Labor and Delivery

Well I figure since I use this blog as my journal (and hopefully soon we will make it into a book so we can keep it as a memory) I thought that I would write down how Camden's birth went (and plus I also love reading about other women's birth stories....so if you aren't one of those I completely understand if you stop reading before all of the details, l.o.l)

Saturday night (Feb. 27th) I started feeling regular contractions, nothing painful just a pressure that would come about every ten minutes, well that pressure went into sunday and by sunday night they were coming every 3 to 5 minutes apart and a bit more painful, but still nothing to intense that I couldn't handle, but they went on like that for about 4 hours so we decided to head over to Labor and Delivery....were I kept on contracting, but nothing was happening...I was still stuck at a 4, so they sent us home! By monday the contractions were back to 10 minutes apart, but more pressure then pain. So at 2 in the afternoon I went for my regular O.B. appt and NST, and I joked with my doctor about my body not knowing how to go into labor and that I was positive that I would make it to my induction on wednesday, he laughed but also gave me the look like he doubted I would make it that far! So after the appt. Nathaniel and I headed over to the Gym to walk around the track...hopefully putting me into labor...yup, the contractions didn't change, still ten minutes apart and more pressure then pain. So we got home and started putting a puzzle together while watching a movie and ate dinner....after dinner is when all the 'FUN" began. The first "real" contraction I felt was at about 6:30 p.m. and instead of the slow build up, they hit me at about 7 p.m. 3 to 5 minutes apart...of course me not knowing what labor felt like still had my doubts that I was in labor and decided to walk around the house a bit and then they really started getting really painful and I decided to take a bath, hearing that a warm bath would help ease the pain...while I am sure it helps some, my contractions were coming so close together and were so painful nothing was helping....at about this time I realized that this could be the real thing, so I told Nathaniel that I thought we were going to be having Camden tonight and headed to the bathroom to take a shower really fast. Now by this point I was in so much pain that it was all I could do to get through each contraction...finally I made it through the shower and by some miracle got dressed, while all this time Nathaniel is going around the house grabbing our bags and getting them out to the car...AND off we were to the hospital at about 8:30 p.m. The hospital is literally down the street from our house, but on the way there I had two very painful contractions...and at about this time there was nothing I wanted more then an epidural. Well we show up to Labor and Delivery and of course before you are admitted you are checked out to see if you are in labor...I was at a 6 with my bag of water bulging...needless to say I was quickly admitted and transfered to my room. All this time Nathaniel is being the BEST support person ever and listening to everything I needed him to do for me, which quickly became me walking back and forth with my eyes closed trying not to pass out from the pain and me begging the nurses to know when the anestisiologist was going to be there. THANKFULLY he showed up right about 9:30 p.m. at about the same time my Doctor did (the BEST doctor in the world...besides you of course Dad!)....and he quickly got the epidural in me...I don't know if it was because I was in so much pain or he is the worlds best anestisiologist but getting the epidural didn't hurt at all and soon I was in HEAVEN, I could not feel the contractions anymore and at about this time I confessed my love to the epidural guy, l.o.l!!! It's now about 10 p.m. and Nathaniel and I are just chilling out and waiting for Camden to come! A little past 11 is when things started getting a little more complicated. Camden's heart rate started dropping and would stay in the 60's to 70's, we knew something wasn't quite right because our Doctor who is usually very smiley and happy looked very serious. They decided to check me and I was almost a 10 so we decided that I should try and push. Well with each push his heart rate would drop low again, but then pick back up after a minute. So I pushed through 3 contractions and his heart rate this time didn't pick up as fast....so out comes the vacuum and on the next contraction Camden came out! It was such an amazing experience to hear him crying and to see him, Nathaniel and I instantly feel in love with him. But since Camden came out so fast I ended up tearing in two different places, once again I was very thankful that I had an epidural. Well after the placenta was delivered and everything was looked over the nurses realized that there was a knot in the umbilical cord and we are guessing as I pushed the knot got tighter and tighter cutting off the air that Camden needed! I am once again very thankful for the skills and the calmness that my doctor had in delivering Camden and that his birth ended up going smoothly.

We are all now home and are doing quite well. I am healing very fast and we all made it to church today!

Camden is a great baby WHO LOVES to eat. After he was born his weight did drop to 8 pounds 3 oz., but I have a feeling that he is going to have no problem gaining all of the weight back and some :) He is also quite a good sleeper and will sleep for 4 hour stretches at night! Nathaniel and I have truely been blessed with a great son, who we love so much.