Colton's Arrival!!!

Well, today is Colton's due date, but he's actually celebrating his one-week birthday!! I have intended to blog about his birth before today, but as any new mommy knows, good intentions come and go with a newborn. :)

I have to say, the experience as a whole was a lot better than I anticipated. We did get a little discouraged with our first trip to Labor and Delivery last Friday, the 10th. I had been having contractions off and on all day Thursday, and they were getting closer and closer together that evening. They were hurting, but little did I know what was to come. ha ha. I had been timing them and they were from 5-8 minutes apart all night. We decided to go to bed about 10:30pm to try to get a little sleep. I woke up at around 12:30am with more painful, regular contractions. I got up at 1am and started timing them again. I timed them at 2-4 minutes apart for about an hour and decided to wake Bryan up. We called Labor and Delivery and told them about our situation-- with Colton having been breech at our doctor visit the week prior, and thinking he had turned... She suggested coming in if the contractions were regular, so that they could determine if he was still breech, as they wouldn't want me to labor with him that way. We headed to the hospital about 2am, and got checked at triage shortly after 2:30am. They monitored my contractions which were coming about every 2-3 minutes. The nurse checked me and said I was between 3-4cm dilated, which was a bit more than I was at my last appointment and at a negative 1 station. She said it was likely "early labor", but we told her the circumstances with him having been breech and all. They called for an ultrasound to verify his position 100%. She thought she felt his head when she checked me but wanted to know that he was in the right position. Fortunately, the ultrasound showed him head down and pretty low in the pelvis. She said she'd call the doctor and find out what he wanted to do. She came back and said that Dr. Ting said to go ahead and admit me, and have me walk to see if we could get them stronger to make more progress. So... we went to L&D suite 6, thinking that this was where our son would be born! They monitored me for 20 minutes and then had me walk the halls for about an hour, and then checked me again. I was at 4cm. We walked laps at the hospital and the contractions would be strong, then they would put me on the monitors and they would slow down. Dr. Ting came by the hospital about 9am and I was still at 4cm. Because I was not yet 39 weeks, they wouldn't "induce" labor, meaning no pitocin or breaking my water. They would "augment" labor, which meant if there was any significant change in my cervix (further dilation) they could start pitocin. We tried to talk him into doing something, since we knew that Colton was now head down and ready to go. We didn't want to risk him flipping back to breech position. SO... we walked and walked... and unfortunately, nada--no change. Apparently Colton just didn't want to be born that day! :0) My doc said about 1:30pm to go ahead and send me home... He said if I didn't go into labor before, they would schedule an induction for Wednesday the 15th. By that time, we were sick of walking the halls and just wanted to get out of there! I hadn't eaten since the prior evening's dinner, so I was starved! We headed home about 2pm, stopping at Chick-fil-a on the way home. We tried to take a nap, but I couldn't sleep much. The contractions were pretty sporadic and irregular, so it was just another boring evening! We got the kids for the weekend, and spent the night at home.

Saturday, I woke up fairly early, having slept like a log (thanks to Ambien), to some pretty strong contractions. These were different contractions, stronger, more painful ones, for sure. We got up and around and I started timing them. We went to cousin Ian's birthday party and I was having pretty regular contractions, between 5-10 minutes apart, for most of the morning. These were making me stop and concentrate to breathe through them. After the party, we headed for home and ate some lunch. We decided to take a walk as I was hoping it would either get them going or they would peter out when we got back. I was sure hoping this was the real deal!! We walked about 3/4 of a mile and had to stop a few times to breathe. When we got back home, I started timing them again. Finally, about dinner time, I told Bryan, "I think this is the real deal". I was having to stop and breathe through most of the contractions by this time. I was thinking, this better be IT, or I'm in big trouble!!! We made dinner (chicken alfredo) and had dinner with the kids. I had to get up a few times to avoid grimacing through some pretty painful contractions at the table. I started my timer over and told Bryan, if these keep up for the next hour or hour and a half, then we are going to the hospital. Finally, about 8pm, after serious contractions every 2-4 minutes for almost 2 hours, we had the kids pack up their overnight bags and took the boys to my sister Jenn's house, and Kyndall went to our next door neighbors' house, who have 3 daughters near her age.

We opted to take the highway to the hospital, since it was Saturday night, and we figured there would be a lot of traffic out and about. The ONE thing that neither of us ever thought of when planning the various routes to the hospital was a TRAIN!!! And guess what, there was a train across Highway 60! We sat for about 10 minutes, along with an ambulance who had its lights on, and waited impatiently for the train to get through. I just about squeezed the handle off the car ceiling through several contractions. We got to the hospital and got into triage, yet again... They got me on the monitor again, and we could tell by the screen numbers that these were harder, true contractions. I was getting more and more irritated the longer we were in triage, as the nurse who was "assigned" to me was the charge nurse, and kept getting called out for other patients. My mom arrived about 9pm, and I think Bryan really thought it was nice to have someone else there! He didn't know what to do when I was having a contraction... I was squeezing his hand and breathing through them, but he said my demeanor changed when Mom got there. :0) I told the nurses I was hoping to get the epidural as soon as possible, but it took over an hour and a half to get checked in through triage and get to a room! Apparently triage was very busy that night. When they finally checked me, I was at 5cm and 80% effaced. I was so relieved for some progress from the day before! We got to our room, L&D suite 12, between 9:30-10pm. They started my IV and drew blood, and gave me some stadol to take the edge off. The anesthesiologist was in a c-section and had another epidural patient in front of me! The stadol made me feel really weird-- like I didn't have control over my vision. But, it did help. When the nurse checked me at 10:30pm, I was at 7cm and 100% effaced. Whew! More progress!

