The Story of Kaleb

Well, I'm awake and Kaleb isn't, so I figured this is as good a time as any to tell of the miraculous beginnings of our little boy. I will be the first to say that I'm writing this more as a journal entry, to be for my memories, so I'm not going to edit the nasty details that would normally be undesired in regular conversation. It's part of the fun of childbirth I guess, and I want to make sure I remember all possible!!


So it all started around noonish on Tuesday, June 2nd. Since I had my membranes stripped on Monday, I had been very uncomfortable "down there" with some crampy feelings, but no real contractions... until noonish. These contractions started off as the normal tightening of the uterus, but became more consistent and uncomfortable as the day had gone on. They became back labor, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy cuz the first thing you wanna do is lay back, but it's the worst thing to do for back labor. They say that lying on all fours helps... it doesn't!! However, through the pain, I tried not to get my "hopes up" since I had contractions almost the entire week before with no progress. My sister Jessica invited us over for a "last supper" since I would be getting induced the next morning. Well, bacon wrapped Filet Mignon is always a good idea, even when you're hurting, so we decided to pack up our stuff (in case we would be going to the hospital after) and keep our 'date' with them.



The two hours we were there saw an increase in consistency and pain in the contractions, so we decided (especially since I was already at 4cm the day before and getting induced the next morning) it would be best if we headed to the hospital. This ended up being around 9pm, Tuesday, June 2nd. When they examined me, I was still at 4cm, fully effaced and with what the nurse called "a bulging bag". They waited an hour to see if I had progressed, but nothing. The procedure is to call the OB and see what they wanna do. My doctor was not on call that evening, her office-mate Dr. Mikel was so I was a little worried he would just have me dismissed. However, he gratefully asked to have me stay for observation since I was in so much pain (6 out of 10 at this point... my "time for an epidural number") and if I hadn't gotten any further along by the morning my doctor would be in to induce me.



Well, they got me all IV'd up and offered to hook me up to the epidural so I could sleep. Since it was my plan to have one anyway, I was like, "um Yes please". The anesthesiologist Candy was very cool. She actually sat down and told me, "This will feel really weird, maybe a little painful, but mostly just weird." And boy, was it. Since I've never been a small girl and because I had a rather large growth in my front, it took her a few tries and more than a few minutes to get everything set up. On any other day, this is where I would have said, "Nevermind, I don't want it. I'll just deal with the pain!!" It was extremely uncomfortable and made me feel very anxious. BUT because I wanted to sleep and be ready for the labor of labor, I tried to be a patient patient.



Once the epidural was hooked up (12:30am) and working wonderfully (and weirdly), they set up the blood pressure cuff to monitor every five minutes or so to make sure my blood pressure didn't drop, like it tends to with epidurals. Since I had good blood pressure my entire pregnancy (110/70 like clockwork every doctor visit), this was an understandable concern. However, my blood pressure sky-rocketed soon after. I felt totally fine, but you know when the nurses look at their computer and give a questioning look, you need to pay attention. So... they set me up on magnesium, which lowers the blood pressure and helps prevent seizures... and slows contractions. SO... they started me on Pitocin as well. At about 2:30am, the nurse checked me, I was at about 5cm. Her comments went something like this, "Ok, you're now at a 5, and you're bag of water is really bulging; Oh, there it goes." She had popped the bag during the examination. This was even more funny because when our nurse earlier in triage had commented on my "Bulging bag", Ammon told her to just go in there with a hangnail and make short work of it. This is not nurse protocol of course, so just funny that our next nurse did accidentally pop the bag.



Anywho, my blood pressure went back to normal with the magnesium and I got about 20 minutes of sleep when I felt the urge to pee SO BAD!!! Since they had put a catheter in with the epidural, I mentioned it to the nurse a little while later. She said it was probably the baby putting pressure on the catheter. Since my water had broken, the baby's head had dropped more and this was common to feel that type of discomfort. Well, a little while later I realized that this feeling was coming and going... and that I was starting to feel the contractions again. Darn it all to heck!!



They tried upping my epidural dose with no change, so the anesthesiologist injected something into my epidural line. Within the hour I was feeling much less pain. Unfortunately, I couldn't feel anything below my shoulders. This made throwing up fairly awkward since I couldn't lift or turn at all. I asked them to back off the drugs so that I could actually function beyond slug-mode. At this point I was past 7 cm. They turned off the epidural and lifted the top of my bed so that my arms would go back to normal. At about 5:15am, I started feeling the contractions again, but hey, I could move my arms. Well, it took them awhile to turn the epidural back on, but by the time that they did, I was at 9+ cm, and by 6am not only did I feel the extra-urgent need to push, I was feeling all the wonderful contractions at full force. In fact, I could feel everything, even Ammon stroking my leg to try to comfort me.



At about 6:15am, I had to start pushing. My nurse Donna was an awesome coach for both Ammon and me since Ammon just couldn't get himself to tell me to push. He soon got into a rhythm of counting through the contractions, and in between was nothing but apologetic and so loving. My doctor joked that I was being too nice and most women are ready to rip their husbands' nipples off. At 7:08am, our little Kaleb came into the world. The nurse asked me if I wanted to hold him, and the first thing I said was, "Um, I don't know!" I was so distracted with everything going on, I didn't wanna miss really seeing him for the first time, but I SO wanted to see him. She convinced me to take him, and I am so glad she did. He was crying, of course. His hands and feet caught me by surprise because they were HUGE!!! He quickly calmed down and in fact didn't even cry when they took blood samples and gave him shots. Of course he has made up for that ever since (he has a great set of lungs).

We had lots of visitors within a few hours of his birth, and other than fainting on my first trip to the toilet, our stay was pretty uneventful. When he was born, Kaleb weighted 8 lbs, 3 oz and was 21 inches. He lost almost a pound after the first night so they kept us an extra day to make sure he was doing okay. He gained 3 oz. back the next day and my blood pressure stayed nice and low. Since we got home yesterday afternoon, its been so much fun just the spend time as a little family. More pictures will be posted soon!!!