So much for thinking we were having a girl, Conner got a brother last week. Caleb Mason took his time joining us and didn't arrive until 8 days past his due date. He was born the day before Conner's birthday. (And if we add in RJ and Jen's birthdays then we have 4 birthdays in a row.) Thankfully, he was still only 7.8 pounds and 20 inches long. I was afraid he would be huge and I would miss that tiny little baby stage, but he was still a nice small size.
Around 3 am I woke up with mild cramps and told Cade that we might have some action happening. I wasn't holding my breath though because I had been having tons of cramps, stronger ones, in the last few weeks so it was possible it was just more of that. But it was strange that I would have them while sleeping so I figured there was a chance. I went back to sleep and Conner woke us up about 6:00 and the cramps were gone so I told Cade nevermind. We all went back to sleep again and I woke up about 8:00 with cramps strong enough to make it impossible to keep sleeping or even lay down comfortably. So I got up and waited to see what would happen. Over the next few hours nothing really changed so I was beginning to think that it was just a false alarm. Somewhere around 11:30 I timed them and they were about 20 minutes apart and I decided to get ready just in case. During a light lunch we timed the contractions again and they were 8 minutes apart. My mom got a little panicked at this point and was really trying to push us out to the hospital, but I still felt like it was a little early, and I was still eating :) Cade kept entertaining Conner and I slowly got our last minute things in order. Just after 2:00 I had a really strong contraction that forced me to sit down and felt like it lasted about 5 minutes so then I decided it was time to go. Conner had a meltdown, which was really sad and surprising because we've left him with grandma and grandpa plenty of times without trouble.
Our last picture as a family of 3, taken a few weeks prior to test out our camera.
The half hour drive to the hospital was pretty unpleasant. Cade wanted to try timing the contractions again but it was getting too hard for me to tell when one ended and another one began. I half-jokingly asked him to remind me why I didn't want an epidural. (There are multiple reasons that I won't get into.) Since he doesn't pay much attention to me when I talk about such things he had a hard time reminding me of them, but he did point out that I really don't care to have a gigantic needle being stabbed into my back. That helped a little.
Once we were in triage I had to go change into my gown and pee in a cup. The gown didn't have the sleeves buttoned up and it was like a flat sheet. I blame the contractions I was dealing with, but it took me forever to figure out how to put that thing on and I think they should have the gowns already prepared for laboring women. I also ended up having to use the restroom for other business, if you know what I mean, so I ended up being in there a long time. When I came out Cade and the nurse told me they were getting worried and about to check on me. Everyone was being really nice and many were very chatty but I just did not have the energy to carry on these conversations. And they had all these initial questions to ask me that I thought were so pointless and at the very least that Cade could answer for me. Looking back I wish we had gone to the hospital sooner so I wasn't in so much pain during the whole question/answer phase. But you just never know how quickly things will progress. When the nurse checked me she said I was at 7 or 8 centimeters and called my doctor so she could start heading to the hospital.
Soon we were in the delivery room. A nurse started to check me again but then said the head was right there so she wasn't going to bother. She told me my doctor was still on her way but they got a resident to come in so I was free to push anytime I needed to. I remember thinking it was kind of awkward because he just stood there waiting for me to do something and I was laying on my side and not sure if I was covered back up after the nurse checked me so he might be getting a show already. But Cade later informed me I was covered up :) The contractions were almost unbearable at this point and I just started getting the urge to push. I was getting a little panicked because I didn't know how I could push while having such strong contractions. When I had Conner the contractions had stopped for a few minutes before I felt any need to push so I got a little recovery period and there was no recovery time this time. My doctor showed up at this point and went to check something and accidently broke my water. It eased my contractions just enough for me to take a breath and get ready to push. They got me into position and told me to go ahead when I was ready, but I wanted another minute so the 2 nurses, 2 doctors, and Cade just stood there staring at me. For whatever reason I thought that was really funny and wanted to laugh but didn't have the energy.
Now it was time for business. The pushing contractions were ridiculously strong right away, I could hardly believe how painful it was. (With Conner they started slowly and without pain and I would push, rest, push, rest... and I just didn't think that pushing was that terrible.) After a few pushes they started telling me the baby's heart rate was dropping and I needed to get it out. I feel like I hear that all the time in other people's birth stories so I didn't worry much about it. At some point though I saw my doctor's face as she was again telling me the baby needed to be out and I could tell she was seriously concerned so I gave it all I had. I wish that that meant one more good push and the baby was out, but unfortunately it was still what seemed like a full 5 minutes. I mean, like one push that lasted 5 minutes. Cade says it wasn't that long, but I know I took multiple breaths while continuing to push without stopping. They kept saying it was there and made it sound like I just needed to push a little harder and it would be out. But I was already pushing as hard as I possibly could and it didn't feel like it was budging. I was truely wondering if I was going to be able to do it and I wanted to cry. Finally, after what I honestly think was the worst 10 minutes of my entire life, our little baby arrived at 4:23 pm. With Conner I pushed for about an hour and a half, with Caleb it was a total of 15 minutes, but I will gladly take the hour and a half if it means the pain isn't so severe. Afterwards the doctor mentioned Caleb's heart rate got down to 50 or 60 beats per minute. I asked what it was supposed to be and she said 120, so I guess it was getting low.
Gotta love how he was covered in his poop when he came out.
Caleb has been a great baby so far. He sleeps like 20 hours a day and isn't fussy. He only cries when he is hungry and a little while we use a cold wipe on his bum. Conner really loves him and is always trying to play with him. So far there hasn't been any jealousy. Unfortunately Conner has a little cold so I don't want him breathing all over Caleb but its been pretty much impossible to stop that. Caleb wakes up more in the night to eat than he does during the day so that's annoying but he seems to be changing his ways. Its been 100 times easier for me to adjust to the interrupted/no sleep this time. After Conner was born Cade and I were both exhausted and unhappy for quite awhile because his days and nights were mixed up. But this time its just been way easier for me to go without sleep so I let Cade sleep more and we're all happy. Soon Cade will be back at work and we'll see how things turn out with me watching both boys.
Meeting brother for the first time
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