May 16, 2018

May 16, 2018

Well, at my 40 week appointment they told me I was dilated to a 3 and could schedule an induction date for May 16 at 7am.

Here we are. It is now May 16 and almost 12pm and I still haven't received the chance to go to the hospital because they are apparently too busy. I called an hour before my induction time, as they told me to, and they said I needed to call back at 7am. So I called back at 7am and they said the hospital was too busy.

Rick and I went on a long walk around the neighborhood while Cosette was at home with the kids and while Brenna was still sleeping. I felt like my back was starting to feel a ton of pain but as soon as I sat down once we got home I felt fine with no hope in sight for labor to start on its own.

I tried calling the hospital 4 hours later around 11am and they said they were still full. The frustrating thing about it is that Rick has access to the schedule since he is a resident at the same hospital I'll be delivering at. They have 15 beds in their Labor & Delivery department. When Rick checked earlier around 9am there were only 10 beds that were filled, which should leave 5 available beds. Yet they were still telling me there wasn't anything available for me! He checked again after I called around 11:40 and they only have 7 beds that are filled, and somehow still don't have room for me. It's extremely frustrating!!

I've had a very emotional morning, feeling like I'm going to be pregnant forever. I know that sounds silly but I am sooooo ready to have this little baby boy! It's hard to finally get to your induction date and then have the hospital make you wait and wait even longer. Kimbri could tell how upset I was and went outside to pick a bunch of dandelions and wrote me a little note. She even peeled a couple of cutie oranges in a bowl for me. She is so thoughtful that way! Hopefully we'll get a call saying we can come in soon!

~~~~~~~~~

Well, after not receiving a call, and feeing like we were wasting one of Rick's few precious days off, we decided to make a lunch date out of the afternoon. Cosette was here and was so willing to let us leave and blow some stress and waiting off by watching the kids so Rick and I could go to a late lunch together. We packed my hospital bags in the car just in case, although I was super doubtful that we would actually get a call. 

We went to Luigi's, an Italian restaurant, that is pretty close to the hospital. Again, we wanted to be close, just in case, haha! A pesto chicken sandwich with roasted veggies had been sounding so yummy to me. Rick got some sort of stromboli with pasta salad. It was delicious!! We ate lunch and walked back out to the car with still no phone call. We decided to kill some time by driving down the street and walk through Toys and Babies R Us to see if they were having any good deals since they are going out of business. They were advertising super good deals but even with  40-50% off things were still way overpriced. 

So we left the store and went back out to the car and I decided to call the hospital, again. I felt like I was just being this annoying, bothersome patient at this point but I needed to call and find out! The lady that answered the phone said she didn't see why I couldn't come in because there were beds available but that the charge nurse was in a meeting and they needed her approval. She said the meeting should be done in 10-15 minutes and that they would call me back. We decided to take our chances and start driving toward the hospital. We swung by one more store on our way because I needed to use the bathroom. By the time we got to the hospital and figured out parking, they still had not called us. It had been nearly 40 minutes!!! 

Rick called this time and asked if they had gotten our message since they said they'd return the call. I don't know what happened and why nobody had called us back but they said we could come to labor and delivery!! Hallelujah!! 

We went in and there was a ton of paperwork to do. I even called the week before asking if I could pre-register online and fill out the paperwork so I wouldn't have to do it when getting there and they said that wouldn't be necessary because it doesn't take very long. Yeah... it took close to 30-40 minutes to get everything filled out and to electronically sign a ton of different documents. Anyway, once that was out of the way they finally took us to a delivery room! 

~~~~~~~~~

Labor & Delivery

Once we got to the delivery room I got changed and they placed the IV in my right wrist. They asked if I planned on having an epidural and when I said yes they turned on this super old video about epidurals and what to expect. It was really cheesy and lame but they said it was required for me to watch it, which is weird since I've delivered at 3 other hospitals and never had to watch one before.  

After the video they also had to ask a billion health-related questions about my medical history to put into the system. 

