Carson's Cuteness: The Story of Carson's Birth

I have been wanting to write up Carson's birth story for awhile now...I started writing it out on Carson's 1st birthday (Jan. 7th) because I was feeling sentimental. But of course I am just now getting around to posting it. Better late than never, right??

I already wrote on here about how I was admitted to the hospital on New Year's Eve day 2008 because my blood pressure was high and the ultrasound showed that Carson wasn't growing. So they decided to keep me in the hospital to monitor me closely until they could induce me at 37 weeks which would be full term. The hospital stay was boring but looking back, I'm glad I had that time to rest before the baby got here because there was not much sleep to be had after.

We decided on January 7th as the day that I would have Carson because Dr. Cole would be at the Baptist office and would be close by to check on me. I would be 37 weeks and 2 days on delivery day. All along I knew I wanted to try for a natural childbirth because the idea of having a needle stuck in my spine freaked me out and I also did not want to feel not in control of my body. But I wasn't sure that I would be able to do it since I was being induced and I had heard that contractions are much stronger with pitocin. So I decided that I would just go with the flow and see what happens.

I literally slept the whole day on January 6th and was pretty much by myself because Justin needed to wrap some things up at work. Justin got everything together and brought us Red Robin for dinner that night. It was so good! They started the induction that night. At around 7:30, the nurse came to put in my IV which would keep me hydrated during labor. Then we got everything ready to move to a room on the Labor & Delivery wing of the hospital. I had been in a room on the Antepartum wing for a week.

So when we got to our L & D room, we met the nurse who seemed really great and she asked us lots of questions. Then, she put in the Cervadil which they place in your cervix in order for it to thin and ripen in preparation for labor. The nurse also checked me and said that I was still at 1 centimeter but that the baby's head was really low. She said that I would probably cramp some from the Cervadil and that it may put me into labor because of the low position of the baby. The plan was to take the Cervadil out at 4 a.m., start the pitocin to begin contractions at 5 a.m., and Dr. Cole would break my water around 8 a.m. Because I had the Cervadil in, I had to be monitored all the time which meant that I had to wear the straps around my belly which measured any contractions and kept track of the baby's heart rate. I also had to wear a blood pressure cuff so that they could check my BP throughout the process. With all of this on, it was going to be very difficult for me to get to sleep. The nurse encouraged me to take an Ambien so that I could get some sleep and I did. Justin decided to take a Tylenol PM also so that he could get some sleep before the big day. I think I slept for a couple of hours until around midnight and woke up to some pretty bad cramps. They weren't contractions, they were more like menstrual cramps. They were pretty painful but I tolerated them and just tried to rest as much as I could. I also had to use the bathroom several times, which was annoying because each time I would have to unstrap all the monitors and BP cuff, pull the IV fluid bag with me, and then get it all hooked up when I got back. I tried to get Justin awake because the cramps were bothering me but he wasn't much help at that point because he had taken the Tylenol PM. For the next few hours, I dozed in and out of sleep trying to ignore the cramps.

At 3:55 a.m. I felt a pop and felt some fluid come out and just knew my water had broken! I called the nurse and she came a checked and sure enough, my water had broken on its own 5 minutes before she was to take the cervadil out! So, she went ahead and took it out and checked me and I had progressed to 2 centimeters! I also started to have some contractions right away and they seemed to be pretty close together which seemed kinda weird at that point. They weren't too painful but I was having to do my deep breathing with them. After this went on for about 30 minutes, the nurse came in and told me she needed to give me a shot because the baby's heart rate had dropped and he was under distress because my contractions were coming too fast. So she had called the on call doctor who instructed her to give me a shot of terbutaline to stop/slow the contractions. After the shot, the baby's heart rate went back to normal ranges and the contractions slowed down a lot. They were much less intense and I was able to breath normally again for the most part. Also, she was instructed not to start the pitocin at 5 a.m. and that we would just wait until Dr. Cole got there to decide what to do next.

