This sweet baby will be 4 weeks old tomorrow so I had better get this birth story written before I forget what happened! On the night of March 11, I began to have regular Braxton Hicks contractions. In fact, I couldn't sleep and they were starting to hurt so about 3 in the morning I called the on-call Dr. and he told me to come in. I figured I would probably just go in and get fluids to stop the contractions and then come home. So, I just left Brian with the kids and headed to the hospital.
When I got there, I still hadn't dilated or anything but the contractions were about 8-10 minutes apart and pretty uncomfortable. I was still hoping to head home soon since my Dr. (that I love and that had delivered the first 4 babies) was in Mexico for the week. Plus I wasn't quite 35 weeks along yet.
By the time the Dr. checked me a few hours later, I was at 3 cm. She told me they don't stop labor at this point because that could be more dangerous than letting labor progress. But I needed to go home and pack the bag and I didn't leave out clothes for the kids - and Brian is color blind! I begged her to let me run home and do some stuff but she wouldn't let me because my cervix had 'been labored upon' (nice phrase huh?) and she didn't want to take any chances.
So I called Brian and he packed up everything (like a pro - and they were all matched up) and took care of getting the kids to Granny and PawPaw. I felt relieved once he got to the hospital to be with me. I was a little nervous about having this baby early - what if the lungs weren't ready? What if he had to go to the NICU? But we rested in the fact that the Lord had already determined this baby's birthdate - and His sovereignty brought me much comfort.
We didn't do much to help the labor along because if I delivered after midnight then the baby would be exactly 35 weeks along. Kim came by around supper time and brought us some snacks (shhh!) which were a life saver! My contraband pop-tart had been long gone! And popsicles only satisfy for so long! I got my epidural around 8:00 pm and was much more comfortable after that. About 54 minutes after the dawn of March 13, I pushed 3 times and little Carter Shane came out - it was a boy!!
The wierd thing was that the NICU was there to watch the delivery and that was very bizarre - 2 men that I didn't know - with several other women, watching me!? The awesome Dr. tried to block their 'view' but that was still wierd for me. Anyway, after delivery the NICU checked him out and he looked great! So they all left him with me for him to go to the regular nursery! He stayed there for a bit while they suctioned some fluid but after a few hours, he came to stay with us.
It was an exausting few days since I was up most of Wednesday night with contractions and all of Thursday night with labor - but it was so worth it!! He was 6 pounds 1 once of pure sweetness! All 19 1/2 inches of him!
We are thankful for this additional blessing in our lives! Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and encouragement during this time!