Finally, at about 11:10pm, the anesthesiologist came in to administer the epidural. I was a little nervous as I had heard about how terrible it was to try to be still while having a contraction as they are working on your spine! However, it wasn't that bad at all! I was so relieved to have it go so smoothly. Bryan said he thought I fell asleep while leaned over, as I was sitting so still and seemed so relaxed. I think it was fear of having something go wrong if I moved. After the epidural, they got me back into bed and I could feel my legs starting to go numb. It was a really weird feeling, but marvelous! I couldn't feel the contractions any more!!! I could sometimes sense some hardening at the top of my belly, but couldn't feel pain at all. It was great. Mom, Bryan and I rested a bit and just waited for whatever was next. The nurse said she'd talked to Dr. Ting again and he wanted to start pitocin to make the contractions a little stronger and closer together. They started it at 2 at 12:30pm, and moved it up to 4 at 1am. We were relieved by the way, that we made it past midnight-- as we really didn't want to have a 9/11 baby! Shortly after 1am, my nurse was getting off the shift, as she had been on call. She introduced me to the new nurse who was taking over, Christa. Christa asked when the last time I had been checked... Ashley, my first nurse, said it'd been about an hour and a half. Christa said she was going to go ahead and check me to have a point of reference. At 1:15am, she checked me and said, "You're complete!" Bryan was like, "What does that mean??" I told him, "I'm at a 10, I'm complete!" The nurse said she could feel his head, and that I had a "tough bag of waters". She said she wanted to make sure the cervix was complete all the way around, and then GUSH! My water broke (or she broke it!). It was quite a gusher indeed, and they had to change the bedding out. So, we asked if we had to wait for the doctor, and she said, we can try some practice pushes and see how she does. We got into position and waited for the next contraction, then she told me to push. I had absolutely no sensation to push, could barely feel pressure, and basically just hoped that I was doing it right! The nurse said that I was doing great and we only did 3 practice pushes before she stopped me-- she said, "Do you want to see his head? He's got hair." I couldn't believe he was that close to being born! I did look in the mirror-- I wasn't sure if I'd want to or not... I was surprised to already see his head, with some darker hair on top! Christa said I was doing great and was pushing like a champ! We had to wait for Dr. Ting to arrive, which took about 15 minutes. He finally arrived and they covered everything in the room with blue scrub sheets, or so it seemed. The big lights came out of the ceiling and finally the doc was ready to play catcher. I pushed one time with the doc there, and out came Colton at 1:48am! Bryan was giving me a play by play, as I couldn't see in the mirror (they moved it and didn't readjust it). Then all of a sudden, he was out and they were suctioning him out. He did still have vernix (white coating) all over him, and they starting rubbing him down. They laid him on my chest-- I couldn't believe he was here!!! Bryan cut the cord, and then we just stared in awe at him. He didn't have really dark hair, like we expected, but more light brown. He was and is just perfect!!

I apparently only required 2 small stitches, and my doc said I did great! I was pretty proud to be complimented for my pushing skills from the nurses and doc. :0) We got great pics of his birth, courtesy of my photographer Mom. We just ooohed and aaahed at him for a while and then they put him in his warmer to further suction him, clean him off and weigh/measure him. He weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces, and his nurse measured him at 21.5 inches. We were shocked at how long he is, since Bryan was only 18 inches and I was 19 inches at birth. He has long feet, toes, hands and fingers. He was really awake and alert, and they gave him back to me, and he nursed for the first time... He acted like he knew just what to do. It was pretty amazing.

We were in the L&D room until about 4am, and then they took Colton to the nursery for a bath and took us to a room to get a couple hours of sleep. They brought us Colton around 6am. He was and continues to be a very good baby! He sleeps for a couple of hours, and eats at least every 2 hours. Hoping that the stretches get a little longer in between feedings soon. :0)

We were released from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. Colton has his circumcision that morning, and did just fine. Mom and Dad were a little traumatized by it with the first diaper change! Holy cow!! Poor little guy!! But he's healing nicely and doesn't seem to mind when we change his diapers now.

This first week has been good. I am running on a few hours of solid sleep per night, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I know this time will go so fast, so I am trying to cherish it! I can't believe how fast the first week went. My emotions have been a bit of a rollercoaster, but not too terrible. We'll see how long that lasts. ;0) Breastfeeding is going well, and Colton didn't have any trouble learning to latch on. He'd definitely a boob-boy! He likes to eat, and since we aren't giving him a pacifier, I am a walking pacifier. He had his weight check at the doc on Thursday where he weighed 6.12 pounds. He lost about 6-7 ounces in the hospital but is doing great. He won't go back til he's a month old. I'll go see my doc in another 5 weeks.

The kids are doing well- they love looking at him and holding him. He's so small, he looks like a doll! These are a few of the comments they made when they first met him. :0) Lots, if not most of our family and friends say he looks like Bryan. We looked at the kids' baby pics and discovered he looks a lot like Weston as a baby. So, doesn't look like Momma got any traits just yet. We aren't sure if his dark blue/gray eyes will turn brown... There's a good possibility, so only time will tell.

Well, this little guy has been sleeping now for over 3 hours, which is the longest since he came home. I'm getting a little anxious for him to wake up and eat! I know I'll be thankful when these 3+ hour stretches are the norm, not the exception. Oh, and his umbilical cord stump fell off today, too! On his one-week birthday... So now he can get a real bath... We'll see if he likes it!

Here are a few pics from the last week. (Hopefully in sequence!)









More to come, I'm sure!!

(too much to proofread, I hope it's not too bad!)

Here is the link to the hospital pics, too:
http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=92d600a6-d69d-411f-8c3c-4f19ac1e5bee