FINALLY!... our birth story...

OK to say the past 5 months have been choatic would be an understatement... but the fact that i haven't even opened my blog to write on it may have been your first clue. :) Here it is, 5 months late... Caleb's long awaited BIRTH STORY in a nutshell..

Caleb Timothy's - oh so lovely - entrance to this world did not go so easy, but no labor is, right?! Due to my pre-eclampsia I was induced on Decemeber 29th, after 1 1/2 weeks of modified "bed rest". I was exactly 39 weeks along, but ironically also my original due date. I was showing no signs of labor, no dialation, cervix still closed... nothing. So we arrived at Maple Grove Hospital at 9am that Friday... and started meds to basically pre-induce me... and get things going. Within an hour, things were progressing slowly and fine... when all of the sudden one nurse rushes in, then another, then another.. then another. Low and behold the beginning of a long day, Caleb was not responding well to the induction and decided his heart-rate wanted to keep dipping too low. So I got to flip back and forth, on my back, to the side, to the other side... oxygen mask on, flip flop flip... few minutes later heartrate was back up and in the clear. After another hour of monitoring things were going fine so we decided to try pitocin... at this point maybe dilated to a 1. Within a half hour of the pitocin, Caleb decided to keep us on our toes, heart-rate back down... flip flop, oxygen mask...out came pitocin. Waited another hour or two and monitored baby... Caleb's heartrate did this a few more times. Our sweet doc (whom we endearingly nicknamed doogie houwser (sp?)... she was 31) came in and basically explained that we need to plan on a c-section. I was truly disappointed, the one thing i wanted to avoid... but she was worried had we kept on progressing like this, Caleb's heartrate may not bounce back after an episode and then we'd have to rush to an emergency c-section which was DEFINITELY not in our plans. So she gave us a few minutes to discuss. Adam convinced me it was the safest choice and we were agreeing on doing the c-section, when doc came back and said she may have rushed into things and suggested one safer measure of induction she could try before we go that route. We wont' get to the nitty gritty but this was the most painful part of my labor... imagine a balloon being blown up... up there, with a hook... ok enough details, it was painful... but it WORKED after 2 tries and a LOT of pain.. and this point mind you i had no pain meds. My body responded and before we knew it i was dialated to a 6 in no time. Decided to get the epidural, mainly because contractions were coming fast and hard... and we were still worried about a c-section and wanted to have the epidural ready incase. The epidural lasted a good hour for me, totally enjoyed being able to converse and relax a bit while feeling just mild pain. But once it was go time, and i reached 9... that sweet epidural was not doing the trick. Not to mention at this point I had been put on Magnesium... basically the drug from hell. It is an anti-seizure medication i needed to be on due to my pre-eclamsia. Magnesium basically makes you feel out of it, tired, dizzy, drunk. So that had kicked in, epidural not really working all to well... but before we knew it it was 930ish pm and i could FEEL that it was time to push. Told the doc, and sure enough i was at a 10. doc came in, and praise the Lord, the only time Caleb's heartrate stayed in the safe zone was during active labor (the one time the doc would be most concerned about it dipping). He was ready. :) After a half hour of pushing, we heard that first ever sweet baby Caleb cry. RELIEF!!! I DID IT! i honestly did not think my body could handle such a feat... but once they pulled Caleb out, he peed all over me... all i could do was cry laugh and cry some more. Most amazing miracle one could ever endure. 

And before this post gets any longer, i must give my "fainter" of a husband some mad props. He faints at blood, any sort of bad injury or THOUGHT ofa  bad injury... and not only did he NOT faint, he watched the whole thing, cut the umbilical chord... all while keeping the world informed of my step by step labor via facebook. :) Way to go Adam!

There ends the beginning of the most amazing, yet most challenging and trying time in our life. Our sweet family welcomed a sweet baby boy into the world. Thank you Jesus. 

6 lbs 0oz, 20 inches