Vanessa was my first nurse of the night, however, she got things going around 6pm and her shift ended at 7pm so I didn't have her for long. I really appreciated her thought because she advocated for me! Once she started the pitocin at a super small dose a little after 6pm, I asked her when the Dr would be there to break my water. She said the doctors won't typically break anyones water until they  dilate to around a 7-8. I told her that with my previous babies that my body won't progress with pitocin until my water is broken. Examples: with Garrett they broke my water and hour after starting pitocin and I had a baby in my arms 2.5 hours later. With Brenna they didn't break my water until nearly 7 hours after starting pitocin, and my body was STILL at a 3, but once they finally broke my water I again had a baby in my arms in 2.5 hours. 

I tried explaining this to the nurse and tried to advocate for myself. I really didn't want them to up the pitocin anymore until I knew the doctor was there to break my water, because it was not a pleasant experience last time having sooo much pitocin in me. Anyway, when she realized how serious I was about really wanting my water broken she said that she'd be willing to call the on call OB but that she can't promise anything, that basically they'll do what they want. I was a little frustrated, but so grateful that she was at least willing to call.

After Vanessa called the OB she came back in an told me that he was willing to break my water but he was in the middle of something and would get there when he could. This was around 7:15pm. I was a little annoyed because his shift technically started at 5pm so he supposed to be available to his patients starting at that time! So basically I waited on him for over 1.5 hours to get to the hospital... and I knew nothing was going to happen during that time since my body just doesn't progress until my water is broke. But oh well, I was still glad he was willing to come. During the wait I got a new nurse named Jennifer. She was really nice!

Dr. Rodriguez finally got to my room and broke my water at 8:40pm. When he came in he said that the nurses had told him that I had said if he broke my water earlier that I've have a baby within a couple hours. I told him that if history repeats itself then yeah, we'd have a baby pretty quickly! By that point I was already having contractions every 2 minutes, but I was still only dilated to a 3. Now that my water was broken thought, I knew things would get crazy pretty fast!

After my water got broke they upped the pitocin and things started moving fast! It was probably only 20-25 minutes later that I felt like I wanted to get the epidural so they came in and gave it to me. I sat up in the hospital bed to lean over so they could do the epidural and apparently I still had a ton of water inside because it gushed all over the bed, onto the nurse's legs and feet and all over the floor. Oops!

They placed the epidural and by the time they were done I was having super close contractions that were long and hard. They told me the epidural wouldn't kick in for about 10-15 minutes so I had and end goal in sight to look forward to some relief. 

That relief never came! By the time 15 minutes had passed I was desparately asking why I wasn't getting any relief and they weren't sure. They brought the anesthetist back in and he tried to add extra pain medication and it didn't do anything either. He must've not gotten it in the right spot or something because I could completely move my feet, legs, and everything! I could feel it all.

Basically my body went from being dilated from a 3 to a 10 in 1 hour and 25 minutes. It was so fast it was like my body was in shock. I was only at an 8 when I felt the need to push and they said I wasn't fully dilated yet. I was in so much pain. Without a working epidural I wasn't sure how I was going to make it with how fast and painful things were progressing.

 It was 10:05 when they said I was at a 10 and that they'd call the doctor. I don't think they dr fully believed me earlier about my body just needing the water broken for things to start progressing quickly! 

I was able to start pushing with each contraction but I seriously thought I was going to pass out. One second I'd be feeling super overheated and wanting Rick to fan me and then the next second the air would make me feel sick. One second I would want Rick to put pressure on my back during a contraction and then I'd want him to stop. Haha, poor Rick. He was so sweet to just do what I needed. 

They tell you to hold your breath for 10 second intervals when you're pushing during a contraction. I've never had a problem holding my breath for 10 seconds with previous deliveries but this time I would make it like 6-7 seconds and then felt like if I didn't breath I was going to pass out. 

Pushing was also SO painful without the epidural. I was so focused on trying to get the baby out and on how much pain I was in that I guess I didn't notice there were now like 4-5 nurses in the room prepping stuff for the baby. Rick said that as the baby's head started to come they were all placing bets on how big the baby was going to be. They were all guessing he'd be a 10 pounder and he said  as the baby's head was born all the nurses were blown away with his head size. Apparently he had a big head, haha.

