I was 34 weeks along and went off to start the first of 5 appointments. Having gestational diabetes was absolutely horrible. As if they don’t make you have tons of appointments already in the third trimester, now I more than quadrupled my appointments each week. Between non stress tests, weekly ultrasounds, and my regular appointments, I couldn’t stop running. This week was no different.
My mom had come along with me. It was fun for her to be able to be there for a few of the ultrasounds! Baby checked out okay that day, just very low, as usual. I went for my next appointment one building over and a few floors up. I was having more contractions during my non stress test. I could barely feel them, but the doctor that day was a little concerned. I saw pretty much a different doctor at each visit. They want you to get to know as much of the staff as possible because you never know who will be the one to deliver the baby!
This was the first time I had seen this particular doctor. She seemed especially concerned and wanted to see if these contractions were actually doing anything. To my surprise, I was 4cm dilated. I’m pretty sure my mom jumped out of her seat when she heard that. WHAT!
Yeah.
Needless to say, I was sent across the hospital bridge to labor and deliver a few minutes later. They monitored me for several hours to see if I was actually in labor. Jonathan arrived not too long after I was sent there. We waited and waited. There was no change, so we went home with a list of instructions on what and what not to do. High on the list was “If you’re water breaks, you better fly to the hospital because you’re nearly halfway there already and it’ll be FAST!”
The baby’s room wasn’t ready. Her crib wasn’t assembled. No clothes were washed. Our bags weren’t packed. We hadn’t even ordered the remainder of the things we needed to bring a baby home! I so desperately wanted a rocking chair and an ergobaby carrier. We weren’t even sure what we’d use for a changing table or a dresser. Our baby shower was literally two days before! (If you missed it, you can read that post here!)
I was sent to labor and delivery 3 more times over the next 4 weeks for monitoring. I had steroid injections to help speed up the growth of our baby’s lungs. Everything pointed to an early delivery. But we made it to 35 weeks. 36 weeks. Then 37. And baby still wasn’t here. The good news was that they had scheduled me for induction at 39 weeks! I had an end date. You have no idea how much that means when you’re so incredibly pregnant.
Week 38 arrived. I woke up to a text from my husband, “My truck is broken down. I’m stranded in the middle of nowhere. Pray for me.” I responded with “So today would be a bad day to go into labor?” “Uh…yes.”
I had another round of appointments that morning. I didn’t feel any different, so I told my mom she didn’t have to come. Plus, my appointment was at the Irwin office right down the road from my parent’s house. So I could just go there afterwards.
I got on the NST machine and within 5 minutes or so, I saw my baby’s heart rate begin to rise. I had been on that thing so many times, I knew exactly what I was looking at. At 10 minutes, the doctor came in and said “I’m going to leave you on here a bit longer.” That had happened once or twice. No big deal.
Then my baby girl’s heart rate went into the 190’s. It was so scary and the doctor said she was nearing tachycardia. She almost called an ambulance but when I said my mom was just up the road, she called the hospital and said I’d be arriving soon.
My mom was cleaning a house that morning but quickly left and came to pick me up at my house. I made a frantic call to Jonathan hoping that he was back up and running. Sadly, the mechanic was still at least an hour out, and he hadn’t even made it to his first job of the day. It was looking like he wouldn’t even be done until 7:30pm.
It was about 11am when we made it to the hospital. They took me right back and began monitoring me and the baby. Her heart rate had gone back to normal. Praise the Lord! It seemed like they were just going to send me home again. I texted Jonathan an update. He replied saying the mechanic had just got there, but it wasn’t going to be an easy fix.
About half an hour later, the doctor came in to say “Hey, I’m going to see if you’re dilated anymore, then send you home.”
What happened next was such a whirlwind, I’m not sure how much time actually passed.
It went like this:
“Um…you’re at 5cm. You’re having this baby today! I’m going to break your water.”
Followed by a nurse screaming “Don’t you dare break her water in here! We need to move her to a delivery room first!” Then a hustle and bustle, finding out if a room was free, and being wheeled down the hall.
A few minutes later, he broke my water, and I began to have a panic attack that Jonathan wasn’t going to be there when she was born.
He wasn’t answering his phone.
Finally he called me back and let me know he had just made it to his first stop, and was turning around and going back to the warehouse. But his ETA was still 3 hours away because of how far away he had traveled.
I thought there was no way this was going to take longer than that. Thank God I was wrong.
After breaking my water, nothing happened. Literally nothing. I was having 0 contractions. They started me on a high dose of Pitocin, and after another hour of nothing, they upped it even higher. (If you don’t know how Pitocin works, you should go read about it. Then go pray that you never have to have it.)
Jonathan finally arrived about 4pm, which is when the contractions began picking up.
Fast forward to about 6:30pm. I couldn’t take it anymore. I was nauseated from the pain. I was only 7cm at the last check, so I asked for an epidural. Man, it was so worth it for multiple reasons. Within half an hour of being able to relax a bit, I reached 10cm. The nurse said that might happen!
I started pushing about 7:20pm. Jonathan passed out about 7:40pm. And at 7:47pm, on Thursday, March 29, our baby girl was born.
Alethea Iris Jalosky.
8lbs 6oz. – 20in. long
Our rainbow baby.
Alethea means truth. Iris means rainbow.
We gave our family in the waiting room, cards with each letter of her name to see if they could figure it out. They came up with several combinations, but none of them the right one.
It was late by the time we got settled. Our families came in for a quick peek at our baby girl. My sister Kara took some photos for us, then they went home.
My sisters, Amy and Ruby, were going to stop at our house to pick up our dog, d’Artagnan, but made a detour to their house first.. When Amy & Ruby arrived at our house, they saw the lights on and someone walking around. Knowing we were at the hospital, they called the police, thinking someone had broken into our house! Jonathan had decided (after they left) to go home to get a quick shower and change out of his uniform. He heard some commotion outside and went to see my sisters with our neighbor (who is a local cop) and another on duty officer. Our neighbor had seen Jonathan come home, so he tried explaining to my sisters that it was just him. Jonathan had to sign a statement that no one broke into our house.
We will laugh about that forever.
The next day, they all came back to hold her. Kara took some more photos of us as a family. <3 
Then, on Saturday, the day before Easter, we took our little rainbow home.
My Aunt Ron had crocheted Alethea a whole bunch of outfits and hats. Because of how big she was when she was born, she fit right into the purple dress! Even though we didn’t go anywhere on Easter, we dressed her up for a little bit.
I took some newborn photos of her later that week. The rainbow arch from her baby shower was still in good condition so I used it in the photos. She was perfect!
At 2 weeks, we were able to give her her first real bath in the sink!
Alethea got to meet most of our extended families in her first few weeks and went to church for the first time. I have a milion photos from my phone from her first months. Here are some of my favorites! You’ll have to wait to see some more!
