Caden’s Birth Story

There are no gory details/pictures but this is a very wordy/lengthy post with few pictures.  Sorry bout that!  We were really bad at documenting the day through pictures.

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December 27 rolled around.  Little did we know that we’d have a BABY that day!  Around 2AM I started to get out of bed constantly to pee.  I just felt like I needed to pee again as soon as I got back in bed.

Around 3AM I started to get period-like cramps.  They quickly got more intense, but I just wasn’t sure if it was labor or not…  I went and googled it and some sites said that Braxton Hicks contractions can feel like period cramps.  And real contractions occur at regular intervals, but what are ‘regular intervals’???  I was timing the contractions on my phone, but I couldn’t really tell when they ended, only when they started.  I waited till 5AM to wake Brandon up and ask him if he thought this was the real deal.  {I’ve always been afraid of going to the hospital and being told I wasn’t really in labor.}  It took him a second to wake up but after a minute he was like, uh, yeah I think this is it.  He said he would call my doctor while I got in the shower because, you know, I wanted to look good having a baby.  ;) Brandon called my mom, sister-in-law and his parents to let them know that I might be in labor and we’d call when we were admitted to the hospital once we knew this was the real deal.

I had to get on my hands and knees in the shower every time I got a contraction.  Brandon came  to tell me that my doctor said to come in right away.  I got out of the shower and said I was going to blow dry/ straighen my hair cuz I had to look awesome.  But after a few minutes of blow drying and grimacing through contractions, I realized that I was not going to finish.  I was in so much pain and sweating buckets.  I threw down my hair dryer and rolled around on the floor telling Brandon we needed to hurry.

We headed downstairs to get the bags in the car and let Toby out to do his bidniz.  Seriously the night before I had readjusted the hospital bags and made a list of the items to grab in a hurry {ipad/computer/chargers, etc…}.  Brandon let Toby out and it was raining so when he came inside he had muddy feet.  We always bring a bowl of water to the back door when it’s raining to wash his feet {he has really hairy paws, it kind of sounds like a doggy day spa but we do it for our sanity!}, but I was on the floor yelling at Brandon, “WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!  WE NEED TO GO NOW.  JUST PUT HIM IN HIS KENNEL.”  So we hurried out to the car with the bags {B carried everything in one trip, thank goodness}.

It was 6AM when we pulled out of the driveway.  We made it to the hospital in about 15-20 minutes.  Usually it takes 30ish minutes but because it was so early, we didn’t hit any traffic.  We pulled up to the emergency room and got out.  I walked in and thought all of the seats were really small in the waiting area.  The hospital valet walked in and said, “uh ma’am, this is the pediatric emergency room.  You need to go to the other waiting room.  But take your time… whenever you’re ready…”  Haha.  He acted like I was drunk or unaware of what was going on.  Sooooo I got up and walked to the correct waiting area and as soon as I walked in, a lady said, “Is she in labor?”  I said yes and she checked us in right away.  There were about 15 people in the waiting area and a few waiting to be checked in and I walked right past all of them.

She asked if I could walk and I said yes but then a contraction came on and I squatted down.  She was like “Uh, I’m going to find you a wheelchair.”  She came back with one and it was so much better than walking… What was I thinking trying to walk?

It was around 6:45AM at this point.  She wheeled me right into Labor and Delivery room 3.   I got into my gown and was checked in the undercarriage area a few minutes later.  The nurse said, “Well do you want to hear some good news?”  Brandon told me later he was thinking she was going to say, “you can stay, this is real labor!”  But her news was better.  She told us I was at 6CM.  WHAT THE HUH?  Insane.  I immediately said, “Will I have enough time to get an epidural?  I really want an epidural.”  She said not to worry about it.  She inserted the IV port and started watching my contractions and Caden’s heart rate.  My contractions were super painful at this point and I felt like I wanted to go to the bathroom during every contraction (and not #1, haha).  Brandon called our families back to say, Uh yes this is the real deal and she’s at 6CM so HURRY.  Especially my sister-in-law who lives 3.5 hours away.  The nurse also had to get my antibiotics in right away for the Group B Strep because I was supposed to get at least 2 doses which needed to be given 4 hours apart.  But at the rate things were progressing, I was going to need the doses to be administered closer together.

At around 8:30AM I was checked again and was 9CM.  Geez louise, it was going by so fast.  My inlaws arrived around this time.  At 11AM my older brother and sister-in-law arrived.  The nurse decided to wait to check how far along I was because I needed my second dose of antibiotics and we were waiting for my mom to arrive.  So from about 11:15 on I was just waiting.  She finally checked me around noon and found out I was at 10CM.  My water broke as soon as she started checking me.  I laugh out loud thinking about it, but it was so funny from my angle – it looked like a fire hydrant exploded.  My mom finally came in the room a few minutes later.  I had Brandon calling/texting her every few minutes all morning to see where she was.  I was so worried she wouldn’t make it.

At 12:21PM I started pushing.  I pushed through several contractions and didn’t feel a thing.  It was glorious.  The nurse wheeled the mirror over and up until that point I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch or not.  She said most women who are able to watch push much more effectively.  I’m so glad I was able to watch because I’m not sure if I would believe I actually gave birth.  Thanks to the epidural, I honestly feel like I did nothing.  As soon as the nurse saw his head she called the doctor in.  My doctor didn’t actually deliver for us because she had been on call all night before.  But I really like the doctor that delivered Caden.  I pushed through about 4 more contractions and he was ready to come out.  I had seen the episode of the Kardashians where Kourtney pulled out her little girl and ever since then I dreamed of being that crazy.

So once he was ready to come out on the final push, Brandon stopped the doctor and asked if I could pull him out.  The doctor said sure!  So I reached down and with one more push, pulled him out!  It was so awesome. (Now I can mark off pulling a baby out of myself off my bucket list! ;)….)  Brandon asked my doctor later if we could be credited back some of the birthing cost since I did most of the work.  Haha.

The first time Caden was placed on my chest.

Caden was born at 12:49PM.  I pushed for 28 minutes.  The whole labor/delivery process was about 9 hours and 49 minutes.  If I didn’t need the antibiotics, and if my mom had been there sooner, I probably could have delivered about an hour earlier.  But I seriously wouldn’t change a thing about how the whole labor/delivery went.  I was also weirdly relaxed the whole process, even before the epidural.  I wasn’t scared at all.  I mean the contractions were so painful before the epi, but I had this sense of calm over me.  I know God was watching out for me.

Brandon got to cut his cord.  Maybe I can do that next time.  ;)

First family pic!

And that’s the story of Caden’s birth!