McCrae's Birth Day

Although the epidural was heaven-sent and I was enjoying a break from the contractions, we couldn't sleep because every few contractions the baby's heart rate would drop and we would wait to see it come back up again before we could settle down. Occasionally Erin would come in and have to reposition me in order to make the baby happy again. Before we knew it, we had to say goodbye to Erin. She was SO fabulous. She was so quick to act and was so genuinely concerned about what was going on. We were sad to see her go.

The epidural.

When the new nurse, Shauna came in to introduce herself around 7:45 am, she tried to reposition me and the balloon fell out! I was nervous but Shauna was excited. She checked me and I was a 5! Finally-some progress. She also said my water was going to break soon so she notified the resident to come and break it for me.  This baby was coming!

The balloon.

Getting ready for baby McCrae to come!

Unfortunately, due to the epidural, I had no sphincter control. Poor Erin. I shouldn't have gone to La Costa the day before going to the hospital. Those refried beans just don't agree with me.

Getting excited. It was time to break the water. The resident came in around 9 am to check and she broke the water before she could even use the hook. Just her finger was enough to let the waters flow. They said I should name him Noah due to all the water I had in there. Guess he was enjoying the extra cushion. No wonder he didn't want to come out.

The baby's heart rate seemed to stabilize somewhat over the next few hours.

I continued antibiotics for Strep B throughout the morning.

After hanging the 4th bag of fluid, I noticed my feet were starting to suffer the consequences.

My mom came about 10:15 am.

It was extremely emotional. Moms have ways of bringing on the tears like no one else can. We were both so happy to see one another.

The contractions seemed to be coming on stronger and the baby's heart rate suffered because of it. So...the oxygen came back. They also placed an IUPC (intra-uterine pressure catheter) to monitor the pressure on the baby with each contraction.

We still had a while to wait, so we put on my favorite show since we weren't able to finish it the night before. Father of the Bride Part II- I thought it a rather appropriate show to be watching in the delivery room. My dad arrived about 12:30 and we all enjoyed a little comic relief for a while.

Following the show, contractions were coming strong and I was really making some progress. But, ouch! Even with the epidural, I was gripping the side rail once again. Conner even seemed to have a hard time witnessing the pain. He started to cry and said he couldn't stand watching me go through it. He made me cry and we just cried together as we anticipated the time when our baby boy would make his grand entrance.

We had been through a whole slew of nurses during the day due to how busy they were; there were some complications with a delivery next door. All of the nurses were fabulous. Nurse Kim arrived around 2:30 pm. She was awesome. She started Pitocin hoping that it would help me dilate the last few centimeters. It only ran for a short time before we had to back off the medication once again. So...we just waited. Eventually, I was a 10 and it was time to push. What?! Ah! It was all so surreal. We excused my dad and Conner and my mom stayed to help. Pushing is hard work. I felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head! After an exhausting hour of pushing, the baby was once again having decelerations and Kim called the doctor (Once again, it was the doctor on call-Dr Hebert. Unfortunately, we wouldn't see Dr. Brown until the next day). However, in the moment, it didn't really matter what doc was on...I just wanted him out! I pushed a few more times while the doctor attempted to straighten out his head a bit. However, between the baby's heart rate dropping to 58, his large head, and my narrow pelvis, Dr Hebert said it would be best to take me to the O.R. for a C-section. To be honest, it was a relief. I was tired of the baby struggling, and I was exhausted! The doctor started reading me the consent and I asked her to skip to the part where I sign. I was ready! At 5:30 p.m., they wheeled me to the O.R.

Conner gowned up and we headed to the operating room. He said he didn't want to watch so the anesthesiologist was kind enough to take pictures for him. I asked for a mirror to watch McCrae's entrance into the world and told Conner he would at least have to look when they pulled him out.

Prepping me for surgery. They all worked so quickly!

Dr. Matthews (the anesthesiologist) loaded the drugs and I couldn't feel anything from my neck down. It felt really hard to breathe so once again, they placed an oxygen mask on me. I had to focus on breathing but occasionally I would glance up at the mirror to see if anything exciting was happening.

Only a few minutes later I told Conner the baby was coming and he better look up at the mirror! At 5:51 p.m. baby McCrae appeared! It was incredible. I couldn't believe it-he was finally here!

They took McCrae to clean him up a bit and get an official birth weight. I sent Conner with the camera to catch every second since I would be stuck on the table for a while. The next time I looked in the mirror, they had my uterus in hand and were examining that everything looked okay. They said everything looks great and were surprised to see that it was heart-shaped. This is due to the fact that I used to have a uterine septum. They thought it was pretty cool and wanted to make sure I saw it. Cool, I thought, now put it back in!!!

I did ask, however, to see the placenta. I think it is so incredible that he lived in there for 9 months! To our surprise, there was no indication as to why McCrae's heart rate was dropping during labor. The nurse told me that when I had a c-section, they may find the cord wrapped around his neck or see that my placenta was old, or something like that but other than a few calcifications on the placenta, they said everything looked completely normal. There was no good explanation for his decelerations. I was just glad it was over and he was here safely.

I remember saying that McCrae had such a cute little cry. I was crying but trying to remember not to get too worked up since it was already difficult to breathe. I couldn't wait to see him. Luckily, Conner was able to take lots of pictures during his examination.

7 pounds 9 ounces. Dr. Brown thought he wouldn't even be 7 pounds. I was so proud!

I love these pictures more than anything. Our first moments together with our baby boy. We had waited so long for him to join our family! I can't even write about this moment without tears streaming down my face. I still can't believe this all happened. What a miracle. I was then, and am now, forever grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing us with such a perfect little boy. Just moments before, his little spirit was with our Father in Heaven. I had never had such a humbling experience in my life. What a responsibility and blessing to be allowed to raise this special little boy here on Earth.

When we finally got back to the room, I was able to hold him. I was so puffy I had to force my eyes open to see him.

Grammy and Papa were allowed back in and my dad was anxious to send pictures to everyone. Grandma Jerrie and Grandpa Craig were in the waiting room for hours but had to run home to send Chase and Danielle back to Washington.

First time Grammy was able to hold McCrae

Proud Papa

A picture with our fabulous nurse who took such good care of us all.

They were quick to wheel me up to the maternity unit. I felt so bad I didn't get a chance to thank everyone personally. We met our nurse upstairs and while she settled me for the night, Conner went with the baby to the nursery.

I was so incredibly tired, the next few hours seemed like a blur. I know Craig and Jerrie came back to see the baby but he was in the nursery so they said they would come back in the morning. I remember being SO itchy as the anesthesia wore off; I couldn't stop scratching my face and arms. I hardly remember Conner coming back in the room. I was out like a light. I DO remember waking up around 2 am and feeling MUCH better. I could move my legs pretty well so they removed my catheter and I was able to go to the bathroom. Wow, it felt good to get up and move! I couldn't wait to see the baby again. He slept in the nursery while we were there but they brought him in every few hours to eat. This proved to be rather difficult but we were up for the challenge.

Wow, what a day. McCrae was finally here and we couldn't have been more thrilled.