3 Weeks before Caleb was born, I went to the doctor, and was told that I was dilated to a 3. That didn't surprise me much- but it seemed to surprise the doctor. His response was "Holy Mackerel! Don't cough or sneeze!". So, of course, I got my hopes up, and thought maybe he'd come really soon. No dice. The next week, I was dilated to a 3.5, and 70% effaced. So I was CONVINCED that it would literally be ANY DAY NOW! Every day, people at work were asking me why I was still there. Ummm...isn't it obvious? I've still got a huge belly- I think that means that I haven't had my baby yet. I was getting so impatient. Technically, I still had another week left until my due date- but so what? I was SO SO ready to be done being pregnant, and meet my little boy! On Monday, August 29th, I had had enough. I called the doctor, and set up a time to be induced. I was going to have that baby on Wednesday!
Last Preggo photo - 38.5 weeks
Of course- if any of you have had babies- you know that they never go by the plan. As soon as you plan something, they make plans of their own. With Kenzie, she waited til the day of my baby shower to be born.
For the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy, my lower back, my sides, and my legs hurt so bad that I couldn't sleep much at night. And, there were days that it was so bad that I thought for sure I must be going into labor. At about 2:30 AM that Tuesday morning, the aches were so bad that I got out of bed, took Tylenol (the only stupid pain reliever allowed. lame.) and laid on the couch downstairs for a while. Finally, it got bad enough that I started crying. No good. As the hours passed, it just got worse- though it still wasn't contractions yet. Around 7:00 AM it started to get even worse, and I thought my water may have broken- but it wasn't much liquid, so I really wasn't sure. Then started the contractions. They didn't start off slow like they did when I was in labor with Kenzie. They hit like a ton of bricks. By 7:30, I was upstairs, bawling my eyes out, and waking Tyler up to say I think we should go the the hospital just in case. He got out of bed and got dressed. In the next few minutes, I went to the bathroom again, and it was confirmed. My water HAD broken. It was for sure time to go to the hospital. We were going to have a baby that day! :) It took us half an hour to get everything together. I had packed the hospital bags earlier, but we had to pack food for Kenzie, and get her out of bed, her diaper changed, and get her dressed.
We arrived at the hospital just after 8:00 AM. When we got there, they had Tyler check us in. I pre-registered online, but I guess it didn't go through properly so we had to give all of the info again (and I had to confirm it over the phone later.) By 8:30 AM, I was hooked up to my IV, and had antibiotics pumping through my system to make sure the baby & I wouldn't get Strep B, since I was at risk for it. They wanted me to have a full dose of this before delivering so they told me they wanted me to "stay pregnant" until at least 12:30, when they could administer another dose. Then they checked my progress- I was at about 4.5 cm dilated, and having very frequent/strong contractions. By 9:00 AM, the Anesthesiologist (a JERK!) came in to give my epidural. Seriously, this guy was a jerk. I didn't like him at all. He needs to learn to work with pregnant women. I'd been through the epidural before, so I knew pretty much what to expect. But, the contractions were pretty bad, so I was going to make him wait through one. And, I was a little uncomfortable because my mother in law was in the room (I promised she could be in the room for the birth, but for some reason, I was uncomfortable with this part. I felt too exposed. ha!). I asked her to step out. And as I did, the Anesthesiologist says, "If you aren't ready, I have 2 other women waiting for their epidurals, I can come back in 30 minutes." No. You asshole. Give me the drugs now! Then when he started to put the needle in, I jumped a little, so of course he is a jerk about that too. "Well, now I'll have to start all over." Fine. Start over. I don't care if you have to start over. Just stop talking to me, because you are making it all worse!! So, because I was pregnant and emotional, and in pain, I just bawled, and bawled, and bawled into a pillow. I think that guy shouldn't be allowed to work with pregnant women. I mean, yeah, it doesn't sound THAT bad- but when you are already an emotional wreck- it gets to ya.
After the epidural- still just waiting for Caleb to come.
Ok, so now that my epidural was in- I started feeling more like myself. There were a few people there waiting for Caleb to arrive. My mom had been there since a few minutes after we arrived, and Janet (my M.I.L.), and my Dad & step mom were there. They were the combined effort to take care of Kenzie while I was in labor. And, around that time, they brought Kenzie in to see Mama. (Now that I wasn't so upset.) She was so excited to meet her little brother. And she had most of her grandparents there- which was a lot of fun for her. (Though at one point, she proclaimed that she had "too many Grandmas!" haha.) We had also given Kenzie a "Big Sister" gift, which included: crayons, colored pencils, a notebook, some pjs, a Zhu Zhu pet, and a movie. I know it sounds like we went a little overboard, but that's mostly because we had to make sure she was entertained while me & Tyler stayed at the hospital with Caleb.
