Caleb finally decided to join us! Apparently he is going to be just like the rest of his family and do things in his own way and when he wants to.
November 22 was Caleb's official due date; however, since he'd been measuring big for his age, we were going to discuss induction at that day's appointment. It isn't something Michael and I wanted to do, but seeing as the doctor's office was becoming increasingly hostile at each visit and Caleb seemed to just keep getting bigger, we decided it was for the best. To our surprise, Caleb decided that was not the route to take.
The night before Caleb was born, I was not able to sleep well. I was anxious, uncomfortable, and taking hourly bathroom breaks. I woke up just before 3:00, for what must have been the umpteenth time, peed, and went back to bed. At about 3:10 my stomach really started hurting. It didn't feel quite like the contractions everyone described, so I chalked it up to gas. However, after a few minutes of some semi-serious pain, I decided to see if any of my female friends were online so I could ask their opinion. My aunt Sandra was on and I described it to her. She agreed it must be gas, too, because it wasn't my whole stomach in pain. By the time we discussed this, though, the pain had increased quite a bit. I told her I had now changed my mind on the matter and was going to wake up Michael. I closed the laptop, stood up, and felt a trickle. It was barely anything, and even though I hadn't had an accident like this, I thought it still might be. So, I bent this way and that, squatted, and tried every way to see if any more would come out. It didn't, so I was still considering the possibility that it was an accident. I have to mention that at this point in my pregnancy I was feeling very disheartened and felt like Caleb would never come, so my thinking was quite negative.
I woke Michael up and told him I needed his help. By the time he woke up enough to realize what I was talking about, the pain really started setting in. Our bag was mostly packed except for a few last minute items, so we took turns timing the contractions and packing up the bag. The largest gap in time was three minutes, so I knew we were running short on time.
My mom thankfully lives next door and came over to stay with Seth. As soon as her foot hit our porch we were out of there! I called the doctor's office on the way to the hospital and found it increasingly difficult to speak with patience. By this point the contractions were a minute and a half to two minutes apart. When we got to the hospital, Michael dropped me off at the entrance and went to park the car. There was not a single employee in sight and I couldn't remember which set of elevators to take! By the time Michael parked and came in, I had already searched four hallways and we finally found a janitor who kindly took us to the right set of elevators.
At this point I'm just about ready to cry from embarrassment because I can't even continue walking upright. We made it to the check-in counter, with me hunched over, and she wanted to start going over paperwork. We told her that we pre-registered only to hear that we still had to go over all the paperwork. Obviously she did not believe us that we were that close to having a baby!
She took us to the triage room and started asking me questions as I quickly discarded my clothes for the paper gown. It wasn't until she hooked me up to the monitor that she realized how close we really were. She called several nurses and the doctor, who was apparently not there or in the middle of something, because I heard one of the nurses say it's going to be a few. A few?! We don't have a few!
After all of the questions, they wheeled me to the Labor and Delivery room where they told me that they have to wait for my labs to return before administering the epidural - and I'm already at a solid 8 cm. I just shook my head and said we weren't going to make it. The nurse stated, in what I'm sure was supposed to be a reassuring voice, that we still had plenty of time. Little did she know we were running on Caleb's schedule and not hers.
The contractions were only seconds apart and Michael's hand was probably slightly deformed at this point from all of my squeezing. All of my focus was on praying to God that He help me get through this pain. I stopped talking and responding to anyone and just resorted to shaking my head no every time they told me we were going to have the epidural soon. After about 15 minutes the anesthesiologist made it into the room and started setting up his gear. I heard him open up his supplies as he told me to sit on the edge of the bed. Again I told them we were not going to make it and they assured me we would. As soon as I sat up, Caleb's heartrate dropped and the nurse made me lay back down. She checked me again and (shock) said that I was at 10 cm and that there wasn't enough time to have the epidural.
No sooner had the words escaped her mouth that my body started pushing. I heard voices telling me I can't push yet and I have to stop. I told them I couldn't stop and that Caleb was coming. Four pushes later and I heard Michael tell me Caleb's head is out and with one more push the rest of him joined us. He didn't cry right away like Seth did and I almost didn't believe it was over until I opened my eyes and saw them cleaning him up. The placenta came out right afterwards and the doctor quickly sewed me up. I actually never even laid eyes on the doctor, it was so quick!
And then they handed me this little bundle of joy - my Caleb. He measured 20" and weighed a whopping 9 lbs 8 oz! His face was slightly bruised and the nurses said that it was because of his quick descent. I would say quick - from my first contraction at 3:10 until his birth at 5:14, the entire labor and delivery took two hours and four minutes. I guess I really do take after my mamaw. I'm sure she'd get a chuckle out of that, too.
Everything else during the hospital stay went relatively smoothly. The downfall to it all was that I had a nasty cold and/or sinus infection and double conjunctivitis when I was admitted. The nurses didn't believe it was pink eye until that evening when my doctor finally showed up and prescribed some eye drops. So, despite how painful natural childbirth is, my real complaints had to do with my eyes, congestion, and the loss of my hearing in one ear. That, and with Michael staying home with Seth, it did feel quite lonely.
Since our arrival home we have been learning to deal with our new arrangement. Sleep is fleeting and Seth is very jealous and has taken to having several meltdowns a day. We expected that, though. I have Michael home with me for two more days and then it's just me and the boys. I have to admit I'm afraid of what's to come, but I'm sure it will all work out, because....well, we
have no choice!
