out the door we asked my mom to come with us to take video so Jack didn't have to be behind the camera the whole time. My dad stayed at our apartment with Hannah.

We got to Intermountain Medical Center around 2:30 am and were admitted right away. The nurse checked me and I was surprised when she said I was dialated to a 7! Up until that point I was still convinced that I was having symptoms of the stomach flu. Things were moving fast and she said if I hadn't come in then I may have had the baby at home.

I was in a LOT of pain at this point and asked for an epidural. The anesthesiologist felt that I didn't have much time for an epidural to take so he gave me a fast acting one called a CSE. It made my lower half completely numb in a matter of seconds. Though I was grateful for the pain relief, I was not a fan of being so numb that I couldn't even move my legs. When I realized I couldn't move my toes I began to feel extremely anxious.

The epidural also made my blood pressure drop extremely low (70/30) and I felt that I was on the verge of passing out and vomiting. I could hardly speak and had to wave my arm to get the attention of the nurse and anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist got the hint that he needed to stop talking shop with Jack and give me some ephedrine, which helped a lot!

Unfortunately the epidural stopped the labor progression all together. Without it I probably could have delivered the baby within a hour of getting to the hospital...but I still don't know how people do it without being anesthetized. It hurts! Eventually the nurse gave me some pitocin to speed things up. At some point the nurse realized that the baby was posterior, luckily she noticed before it was time to push. The doctor was able to manually flip him and by 8:00 am I was ready to push. As I began to push, the doctor and nurse realized that there was meconium in my amniotic fluid. I was really nervous about this and it gave me great motivation to push hard. Within 10 minutes of pushing, baby Jackson was born!

I had been telling Jack for weeks that I did not want to name our son Jackson. It made Jack so mad because he has always wanted to name his son that. But all along I was just teasing him (he teases me all the time, so this was my chance to get back at him) and when our son was born I told him he could go ahead and name him. Jack was so excited!

I was sad that I did not get to see my baby right away after he was born. A team from the NICU along with a respiratory therapist were there to suction Jackson's lungs and make sure he was not harmed by the meconium. They weighed and measured him and I could not believe that he was so big: 8 lbs 9 oz and 21 inches long.

While the doctor (Lisa Gravelle) delivered the placenta and sewed up a second degree tear, I anxiously waited to see my little guy while the NICU team worked on him. I was overjoyed when I finally got to hold him. I feel like he looks a lot like Hannah did except with a lighter complexion. We'll see if he still looks like her when the swelling goes down.

I have absolutely loved all of the doctors and nurses and CNA's who have helped us at IMC. Everyone has been so kind and helpful.

We have spent the first day in the hospital just relaxing and staring at our sweet little guy. We have been so tired from a night of NO sleep, but have been too elated to take a nap yet. Unfortunately Hannah just caught a cold and so we haven't had her come meet her brother yet. I miss her a lot and can't wait for her to meet him, I know she will just adore him. But I also know she's been having a blast playing with her aunts and uncles, especially Aunt Ashlyn who stayed home from school today to be with her while I was delivering. I am grateful that I don't have to worry about her and know that she is in good hands.

Welcome to the world baby Jackson. We are so happy that Heavenly Father sent you to our family and grateful that you arrived safely. We love you!