Coolest Coons: Jackson Bernell Coons

It seems like the more kids we have, the longer it takes me to tell their story! The last 2 months flew right by--so much faster than the months of being pregnant. It was another rough pregnancy, but I felt like we managed it better this time around. I really wasn't any more sick than I have been before, but people seemed to think I was because I was set up on home health for over 7 months. I literally could not drink water (or much of anything else) without puking for the rest of the day. I tried over and over, and I regretted it every time. So each week my home health nurse, Lindee, would come to my house and put a new IV in. I administered the fluids and zofran at home every other day and did my best not to get overheated since I was so dehydrated that my body was not producing sweat. I passed out several times because of that. Pretty crazy! We also had a bit of a scare and had to make a few visits to a neonatal specialist because baby's femurs were measuring 3 weeks behind. That was pretty scary and emotional, I'm not going to lie. But we did get some cool ultrasound pictures out of it.

Anyway....as August 9th came closer and we were preparing to meet our baby, I asked Robin if we were still set to be induced on August 2nd (as we had discussed on several different occasions). She said no. WHAT?! Apparently she was leaving to go to Florida with her kids on July 30, and wouldn't return until the evening of August 9th. No big deal, right? WRONG! For me this meant that I most likely would not have my VBAC supportive doctor and would instead be stuck with an on call doctor. This meant that I would most likely end up having an unnecessary c-section simply because I had one in the past. I was SO upset and started doing everything I could to get things moving. Jamie and mom even made a special trip to Roy to push on pressure points and make some sharpie doodles on my legs so we could keep pushing and trying after they left. I went on walks (mostly around stores so I wouldn't overheat) and I bounced on yoga balls. Nothing. I started having regular contractions about every 9-10 minutes for THREE DAYS. They weren't getting closer or stronger and I was SO frustrated! I was running out of time before Robin went to Florida!

I woke up Wednesday night and found a tiny bit of blood. A little more on Thursday morning. I wasn't nervous about it at all, but I told Russell that I was going to go get checked. He stayed home from work to be with the kids and wasn't really expecting anything to come of getting checked out.

I feel like I kind of tricked the nurses into letting me have a baby that day. Instead of going to Circle of Life to be monitored I put my mask on and went straight to labor and delivery. I might have pretended like I didn't know I was supposed to be sent there by the clinic... I also might have exaggerated the blood thing and told them that I was really nervous about it. They decided that since I was there anyways, they would go ahead and check me. They put me in a small room, put a new IV in my arm for some fluids, and monitored the baby for a little while. Everything was fine, but the contractions were STILL only happening about every 8-10 minutes. The nurse told me she hadn't been able to get ahold of Robin, so she just kept monitoring me and baby. She asked if I'd like a drink or something while I waited and I told her that I would LOVE one, but explained my situation and how I had been hydrated through an IV for the past several months. She came back and told me that she still couldn't get ahold of Robin, but she had made an executive decision and would NOT be sending me home! WOOHOO!!! She checked me and was surprised to see that I was almost at a 6. She said, "We can get this baby here by lunchtime!" and arranged for me to be moved to a different room.

I called Russell, my mom, and Krys so they could figure out what to do to come be with me. Russell had to figure out who could come be with the kids. Our plan was for his mom to come, but she tested positive for covid just two days before that so we were scrambling to find help. Blaine was on his way, but Erik headed over too since he lives so much closer. As Russell was leaving he found that our new freezer in the garage had been left a little bit opened the night before (it was Ryan....he just "wanted to see what was in there." Stinker!) We had just purchased a half a beef and the meat was starting to thaw. The freezer was not working! Russell obviously had to deal with that.

In the meantime, I am at the hospital and they are wheeling in all the things for the baby talking about how fast it is going to go after they break my water.... Hold on, folks! We have a freezer situation and I want my husband to be with me for the birth of this baby boy! I was super eager to have this baby, but I found myself asking if we could maybe slow things down a little and have him by dinner instead of lunch and told them what was happening. So we waited. Russell got to the hospital, and so did my mom and Krys. They might have been speeding a little bit, but they did not admit to that. Erik and Blaine were at my house dealing with the meat and the children.

The clock in my room was super wacky, so I didn't really know what time it was the whole time I was there..... Once we were all there and we were ready to get things moving, we had to wait a while longer for the guy to come in and give me an epidural. He finally did, then they broke my water. Before I knew it, I was at a 10 and ready to push! They told me to wait....Robin came in, got some gloves on, and said, "Look at that, you're crowning!" I pushed and she slowed me down for the next push. Only 2.5 pushes and my little dude was here! He introduced himself by sticking his nasty little hand right in my mouth when we first met. Yuck! 😂 Robin was in the room for under 5 minutes. No tears, no stitches, just a whole lot of joy! Just in time too--4:41 PM, only 19 minutes before Robin was off work for the day and heading to Florida! What a relief!

So tiny. So cute. So loved. I am one blessed mama!

At the hospital they measured him to be 6 lbs, 11.5 oz and 20 inches long but at his 3 day check up he was only 18.75 inches long, so who really knows?!

Because of covid visitor rules were a lot different than usual. I was actually supposed to wear a mask during delivery, but luckily they didn't enforce it. Everyone else had to still, but I didn't. That would have been rough! I could only have two visitors at a time besides Russell, so that was different too. We didn't get a new family snapshot in the hospital like we did when all the other kids were born because they had to come meet baby Jackson one at a time.

Now, picture overload!