Thank Goodness He Wasn't a Halloween Baby

I guess it's finally time for me to post my side. Although Matt did an awesome job!

Sunday, October 30
We had our last (of 4) childbirth classes...

Monday, October 31
All summer we have had two storage units and moving into our rental house allowed us to condense it to one unit. We wanted to get that done before the baby came so we could start saving some money. Our only night we could was Halloween. So Matt moved all the heavy stuff and I made many trips walking back and forth with the lightest items. It took us about an hour. I'm pretty sure that's what got things going.

Tuesday, November 1
Thank goodness, I didn't have a Halloween baby. Halloween is my least favorite holiday (although, I think I'll have to learn to like it for Kasen's sake). Matt was in Rogers City for work that afternoon/night. Rogers City is about 3.5 hours from Traverse City and so he didn't get home until midnight. That morning I called my mom and asked if she could come up for a day to help me get stuff put away. We had stuff all over the house and I just couldn't get it all done before the baby came. I could only work on a few things at a time and would get so tired. She said sure so she came up planning to spend a day here. Matt got home at midnight that night and my mom and I were planning to spend the next day getting stuff done. I had a regular OB check up in the morning, an appointment with WIC and Medicaid stuff in the afternoon and a parenting class at night. Whew!

Wednesday, November 2
I woke up at 3 a.m. having contractions. They started out the usual way as I had been having contractions more and more frequently that last week. I was getting through them breathing and what not. But then they didn't go away and got more and more painful, eventually bringing me to my knees on the side of the bed. I woke Meadow up a few times and she came and licked my face, but Matt never budged. At about 4:30 a.m. I knew I was in labor and the baby would be here by the end of the day (I did say a week earlier that I knew the baby would come this week). I decided not to wake Matt up just yet since he had just gotten home from a long day. Then at 6:30 a.m. I knew it was time to get him up. I said his name a few times, he kind of rolled over and looked at me leaning over the side of the bed. I said, "Matt, I'm pretty sure I'm in labor and have been since 3 a.m." He said, "Seriously... (pause)... how far apart are the contractions."

At about 7:30 a.m. I decided to take a shower and try to eat breakfast. Our childbirth classes taught us that we should try to eat during early labor, but that just wasn't happening for me. We decided to go to the 9:30 OB appointment and see where we were at. They monitored me and the baby and decided that, sure enough, I was in labor, contractions were about 2 minutes apart and I was 4 cm dilated.

My OB office and the hospital are connected by a sky walk, so I was wheel-chaired over to the Maternity Unit while Matt moved the car and got our stuff. They told us we weren't leaving without a baby. I was ok when we first arrived, but things were progressing quickly. Soon I was 6 cm, then 8 cm and in so much pain. I was having trouble breathing and my fingers, lips and knees were tingly and almost numb. I must admit, having asthma, I started to panic. I knew what these sensations meant, but I was in so much pain, I couldn't focus on my breath. I knew the nurse was ordering the epidural and antibiotics, but it wasn't happening fast enough for me. I started feeling like I needed to push, but the nurse told me not to yet. Then I was at 10 cm and my water broke (as it turns out, it didn't quite break all the way, because the Dr. had to fully break it later).

At about Noon, my "best friend" came in, gave me an epidural and changed my whole world. Unfortunately, that basically stopped my labor. At about 2 p.m. I tried to start pushing, but after about an hour, wasn't getting very far. I couldn't feel anything. The nurses changed shifts and my epidural was backed off. The pain was slowly returning. Then from 4 p.m. until 7:07 p.m. all I did was push. My contractions were constant and most were not actually helping me. The nurse and Matt kept trying to get me to relax in between, but I didn't feel like there was an in between. Matt kept me focusing on breathing and nurse kept me focused on pushing. I was going back and forth the whole time on getting the baby out and giving up. By 6 p.m. I was out of energy and didn't feel like I could do it. I kept saying over and over, I can't do it, I'm so tired, I can't do it. Even now, I'm amazed it did it.

Finally, there HE was. When the Dr. put Kasen on me, Matt said it was a boy and I was shocked! We were so convinced it was a girl. They asked if we had a name and I immediately said Kasen James. It took a few minutes for him to cry, but when he did it was the best cry ever.

I have said this to a lot of people, including Matt; I could not have done it without him. He was nervous about passing out or (similar to his proposal and our wedding) crying, but I kept telling him that I think he'll surprise himself. He'll be strong. And he was. He was great, we really were a team. He knew what I needed to hear and how assertive he needed to be with me. Everyone always teases him because he says 'we' when referring to a lot of the pregnancy and delivery. But we really are a 'we' in everything.

Ok, enough of the delivery. Our next posts will begin our adventures in parenting. Ha!