Charlie's Birth Story

My little man is finally here! Charles William was born on November 26th at 11:29am. He weighed in at 8 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches long. (Before pushing Andrew and I both made guesses on his weight. He guess 8 lbs 4 oz and I guessed 8 lbs 2 oz. I was dead on.)

I was scheduled for an induction, for a couple reasons, for Tuesday the 26th. The week before I was only dilated to 1 cm, so I was a little worried that my body wouldn't cooperate and I'd end up with a c-section. I have no issues with c-sections, but knew recovery would be much harder and now that we live in a house that is on a hill, with stairs, and a wild pre-schooler, it made me even more nervous.

Luckily when I got to the hospital to get all set up I was already dilated to 3 cm and having contractions every 10 minutes. My Doctor came by to check on me first thing and to break my water. They started pitocin and let me know that when I was ready I could request pain medication or go straight to the epidural.

My labor with Colin was long (13 hours, which I didn't think was long until people recently kept saying to me that it was...) and I pushed for 2 hours before having to use the vacuum to get him out. I got my epidural around 5 cm with Colin. I wanted to wait as long as possible on the epidural because I was afraid it might stall my labor and I wanted to avoid a c-section.

About 1 1/2 hours into labor I requested to have my progress checked as the contractions were getting stronger and closer. They weren't intolerable, but I wanted to get an idea of how far I had come. I was about 4.5 cm dilated. I decided to just do some pain meds as I really wanted to get past 5 cm on my own before getting the epi.

To make a long story short, I ended up getting an epi, but waited so long that I was 9 or 10 cm by the time they placed it. Not really sure because she decided to wait and check my progress after the epi was placed so I would be more comfortable (I was pretty miserable at that point). When she checked me right after the epi was started I was complete and ready to push!

I am not sure how long I pushed for, but not long at all and they made me stop pushing because there was no one there but my one nurse. =P I felt like a rock start and was so proud of what my body did so easily.

This labor was so different from my labor with Colin. My Dr told me this morning that she couldn't believe it went so fast. She had expected and planned to be around until 8 that night for my delivery. No one expected him to arrive before lunch.

He spent a few days in the NICU for some monitoring of his heart. We've know about a heart issue with Charlie since about 28 weeks or so. We only told a few people who kept him in their prayers and it look like, although the heart defect still exists, it may be on the minor side and something we just have to watch. We go back to the pediatric cardiologist on Thursday to look at his heart again (outside of my body this time!) to see what exactly he has going on now that the murmur is closed. He seems to be doing well and the NICU doctor didn't seem overly concerned so I am not as worried as I was before he was born. =) But I'd still appreciate prayers for when we go Thursday to check on the little guys ticker.

I have pictures to post but the card in my camera decided it needed to be reformatted. So Andrew is trying to find all the photos on that memory card before reformatting it. Hopefully he finds them all and I will post some pictures soon!

39 Weeks

That's me today at 39 weeks, 1 day pregnant. I added this picture to my smugmug album like normal and saw a picture from the beginning of the pregnancy. I can't believe how skinny I was (or that I ever called myself fat).

I've done really well through this pregnancy with my weight, but still feel like a huge cow, which I think just comes with the territory. I am so looking forward to getting back to a workout routine that allows me to sweat and get my heart rate up. For comparisons sake, here I am at 4 weeks, 24 weeks, and then 39 weeks.

Not much longer now!!

Pregnancy Update - 38 Weeks

I've been too tired to do my usual Tuesday updates, but this will be a quick one!

I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow. And I am SO READY. All I do is make noises when I try to move, and when I just sit still. I am not having any issues with swelling hands or feet (still have on my wedding band this time around!) but everything between my neck and thighs is just uncomfortable. There are places I didn't realize could hurt. Or maybe they did last time and I forgot.

My shirts are getting too small and my bras are definitely crying to be traded out for ones a tad bigger. But I am so close to the end that I don't want to spend the money on a bra for just a few weeks.

I'm eating pineapple, spicy foods, and plan on walking up and down the stairs in our foyer after this post. =) I want to get things moving. I know he will come when he's ready, and that if I go into labor after eating the 2 lbs of pineapple I bought, it will just be coincidence.

My next appointment is set for Tuesday and I have a growth ultrasound that day also. My last one was at 34 weeks and he was estimated to weigh 6 lbs 2 oz. I'm interested to see if he is really gaining 1/2 lb a week like all the books say they do at the end. If so, his estimate would be around 8 lbs 2 oz since it will be fours weeks time. =0 Like I said in previous posts, I'm not really to worried that he will be huge. I still am thinking he's long. I hope to find out soon.

I still keep track of my weight even though my exercise has been almost non-existent. And I told Andrew I find it funny because the past month I've been gaining exactly 1 lb per week. Not an ounce more or less. I'm doing so much better this time than I did with my weight last pregnancy.

Here are my 38 week pictures!

Tummy Tuesday

I'm doing this as a quick update. Nothing new to report, so just adding a picture to show you what I look like at 36 weeks pregnant.

And because he's a cutie, a couple pics of Colin. He and daddy at his first birthday party here in Alabama (a bouncy house place - his favorite!) and in one of the costumes I got at Target on clearance the day after Halloween.

And if you look closely, I don't have a card table in my kitchen anymore! I have REAL chairs. No table - because it is on back-order. But chairs that don't fold up. Finally starting to feel more like home.