Justin finally woke up when all the excitement was happening and he felt really bad that he was not fully awake earlier when I was experiencing the painful cramps. But it was okay, I was glad he was rested for the day because I was sure it would be a long one! At around 7, we got a new nurse, Diane, and she turned out to be an angel! She was so supportive of everything I wanted and did not make me feel like I was crazy for not wanting an epidural. At around 8, Dr. Cole came to check on me and I was so happy to see her so that I could know what was going to happen next. She decided to put internal monitors on me because they were more accurate than the external monitors. This meant that they would attach a suction cup thingy to the baby's head and it would keep track of the heart rate and contractions. So she put those in and she also checked to see if I had made any progress, I was at 5 centimeters but she said she probably stretched me to a 6 while putting the monitors in!! I was shocked because ever since I got the shot, I really hadn't had many painful contractions. I was so excited and at that point I knew that I could give birth naturally. It couldn't be that bad because I was already halfway there!! Dr. Cole also decided to start me on Pitocin at that point so that the contractions would pick up some. I was nervous about this but the nurse assured me that it would be gradual. As Dr. Cole was leaving she said that we would probably have a baby by lunchtime because it was going so quickly!! I was really happy because I had thought that it would be at least afternoon before the baby would be here.

So the pitocin was started through my IV at about 8:30 and the contractions started to get more intense within a very short time. I had to use my breathing techniques through each one - I would breathe in deeply through my nose and then exhale out my mouth. This really helped me to stay calm and not tense up during the contraction. Also, my lower back felt like it had a lot of pressure on it so during each contraction Justin had to rub my lower back very hard with his hands to offset some of the pressure I was feeling. I was not able to get up and move around during labor either because of my blood pressure so I was just stuck in bed the whole time. I really didn't have the desire to move around though so it was fine. I can't remember all the specific details of this point in time but this basically went on for a couple of hours. I will admit that it was difficult and painful but nothing that I couldn't handle. As long as I did my breathing and Justin was rubbing my back, I could make it through the contraction. During the break between contractions, I would literally close my eyes and almost fall asleep because it was taking so much energy to work through each contraction. After a couple of hours, I remember feeling very nauseous and I vomited. After I did this, I remember reading that when you vomit and basically feel like you can't take it anymore, which is how I felt, that it is almost over and time to push. Sure enough at about 10:30 - ish, I felt a lot of pressure and just knew that I needed to push. So I called the nurse and she came to check me and I was at about 8 centimeters. So I had a little bit more to go. At this point, the contractions were very close together with barely a break in between and also they had 2 peaks which meant as soon as I thought it was over it would get even worse! So after about 15-20 minutes of this, I felt like I must push again and called the nurse and she said I only had the lip of my cervix left and that I could start pushing! At this point, I really felt like I could not take any more and I really wanted the drugs!! But the nurse told me it was too late and that I was almost there which I was not happy about at the time but now I am glad I continued on.

So now to the pushing part, it actually felt kinda good to push but it was hard work! I was literally seeing stars because I was pushing so hard and I was so exhausted! I began pushing at right around 11. I pushed for awhile, it was just very awkward because I had to hold my legs, push my chin down and push three times during each contraction for 10 seconds each. I kept wanting to take a break between each time pushing which was causing it not to be very effective. So the nurse finally told me that I have to push 3 times and hold it for 10 seconds each without taking a break in between. So with the next contraction, I did that and I finally got his head past my pelvic bone which is where it needed to be so that she could call Dr. Cole to come deliver him. I thought I was going to pass out during that set of pushes but I made it.

The baby's head was right there and Justin could see it so the baby would be with us very shortly. While waiting for Dr. Cole to arrive, I actually had to resist the urge to push which was very hard because the pushing takes over your whole body! It's like you almost can't stop it!

Dr. Cole arrived around 11:20 and she got everything set up. When I started pushing, she said "You look like someone who's epidural has worn off" and all of the nurses looked at her and said "She didn't have one!" I think Dr. Cole was very surprised by this even though I had told her that I wanted to try to do without one. So basically I looked like crap but I could care less at that point!! I just wanted that baby out!!! It took about 2 more sets of pushes and the baby felt like he just came flying out! I remember yelling "OH MY GOD!!" It was such a crazy feeling! Dr. Cole held him up and said "It's a Boy" because we did not know the gender. Throughout my whole pregnancy, I just knew I was having a boy so it really didn't feel like a surprise to me but Justin was surprised. I remember the first thing I asked was "Is he ok?" because I had been so worried about him since he was measuring small on the ultrasounds. Dr. Cole said he was perfect and Justin cut the umbilical cord. Carson Grant was born at 11:32 a.m. and was 5 lbs. 1 oz. and 18 and 1/4 inches long. Just a tiny little peanut but so perfect in every way!! All of the pain I had just went through disappeared and I was just on cloud 9, so happy to meet my perfect baby who I had been dreaming about for 9 months!

Little did I know, the fun was just beginning!!

Here are some pictures from delivery day!! I wish we would've taken more but we just were too excited to remember I guess!

The Proud Father