Tomorrow Jai (pronounced like the letter J) will be 7 weeks old!! I’m not sure how that’s possible because time went SO fast for us!! As I finally had the chance to edit the photos Logan took and put together a video from the footage taken by us and Logan’s sister Emily, I was emotional and so blown away by how quickly the time has gone and how that day seems like such a distant memory. It seems like Jai has always been here!

Here is Jai’s birth story- better late than never right?!

On June 6th, 2017, Logan and I got to the hospital at 6:45 pm for my scheduled induction. We didn’t need to be there until 7 so we sat in the car, held hands, and laughed about how surreal and crazy this all felt. We didn’t really tell many people that I was being induced, but at our 36 week growth check ultrasound, the baby’s head was already measuring 9.25 centimeters and Dr. Nick wanted to make sure we were aware of the fact that Jai’s head could be too big if we waited until I went on my own for delivery. That meant we could schedule the induction for after I hit 39 weeks. The first opening was to go in on the evening of June 6th, just 4 days before my due date. The labor and delivery had been so busy earlier that day that we had to wait 45 minutes before we could go back into our room. Once we were in our room (8:00 pm), they checked to see if I had dilated and I was at a two and having contractions 7-8 minutes apart that I wasn’t aware of- I was so excited because at my last appointment just a few days before, I hadn’t dilated at all. At 9 pm, a pill was put on my cervix to finish up the softening and help things keep progressing. During this time all I could do was lie in the bed and all I wanted to do was get up and walk around. Logan kept me laughing singing the Lion King and making up his own words and versions to the songs. When 1 am rolled around, I was dilated to a 3 and I could walk around!! Hallelujah!! By now, I could sort of feel the contractions, but it wasn’t anything crazy. We made 3 laps around the labor and delivery square, listening to little baby cries as we walked past the postpartum rooms, smiling over at each other, knowing that soon that would be our little baby crying too!! When 1:40 rolled around, I had to be strapped back down to the monitors to make sure my body was still progressing and having contractions. At my 2 am check, I was at a four and still contracting on my own. This was such a relief to me!! They called Dr. Nick to make sure it was OK for me to keep progressing on my own without going on Pitocin because my body was still contracting and I really wanted to be able to let my body do it without the pit. He gave us the OK and said he would be in around 8 am to break my water. Now I thought Logan and I should both get some sleep. Logan fell asleep pretty quickly on those “extremely comfortable” hospital room couches. As soon as I started to doze, contractions started to kick in that I could really feel. I worked through each one and would get sleepy in between- not my most restful night ever. At 3 am the nurse came in and told me my contractions were really slowing down and I should be starting Pitocin. I probably gave her a crazy eye look because my contractions were doing anything but slowing down. She checked my monitor and found that it had moved and was no longer even picking up my contractions. Once she moved it and was able to watch them, she knew I didn’t need to start the Pitocin! At 3:15 I asked Logan to sit next to me and hold my hand because the contractions were getting harder and honestly I knew that just having him closer would bring me a lot of comfort. By 3:45 am Logan told me I should probably think about getting the epidural and I agreed- calling for the nurse. It was 4:20 am when the anesthesiologist came into the room, but I really only saw him for a few seconds before I put my back to him because I didn’t want to see the needle or any of the other things. At 4:45 am the epidural was all done and the nurses checked me and I had hit a 7! The epidural seemed to work quickly getting my right leg numb, but I felt a few more contractions on my left side before I said I was still feeling them and the nurse quickly switched my position to get it to the left side too. Now it was really sleepy time! Logan and I both were able to sleep a lot better after that and I’m so grateful for the couple hours of very interrupted sleep- it was so needed!

Dr. Nick got there at 7:25 am and broke my water. Around 9:30 am they put me on the slowest drip of pitocin to help my body finish and get complete. That happened within an hour and at 10:45 am I started the “practice pushes.” Logan and I laugh watching videos of the practice pushes because I thought that was what it was… practice… You can tell I wasn’t pushing hard at that point, especially compared to the last few videos of me pushing. Dr. Nick came in at 11:30 and Jai Terry Peterson was born at 11:43 am on June 7, 2017. He was 7lbs 7 oz and 20.5 inches long. We are so grateful that my entire pregnancy was really good and that labor and delivery couldn’t have been any better. It all went so smoothly and we feel incredibly blessed for the experience we had in getting baby Jai here!

Huge thanks to Logan’s little sister for being in the delivery room with us to help film the labor process!! Don’t worry, the video is really clean (not graphic in any way). And anyone looking for an OBGYN, Dr. Nick Denson with Teton Women’s Health Center is the best!! We cannot say enough good things about him. He really was so awesome through helping me with my PCOS to pregnancy to labor and delivery!