Introducing Our New Baby!

Our sweet baby Clark was born on Monday, April 13th at 12:24 pm. He weighed 7 lbs and 1 oz and was 19 inches long. He is a good little baby and we love him so much. He is almost 2 weeks old and I have been trying to post this for about a week now. I can't belive how much work babies are!

Just a little warning - this is a VERY LONG post about his birth story.

I started going into labor on Saturday night (April 11th), although I didn't really know it. My back starting hurting more than normal, but I just attributed it to pregnancy. I woke up early on Sunday morning and was having contractions and realized my back pain was really labor pains. I woke Keith up and we started timing them. They weren't very regular yet, so we got ready and packed our bags. Keith also got the car seat out of the box and installed it in the car. We timed the contractions again and they were about 5 minutes apart. I couldn't believe it. I was in labor! We called the hospital and they told us to come in.

On our way all I could think of was that I hoped they didn't send us home. We checked in at 11:00 AM and they hooked me up to monitors to check my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. My heart rate was high and they determined it was from the pain of the contractions. The nurse told me I was dilated to a 1 1/2 and 80% effaced. That was better than my doctors appointment a few days earlier where I was barely dilated to a 1 and 40% effaced. I received a dose of morphine to take a little edge off the contractions and hopefully slow down my heart rate. The nurse also said they would wait about an hour and check to see if I had progressed at all. It was determined about an hour later I was in early labor and I wasn't going to be admitted. My contractions were coming every 2 to 6 minutes, so the nurse told us to come back when they were regularly 3 minutes apart and increasing in intensity. I couldn't believe it. It was Easter Sunday and we were sure we were going to have our baby that day. I thought it was just the perfect day. Keith tried to come up with some "Easter" middle names. On the way to the hospital he suggested "Victory." I think it is a good thing little Clark didn't come on Sunday. He just wasn't ready and didn't want to have Victory for a middle name.

My contractions were still coming, but they weren't as regular. I am sure the morphine had some effect, but also not being in active labor yet did as well. I was really tired from only having 3 hours of sleep and from the morphine, so I took a long nap when we got home. Keith did to. We slept until about 7:30 PM that afternoon. When we got up, we went for a long walk around the neighborhood. We decided it would be nice to receive a blessing, so we went over to Keith's Dad's house. We first went for another walk and my contractions resumed in regularity to 5 minutes apart. However, they would slow down when we stopped walking. We ate a little dinner with Keith's family and then left to go home. I was surprised we hadn't been back to the hospital yet, but I really didn't want to get sent home again.

When we got home we crawled into bed and somehow I fell asleep. I would wake up about every hour with a really intense contraction and then fall back asleep. It was great to be able to rest so much on Sunday. About 3:00 AM I woke up with really strong contractions and could not lay in bed anymore. I got up and started timing my contractions. They were 2 - 3 minutes apart and had increased so much in intensity. I remembered the day before thinking that maybe I wouldn't want an epidural. That thought was very far from my mind early Monday morning as my contractions continued to increase in intensity. I woke Keith up about 4:30 AM and we read through some of our materials from our birthing class. I had taken a shower the morning before and this had greatly soothed my contractions, so he suggested I do this again. I got in the shower and it was helpful, but I could barely stand through each contraction. I didn't stay in the shower long and got out knowing we would be heading to the hospital soon.

We left our house about 6:30 AM and arrived at the hospital about 7:00 AM. I couldn't believe how intense my contractions had become. I didn't know what I would do if they sent me home this time. I remember holding onto the bar in the roof of the car so hard during my contractions and breathing so much. I think I had to have been scaring Keith a bit.

We pulled into the hospital and parked in the emergency parking at the Women's Center. I really wasn't ready to have the baby the day before because I was ok to just park in the parking tower and walk up to labor and delivery. Not this time. I remember having a contraction as we walked up to the admission desk and starting to cry. They seemed much busier than the day before and didn't rush me into a room as quickly. By the time I got changed and into the bed it had been 15 minutes. It was a long 15 minutes. The nurse came in and asked all the admission questions again and checked my progression. I was dilated to a 3 1/2 or 4 she said and 90% effaced. She said that was good and went to call my doctor to see if I could be admitted. I was so happy when she came back in and said, "We are admitting you. You are going to have your baby today." They said they could give me some pain medication until I was ready for the epidural. I don't remember what the medication was but she said it was very strong and would not last long. I remember it took a long time for them to get the IV in and they had to call a specialist to do it. They had to get so many fluids in my system before I could have the epidural. The pain medication didn't really do much at all for my contractions and I really wanted the epidural. I had always been a little nervous about getting an epidural, but at that point I wasn't at all.

Finally about 9:30 AM the anesthesiologist came in. My contractions were really getting strong and I was nervous about being able to be still through the procedure. He told me that I would probably have a few contractions while he was placing it. I had heard many different people say the epidural didn't hurt at all, so I wasn't expecting it to. I will testify that getting an epidural is not pain free. Or, at least mine was not. All in all, it was just really achy, but TOTALLY worth it. I would do it again and again in a heartbeat. I had always thought that you could feel your legs at all or anything from the waist down, but that wasn't true for me. I could still move my legs through the entire delivery. I didn't have much control, but I could still feel a lot. My best description was that it felt like Novocaine. I could still feel the pressure, but no pain. I think I have been to the dentist way to much in the last year!

When the nurse checked my progress again, I was at an 8 and 95% effaced. I remember it was moving along very quickly. Much quicker than I thought. I was impressed my body was doing all of this. I had always thought I would have to be induced, but it was completely opposite and my body was doing it all on its own. The doctor came in and broke my water and there was a little meconium in it. They said a NICU team would need to come in and be there to make sure he didn't get any in his lungs during the delivery. I wouldn't be able to hold my baby right away, but it was ok, as long as he was healthy. My doctor also had a student with him that day and he asked if I was ok if he helped him. I said that was fine, but double checked who would actually deliver the baby. My doctor said that he would be doing it, not the student. Whew!

Less than an hour later, the nurse came and checked me again and said I was dilated to a 10 and 100% effaced. I was ready to push. Once I had had the epidural, the monitor wasn't picking up the contractions, so I had to tell them when I felt them to push. I started pushing at about 11:45 AM. Keith was such a great coach and was right there with me. He would feel my stomach for the contractions and help let me know when to push. I remember thinking before that if I had the epidural I wouldn't be able to feel the baby through the delivery, but again that was not as I expected. I felt everything, but it wasn't painful. It was a wonderful experience. A miracle.

Clark was born at 12:24 PM. The medical student cut the cord really quick after Clark was born as they had to get him over the the NICU team. His cord blood spurted up all over Keith. It was at that point I wondered why they hadn't given him a gown.

Clark was screaming! I loved it because I knew that meant he was ok. I was talking to him as the NICU team was working on him and he was arching his little head back to look at Keith and I. Clark scored an 8 and 9 on his apgar tests. I was able to hold him within just a few minutes of him being born. He calmed right down and we spent the next hour just looking at our new baby boy.

Clark has been such a joy to have in our home. He is relatively calm and happy. I do miss my sleep, but he is so worth it. He is eating really well and weighed 7 lbs 8 oz at the doctor yesterday. That is great because he was down to 6 lbs 7 oz the week before. I hope to be able to update my blog more often now with updates on our little CK!