For the next few hours- we all visited in the room. Just talked, and played with Kenzie, etc. I waited, very patiently, for them to come check me again. I think they decided that they would not let me deliver Caleb before 12:30- because they didn't even check me again before then. They checked heart rates, and blood pressure, etc- but didn't check how much I was dilated. The closer it got to 12:00, the more I started to feel. I could feel when I was having contractions, and I could feel a lot of pressure down below. I knew that I was ready to push, but I was still just waiting for them to check me to confirm. FINALLY 12:15 rolled around, and they came in to start a new cycle of the antibiotics for me. That's when they finally checked me, and low & behold- I was at 10 cm, and 100% effaced...I could have told them that. That made me pretty nervous though, since I could feel everything- just a little muted. The doctor pushed the button to give me a boost on the epidural. But, they ended up giving me what they called a "standing epidural". Which they had me sit up to get. The same jerk of a doctor gave it to me- but he didn't make any stupid comments that time. Good thing, because I probably would have given him an earful at that point.
It was probably close to 12:35 before they had everything all set up, and ready for me to actually start pushing. I had Tyler, my mom, & Janet all in the room with me for the delivery. I think I pushed 2 times, through 1 contraction, before the head was visible. And the same again, before his head was out. With Kenzie, after her head was out- the rest was SO easy. Caleb made me work harder. Those little shoulders of his hurt like hell! But, I managed. After pushing through 3 contractions total- the boy was here! Tyler was going to cut the cord- but he wasn't doing well at that point. Mostly because I wasn't either. The doctor actually said that he was going to, once Caleb arrived. Tyler & I didn't hear why (even though the doc said why at that time) until later. He had the cord wrapped around his neck twice! I'm glad I didn't know right then, or I would have been SO worried!
First Family picture
Skin to skin "therapy"
Kenzie's first time meeting & holding her little brother. Yes- he was blue...
My sleepy boy, after his first bath
Caleb Connor Pearce was born at 12:49 PM on August 30th. He weighed in at 8 pounds 8 ounces, and was 21 inches long. No wonder he hurt! He was almost 2 pounds heavier than Kenzie was (6 lbs. 9 oz). Poor little guy was delivered so fast that his face got totally bruised. So, of course the first few pictures of his life weren't really flattering- but he was still cute anyway!
Grandma Janet with Kenzie & Caleb
Proud daddy and his boy!
Caleb had a little jaundice when we left the hospital- but luckily it wasn't too bad. We just had to bring him in every morning to get his blood tested. It was gone after 2 tests (which because of the weekend, ended up being like 4 days or something like that.). Since then- he has already had pink eye. Poor guy. But- luckily, we managed to keep the rest of the family from getting it. (Amazing! considering that includes a very involved 2 year old!).
When we took Caleb in for his 2 week check up- he had grown quite a bit already. He was already 9 lbs 6 oz., and 23.25" long. When we went in for his eye, a week later- he was up to 10 lbs 3 oz. It's been yet another week- and I'm curious as to how much he has grown now! I'm sure it's close to another pound. He's a big boy!
We are so happy to have Caleb here with us! He is very loved. Even Kenzie loves him a lot. She asks, "Can I hold Caleb?" about 10 times a day. And of course, whenever it is possible, I let her. She also says, "Oh no! Caleb crying!" every time he makes a peep. She helps with binkies or bottles whenever she can. And, she refuses to take a nap, or go to bed unless he lays by her for a minute. And almost every time I try to take him with me in the other room, she says, "No Mama, don't take him away!". I only hope that this love doesn't turn to jealousy too quickly. I know at some point she'll struggle with letting him use all of her toys. But so far, she lovingly tries to give him everything. It's funny though. Kenzie is SO possessive over her new baby brother. She's said things like "No Mama, don't tickle Caleb. He's MY baby!" or "No Daddy, I'm holding the baby!" or "Caleb is my baby, huh?!" or even, "Where is our baby?" very frequently. It makes me laugh.
A few of Tyler's pics from the photo shoot:
The video Mikey made:
Kenzie & Caleb today:
I hope you enjoyed my really long post! It may be the last one for a while...sorry!
Oh, and btw- I'm not excited to go back to work in 2 weeks. Time went by too fast, as always. I will miss Tyler & the kids tremendously! :( But at least I'll still see the kids every night. (I'll only really see Tyler on weekends though, which is really sad!)
