Birth story...

I really love to hear other people's birth stories, so I hope this doesn't bore anyone too much, but I really just love how each little baby that gets here is always so unique and there always seem to be amazing things that accompany births. They are just a miracle to me and I love seeing the Lord's hand in getting these pure, beautiful little spirits here. So this is how Cameron came. :)

Tuesday - I wake up at 1:30am with contractions.

5:30 - I decide that I'm about ready for an epidural and we head to the hospital.

As it turns out, waiting until I was ready for an epidural backfired on me! They were full and had no room for me! :( So we hung around in a waiting room for a while.

6:15 -We walked into a little triage room with three beds separated by very little space and a very thin curtain and my heart sunk! I looked around and thought..."Oh please no. Please don't tell me I'm delivering a baby in this tiny room sandwiched between two other people!!! Can we go somewhere else????" Meanwhile the contractions are getting more and more intense and I am WAY past ready to have an epidural. They check me and I'm only at a 3-4! I couldn't believe it. I've been sitting at a 3 for the last two weeks and have been laboring for the last 5 hrs and I haven't gone anywhere?! How can that be?!

After starting to get me admitted, they to check me again and I'm already at a 6. So decide they better get things going and they give me the relieving news that they are moving me to a nice, spacious, private delivery room. I can't tell you how happy I was to hear that!

7:30 - Still waiting and still ready for that epidural. Sadly there are many people in higher need - a lot of emergency C-sections that morning. I try to be grateful that I'm not one of those needing an emergency c-section and keep breathing through the pain, but at this point I really just want to cry and tell Justin that I don't think I can do this anymore! I keep thinking of my mom and my friend Dana and keep telling myself, Breathe. Just breathe. You can do this. Breathe.

8:00 - The anesthesiologist comes in and I just want to kiss her I'm so happy she's finally there!!! I sit up and I feel the urge to push! I tell the nurse, but she reassures me it's probably just because I'm sitting up now and feeling pressure. I try to believe her. :)

8:15 - I really feel the need to start pushing. Nurse checks me and says, "Oh my. You are at a 9. The baby's head is right there. I'll go get the dr." Anesthesiologist says, "What?! You can't be at a 9! I haven't even put any drugs in you yet. We haven't even gotten the good stuff to you!" And she very efficiently gets the drugs going. I know it may seem silly that I even had an epidural when I was already at a 9, but I was so ready to not be in pain anymore I just welcomed it. I felt proud of myself that I had gotten that far without any drugs, but I didn't feel the need to continue any further. Maybe next time. We'll see. :)

In the end I was glad that I did have the epidural because I got to just relax and enjoy one of the most amazing experiences of me and Justin's life!

As our amazing dr, Dr. Rankins, got all ready, she turned to Justin and said, "Do you want to help me deliver the baby?" Justin was so excited!!! It was amazing!! I watched in awe as he got gowned up and put gloves on - it was so surreal. He starts his OBGYN rotation in July and will be helping deliver babies then, but I can't tell you how exciting it was that the first baby he got to help deliver was ours! She helped and coached him through it and he coached me with pushing and in 5-10 minutes he was holding our little baby boy! The look of joy on his face while he was seeing the baby's head and delivering the baby was something I will never forget. It was such an amazing thing to do together - like an amazing partnership in bringing this baby into the world!

8:38 - They brought the baby right over to me and Justin and I spent an hour with him before they took him to do all the measurements - the three of us just relishing this experience and enjoying our first moments together.

It was perfect. Everything about it was just perfect! What started out as a crazy experience ended up being one of the most amazing of our lives. It all progressed really fast. And now we have our family of four and it is the best thing ever! Definitely has it's challenges, but it really is wonderful! Life is just so good! :)