It got to this point where I knew my pushes weren't being as effective as I knew they could be but it was so painful that I was scared to push any longer or harder. It really was the most painful moments I've ever experienced in my life. I figured that I needed to just give it my all even with how painful it was and get that baby in my arms so I could forget about the pain and experience the pure joy of holding my brand new baby. 

So that's what I did, I pushed as hard as I could and gave it my all... it ended with a second degree tear but that was the end. Right after that moment of immense pain our precious little baby boy was born! 

Cameron Lyle Stone

Born on May 16, 2018 at 10:44pm

9lbs 15 oz

23 inches long

14.5 in head size

They placed him on my chest and I was sooo happy! It's such an immense joy you just can't even describe it with words. It was such a relief to finally be holding him in my arms and to have the hard part over with. Bringing baby Cameron into the world was probably the hardest thing I've ever done, but he was here now, and I couldn't stop staring at his perfect little self.

I think I was awe struck because I didn't even realize that they let Rick cut the cord and had showed him that there was a knot in the cord! The nurse later told me about the knot and how it was considered a "true knot", which is kind of rare. She said this was only the second one she had seen in a year. Somehow when he was much smaller he had formed a loop and created the knot. She also said it's actually a pretty dangerous thing to have happen because if it gets too tight that oxygen and nutrients get cut off and babies will sometimes die because of it. Wow, I'm so glad that nothing scary happened with little Cameron. And he obviously didn't have any lack of nutrients because of how big he ended up being!

When all the nurses saw him being born they were all making guesses on how big they thought he'd be. Most of them were guessing 10lbs. After holding him for a few minutes they took him over to the scale to get weighed and he was 9lbs 15oz-- a big boy! One nurse said, "If he hadn't pooped on his way out then he totally would've been 10lbs!" So apparently he pooped while being born, haha! And with a head size of 14.5 inches around, no wonder it was such a painful ordeal to birth that baby! 

He also was by far the longest baby we've had of the 4 coming in at 23 inches long. As I was pushing, there were moments where I felt like I couldn't breath. I felt like I had to push down on my stomach because I felt like the baby was up in my rib cage, making it hard to breathe. In fact, at one point one of the nurses asked jokingly if I was trying to help push the baby out with my hands. But for real, I was just trying to get a little relief from the pressure that felt like was being jabbed up into my lungs! Well, after hearing how long he was I felt a little more justified in how I felt earlier.

