Carson's arrival {The Birth Story}

Just hours past my due date...there was no one on the freeway at 4:30 am Thursday morning. If there was, they would have been mighty annoyed at how slow Jeff was driving. While contracting I could not handle him driving 55 mph (in a 65 speed limit). It seemed like we were going 100 mph at least. I felt every rock in the road and the slightest turn of the wheel made everything worse.

Once we arrived at the hospital, I felt much better. Walking through the contractions was key! We headed up to triage and got bombarded with questions from just about everyone. This was a specialized hospital for women and newborns...don't they realize a woman cannot think clearly or talk while having contractions?!

After being hooked up to the monitors, checked to ensure my water had broken, and slowly making our way upstairs (all while having contractions in my legs and back) I was beyond ready for the epidural. Luckily the anesthesiologist was ready for me before I even had my IV in place.

By 7:00 am I was feeling good and was already dilated 5 cm. Aside from Carson's heart rate decelerating a few times during contractions, I was able to finally relax. Three and a half restful hours later I was fully dilated, kind of. I had no idea one side of the cervix could dilate before the other. One side was 10 cm, the other was 8.5 cm, so the doctor compromised and called it 9. Waiting time.

Around 3:00 pm my contractions had done their job. Carson was in position and I was dilated for real. It was go-time.

For some reason when I was set up to push my contractions began to get further apart, or so they said, I could hardly feel anything. It was awesome. I joked about how comfortable I was and that I could totally push for two hours at the rate we were going. I didn't expect go-time to last an hour and twenty-three minutes. I pushed a little, waited a bit, pushed some more, waited some more, and finally it was time for the show.

And a show it was. Jeff counted nine people in the delivery room, including ourselves, to watch Carson being born. My two nurses, one doctor, two baby nurses in case Carson's heart rate decorations were caused by the cord being around his neck, one random blonde, and a loud-mouth cheerleader.

At the end of it all Carson was placed on my belly, Jeff cut the cord, and we heard him cry for the first time. I couldn't have been more satisfied with how things went. My doctor was patient as I waited at least five minutes between each push, the baby nurses were not necessary, and that loud-mouth cheerleader knew exactly what to say. You can do it! 

It was truly a beautiful ending to a peaceful delivery. 

Our family was complete.