Collin's Debut

Collin made his grand appearance on March 3, 2011 at 11:23am. He was 6 lbs 10 oz (only 1 oz less than Chase) and 19 1/2 inches long (1/2 inch taller than my other kids - they were all 19).

CAUTION: Birth Story and such details involved with birth to follow. Read at your own risk.

(it's not really that bad...)

On Wednesday evening, March 2, I was having contractions about 7 minutes apart and my back had been killing me all day! So around 3pm I got sick of it. I had wanted to wait until the contractions were closer but my back pain was starting to make me nervous. When I got to the hospital I was only at a 3 still but at 60% and the contractions were more like 5 minutes apart. They decided to watch me for a couple of hours and if I made change they would keep me for delivery. So a couple hours later I was at a 4 and at 70-80%. They admitted me for the night. My contractions were much closer together at 3-4 minutes. They gave me a shot for the back pain/to help me sleep. I was very thankful for the sleep. In the morning I hadn't changed much and my contractions had slowed down a bit (resting always did that to me...). Earlier than usual the nurse came rushing into the room to check the monitors. She left. She came back. Doc Johnson came in to check on me. My heart rate and Collin's heart rate had spiked and they were concerned about stress to the baby. Doc broke my water to help things get going.

Enter: the pit. *sigh*

Now not many of you know I was trying to go "all natural" for this baby. With both Kyla and Chase I had had 0 pain before my epidural, but out of fear of pain I got the epidural anyway and then immediately after the epidural goes in my heart rate drops like a rock (50/30) and I basically pass out (almost) and flat line... didn't really want to risk that again. So this time the goal was no epidural. Any of you who have had kids and had to be put on pitocin would understand my foreshadowing.

They started me on a low dose of pit. (so much for "ALL" natural...but I didn't give up.) The contractions got very regular and pretty intense. I breathed through them as best I could and thought I could handle things. (Unbeknownst to me the doctor was worried that if Collin's heart rate didn't go down he was going to have to take him by c-section!-I would have died!) Nurse comes back in again, tells me she is going to bump up the pit just a little bit. Ok. Ok. I can do this. Apparently "bumping up a little bit" means DOUBLING! I didn't realize it was double until the first couple of contractions. Breathing went out the window!!! Surviving each contraction was the most painful, intense thing ever! Then they got ReAlLy ReguLar and rEaLlY INTENSE. There was no break in between them anymore. It would start to spike, go for a minute, then come back down only to turn around and immediately start to spike again for a minute! There was no recovery time at all and it was very, very painful. I tried to breath but crying almost felt better, or at least created some sort of distraction. But I knew I couldn't go through the whole labor crying and screaming. (embarrassed to say I WAS one of those ladies who was crying and borderline screaming...) I couldn't take it anymore and basically started begging Chad to get the epidural guy in there. (by the way I don't remember exactly when or what-not anymore but in the middle of all this I made it up to a 7!)

If any of you have had kids in the hospital you would know that the epidural guy (my pet name) usually has a list of ladies to take care of and if you want a epidural you have to wait in line. I think my nurse felt REALLY sorry for me because the next thing I know is he was there!!! Just in time to save my life! (ok...dramatic I know) He was everything he needed to be...calm, collected, patient with me cause I was still kinda freaking out (just because he was there doesn't mean the contractions had eased up any...) and fully capable of giving me the pain relief I was so desperate for! YAY I warned him about my tendency to flat line and asked for the lowest dose possible to try to avoid it. He complied and may I just say should be awarded as the "Best Epidural Guy EVER" because I barely even felt him do anything and I should be awarded the "Best in Pain But Able to Sit Still for Her Epidural Laboring Woman" award. I'm just saying...

After that everything went very smoothly and I felt MUCH better! I didn't flat line either and he even took his time and stuck around to make sure everything was fine.

Around 11am I was at a 10 and ready to push. Now I have never experienced anything like this before and it caught me off-guard, but just when I was ready to start pushing I got extremely ill. I looked at the doc and asked "what do I do if I'm going to be sick???" and he kinda laughed and said "aim left" (at Chad ...everyone kinda laughed but I insisted it wasn't a joke) A nurse brought a bucket just in time and I was puking. I threw up more times at the end of this pregnancy than at the beginning, in fact, I didn't puke even once at the beginning except when I actually got the flu twice and ended up in the hospital on an IV...hmm...weird.

So after that I was feeling better and able to focus on getting on with things. Not to be too graphic but this is a birth story after all. When a baby is born there's a bone they have to pass by before they can completely exit the birth canal. Collin decided it would be more dramatic to be born facing up (not the right way and he wouldn't turn around for anything...) so every time I pushed him to the point of the bone the contraction would go away for a second and he would slip back up by the bone. It took several pushes then Doc Johnson decided to use suction, not to pull on him, but to hold him in place until I could push him past the bone. It worked beautifully, and after he was past the bone (doc stopped using suction) it only took a couple more pushes. At 11:23 AM our beautiful baby boy was born! He was perfect! 10 fingers, 10 toes, and only a slightly coned head that actually went all the way down by the next day. :)

When the nurses were cleaning him up I heard them laughing and one of them said "He looks like he's been wearing flip flops!" He still does. He has long fingers and long toes. He has strawberry-blond hair that I'm betting will turn blond, DARK blue eyes which were so dark I was betting on them being brown like the girls' but now I think they may stay a nice dark blue, the Barrett adorable button nose, and a perfect calm demeanor. He only gets fussy when you change his diaper and cries bloody murder when he gets a bath. When he's hungry he cries for a second and as soon as he knows you are paying attention and getting the food he settles right back down. He sleeps pretty well but like most sleep deprived mom's I can't wait until we can sleep through the night. I love my little angel.