Oh Baby!

the day before Carter was born

Carter is now 9 days old! The first week with him has been amazing and we are just loving every minute of it. He is such a good baby, the only hard part is that he is noctural and sleeps all day but stays up all night.

Saturday, February 21st I walked around a lot! Then Paul and I decided to finish up the nursery. We finished getting it all put together and vacuumed at about midnight. At 12:15 Sunday morning I started to have contractions, but didn't say anything because I didn't want to get Paul's hopes up yet. Probably around 2 I told Paul and we tried to go to bed. That was definitely not happening, so we came back downstairs. At 3 am we were pretty sure that this was the real thing so we called our parents who had a 4 hour drive to get here! Paul's parents took off right away, and my mom and Bonnie were not far behind. We were hoping they all made it on time! I heated up a rice bag to put on my stomach, and we played guitar hero. After that Paul watched a movie while I attempted to rest and make it through the contractions. At five thirty am I couldn't take it anymore! We grabbed the bags and headed to St. Luke's Hospital.

When we got to the hospital, we went up to triage and they took me right back. They had me put a gown on and asked me to get a urine sample. Perfect timing! When I was in the bathroom my water broke! It was two big gushes in the toilet. After that my contractions got even more intense and were only 30 seconds apart. The nurse came in to check me and I was dialated to a 5!! They took me right over to labor and delivery.

When I got into my delivery room I went to the bathroom and felt really nauseous... I told them I felt like I was going to throw up, and Paul was on his way over with a bucket when I did.. all over the floor and almost the nurse! YUCK! They hooked me and baby up to the monitors, and I had to stay in bed for a while because my blood pressure was high. I was in so much pain and really hated the straps for the monitors on my stomach and wanted to get out of bed and into the jetted tub! When they finally let me get into the tub it was nice at first but when the contractions came I still was really uncomfortable and was screaming at the top of my lungs. Paul helped me out, and we tried a few other positions to get me through the contractions, but it was just too much. They offered me some narcotics instead of an epidural, and I was going to do that until my doctor came in and told me they wouldn't take the pain away. Then I asked for the epidural.

They came in and checked me again before the epidural and I was at an 8! It was really hard to sit still through the contractions while they gave me the epidural but it was SOOO worth it once it kicked in! This was about 8 am. Once it kicked in they told Paul and I to take a nap. He fell asleep, but of course I couldn't with all the noise from the monitors and excitement and nervousness. The epidural made me really itchy and I wanted him to get me lotion but he would not wake up when i was calling him, and since I had the drugs I couldn't get up and get it myself either! At nine am they came in and checked me again and I was at a 10... time to start pushing!

Everyone came in the room at about 9:30 and we got right to work with pushing. Unfortunately, he was not coming down right, and I pushed for two hours with no progress. We tried different positions, and everyone was getting worn out. At this point the nurse described a c- section to me and I was getting really mad because I did not want all of that pushing to be for nothing! I did not want to be cut open!

My doctor came in at about 11:30 to "check my progress" and he got right down to business. After a few pushes he was able to see the head and get the vacuum on. He guided Carter into position, and had me keep pushing. At 12:12 Carter Douglas Crossley was finally born! 12 hours of labor.... and he was a big boy!



Carter was 9 pounds 5 ounces and 22 1/4 inches long. His head was 13 1/2 inches around, and very cone shaped from the vacuum! Everyone was so excited and shocked at how big he was. Paul was crying because he was so happy, but more so because he felt bad for me and how many stitches I was getting and how bloody it was. I was kind of in a daze and just remember thinking that it was kind of gross how they put him on me all bloody and that he was smelly.



We stayed in the hospital Sunday night, and were able to go home Monday afternoon. It was nice to be back in our own house with our little family. My mom and sister Bonnie stayed with us and were very helpful the first few days. My mom actually got to stay a whole week which was awesome but it went by way to fast!


going home!