I sure was hoping I was going to go into labor with this little boy but he wanted to stay in there as long as possible. I was scheduled to be induced on June 5th, and June 5th is when he came!
We dropped Spencer, Preston and Lauryn off at Grandma and Grandpa Monson's the night before since it was going to be such an early morning and the boys had school.
Not a flattering pic, but we needed to document the last moments of me being pregnant as this baby is our series finale.
Nate and I headed to the hospital at 7AM. We got checked in and my nurse told me I was almost dilated to a 3 but the baby was still pretty high and his head was a little off to one side. They got my IV going (after blowing a vein, OUCH! That hurt WAY more than the epidural). They started the pitocin around 8:30 and I was already having a lot of contractions. Just nothing consistent. By about 11:00, I was dilated to a 4 and my midwife broke my water. I decided to get the epidural before it got too bad since I usually go pretty fast after this point.
It took the anesthesiologist a while to get my epidural working on both sides. By the time he adjusted and re-adjusted the epidural and I really felt numb, it was around 1:00. My nurse checked me again and I was ready to push.
I had this fantasy that I would only have to push a couple of times (since it wasn't my first rodeo) and he'd be out...not so. Actually I had figured that since my other labors went quite smoothly, this one would be my worst. And it was.
My midwife, Gretchen, had me start pushing and my heart rate immediately shot up to 180 beats per minute. I'd had so much congestion during my pregnancy and Gretchen thought I had developed some sort of asthma. They put oxygen on me and had me keep pushing. After 10 minutes or so, Gretchen could tell it was going to be a while before Camden made his debut.
I pushed a few more times (during which time my mom arrived). My heart rate continued to beat out of control and Camden's heart rate started to drop. Gretchen seemed concerned, but she was trying to be calm since she knew I was already a nervous wreck. I heard her tell the nurse to go get Dr. so and so and the nurse left the room. A few seconds later, Gretchen ran out to the hall and I heard her say, "I need a Dr. NOW!"
They turned me over onto my side and then my other side. Camden's heart rate would come up a little, and then it would drop again. They had me keep pushing during contractions as I moved from side to side (while completely numb).
Several nurses and doctors ran into my room. There were two OBs telling me what to do and they had a few doctors from the NICU come in along with several nurses. As I continued to push, they explained that they may have to use forceps or the vacuum since the baby wasn't descending. I didn't care at this point. I just wanted the baby to be okay. They could have done a C-section for all I cared. The monitors were all beeping like crazy since my heart rate was so accelerated and Camden's was decelerating. They put a heart monitor on the baby's head to get a better reading since they couldn't tell his heart rate from mine.
The doctors kept having me push and they kept telling me to push harder and harder. I was pushing as hard as I could. By this time I had been pushing for about 30 minutes. One of the doctors was able to turn Camden's head just enough and then the same doctor grabbed my belly and pushed Camden's bum down as I pushed and Camden's head finally came out. The cord was wrapped really tight around his neck and they snipped it and I pushed him out the rest of the way. They laid Camden on my belly. He was pretty blue and I was so emotional at that point that I couldn't even open my eyes. I touched his warm little body and they rushed him over to the warming bed to help get his lungs going. He was born at 1:42PM.
It took him a while to start crying, and when he did, it was the best sound! His cry was so quiet and soft that he sounded like a baby kitten. After a few minutes, the doctors gave Camden a clean bill of health, thankfully, and they brought him to me and let me hold him. There is no feeling in the world, like meeting your tiny babe for the first time.
He weighed 7 Lbs, 11 oz. (exact same as Preston). He has pretty dark brownish-red hair and he is the sweetest baby. We are having a great time loving on him.
Welcome home Camden!
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