Our little guy is already ONE month old and is growing up WAY too fast! So before I forget the tale of how our sweet boy made his way here, I figured I better write it down. I am not really sure where to begin, so I will back track to week 37. With 20 days left till the big D-day, I finished my last day of work. I felt like I had a mile long list of things to get done before his arrival so I was grateful for the extra time… well at least I was grateful for the first week. Once the house was clean, his clothes were washed, his crib was ready, and the bags were packed the anticipation about killed me. At 38wks and 5days I had my last appointment with my Dr. before he left for vacation. (I LOVE my Dr. so I was very sad that his vacation fell on the week of my due date) At week 37, I was dilated to a 1. I had high hopes going into this appointment. I was confident that I was much further along and that this baby was coming early. My hopes were crushed though when the doctor said I was still dilated to a 1. So the Dr. went ahead and stripped my membranes … which quickly got me once again excited that this baby was coming!! After I left the doctor’s office Rob and I were very excited and hoping that this baby would come soon. I called my mom and sisters and everyone was sure that he was coming in the next few days. But no… NOTHING happened… not even a little contraction. Total bummer. By this point I was getting bored and felt like day after day I just played the waiting game. Rob and I went on lots of walks that week in hopes of moving things along. After a week of waiting, we were back at the doctor’s office. With 2 days till my due date, I was praying that I was further along. The doctor checked me and I was only a 1 ½ and 60% efface. WHAT THE HECK! By this point I had given up hope and hoped that they would at least schedule an induction even though I was seeing another doctor since mine was out of town. Luckily they did schedule an induction. Tuesday, June 21 at 8pm. Leaving the doctor’s office I was sure the 21st would be the big day. With an ending in sight and a date on the calendar I was then able to enjoy myself a little more (besides the fact that I felt huge and my clothes did not fit well). On the D-day (Thursday) I got a pedicure, went to lunch, babysat my nieces and nephew and even bent over the tub to give my nephew a bath and lugged him around the house. On Friday, I didn’t do much. I did some laundry and sat around most of the day watching Grey’s Anatomy. That evening, Rob and I decided to go out to eat, knowing this would be our last weekend before we became a family of three. We went to Texas Roadhouse and ate. Afterwards, we debated what to do and even drove to the movie theater, but all at once it hit me that I was going to be a Mama and this baby was coming sometime in the next week. In the moment I was sad that life was no longer going to be just Rob and I… silly me… but I for the last 4 years of marriage it had just been the two of us. Rob wanted to see a boy movie and by this time I was totally not in the mood for that. So instead we went to a park nearby and walked around for a little bit and ended up sitting on the grass and watching a soccer game till 10pm. Afterwards we went by Cold Stone and got Rob’s favorite, a mint chocolate chip shake. We sat outside and talked about and imagined what our son was going to be like. Once we got home, we decided that we should stay up even later and catch up on some shows. Bad idea! Around 1am we woke up on the couch and dragged ourselves to bed. I quickly got ready for bed and laid down, as Rob finished getting ready I told him “I feel pressure or something”…then jokingly I said “I bet we have a baby tomorrow… especially since we stayed up so late. Rob laughed and came to bed and was out for the rest of the night. I on the other hand did NOT sleep very well that night. Starting at 1:30am I started to feel little contractions. At the time I didn’t really know what they were… up until this point I had never had a contraction …or at least not one that I could feel. For the rest of the night I was frequently woke up feeling crampy. Each time I would nudge Rob and tell him I didn’t feel very good, he just moved a little and grunted OK. By 5am I was feeling contractions pretty regularly and decided to start timing them. At this point they were about 5 minutes apart and were lasting about a 45sec to a minute long. After another hour passed Rob finally woke up and realized that he had slept through everything and really had no idea what was going on. Around 7am I was beginning to think that it might really be happening today, so I tried my hardest to start getting ready. I took a shower and ate a little bit of cereal. I was having a pretty hard time getting ready though. But I was still in denial that this was truly labor, I called my sister and asked her to describe to me what a contraction felt like. She tried her best, but of course everyone experiences them differently. She told me that I should just call the doctor. I didn’t want to because I knew I was going to be embarrassed if all of this was just false labor. After my sister and Rob continued to bug me I finally got the courage to call