Carter Lynn

Well, now that's there's facebook, it's too hard to keep the blog "current..."  

After 9 months of waiting, we finally got to meet our little girl, Carter Lynn.  Of course, I'm biased but she is SOO adorable and we can't get enough of her.  She's so funny with all of her facial expressions and she always looks so sweet when she lays asleep all swaddled in her blanket.  She is a little cuddle bug for now and she likes to be held and I of course do not mind holding her.  She also loves to sleep and I swear she sleeps 23 hours a day (unless she's having her new born picture taken and then she's awake for 4 hours).  I can't really even keep her awake to eat.  I have to continuously nudge her and wake her up to make sure she's getting enough.  The whole birthing story is below for those who requested to hear it but here are just a few picture highlights.  

 This is when we first got to the hospital and hooked to the IV.  I'm still smiling so they hadn't told me that I wouldn't be able to have an epidural yet! :)  This is our last picture together and just Matt and I.

 Daddy holding Carter for the first time.  She's only like 5 minutes old right here. 

 Mommy holding Carter for the first time.  She was so precious.  

 This was actually pre-Carter.  It was Daddy's hospital present.  It was a book called, "I used to be the baby."  It's a book about a little boy who is used to getting all of mommy's time and how he had to learn to share it and help with baby! :)  He LOVED it.  

 After they cleaned her up and gave her a good bath!  

 She finally gets to come home!! 

 As snug as a bug in a rug!  It's my favorite thing to see her all swaddled up.  I think she looks so adorable.  

 Daddy getting her dressed to go home!  

And I know this picture doesn't do it justice but she looks so adorable when she wears these super cute pajamas dresses.  I just love to cuddle her when she's in these!!!


Carter came about a week earlier than her due date.  We were a little prepared for this because 2 weeks before, at 36 1/2 weeks we were dialated to a 2 and then the following week we were at a 3.  So Thursday morning when I went into my doctor appointment, I thought he would say we were at a 4 and that she would be here in a few days.  Well, this time he told me my blood pressure was starting to elevate, we were at a 5 and the baby was super low.  He couldn't figure out how my body had not already gone into labor.  For a moment I thought we were going to the hospital the night before but my contractions never came closer than 10 minutes apart and they weren't really that painful.  I assumed contractions that would send you to the hospital would be painful. ---- (You'll notice throughout this that despite reading a few books and talking to other people I was really naive about the whole birthing process :) ) ----

The doctor asked me if I wanted to have my baby today?  I told him I wasn't sure because I didn't want to be "induced" if it wasn't necessary but he asked me to consider going to the hospital because he thought for sure she would come in a day or 2 and I needed to receive antibiotics twice, 4 hours apart before they baby came.  If I went that day then I would have plenty of time to make sure that took place.  So I called Matt and we decided that today would be the day.  I went home not really sure what to do so I started folding clothes that were in the dryer, unloading the dishwasher one last time, and sweeping the floor.  I just though it would help us feel "ready."  I also thought maybe if I stalled I would go to in Labor.  

Finally at 11:30 we got to the hospital where they started all the blood work and IVs.  My blood pressure was still elevated at the hospital.  I wasn't worried at all because it had been fine the entire 9 months, I just assumed it was nervousness from knowing we were going to be having a baby.  However, there were a few other things in my lab they were worried about and to top it off my platelet count was low.  The nurse told me it would be up to the anesthesiologist but that if they were too low they wouldn't let me have an epidural because they were worried about bleeding. They were also worried because I'm a natural redhead and supposedly we bleed more than others.   The anesthesiologist said he would run my blood work again and if my levels stayed the same I could have the epidural, if not--NO epidural.  Well, of course they dropped lower! :(  I was so sad.  I literally started crying.  

You have to understand that I did not prepare at all for any sort of a  "natural" birth. My only plan was the epidural.   Actually, I went to one birthing class and just confirmed that I was having an epidural and never "practiced" any of the techniques.  So I was not physically and probably even worse, not mentally prepared for this.  

The doctor did give me the option to wait one more day to see if we could have the epidural.  However, at this point I was a 6 and he said then we run the risk of it getting worse, me still not being able to have the epidural and then having to make sure we get the antibiotics in.  My doctor is also very upbeat and makes everything sound easy so his response was, "I say we break your water, increase pictosin levels and then you'll have your baby here in just a few hours, it won't be a big deal!"  So he convinced me that it wouldn't be a big deal and that I could do it so at 4:00 he broke my water and HOLY COW!!!  The contractions that I could barely even feel 2 minutes ago suddenly made me feel like I was going to die.  I had never felt pain like that and so instantly.  They asked if I wanted any pain killers in the IV.  They said they could give you a painkiller in the IV once every hour.   I was naive at first thinking it would still take awhile for labor pains to progress so I initially said no. After the third or fourth one I said, yes!  However, it did absolutely NOTHING but make me dizzy for about 30 seconds.  The contractions felt the same and then got worse. Matt kept asking the nurse if I could have more but I didn't even want them after that.  There's a chance it goes to the baby and they weren't even helping me at all.   After it was all done the nurse said, "yeah, those drugs don't usually work but occasionally they'll help to take the edge off."  No, they didn't even take the edge off.  So we sat for about an hour having these contractions.  I don't even remember how close they were.  Finally at 5:15 we were ready to push.  Luckily I had a great nurse to walk me through everything because I definitely wasn't getting it.  She told me where to put my legs, where to put my hands, when to breath, when/how to push, etc.  Before the doctor broke my water he was explaining to me that once you start pushing it doesn't hurst as much because you can push back against the contraction.  I didn't understand at first but soon I realized what he was talking about.  If I could start pushing right when the contraction started I didn't really feel the pain, just the effort of pushing.  At that point it wasn't about making it through the pain, it was about making it through the exhaustion.  I was SO tired.  I couldn't even formulate words.  I can't even understand those stories now of women screaming during delivery because there is NO extra energy for that.  After pushing for about 45 minutes she called the doctor and he came in but we still ended up pushing for about 30 more minutes before she finally came at 6:34.  I was so exhausted by this point and the lights were bugging me that in between each contraction I would just close my eyes, they also remained shut while pushing.  The doctor kept saying, "look down, look down" and it took me a few moments to realize that he was talking to me, but I finally looked down and there she was!  

And I will say it was definitely worth it. This little angel is so adorable and I just can't ever get enough of her.  I will say afterwards I didn't even care about the epidural.  I was able to get up about an 1 1/2 later and walk around and use the bathroom.  I didn't dare get up earlier for how shaky my legs were. They also brought me dinner right after and we were able to eat, enjoy Carter and let family come and visit.  

I get the question a lot now if I would do it again without an epidural.  As of now, I would keep every option open at every moment but the one thing I will definitely do is actually be prepared for either way next time!!!