Welcome Sawyer!!
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Congrats Carrin!! Looking forward to the birth story.
Welcome Sawyer Carl!!!! *UPDATE- birth story and pics added
Sawyer arrived Tuesday night 4/4 via cesarian birth. 8 lbs. 14 oz. bundle of love!!!! We are all doing extremely well. Birth story to come...boy was it a ride!!!
SAWYER CARL'S BIRTH STORY
On Monday, April 3rd 2006 around 10 pm, I had just barely fallen asleep when my water broke. I noticed that there was meconium present. Our original plan was to labor at home until my contractions were 5 minutes apart, but I called our doctor and doula and they both told us to go right to the hospital.
By the time we got to the hospital, my contractions had started. They were right on top of each other with no pattern. I was hooked up to the fetal/contraction monitor and the doctor came in and checked my progress. I was still 80% effaced and less than 1 cm dilated (which I had been for 2 weeks already). The doctor ordered Pitocin to try to make my contractions more regular. The baby's heart rate was awesome and he was handling contractions extremely well. I was moved over to labor and delivery.
At 2 am, Todd called our doula, Karen, to ask her to come to the hospital. Shortly after she arrived, my contractions got much stronger and developed a good pattern. The doctor checked me again and I had still not progressed at all. I listened to music, tried sitting on the birth ball, meditated, babbled incoherently in attempt to do my best at handling the pain. Karen and Todd massaged my back and "cankles" (extremely swollen feet…they looked like stumps). This went along for about 10 hours or so.
At 10 am, the doctor checked my progress again….nothing had progressed yet, I was still less than 1 cm and about 80%. We decided to have an epidural administered. I had wanted to try everything I could do to avoid this, but the fact that I was "stuck" sort of made the decision for me, especially since my water had already broken and contained meconium. We were sort of up against time.
Dr. Perry checked me an hour or so later, and I still hadn't progressed. Without being too graphic…I had cervical surgery in the past and had some scar tissue. The doctor massaged my cervix and I went instantly to 3 cm.
Even though I had the epidural, I was still feeling extreme pressure on my tailbone that I found almost impossible to deal with. I had always thought that an epidural would take ALL pain away, it didn't seem to be working. I worked through these contractions as best I could.
Dr. Perry checked me again around 4:30 pm and told me that the baby's head was starting to bulge inside of my cervix and that I hadn't progressed further at that point. The pitocin was turned up to try to get things going further. Around 6:30 I was checked again and I had gone to 5-6 cm.
Dr. Perry talked to us for a while about his concerns that the baby's head was swelling and that I wasn't progressing quickly enough. He made the suggestion that we might want to go ahead and have a cesarian birth. In the meantime, I was dealing with this extremely horrific tailbone pressure. Todd, Karen and I discussed the benefits and risks of cesarian and made the decision to go ahead. I realized that we only had a few hours before that delicate 24 hour time period was going to end since my water had broken. I knew that it would be best to go ahead with the cesarian while the baby's heart rate was great and he was in no distress. I'd rather have had it that way than to wait until a cesarian was mandatory.
At 7:45 (Tuesday, April 4th) I was wheeled into the operating room. I remember telling some of the nurses how beautiful they were. I have never seen such a good looking staff before…maybe it was the drugs. The anesthesiologist started pricking my arms and hands and asking what I was feeling….numb or sharp jabs. I kept saying "what if this doesn't work and I can feel the knife!!!!." Dr. Perry said "Carrin, I already made the incision". Here we go….
I remember saying to Todd "We're going to hear him cry…he's going to cry". It was just surreal being there, and thinking about what was about to happen.
The nurse held up a mirror, and I saw them pulling the baby's head out of me. Todd told me that as they did that, the baby's eyes were wide open, and he was staring directly at him. We found out that the baby was posterior, that is why he came out in this direction…no wonder why that tailbone was hurting so badly and this is why he was stuck. The mirror moved away for a second (Todd told me at this time, one of the nurses had her knee on my upper abdomen and was pushing the baby out). When the mirror was put back, I could see them pull him out the rest of the way and place him on my stomach, along with two big poops. I'm glad that the meconium didn't cause any complications or infections.
The rest of this is sort of a blur to me. I remember instantly getting the most insane case of the shivers I've ever experienced. This is something that Karen had told us would happen, so at least it didn't scare me too much. I remember hearing the word "irrigate" a lot and having the nurses offer me more and more drugs. I told them no…I didn't want to be any more out of it than I already was.
As I looked over, I saw Todd with the baby and the baby was grasping in the air (like he was trying to find the umbilical cord). He instantly grabbed onto Todd's finger. They weighed him and called out that he was 8 lbs. 14 oz. Wow!!!! I remember next that he was put on my chest, and apparently someone took our first family photo.
In the recovery room, Uma and Papa, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Katie and Aunt Em were all got to come in and meet him.
The name decision…Todd and I had gone back and forth with the name Benjamin. I, being stubborn, insisted that was going to be his name no matter what. Toward the end of the pregnancy, we talked about it a lot (I wanted Todd to be part of the decision too), I realized I was being pretty selfish). The very first name we came up with, when I found out I was pregnant, was Sawyer. During labor, I had told Todd that if he had blond hair we would name him Sawyer, and if it was brown we would name him Ben. When he was born, he had dark hair, and Todd said "he looks more like a Sawyer to me." So that was it.
With the nickname "Soy Bean", he has added more joy and completeness to our lives than we ever thought possible. I have never seen Todd happier in the 4 years that I have known him. He has waited a long time for a child and now he is soaking it up. We talk a lot about all of the "firsts" that we will share with our son. It's an amazing thing!
