Sometimes the Smallest Things Take Up the Most Room in Your Heart

Last day being pregnant!

Eeew...

I'm so glad my mother in law was there to keep me entertained

Don's mom and sister waiting in anticipation

Don's SUPER excited

My little cone head :)

Cleaning and checking him

His smashed little face just melts my heart

Happy and tired Dad

Our first family photo

He loves pacis and so do we

Man, I love him

"It's been a tough day"

I'M A MOM!!!!!!

Carter loves Grandma

He is a boy despite the pink boppy in almost every picture

wide awake

frog legs

First time in his car seat

Really excited to go home

Our favorite picture

My nephews put a sign and streamers on our door

First time in his crib

He's meditating

Daddy Time, Carter sneezes every time Don holds him haha he must be allergic

This face comes from Don

Check out that freakish thumb toe!! I have no idea where it came from!

CARTER'S BIG DAY!

I hope this isn't scatter brained as I write this because I'm half awake all the time these days, but I have to write everything down before I forget.

Carter Wade Thompson

Born 6/29/11 at 5:34 a.m.

8 lbs. 10 oz.

20 1/2 in. long

I went into my doctor's appointment Monday morning, June 27th still disappointed that I hadn't had my baby yet. I had my membranes stripped the appointment before and tried castor oil and all it did was give me bad diarrhea and give me contractions that lead to nowhere. Everyone swears by castor oil, walking, and sex, but nothing was working. I quickly realized that babies really do come on their own time. Carter was sooo stubborn! He hadn't even budged. I was dilated at a 2 1/2 for 5 weeks!! It just about killed me. Since I was a couple days shy of being a week overdue, my doctor asked if I would like to be induced or if I would like to wait it out. And I quickly responded, "I want to be induced!!" I never thought those words would come out of my mouth because I heard horror stories of women being induced and ending up with c-sections. But we needed to do it because Don had to start up work again and I had family coming. So my doctor said, "When? We can do it right now, tonight, tomorrow, next week...." and I decided to start Tuesday morning at seven a.m. because I wanted to clean the house and do the laundry before he was here...plus I was a little nervous.

Tuesday, June 28th I was determined to have Carter. I called the hospital just before we left to make sure they had room and sure enough, they did and we started to get nervous and excited. As soon as I got there they hooked me up to the baby monitors and started me on a pill called Cytotec to soften my cervix. They used Cytotec instead of Pitocin because it's easier on your body and gradually gives you contractions unlike Pitocin which can hit you hard. Cytotec is a teeny tiny pill they stick up there. It took a little longer, but I'm glad I had it because my water broke on its own. I had the pill placed in there 3 times. After each dosage, I had to lay for an hour then I could get up and walk around and get my contractions going. I felt good and had regular contractions for a long time. And I was able to eat regular meals. 

Around 5 or 6 pm (yes, it took THAT long!) the next shift of nurses came in. I LOVED my first nurse. She hung out with us and was really informational and super sweet. The next CNA came in and introduced herself and on her way out of the door I felt something kind of pop and water gushed out and I said, "Oh!" She turned around and I said, "My water just broke!" I was so happy my water broke because I knew it meant he was coming soon! But man did the contractions hit! Don held my hand and I breathed slowly through each contraction. It meant so much to have him there by my side. I always thought I would want him to stay far away, but I felt just the opposite. Every hour I got more dilated and I was in more pain. When I was dilated to a 5 I asked the nurse if I could have my epidural. Man, there's no pain like it. I didn't want to feel the pain anymore and it felt like forever till the anesthesiologist came in. He had Don stand in front of me and I put my head on his chest. It didn't hurt at all. All the nurses were so happy I had a very high functioning epidural. I couldn't walk of course, but I could move my legs and shift my body when I needed to. At that time they also gave me an IV. I laid on my side for a few hours and when the nurse turned me over I threw up all over the floor. I threw up a lot, it sucked. 

I don't remember exactly what time I was dilated to a 10, but I was dilated at a 10 FOREVER!! Carter still hadn't dropped all the way yet so they gave me pitocin. At 3 a.m I started pushing. It took me a few practice pushes to understand exactly where I was supposed to push, but I got the hang of it. I pushed for 2 1/2 hours. They could see his head forever. My uteris is behind my pelvic bone so it was really hard to push him out from underneath. He would look like he was coming then suck back in. I just wanted to keep pushing him out even when I didn't have contractions just to get him out. The doctor finally came and I pushed some more and Carter's heart beat was dropping so my doctor helped him out with a vacuum. At 5:34 a.m he came!! The doctor immediately placed him on my chest, but he wasn't crying. He had had the cord around his neck and had Don cut the cord immediately. I held him for literally 2 seconds and they took him away to clear out his lungs. He was put on oxygen for a day, but I got to visit him in the nursery and feed him. He latched right on which was super nice. It was sad to see little tubes coming out of his nose. I had him in my room that night. He wasn't on oxygen, but he had a monitor which was a pain. Every time he cried it would drop and start beeping. When he slept and got into a good sleep, it dropped and started beeping. At one time it wouldn't stop beeping and his oxygen level wouldn't pick up so the nurses took him and hooked him back up again just to be safe. We stayed another day in the hospital and he was off oxygen all day. I just loved holding him and eating really good hospital food and ice cream and cake :) 

Friday morning Carter got circumcised and we took him home! It was such a relief to be home. The first night was really rough. He woke up every hour to eat. Now he sleeps for 3 hours then is awake for 3 hours then finally sleeps again. Needless to say I'm constantly tired, but he is so darn cute. I have the cutest baby in the world! Breast feeding has been horrible. I have sores all over and I cry just about every time he eats, it's super. He had his first doctor appointment today and it turns out he was tongue-tied so the doctor clipped his tongue so hopefully it will be easier. I love talking to him when he's wide awake and he just stares at me. I love when he's hungry and he sucks on just about anything. I love when he lays on my chest and his face is all scrunched up and chubby. He loves having his hands on his face and he constantly kicks off blankets so the swaddling thing ended real quick. He doesn't really cry, he squeeks like a taradactle and it's hard not to laugh when he cries. We're having so much fun getting to know him and staring at him all the time. We couldn't be any more happier and our lives couldn't be more full. We love our little man.