Baby Asher

Asher Thomas Jernigan
  Born at 39 weeks

January 19th 6:25 am (Thailand Time)

Big Sis admiring her newest little brother

Daddy introducing Aben to his little brother

On our way home from the hospital
(Yes I'm in the front seat holding my newborn!)

Birth Story - if you want to read...

So I woke up around 2:30 - 3:00 a.m. because I thought my water had broken, but it had not.  It was the plug, but I knew that can happen a few weeks before labor so really wasn't concerned.  But immediately started feeling some contractions that were stronger than the Braxton Hicks that I had been having.   But I decided to lay back down to see if anything changed or helped but I kept having contractions about every 2-3 minutes. But then had a contraction after 6 min. so I figured they were irregular and this was "pre-labor" or "false labor".  But the contractions were starting to hurt more. 

So, I'm still thinking there is no way this is it. I just didn't think the contractions were regular enough.   And they were coming every 2-4 minutes; I had not had my every 10 minutes or every 5 minutes.  So, I got up and drank some chocolate milk, because I was so hungry then  went back to bed. But the contractions were still hurting so I decided to really start timing the clock, then got in the tub to soak some because my back was hurting. And this whole time I'm reading online to see if this is real labor or not. About 4:30a.m. I yell to Ben and wake him up to get some water for me.  I just didn't think I should get out of the bathtub while I was having the contractions.   He gets up and is like "Why in the world are you in the bathtub, get back in bed!"  I I tell him I'm having contractions, but I think they are irregular so I don't think it's time yet. And he says, "well since you've been talking to me they've been abou every 2 min!"  And says, "I think we should go to hospital."  I'm still thinking they are gonna send me home, but at the same time, I'm hoping this is it, because these contractions are really hurting.   So I get out of tub and start get everything ready and Ben goes to wake up neighbors.  He comes back to check on me and tells me they are not coming to the door.  So he goes back and BANGS on their door and thankfully they come right to the door.  (It's about 5am at this time)  

We are living on the third floor, so I wait until I have a contraction and as soon as it's over I RUN down three flights of stairs and thankfully didn't have the next one until I was on the last steps.  I get into the car that Ben had everything packed in, and it wouldn't crank!  So, they had another car here and we moved all our stuff over and thank goodness it started.  Another thing I was so thankful for was it was around 5:30 a.m., so their was no traffic.  Which is AMAZING, since the traffic is a little crazy here and we have to drive on the left side of the road.  Now, Ben has been doing great, but I just did NOT want to deal with this during labor!!!

We get to the hospital and go straight to the ER.  They check me in and wheel me upstairs.  The nurses have me change into the hospital gown and then want me to pee in a cup!  I'm like WHY?!  I'm sitting here having these major contractions and there was just no way I could pee.  So I get on the bed and the nurse checks me and I was 9 cm!  She asks me if I wanted to push, but I said no not yet.  About 5 minutes later I had urge to push and they told me I couldn't!  I had to wait!  They were trying to hold me off until my doctor got there. So when Dr. Suppachi got there, they moved me to the delivery room and he checked me said I was10 cm and then he broke my water. And that's when the real fun began!   As soon as he broke my water he told me I could start pushing.  I pushed for 10 minutes or less and sweet baby Asher was born. 

7lbs (3.19)

20 inches (51 cm)

The whole Natural thing...  yeah.  It's crazy.  Thank the Lord for His Grace & Mercy!  I am still thanking Him for blessing me with such a quick labor and delivery.  I woke up a little before 3 am and Asher was born less than 4 hours later at 6:25 a.m.  Epidurals are not offered here in Chiang Mai, so I knew that I was not going to have that luxury.  But I wouldn't have had the chance to get one even if they did!  So, I'm really thankful I was already preparing for a natural delivery.  And I will be honest - IT HURT.  I'm pretty sure I was ROARING when that baby was coming out.  But you know, now that it's all over, it wasn't that bad.  I mean, yeah, it was painful, I felt the pangs of labor.  But I loved the recovery after no medication.  Well, I take that back, they gave me ONE 400 mg. ibuprofen about 8 hours after I gave birth...  It's true.  I had been warned about that, so brought my own ibuprofen and took some 3 hours after delivery.  

So would I have a natural birth again by choice?  That's a good question.  I will say I enjoyed not feeling the pain of pushing the baby out. :) With Braidynn, I had a full American epidural and could NOT feel a thing.  I did not like the fact that I didn't even know if I was pushing or not.  With Aben, I was in Bangkok, and they gave me a "walking epidural" and I really liked it.  I didn't feel the pain, but could feel pressure and knew when I was pushing.  I didn't have any urge to push earlier than I should and after 2 pushes Aben was born.  With Asher, felt E-VE-RY-THING.  Yup.  everything.  So, the answer to that question is, I would just pray for another fast & quick delivery!  And just see if I have time for an epidural or not, hopefully I wouldn't and it would be super fast like it was with Asher.  :)

hugs,

Hannah