Camden's birth story

It started on Monday when I went in for my 38 1/2 week appointment. I was dilated to 4cm and 80% effaced so my doctor scheduled an induction to avoid me giving birth at home or in the car on the way to the hospital.

I've never been induced before so my previous birth experiences involved rushing to the hospital in the middle of the night, yelling in pain and feeling like I was going to die. This was so different. After a great night of sleep we woke up, ate a big breakfast, got the girls all settled at my friend's house, then drove to the hospital. We calmly parked the car and walked in together holdings hands and laughing. They checked us into our room and we just hung out, taking pictures and discussing baby names until the nurse came in to start things.

One last prego pic of my enormous belly.

I was GBS positive so before they could start the pitocin I had to have an IV with antibiotics in for 4 hours. They got the IV going and then we had time to kill. We watched a couple episodes of The Office, surfed the internet, ate some yummy lunch and just relaxed. It was awesome.

Around 1pm they started the pitocin and the contractions started coming. Before going to the hospital I was undecided on what I wanted to do for pain management. With Teya I had an epidural and it was horrible. I couldn't feel anything and had to push for 2 hours which gave me awful hemorrhoids (sorry TMI) and I still had to get an episiotomy. The recovery was awful. I couldn't walk for hours after giving birth and my right leg was numb for 4 months.

With Brinley on the other hand I didn't have an epidural and the recovery was awesome, but the birth experience was a nightmare. (mostly because I went through transition in the car on the way to the hospital, not exactly an environment where you can check into your inner zen and focus through contractions.)

I was torn between my fear of a bad epidural recovery and the horror of going through transition without drugs, but Taber seemed to think I could handle the natural delivery this time since I would be in a calm environment and have him right there for support. So I told the doc we'd give it a try without drugs. She warned me that I wouldn't have much of a window to ask for an epidural if I changed me mind, I told her I understood, and then we got to work.

At first the contractions were very manageable. Every time they came I'd squeeze Taber's hand and calmly breathe through them. This went on for about an hour and I was feeling pretty good. Then the Doctor came in and broke my water. The contractions really started coming after that and I moved from the bed to the birthing ball for some relief. The contractions got harder, my breathing got harder, and poor Taber's hand got squeezed a lot harder, but I was still in control so we soldiered on.

After about 2 hours of hard contractions every 2-3 minutes the nurse came in and turned up the pitocin. That changed the game. the contractions started coming one on top of another with little relief in between. I could no longer just breathe through them and started moaning. It went something like this, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO owie! owie! owie! owie! owie! OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" My whole body started shaking and I knew I was going through transition and also losing control. In between the moaning I started whimpering, "help me, help me, help me" Finally I looked up at Taber, exhausted and in tears and said, "This was a bad idea, I need an epidural." He told me I was doing great but I told him he had no idea how horrible this was and that I needed drugs. He agreed and called the nurse in.

When she came in and saw me gripping the bed with white knuckles, shaking and begging for drugs she went into speed mode. She called the anesthesiologist and started prepping everything for the epidural while we waited for him to come. She did warn me that it might be too late and that if I felt any pressure or the need to push we weren't getting drugs. I prayed harder then ever that it wasn't too late as wave after wave of contractions pushed me closer to the edge of losing it. "Where is he? Where is he?" I kept asking between moans. When it felt like he wasn't going to get there in time I really started panicking. I kept saying, "I'm so dumb! This was the worst idea! I'm so sorry!!" My doctor told me I wasn't dumb and that it was going to be okay.

Just then the anesthesiologist walked in and I thought, "oh please oh please let it not be too late!" The doctor checked me and I was at an 8, which meant I still had time to get the epidural! YES!! But then I had to hunch over and actually HOLD STILL while the doctor put the epidural in. If you've seen the needle you know that holding still would be hard even if you weren't having major contractions. I don't know how I did it but with the help of Taber and my nurse and the hope of getting relief I forced myself to hunch over and hold still while that giant needle went in during a contraction. Luckily the doctor was a pro and within a few minutes it was over. I felt a few more contractions after that but each one got easier. Finally I was calm and breathing normally again. I told the anesthesiologist he was so so awesome and pretty much the best person in the whole world at that moment. I'm sure he hears that a lot.

After the epidural the rest of my labor was a breeze. The nurses turned off the pitocin and I swear they all went to dinner. Me and Taber just relaxed for an hour and then they came back and I was a 10 and ready to push. I started pushing at 6:35 and at 6:42 he was born. 3 sets of pushes and then my doctor said "look down!" I looked down and saw him and she said, "grab his head and pull him up!" So with one last push I grabbed his little head, and pulled him up onto my stomach. Words can't describe the feelings I had looking at my son for the first time. He was so perfect, I mean just so absolutely perfect. I looked at Taber and we were both smiling and crying. It's just such an amazing moment when heaven touches earth and one if it's precious little spirits enters our world. I was overwhelmed with happiness and love.

After some bonding time the nurses took him away to get him all cleaned up.

We had narrowed our name search down to two names when we went to the hospital, Maddox and Camden. As we spent those first few moments with our baby boy the name Camden just felt really right. It's a name I've loved for a long time but Taber hasn't been as sure about it. The first time I put the baby in his arms though, he looked down and called him Camden. When he said it he got a little choked up and he looked and me and said, "That's his name, it feels right." His other names are Taber, because I wanted him to have his Daddy's name, and Kekoa, which is Hawaiian for "brave one, courageous, or warrior."

The day after Camden was born the girls came in to meet their brother for the first time. They were smitten immediately, as I guessed they would be.

They kept saying, "Aw, he's so adorable!" and smothered him with kisses.

This picture made me laugh because Brinley's face suggests there might some sibling rivalry/jealousy with new baby brother. I think it may be a little adjustment for Brinley not to be the baby anymore, but I'm sure she'll be a great big sister.

First picture as a family of 5

After two nights in the hospital we bundled our little guy up and got ready to take him home.

I'm happy to say that even with the epidural my recovery has been awesome! 30 minutes after giving birth I got up and was able to walk by myself and use the bathroom without any help. Camden roomed in with me the whole time, and I was able to take care of him no problem. I'm still a little sore of course, but I feel great and am just so happy to have my sweet little guy on the outside instead of in!