We feel so incredibly grateful that our baby boy made it to us safe and sound! 

~~~~~~~~~

After snuggling Cameron for a while they had me attempt to nurse him. He started grunting a lot and had a really hard time nursing at first. After 10-15 minutes he figured it out and did great! However the grunting continued and he started getting flared nostrils, retractions and a lot of bubbling at the mouth. The nurses were a little concerned so they whisked him off to be observed in the nursery. They wanted to check his oxygen levels and make sure it didn't turn into anything more serious. 

We got moved to a recovery room and met my new nurses. I was super hungry so I was happy to see that the recovery room was stocked with a bunch of snacks, juice and water. 

Cameron was still in the nursery and it was really hard to sit and wait, not getting to hold him. We decided to try and get some sleep. Rick pulled out the chair that turned into a bed and zonked out. I ate some food and then tried to get comfy, but I had a really hard time trying to go to sleep. I was worried about Cameron and just wanted to hold him. It's hard to go through something so difficult and to finally get your baby here and then have him taken away for observation. I kept thinking they would bring him back at any time so I tried to stay awake. I got so tired and I started to doze off when the lactation consultant came in and wanted to know if I'd like to express some milk. She said that Cameron needed to stay a little longer but was acting hungry. We got some colostrum out and she sucked it into a syringe to go feed him.

Since he was still going to be in there for awhile I decided I should try and get some sleep. I had just fallen asleep when the nurse came back in to check my vitals at 3:15am. By the time she checked my vitals, gave me some motrin, I went to the bathroom and got back in bed, they finally brought Cameron back to me!! It was 4am at this point and it felt like such a long time being apart from him!

When I picked him up to snuggle he immediately started acting as if he was trying to eat. Since he was big for his gestational age, they had to monitor his blood sugar for 12 hours after birth, each time before I fed him. They came in to prick his heel and it was so awful! The nurse kept squeezing his heel sooo tight and wasn’t getting enough blood. She had to try it 2 times and I thought she was going to break his little foot from squeezing so hard. He burst into tears and it was so heartbreaking! Finally a different nurse took over and did the test just fine. His blood sugar was normal and he could finally eat! He breastfed for about 23 minutes and did an awesome job! Then we snuggled and did skin to skin for close to another 30 minutes after that until the nurse came in to check my vitals. I was feeling completely exhausted after all the vital checks each hour and everything that happened with Cameron having to go to the nursery and bathroom trips, etc... The nurse said I should get some rest, which I definitely was needing, and so she put Cameron in his little bassinet beside me and we both went right to sleep!

I woke up when they came to check vitals again around 7:15am and did the nurse shift change, so I got a little over an hour of solid sleep. Cameron was still snoozing away. 💙

Later in the morning Cosette brought the kids in to see baby Cameron! First of all, Cosette is just so amazing for being willing to take charge of the kids and take care of them for 2+ days so Rick could stay in the hospital with me. I don’t even know how to begin thanking her! She is incredibly selfless and just straight up fantastic.

The kids adore baby Cameron and it was such a sweet thing to see as each one got to love, hold, and smile at him. It was so precious! We got our first family picture together as a family of 6. That sounds so crazy to me-- a family of 6!

Cameron (really me, haha) had little gifts for each of the kids as a little present from him to his older siblings 😊 We gave them each a pack of Color Wonder pages that came with markers. Hopefully it will give the kids a good activity to do and keep them busy for a little while for Cosette’s sake!

Right after the kids left with Cosette they came in to do Cameron’s hearing test. He passed both ears!

Afterward my mom and I chatted for a while until they brought in lunch. The mashed potatoes and cooked carrots were delicious and they also gave me a side salad and a s’mores brownie which I gave to Rick because I don’t really like s’mores or brownies.

During the afternoon we got some more rest, fed Cameron, changed diapers and rested some more until they brought dinner which was: turkey with tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and mashed potatoes, pears and a side salad. Key lime pie for dessert that I gave to Rick.

The cluster feeding started during that night and was pretty rough! The nurse warned us about the Day 2 cluster feeding. I know it helps to get your milk in faster but little Cameron just wanted to eat and eat and eat! Around 3am the nurse came to check vitals and I mentioned I was hungry and asked for some crackers. They said I was more than welcome to some better food than just crackers and brought me a turkey sandwich. I was feeling so hungry and it tasted amazing! Who knew a turkey sandwich at 3am could be so tasty, haha!

Anyway, the cluster feeding continued and I was feeling completely exhausted by 5am so Rick just held Cameron and walked around the room with him so I could get a good chunk of sleep. It felt sooo good to get nearly 2 hours straight! I needed it and so appreciate Rick for all the help! I am so grateful that his program allows him to use some of his vacation days to be with me in the hospital. Normally, residents aren't allowed to use vacation days when they are on hospital inpatient rotations, which Rick was on, but they allowed it and I was so grateful!

