The Birth Story

So my little guy is now a week old, and I'm finally getting into enough of a groove that I wanted to share our experience. It was quite different from Keagan's birth!

As I think I had mentioned before, we were scheduled to go in for a c-section on June 3. My last day of work was going to be May 28, and I had been feeling great! Actually, we went to walk around Carytown that Saturday (May 23) just to get out of the house and enjoy some family time. Keagan was being his usual talkative self, and we came home without feeling worn out. We had spent some time that morning pulling things down from the attic so I could start washing clothes and getting everything ready, but we only got as far as pulling it down and washing clothes. Oh, and we couldn't find the bag of 0-3 month clothes, so that wasn't very helpful.

I went to bed feeling fine and then woke up around midnight with some sharp pains. At first I thought it was the way I was sleeping because that had happened before. But after it continued for a while, I realized that they were spaced out evenly and must be contractions. I was nervous about being wrong and heading to the hospital AGAIN for something that really was nothing (we had gone in the Friday before for what ended up being no big deal at all, and I hate "crying wolf", even if it's a legit reason to go). By 12:45, I decided I had to wake Steven up and at least let him know what was going on. They kept getting worse, and we finally called his dad at 1 to come stay with Keagan.

Thank God we live close to the hospital! The entire time we were driving, I was praying that the ER would be calm. The previous time, we had to wait about 30 minutes to get up to the L&D room (of course, I was also looking pretty calm and happy). We got there at 1:45, and they were ready for me. I was almost in tears as they wheeled me upstairs and got me to triage. 

****This is where you may want to skip. It got real very quick!****

While there, I had one contraction and just KNEW he was trying to come out. The nurse had just stepped out of the room to find the doctor, and I told Steven something was there. Fortunately, the doctor showed up almost immediately after to check me. Sure enough, his little butt was trying to come out (literally - he was breech), and the doctor actually had to hold him in. I had read about this happening before, and at this point I started completely freaking out! She informed me that she was going to have to stay that way until they were able to get this baby out, and they started rushing me toward the OR. This was at 2:15.

All plans went out the window at that point. Steven had been given scrubs to change into, but he was no longer allowed to go back with me because it was officially an emergency c-section now. I would not have time to get my spinal tap (I'm a wimp when it comes to pain). They were going to have to knock me out quick and take the baby. I remember the nurse telling me I could hold onto her and asking what I needed. I asked her to pray with me, and I really did start to calm almost immediately. At 2:21, they put me to sleep, and Caffrey was born at 2:24!

****Okay, it's safe again!****

Despite the insanity and break-neck pace, everyone turned out just fine. I woke up at 3:00 to the news that I had a beautiful, healthy little boy. He weighed 6 pounds, 1.5 ounces, and daddy and Keagan had already seen and held him. After that adrenaline rush, I was wide awake all through the morning. We enjoyed lots of snuggle time, and I was surprised by how good I felt. After such a crazy delivery, I expected to have an equally hectic recovery, but it was actually the opposite.

We had glowing reports all through our hospital stay and were sent home just as scheduled Wednesday morning. The staff at MRMC were amazing and so supportive of everything. It was funny for the first day or two watching them play catch-up on everything with me since it had gone so quickly.

One of the neatest stories was with the doctor who delivered Caffrey. She came in the next day while Steven had to rush home. I was eating breakfast while trying to hold Caffrey, and she offered to hold him while I ate. Then she just sat and talked to me for a while. She told me in her 20+ years of experience, I was only the second time she had had a delivery like mine. So I'm an anomoly. Don't worry.

Steven has been an amazing dad filling in the gaps with Keagan time and helping as much as he can with Caffrey at night and while I pump. He had to go back to work today, and we were sad to see him go. Fortunately school is only 2 more weeks, then we'll have the entire summer together!

Keagan just loves his little brother! We've been trying to make sure he gets special time with each of us, so I've been making sure I put him to bed at night and do his story and song. Now that my parents are in town, I'm trying to take some extra time with him too. Today, we went to the playground in our neighborhood for a little while. I think he's going to adjust without too many issues!

So far, we are loving being a family of four. Getting used to the (lack of) sleep schedule again is tough, but it always will be. Sleep will come again, and we're managing just fine. We've been so blessed to have quite a few families from church sign up to bring us meals. I was surprised to see that it's not just girls from our group. Some of the couples are ones that we haven't really gotten to know well, which really touched me! It just serves as a reminder that hospitality really does go a long way, and it makes me want to be more intentional about serving and helping others!