the doctor…..that was a mistake. When I got on the phone with the doctor it was very clear that I had woken the on-call doctor up… I explained to him what I was experiencing (of course I tried talking in my most regular cheerful voice because I did not want to look like a wimp).Then he asked me what I was dilated to at my last appointment… after pausing I shamefully told him that I was 1 ½. At that point he kinda seemed irritated that I woke him up and he told me that if I were having real contractions that I would be bent over, not sounding so cheerful :(, and tears would be coming to my eyes. He said once I get to that point I could come in. In the mean time he told me to talk Tylenol and a bath and just rest. After I hung up the phone I was NOT going to go in. I felt dumb…tears weren’t coming to my eyes, but it sure did hurt pretty bad and I didn’t want to get up. For the next 3 hours, I laid on the bathroom floor and swayed my hips every time I had a contraction. I was convinced that I was NOT in labor and I was NOT going to go in just to get sent home. Rob REALLY wanted me to just go in and get checked but I was putting my foot down. Around noon, my sister and mom showed up at my house and they along with Rob basically drug me out of the house. When we showed up at the hospital we had to sit there for about 15 minutes while they registered us. I had previously faxed in my registration so I would not have to wait, but obviously that did not work. Around 12:30pm I finally got into triage and I was only dilated to a 4 and they decided that I needed to walk the halls for an hour before they would decide if I was going to be admitting….SERIOUSLY! I did not want to walk for an hour, but I also did NOT want to get sent home. So Rob and I walked the halls for the next hour. Poor Rob was starving, so we went out the car and got him a Pop Tart… all while I was in a hospital gown…haha! Every time I had a contraction I had to stop and bend over, so we tried to stay in the hall where nobody was, which made the time go by even slower. Around 1:45pm I was finally done and the doctor came in and check and I was now dilated to a 5, so they decided to admit me. The doctor predicted that the baby would be pretty small weighing no more than 7 pounds and that he would come between 6 and 7pm. Around 2:45pm, we finally got to room 14, which was our labor and delivery room. By this point I was 6 cm dilated and I was ready, but scared, for an epidural. They pumped me with fluids and around 3:20pm, the anatesialogist came in to give me my epidural. I was very nervous about it, but he did a very excellent job and I honestly didn’t feel a thing. My nurse was great too. The hospital was over staffed with nurses so they sent my nurse home and I got a new one around 4pm. She checked me and at that point I was still dilated to a 6 and was fully effaced. Now the waiting game was on. My epidural seemed to be working pretty well, but I could still feel the contractions and when they were coming. I changed the way I was laying a couple of times and that seemed to help. At 5:00pm, not much progress had been made…the epidural sure did slow things down...and the doctor had not come by to break my water. My nurse didn’t want to wait any longer so “magically” my water happened to break while she was in the room…haha! At that point they started me on some pitosion to speed up the process. While we were all playing the waiting game, my mom and sisters came to visit, as well as Rob’s parents. During that time we had lots of laughs! At 7:00pm my nurse changed again and around 7:45pm I was 8cm dilated and the nurse said that she would be back in an hour to check. An hour went by and at 8:50pm she was back and I was FINALLY at a 10!!! It was show time! I couldn’t believe it was finally time… I wasn’t even sure how to push. I asked the nurse and she gave me a few pointers and it was time. We did a few practice pushes (pushed while they counted back from 10… 3xs each contraction) and then my nurse told me to stop pushing because the baby was on his way and that we needed to wait for the doctor to come in. Luckily he got there pretty quick and less than 15 minutes later, at 9:07pm, they put my little (8lbs 3oz, the docs prediction was a little off) boy on my chest and from that moment on my life was changed forever. I was in total shock that I was a Mama and that little guy was mine to hold forever. As they were cleaning him up, a lullaby played throughout the whole women’s center welcoming him into the world and all of our family waiting in the waiting room knew it had to be for him! Rob couldn't have asked for a better Father's Day present, just 3 hours early! I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father trusts us enough to raise one of His children and help guide him back to Him! I never knew I could feel so much love. My heart has truly been changed and I now have an even stronger testimony of the love that our Heavenly Father has for each of his children! I love you Carson and am so glad that our little family can be together forever!
Carson Andrew Cook
June 18th,
2011, 9:07pm
8pounds 3ounces, 21
inches
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| 7 days old! |