Around 7am a nurse came to check my vitals and then someone from the lab came to draw my blood one last time to check for anemia. Then Dr Wood came in to check on me around 7:30 am and said he’d be doing the circumcision soon, along with a couple other babies that were waiting to have it done. The nurse came in around 7:45 am and took Cameron to have the circumcision done. He was in the middle of eating so I hope he got enough to make him happy and full before having to go through that! Shortly after he left with the nurse that was taking him in for his circumcision, the nurse from the nursery came in to come take him to get checked by the pediatrician, since he was gone she said she would come back later. So many things were going on. Right after that my nurse came in to take my IV out, finally!!! I don’t know why they had to leave it in so long when it didn’t even end up getting used again after the pitocin during delivery. But it felt good to get it out since it was starting to get itchy and was just really annoying to have tubes hanging out of my arm.

Finally around 8:20am the morning rush of nurse checks and stuff was over. I was still waiting to have Cameron back in my room. They said they’d monitor him for 30 minutes after the circumcision and then take him to be checked by the pediatrician, so it ended up being quite a while before I got to see him again. The breakfast trays were delivered so I had some time to eat some food before they brought Cameron back.  Then Rick took a turn getting some sleep since he walked around with Cameron for so long so that I could get some sleep earlier.

They finally brought Cameron back to me. I fed him and then Rick woke up and took a load of stuff out to his car. Then he headed on home to trade his car for the van (where the car seat base was) and brought the van back to drive us home in. While he did that Cameron and I got a little nap in. When Rick got back I decided to take a quick shower and change into some fresh clothes. We got the rest of our stuff packed up and then they brought in lunch.

After lunch we were ready to head home! The nurses came in to do a final discharge check and to wheel me out to our van. It was so crazy how ginormous the wheelchair was. It wasn't even a real wheelchair. It was like this huge cart thing with a built in chair in the front with a whole empty section in the back, I guess to put your bags and stuff. The nurse stopped by the nurses station and gave me some Lanolin samples along with 2 packs of diapers to take home. Then we stopped at another station where they sent me home with a frozen vegetable lasagna and breadsticks. I've delivered at 4 different hospitals and this was the first one who sent home a dinner for you. I thought that was super awesome!

Anyway, we were finally on our way out to the car. Rick had gone on ahead to get the car pulled around to the front where the nurse was taking me. I was holding Cameron, who was in his carseat, in my lap. We had to stop by several security stations and tell them my name and room number but we finally made it out of the hospital. It was great to be outside after being in the hospital for nearly 48 hours.

We got Cameron settled in the seat right behind me, said bye to the sweet nurse who helped me out, and we were on our way home.

It felt so unreal. I just couldn't believe that we were on our way home with our 4th baby. I knew life would become just a little, or actually a lot, more hectic and difficult but our hearts were so happy and grateful that Cameron was safely here. We feel so blessed that this precious baby is a part of our family!!

We love you sooooo much baby Cameron! I think my heart might burst with the love I already have for you. Our lives have already changed for the better, adding you to our family!

Our brand new baby! 

Grandpa Lyle's reaction to Cameron's middle name :)

Rick getting some rest while Cameron was
getting checked out for breathing problems
in the nursery.

Those chubby arms! 

He has quite a bit of hair!

Blowing bubbles. He did this a lot during the first week of life.

He's so big! I can't believe he fit inside me.
Actually, I guess I can. This kid gave me new
stretch marks because of his size!

Kimbri holding Cameron for the first time.

Garrett holding his little brother for the first time.
He was SO proud and happy to get a brother!

I think Brenna just wanted to smother him with
kisses and hugs.

Aunt Cosette w/ Cameron and Brenna

Cameron kept getting his hand out of the swaddle.

Brenna tickling Cameron's feet.

I think Garrett is over-the-moon to get a brother.

They all thought the hospital room closet was
cool for some reason. And then they each wanted
their pictures taken... bahaha.

First family photo with 4 kids!

I love his chubbiness. 

Such long toes!

He's got this long patch of hair on top of his head and it's much
short on the sides and back of his head.

Father and Son

Ready to go home!

We got home around 2:30pm and Kimbri got off the bus right in front of our house at about 2:45! Her sweet bus driver, Ms. Clark, (who is also the assistant teacher in her class) stopped the bus since Kimbri is the last stop and got off the bus to come meet baby Cameron. Kimbri was so excited to see him after getting home.

The sign Cosette made with the kids to welcome us home :)

Cosette helping Garrett hold Cameron. And Brenna.

Kimbri with Cameron

We are so extremely happy that Cameron has joined our family! We are so incredibly grateful for his new little life and we are just so in love with him!! Even though I know life will be filled with sleepless nights and tired days, adjusting to life with 4 kids, figuring out how to go anywhere being so outnumbered with Rick on a hard rotation, etc... I'm still excited and can't wait to see what life has in store!