Carson's Arrival

Around midnight, Friday, October 14th, I woke up because my water broke. I was completely shocked and surprised because my due date was still five weeks away. I woke up Kevin and told him what had happened and he asked if I was serious. I told him I did not know what else it could be. We did not have anything prepared (no bag for the hospital), so Kevin quickly packed a bag for us. I contemplated staying at home until I had contractions, but thought since I was not yet full term, we had better head to the hospital. Kevin got everything together and pulled Camden out of bed and we headed to the hospital. (This was all very familiar to me, except for the early part.)

During triage, the nurse did confirm that my waters had broken and the on-call doctor examined me. He asked me if I wanted a c-section and I firmly said no. He administered pitocin to get my contraction going and then we went to a room to try and sleep. At a decent hour, our friend Vanessa came and picked up Camden for the day and we continued to wait. My contractions stayed pretty mild until about 2pm, then they became more intense. Pretty soon they were unbearable. I think around 7pm I went ahead and got an epidural. After that, I was able to relax and rest. I think this was actually helpful for me because I started dilating a little bit more quickly and by 1am, I was ready to deliver. I pushed a few times and then the nurse went to get the doctor. Two nurse practicioners from the NICU also came to be on hand in case Carson had issues. A few more pushes and Carson was out! I held him and Kevin cut his umbilical cord and then the nurses took him to clean him and check him. They brought him back over for me to hold again and told me they were taking him to the NICU because his breathing was labored.

Kevin went down to the NICU with Carson and I recovered and chatted with the nurse for a little bit. When it was time to move to a postpartum room, the nurse took me by the NICU to see Carson again. They told me he had pneuma thorax and was being given anti-biotics as a precaution. He was on the CPAP machine but he looked good. He weighed 5 lbs. 3 oz. and was 19 inches long. He looked very tiny and skinny to me (especially his legs and arms). Kevin and I both went back to my room to rest.

The first eight days of his life, Carson spent in the NICU. Kevin and I took turns going up to visit him bringing either my mom or my dad about five times a day. In between visiting him, we all (my parents did a whole lot) got things ready here at home. We had to buy more clothes because I had very few newborn clothes, we had to clean up all the baby gear and wash the clothes and blankets and such that had been in storage for almost three years and we had to clean the house and the car. It was a tiring week, but when Carson came home on Sunday, October 23rd, we had everything ready. He also came home on oxygen and had to make a trip to the hospital three days in a row for bilirubin tests. It took him about 3 weeks before he stopped looking yellow to me and it did worry me a bit.

As I am finally finishing this post, Carson is 6 weeks old and was able to get off oxygen when he was 5 weeks old. He is doing very well and is gaining weight steadily and quickly. He now weighs 7.4 lbs. He is a very good baby and is starting to be awake and be aware of his surroundings. He especially notices when I am around and start talking! : ) He also enjoys seeing his big brother and Camden loves holding, singing to and talking to Baby Carson. And I, too, am enjoying our little family!!