Pictures....
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/carrin.../ph//my_photos
SAWYER CARL'S BIRTH STORY
On Monday, April 3rd 2006 around 10 pm, I had just barely fallen asleep when my water broke. I noticed that there was meconium present. Our original plan was to labor at home until my contractions were 5 minutes apart, but I called our doctor and doula and they both told us to go right to the hospital.
By the time we got to the hospital, my contractions had started. They were right on top of each other with no pattern. I was hooked up to the fetal/contraction monitor and the doctor came in and checked my progress. I was still 80% effaced and less than 1 cm dilated (which I had been for 2 weeks already). The doctor ordered Pitocin to try to make my contractions more regular. The baby's heart rate was awesome and he was handling contractions extremely well. I was moved over to labor and delivery.
At 2 am, Todd called our doula, Karen, to ask her to come to the hospital. Shortly after she arrived, my contractions got much stronger and developed a good pattern. The doctor checked me again and I had still not progressed at all. I listened to music, tried sitting on the birth ball, meditated, babbled incoherently in attempt to do my best at handling the pain. Karen and Todd massaged my back and "cankles" (extremely swollen feet…they looked like stumps). This went along for about 10 hours or so.
At 10 am, the doctor checked my progress again….nothing had progressed yet, I was still less than 1 cm and about 80%. We decided to have an epidural administered. I had wanted to try everything I could do to avoid this, but the fact that I was "stuck" sort of made the decision for me, especially since my water had already broken and contained meconium. We were sort of up against time.
Dr. Perry checked me an hour or so later, and I still hadn't progressed. Without being too graphic…I had cervical surgery in the past and had some scar tissue. The doctor massaged my cervix and I went instantly to 3 cm.
Even though I had the epidural, I was still feeling extreme pressure on my tailbone that I found almost impossible to deal with. I had always thought that an epidural would take ALL pain away, it didn't seem to be working. I worked through these contractions as best I could.
Dr. Perry checked me again around 4:30 pm and told me that the baby's head was starting to bulge inside of my cervix and that I hadn't progressed further at that point. The pitocin was turned up to try to get things going further. Around 6:30 I was checked again and I had gone to 5-6 cm.
Dr. Perry talked to us for a while about his concerns that the baby's head was swelling and that I wasn't progressing quickly enough. He made the suggestion that we might want to go ahead and have a cesarian birth. In the meantime, I was dealing with this extremely horrific tailbone pressure. Todd, Karen and I discussed the benefits and risks of cesarian and made the decision to go ahead. I realized that we only had a few hours before that delicate 24 hour time period was going to end since my water had broken. I knew that it would be best to go ahead with the cesarian while the baby's heart rate was great and he was in no distress. I'd rather have had it that way than to wait until a cesarian was mandatory.
At 7:45 (Tuesday, April 4th) I was wheeled into the operating room. I remember telling some of the nurses how beautiful they were. I have never seen such a good looking staff before…maybe it was the drugs. The anesthesiologist started pricking my arms and hands and asking what I was feeling….numb or sharp jabs. I kept saying "what if this doesn't work and I can feel the knife!!!!." Dr. Perry said "Carrin, I already made the incision". Here we go….
I remember saying to Todd "We're going to hear him cry…he's going to cry". It was just surreal being there, and thinking about what was about to happen.
The nurse held up a mirror, and I saw them pulling the baby's head out of me. Todd told me that as they did that, the baby's eyes were wide open, and he was staring directly at him. We found out that the baby was posterior, that is why he came out in this direction…no wonder why that tailbone was hurting so badly and this is why he was stuck. The mirror moved away for a second (Todd told me at this time, one of the nurses had her knee on my upper abdomen and was pushing the baby out). When the mirror was put back, I could see them pull him out the rest of the way and place him on my stomach, along with two big poops. I'm glad that the meconium didn't cause any complications or infections.
The rest of this is sort of a blur to me. I remember instantly getting the most insane case of the shivers I've ever experienced. This is something that Karen had told us would happen, so at least it didn't scare me too much. I remember hearing the word "irrigate" a lot and having the nurses offer me more and more drugs. I told them no…I didn't want to be any more out of it than I already was.
As I looked over, I saw Todd with the baby and the baby was grasping in the air (like he was trying to find the umbilical cord). He instantly grabbed onto Todd's finger. They weighed him and called out that he was 8 lbs. 14 oz. Wow!!!! I remember next that he was put on my chest, and apparently someone took our first family photo.
In the recovery room, Uma and Papa, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Katie and Aunt Em were all got to come in and meet him.
The name decision…Todd and I had gone back and forth with the name Benjamin. I, being stubborn, insisted that was going to be his name no matter what. Toward the end of the pregnancy, we talked about it a lot (I wanted Todd to be part of the decision too), I realized I was being pretty selfish). The very first name we came up with, when I found out I was pregnant, was Sawyer. During labor, I had told Todd that if he had blond hair we would name him Sawyer, and if it was brown we would name him Ben. When he was born, he had dark hair, and Todd said "he looks more like a Sawyer to me." So that was it.
With the nickname "Soy Bean", he has added more joy and completeness to our lives than we ever thought possible. I have never seen Todd happier in the 4 years that I have known him. He has waited a long time for a child and now he is soaking it up. We talk a lot about all of the "firsts" that we will share with our son. It's an amazing thing!
Pictures....
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/carrin.../ph//my_photos
1 - 8 of 8 Posts
Updated...enjoy!
Wow, what a totally gorgeous baby! I'm glad it all worked out OK. Funny after all your worries about early labor and keeping him in there, he didn't want to come out after all!
Congratulations.
Congratulations.
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