How It All Went Down

Now that things have settled down a bit, I have a few moments to talk about how things got from here:

to here: 

I suggested that Cami write a few things down about all this, but she says she doesn't really remember most of it.  I suppose she was a little preoccupied.  So, for what it's worth, here is what happened last week as I experienced it.


As we were packing our bags to come into the hospital for Cami's induction, we were discussing what we thought labor was actually going to be like.  I suggested that maybe labor really wasn't painful at all and that it was all just one big secret that mothers' around the world kept to garner sympathy from their husbands and keep their teenage daughters from getting knocked up.  

We checked into the hospital at about noon and and Cami got hooked up to an IV.  She got to put on her awesome argyle hospital gown.  We ran through a bunch of questions with our nurse.  Then, because her blood pressures were a little high, we had to check a bunch of labs. Once all those came back normal, Cami was hooked up to the pitocin.  That started her contractions up pretty regularly, but Cami was a little surprised that her contractions weren't really painful.  For awhile, we were thinking there might have been some validity to my labor conspiracy theory.

However, Cami's joy-ride through labor ended shortly after her water broke.  Suddenly, things became very uncomfortable and within a couple hours she got an epidural.  It was a good thing she got it when she did, because she flew through labor and might have missed her opportunity if she waited too long.  With the help of the pitocin, she jumped from 4cm to 9.5 cm in a few hours.  At about 11:00pm, concerned that she was progressing too quickly, they stopped the pitocin and let her labor on her own.  I was convinced that the little guy was going to make it out by midnight.

I was wrong.  Without the benefit of the medications, it took another four hours before Cami was far enough along for to begin actively pushing. Our nurse, Marlena, was a great help and really made the process a lot easier.  Together we coached Cami through the grueling delivery process.  Nearly three hours later, the doctor pulled out a slimy, screaming Charlie and placed him on his mom's chest. 

I had no idea how intense this process was going to be.  This was not my first time around laboring women, but I was nearly overwhelmed by the powerful emotional experience it was.  Prior to the delivery, I could put my hand on Cami's belly and feel Charlie bouncing around in there, but it was more an intellectual awareness of his existence than an emotional connection with him.  After supporting and encouraging Cami as she struggled to bring this little person into the world, then seeing him emerge and take his first few breaths... it forged an immediate and significant emotional bond to this little guy.  


After all that hard work, the many disappointments, the years of waiting, hoping, and praying, we finally got to welcome our son into the world.  One week later, I don't know how we got along without him.

We're so happy to finally have you here, Charlie.