Jacob Neal Johnson: Birth Story

I've had a lot of requests to hear Jacob's birth story. Two months later, I'm finally posting something. This is going to be a really long post, so if you  want to read it, you'd better get comfortable! It also gets a little personal and probably too much information, so if that's not your thing, just skip this post.

After 9 months of pregnancy and going 8 days past my due date, our little son was finally born- on October 4th- though he came in a way we did not expect. The morning started out pretty normal, I did wake up a bit early with some very  mild contractions, but nothing painful or super noticeable. I decided to stay up and finish up the car seat cover that I had started the night before, since Lydia would be up soon anyway. Neal had taken the day off work as he figured that we would have had our baby by then, so we enjoyed breakfast together and headed off to run errands and go to the library. After finishing up errands, Neal took Lydia swimming at the Rec center and I  headed to the gym for my daily workout. I guess I wasn’t paying much attention, had my hands full (headphones, cell phone, and water bottle), and ended up locking the keys in the car. I knew that Neal wouldn’t take his phone in while they were swimming, so I decided to bike for 30 min and then start walking home. I did try to call him a few times, but he never answered. The gym is just under 2 miles from where we live, so it wasn’t that big of a deal to walk home, although it was a bit cold without a jacket and I was having some mild contractions every so often. Still, it wasn’t anything too intense and I didn’t think much of it. After arriving home, Neal and Lydia still weren’t back, so I waited downstairs in the storage/laundry room (luckily that was unlocked and warm) about 10-15 min for them. As we got inside, and got some lunch for Lydia, my contractions started getting a bit more painful. It was now about 1:30 pm, and I decided to take a bath to see if my contractions were the real deal or just braxton hicks, while Neal helped Lydia finish up lunch and get down for a nap. The bath did not help anything and the contractions were getting stronger and more painful so I decided it was time to call the midwife. She was down in the Orem office so she told me to meet in about 45 minutes. While I was on the phone with her, I heard/felt a pop. I didn’t know what had happened, but in hindsight, it must have been my water breaking, though I didn’t notice any water because I was in the bathroom. Things got really intense after that with each contraction. I was so glad that Neal was home! I asked him to please call his mom to watch Lydia because we really needed to leave right then.  I had to wait for in between contractions to go out in the car, because it hurt too much to move during them. Luckily the car I’d left at the gym, was Neal’s little car, and we had our bigger, Honda Pilot, at home. I really did not feel like sitting in the front seat, so I climbed in the back (we had the third row seats down) and lay down there. At about 2:45, Neal’s mom was still a few minutes away, but I told Neal we couldn’t wait and needed to leave right away! The birthing center was down in Salt Lake (about 25 min away) and I never knew it took so long to get there! Each contraction was super painful and my body felt like pushing each time. I still didn’t think much of it though, because with Lydia I pushed for over an hour (although I had an epidural with her). Lydia’s car seat strap (where the seat is hooked on the back of the car’s seat) was right in front of me and was so nice to grab and hold on tightly to, so I could get through each contraction. We’d only made it 10 or 15 minutes down the road (about 17th south on I-15) when I yelled for Neal to stop the car and come help me because the baby’s head was out! He quickly pulled over in the emergency lane and came back. I couldn’t see the baby well, but Neal had to unwrap the cord from around his neck a couple of times. With one more push, the baby was all the way out. Those first few seconds are always a bit nerve racking as they come out somewhat blue/purple and before their first cry, but especially as we were by ourselves in the car. He did finally cry a bit, but mostly we could just hear and see him breathing. What a relief! Neal tossed back a towel (he had put one on the front seat for me) so we could wrap him up and keep him warm. We felt so blessed that our baby was ok and we know that Heavenly Father was watching over us. I did feel much better after that, now that the most intense part was over, so I was able to sit up and hold our little boy while Neal hopped back in front to finish the drive. I called the Midwife to let her know that our little boy had already been born. She was still about 20 minutes away, but she told us to just keep him warm and to not cut the cord until they got there. She also called another midwife who was closer, so someone could be there when we arrived. The other midwife wasn’t as close as she thought, so we ended up waiting about 10 minutes in the parking lot before anyone got there. After she finally got there, she brought out some towel/pads (like the thick kind they put on examination tables) to wrap around me . Going inside, I’m sure,  was quite the sight for anyone driving past the birthing center. Me, in my baggy cougars t shirt, holding tightly to my towel wrapped baby (who was still attached to the umbilical cord), the midwife holding the pads around me like a makeshift skirt, and Neal following closely behind. We did make it safely inside and upstairs where I was able to deliver the placenta and the cord was finally cut. I ended up tearing a bit, so the midwife stitched me up while they cleaned up Jacob, checked, and weighed and measured him. Afterwards, they left us mostly to ourselves (there was a phone in there to page someone in if we needed anything) and it was so nice just to have Neal, Jacob, and I in the room. They did bring us up some dinner and snacks as well. I had a much more enjoyable and relaxing experience than I did with Lydia in the hospital. The atmosphere was also much nicer than in a hospital because it felt like a warm and inviting bedroom as opposed to a cold and unwelcoming hospital room (plus the bed was much more comfortable then a hospital bed). After a few hours, I was feeling pretty good, so we checked out and headed home. I also think that recovery is going more smoothly because I didn’t have the drugs from the pitocin and epidural going through my body, like I did with Lydia. We’re so happy to finally have Jacob home with us and are enjoying being a family of 4.

Hanging out at home

Lydia loves to hold Jacob and be near him. Jacob isn't always so sure that he likes it.

Our handsome little boy.