8lbs 15oz
21 inches
12:33pm
It's the early morning of April 22nd...induction day! Of course I didn't get any sleep the night before(or the previous 6 months!)because I couldn't wait to meet little man & because I was extremely uncomfortable at this point! I gave up trying to get any sleep at about 3am & got my big belly out of bed & put on makeup for the big day;-) We were to be at the hospital at 5:30am to check in. By the time we got checked in, got to our room & got hooked up to IVs, it was about 6:30am. Since Cruz's labor was a short & sweet 4hrs, I was fully expecting to be done around 10:30am so I could eat pancakes...lol;-) After my doctor came in & broke my water around 8:30am, things were going really smooth & fast...UNTIL I got to 9cm. I was stuck at a 9 forever. The nurses would have me lay on my right side, then my left side, then with my knee bent at a 45 degree angle while singing "The Star Spangled Banner"...not really the singing part, but it seems like they tried everything in between to make me progress to a 10. It was now about 11am & little man's heart rate would drop when I had a contraction. Nothing too low, but the nurses kept an eagle eye on me & my stats. My doctor had another induction that day & was delivering her around noon. The nurse came in & told me that I would deliver after that...BUT, I was still stuck at a 9. At 12:15pm, about 6hrs into labor, the nurse came in & "stretched" me to a 10. Praise The Lord I had an epidural! My doctor came in shortly after & she was concerned about baby boy's heart rate. She said that his cord was more than likely wrapped around his neck & that I needed to bear down & push him out in 2 minutes or less...or things could/would get worse for baby boy. She explained it like holding our breath. We can possibly do it for 2 minutes, but cannot for 30 minutes. By this point, Caleb moved out of the way & relinquished his coaching skills to the 5 nurses that were on me. Two nurses holding my knees up, two nurses holding my shoulders up & one nurse pushing on my belly to move baby down. By now, my doctor had called in a nicu nurse just in case. Obviously, I couldn't see what was happening, but Caleb did. He said he'd never been more scared in his life. First, the cord was wrapped around his neck. Thankfully, my doctor got that off smoothly. Then, his shoulder was stuck & he would NOT come out...mind you, this is all in about 45 seconds, but in the moment seems much longer. I was not waiting for contractions to push. I pushed consecutively until he was out, which was right around 2 minutes. Caleb said little man came out purple & he wasn't moving. He was handed over to the nicu nurse & she got some whimpers out of him. His first apgar score was a 3, with 10 being best. He wasn't doing well that first minute of life. Finally, we heard crying! Best sound in the world:-) My doctor was scared that little man had shoulder dystocia due to his shoulder being stuck...she thought she broke it trying to turn him so he would come out. His second apgar score was a 9!!! God definitely had his hand on him:-) They weighed him and he weighed in at a whooping 8lbs 15oz, which is why I had so much trouble. He was just too big! I got to hold him for a split second before they took him to the nicu to monitor him. We decided on the name Carsten while I was holding him. His name means 'Follower of Christ, anointed one.' We thought that was a very fitting name considering what we'd all been through:-) Carsten was brought back into my room about an hour later & he was perfect! No broken shoulder, breathing on his own, absolutely perfect! Big brothers, Corban & Cruz came to see their new baby brother later that afternoon:-) Carsten is now 10 weeks old & I thank God for him everyday:-) Our family is now complete! He's such a sweet baby. His favorite pastime these days is smiling...& he's pretty good at it;-)
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