Oh What Fun! Carter is ONE!

Very hard to believe a year has gone by since our little man was born. This past week has been full of lots of "I can't believes" - I can't believe I have a one year old son, I can't believe his feet are so big, I can't believe he is eating real food, you get the picture. It has been a special time for Carter's mommy and daddy to reflect on this first year and a fun time for Carter to enjoy his first cake.

Looking back at our blog posts from a year ago I realized I didn't write too much about our delivery experience. I can't imagine why I didn't have the time to do that last year - but I don't want to forget it so I want to take a few minutes to share our experience...

I absolutely loved my labor and delivery experience. Call me crazy. Or call me forgetful. Maybe I am only saying this because one year later I have forgotten all of the pain and discomfort of the last weeks of my pregnancy and the first weeks after delivery. But overall it was the most amazing experience and I want to remember it for many years to come.

Carter was born on his due date – which I never expected. It seems it is so rare for babies to be born on their actual due date that I just assumed he would come early or late. But, the night before my 40 week check-up I started having contractions. Actually, I had contractions the night before the night before Carter was born for about an hour then they stopped. The next night they started again at the same time, lasted for a little over an hour then stopped again. We went to bed and the contractions woke me up around two in the morning. They lasted for another hour then I dozed back off. But not for too long. At five, I woke up again with strong contractions and this time they stuck around and came in 7-10 minute intervals. We called the doctor’s office when they opened and they encouraged us to come in early for our check-up.

Because we lived about an hour away from the hospital (we bought our first house and moved to a new city 6 weeks before my due date!) we decided to bring our hospital bag just in case. Leading up to my due date I had it all planned (of course – are you surprised?) I had decided that we would head for the hospital when my contractions were around ten minutes apart. I figured this would mean I would only have six contractions or so while we were en route to the hospital. I thought I could handle six contractions in the car – seemed like a good plan. But, by the time we were on the road the contractions were five to seven minutes apart almost doubling the number of contractions I had planned on having while stuck in a seat belt with my husband concentrating on driving.

We made it to the doctor’s office and learned that I was 3 cm along and definitely in labor. They called the hospital to tell them we would be checking in for labor and delivery. The doctor said we had a while and that we didn’t need to check in right away so we detoured to a nearby park where we used to exercise. I remember wanting to walk a bit but then deciding that was not such a good idea so we sat at a picnic table for awhile and called our family to tell them what we were up to. I think Adam did most of the talking and he was grinning from ear to ear. He was so excited but at the same time so supportive and concerned when I was in pain.

We didn’t stay at the park too long because I became increasingly uncomfortable as each contraction passed. The check-in progress was a good distraction. I remember Adam dropping me off at the entrance while he went to park the car. I waited for him in the lobby and a strong contraction hit me. I had to hold on to the furniture for support and several kind strangers offered to help and get me a wheelchair.

Once we were all checked in and settled in my room they hooked me up to a monitor so they could check our heart rates (Carter’s and mine.) From our birthing class we learned that it was standard procedure to be monitored periodically to make sure mom and baby were doing ok. The monitor was painless but did require that I be in the bed to be hooked up to the machines. From the beginning our wonderful nurse, Cynthia, was a little concerned with Carter’s heart rate – it would drop below the normal level with each contraction. They figured out that Carter did better when I was laying on my right side so that is what I did for several hours. Although I wanted to be moving around, this turned out to be a blessing because I actually dozed off in between contractions for a couple of hours which I am convinced gave me the energy I needed to get through the rest of the day. Finally I was given permission to move around some. Because I had decided to try to deliver without drugs, this was very important to me. I tried sitting in a chair, leaning on the bed, but the best was the Jacuzzi tub. My tummy felt very light for the first time in several months.

After another couple of hours I was very close to the magic 10 cm mark. The doctor came in for the first time to check on my progress. He said I was very close to being ready to push but he had a favor to ask. It turns out he had one more appointment at another facility which was 10 minutes away and that the patient had traveled from out of town for the appointment. Of the three doctors in the practice, he was the only doctor available that day for the appointment and for delivery. He asked me if it would be ok with me for him to run across town, keep the appointment, then zip back to the hospital to deliver my baby. Adam was taking this conversation in and was certain that I was about to snap at this doctor for suggesting something so absurd. But I think I said something like “if I had traveled so far for an appointment I would be very disappointed for it to be cancelled once I got there” so I told him that was ok and off he went. I am not sure that he would have stayed if I said no, but it was nice to feel like I had the choice. He told me he would be back in 45 minutes so I watched the clock and had a little victory party with each passing of five minutes. It’s the little things at this stage of the game. Surprisingly he made it back early and I hit the magic 10 mark and was ready to go.

I don’t remember too much of the pushing part – but Adam does and apparently there was some concern. Carter’s heart rate continued to drop with each contraction and it got worse as I tried to push. The nurses joked that Carter was going to come out jumping rope with the umbilical cord but Adam could see the concern in their faces. While he was trying to keep me cool with cold washcloths on my forehead and giving me reassuring words he was also preparing for an emergency c-section. But, miraculously, Carter decided to show that umbilical cord who was boss and our precious baby boy was born at 6:10 pm. I didn’t get to hold him right away as I had hoped because I think they wanted to check him right away due to the heart rate concerns. But, he checked out just fine and was in my arms soon enough. It was amazing. Truly amazing.

Well, there you have it. I can't imagine many of you are still reading. But if you are, you get a prize - here is a slideshow of Carter's first birthday. We had a small balloon birthday party and Carter had a blast.