The post that everyone has been waiting for.... BABY CARTER!!! (It's only taken me three and a half months to get it posted but who's counting, right?)
The process of getting Carter here was slow at first and then all of the sudden he was HERE! It was definitely not what I was expecting the birth process to be like. It started with contractions, but then again, isn't that how it always starts? haha - okay fine, you don't have to laugh at my jokes. Anyways, Sunday was our Multi - Stake Conference at the BYU-I Center. Me and my swollen feet and aching back spent the entire time out in the hall with all the other moms and rowdy youngsters. It only seems fitting that my own rowdy youngster (Michael) came out to join me. (Haha - me and my funny jokes, right?!?) So that night was made eventful by contractions off and on all night. I didn't get that excited, my doctor had already told me a few days prior that I could have Carter any day, but it would probably be awhile. But, like a new mom - I called the doctor first thing in the morning to see if I needed to go in, I figured it was better to be safe than sorry. (My biggest fear was going into labor/having my water break at work so I was really glad that the nurse just had us go in, just to be sure - whew!) So after a *pleasant* visit with the doctor, they sent us home. Mike went to school and I went to work - no use staying home if I'm not having a baby, right? Wrong. My boss sent me home at lunch, something about me needing to be at home instead of being miserable at work or something. So like any rational pregnant lady I drove myself home and laid in bed watching movies and trying to catch up on some sleep. (Of course once I got home I felt fine).
That night was much the same as it was the night before. Sleep, contractions, sleep, contractions, sleep, wake up Michael because I can't sleep, contractions, sleep, contractions, contractions, contractions.... So we called the doctor again the next morning. We debated whether or not we should call because the contractions weren't exactly what our doctor said they should be before we should get our hopes up again, but we went in anyways. Can you guess what the doctor said? I was guessing he would say something like, "nice try, come back tomorrow" but instead he said, "well, it looks like you're going to be parents today." I didn't know what to do - it was only the day after my due date and I was fully expecting/planning on another two weeks. Well, that plan went out the window. Plus, I didn't think that these so called "contractions" were actually THE contractions. But, we went on up to the hospital and checked ourselves in. So that was about 9/9:30ish. After we got all settled we walked around for a while (we even took the stairs a few times - I wanted this baby out ASAP! Who wants a 24 hour labor? p.s that was my third biggest fear. Second biggest fear is that I would have the baby during Mike's PRAXIS test that he had to take the Saturday before, which didn't happen so we were safe on that one.)
The nurses did a great job of keeping me calm and answering all of my first time mom questions. We lucked out and even got a HUGE corner room with an excellent view of the dumpster and someone's back yard chicken coop. We'd walk around for a while then come back and they'd hook me up to all these wires to check on Carter and to see how soon we'd be needing the doctor. At 11:45 they broke my water. Then the REAL contractions started. I played brave for awhile (maybe not so brave if you ask Michael) I'd been sitting on the fence about an epidural my entire pregnancy, but once the contractions started hitting harder and faster - well, lets just say I panicked and we called the nice man with all the magical drugs. This is where things get a little fuzzy from my perspective. After the epidural they had me hooked up to the machines and were watching my vitals as well as Carter's. At first we just had one nurse in our room, then we had two. They were having me move around and switch from one side to the other to see if we could get the little guy's heart rate up. Apparently we weren't having much success because all of the sudden there were a billion nurses in our room - fuzzy perspective, remember haha. The nurses did a great job keeping us calm and doing everything they could to get Carter's heart rate up. After a few minutes they started prepping me for a C-Section "just in case." Turns out it was a good thing that I was all ready for a C-Section because that's what ended up happening. Carter just wasn't cooperating so they wheeled my bed one way and sent Mike to go and get a gown on.
The anesthesia they gave me for the surgery wasn't working fast enough and we were worried about Carter still so they ended up knocking me completely out. And that's the last that I remember :) Actually - not exactly true, I remember my doctor being a little "gung-ho" about getting Carter out before I was completely numb. Thank goodness the anesthesiologist was smart enough to put the brakes on that!
The next thing I remember was a nice nurse telling me that I had a beautiful baby boy. I'm not sure what my response was but I'm pretty sure I was happy about it. I don't remember much about the next few hours when I was still coming out of the anesthesia but I think I remember holding Carter and I know that Mike's parents were there with Mike. But this is my most favorite thing from that day....
....holding my sweet baby boy!
Carter Scott Feik born Tuesday September 25th, 2012 at 2:19 pm. 6lbs 13oz 20 inches.
