09.14.08
T +4 days (but not much longer)
2:00am
LA is progressing 5 cm dilated. She’s had to have some narcotics to ease the pain of the contractions. The “back” labor is what is bothering her worse that the contractions in the front. She can’t feel the ones in the front because of the pain in her back. The narcotics knocked her out. Almost forgot to tell you about how I am doing – my back is starting to hurt. LA gets a kraftmatic adjustable bed and I get a crappy chair to sit in and a wooden chair to prop my feet on. It’s going to be a long night. Good thing we’ve got the latest in tv technology to watch – a 7 inch screen. Actually it is about a 1987 Magnavox color 13in tv – you have got to be kidding me. The players look like midgets from across the room. Every computer monitor sold today is bigger. At least it does have cable. I have watched Sportcenter and College Gameday Final for the past 2 hours. How many times can a male watch this and not be bored? Sportscenter is mesmerizing. I guess we continue to watch it just in case they change a final score.
The nurse requested the doctor to give LA her epidural.
The epidural doctor came in and as he was preparing he actually asked me if I would like to watch – is he crazy. My theory is for you to go ahead and do your job and be careful. I don’t want to be a distraction and really don’t need you trying to impress me with some kind of blindfolded epidural trick and I am pretty sure LA not looking for some kind of man challenge at this point in labor. I will just stay on the front side looking at my wife. LA was real happy with the epidural doctor. He was good. She only felt one prick and that was it. Guess what time it is? Nap time number two for LA and more uncomfortable chair time and Sportscenter for me.
4:00am
LA is fully dilated and effaced except for a small ridge on her cervix. The doctor wants to see if this will go away and put LA on her right side. Still no help or attention being paid to me.
5:20am
Dr. K checks LA out and makes the call to the mission control and tells them to prepare for a launch. She asks LA to make two pushes with her next two contractions to determine if the baby is going to come out and if LA is going to be a good pusher with the epidural. It is at this point that I was called into the game. In birthing class the husband was up around the head and holding the wife’s hand and encouraging her. That is what I learned to do – remember the post about breathing techniques, relaxation techniques, stress removal…etc. Dr. K instructs me to grab a leg and hold on. After the two pushes, Dr. K is scrambling to get on her scrubs and the nurse is trying to break down the bed before we have a baby on the bed. I am going to save all the rest of my delivery experience for my upcoming book with Greg Horres – A Husband’s Guide to Childbirth – What They Don’t Tell You. If you have already had a child, let’s get together and talk because I am going to need some therapy.
5:42am
After about 10 pushes and about 20 minutes, LA and I are blessed with the most incredible baby in the whole wide world, a baby girl. See I told Heather that she and I were the only ones that knew. I don’t think she believed me but she was the first to know. She won’t be able to say “Are you serious” anymore to me – the proof is in the blog. The babies heart rate had slowed down during the last couple of pushes and the doctor told us that baby Carter was coming out on the next push – one way or another. However, she had to do it. When baby Carter came out she was in a little bit of shock from the quick decent and possibly her umbilical cord was being pinched between the baby’s shoulder and LA pelvis. When she came out she definitely wasn’t the color I had expected – sort of gray. LA only saw the baby for a few seconds before they took her to the other side of the room to start clearing her lungs, getting her checked out. I took a picture of her to show LA. She didn’t stay in the delivery room because of her condition. They immediately took her to the nursery to hook her up to some machines to see what was going on.
I stayed behind to be with LA as she was getting rebuilt. Fortunately for her she didn’t have any major complications with delivering the over 8.5 pounder.
The details:
5:42am
Aubrey Elizabeth Carter
8 pounds 9 ounces
20.5 inches long
God is not just good all the time. HE is GREAT all the time!
LA and my worlds have been rocked in the most awesome way.
The baby names were real easy for us to decide on see the earlier posts. No individual lists and each person getting 5 strikes off the other persons list. Aubrey is my father’s name and Elizabeth is from LA’s family – her mother’s side. It is handed down to the 1st girl in each family.
6:20am
I started not feeling too good for some reason and felt like I was about to drop out so I sat down. The nurse commented that I didn’t look to good and asked if I was ok. I told her I would be fine now but she went ahead and got me some water that was a close call. I didn’t need any more stitches.
6:30am
They let me go to the nursery and check out our new baby. The nurses were monitoring her heart rate, breathing and oxygen levels. She was doing fine and starting to get some color – baby color and was looking better which was reassuring.
9:30am
They finally brought Aubrey to our room for LA to see her and hold her.
The Baby Blog
Nana (Mrs Eileen) was the winner in the due date guessing game. Everybody missed the due date but Nana only missed by a few hours and was just about right on the weight and length. I was off on the date but nailed the birth weight exactly.
This is the end of the blog about Baby Carter. It’s been awesome to share this experience with everyone. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
I am pretty sure we are going to continue with the posts on this site but posted in individual posts – like these were supposed to be done. So keep checking back on Aubrey’s progress.
God is Great
All The Time
And
All The Time
God is Great
It’s no longer about KC and LA. It’s all about Aubrey Elizabeth and all our GREAT family and friends raising and supporting her to learn the importance of family, God and loving others each day as she grows up.
Hope to see you soon! KC, LA, and Aubrey
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