Life with Charlie

On Friday December 16th, I went to a routine appointment with the midwives and they told me that my test results from the previous Monday were no good, and two separate doctors that they consult with recommended an induction for later that day. I was terrified, so I called Greg and asked him to pray about what to do while I prayed about it. A few minutes later he called and said that he had the strong impression to go ahead with the induction. I had the same impression, so I told the midwife that we would see her at the hospital later that night. I went home, and Greg and cousin Brian gave me a Priesthood blessing, which helped me feel better. Then I tried to clean up the house a little bit, but I was a little too distracted to get much done. Then, after eating our "last supper" of Costa Vida, we headed out to the hospital.

After three doses of Cytotec (10 pm, 3 am, 7 am), my water broke at 7 am and I called my mom to tell her to come. The first contraction came while I was on the phone with her, and after a few minutes Greg started timing them, and they were 2 minutes apart. That was no fun... The contractions kept getting stronger and closer together, and it was getting harder and harder to relax and breathe through them. The nurse came in and checked to see how dilated my cervix was, and she said it was about a 3. I almost asked for the epidural right then, but the nurse talked me down and helped me through the next few contractions. 15 minutes later the on-call midwife (Jen K) came and checked again, and said it was at an 8. At this point, I was moaning pretty loudly and it was all I could do to breathe, so they put an oxygen mask on me while I was having 2 and 3 contractions in a row. I told Jen that I thought I was going to split in half, and she promised me that I wouldn't. Then I realized that I wanted to push (which is a crazy feeling, by the way) and before I could say anything, Jen asked me if I wanted to push and I said yes. Through all of this, Greg and Jen and the nurse took turns massaging my back and legs and talking me through the contractions--they were all so great! Never once did they ask me if I wanted an epidural. Apparently my cervix never effaced all the way by itself, so Jen held it down while I pushed. Then she told me that Charlie was face up instead of face down; luckily she was able to turn him the right way. Jen said that Charlie's heart rate was too low, so we had to get him out NOW. She told me to push as hard as I could for as long as I could, so I did. Greg said that I was full-on screaming at this point, no more low moans... In less than 5 minutes of pushing, he was out! From water breaking to Charlie's first breath was 2 hours and 50 minutes. It was quite a rollercoaster, and it is all a huge blur for me.

Greg took these pictures. This is the first time I held Charlie Man. They are so emotional for me to look at, even still. All of those feelings wash back over me when I look at them.

After a couple of days in the hospital, we went home with our healthy Charlie Man. He almost had to go to the NICU for some initial breathing problems, but luckily he was fine. He was pretty jaundiced for the first week, though. 

And for anyone who's wondering, yes, I would go without an epidural again. I'm convinced that going without it saved me from a c-section. Not only that, but I think I have been able to recover a lot easier without it.

We had a tired, but slow-paced holiday. We stayed home, for the most part, and just enjoyed spending time with our little man. I decorated some sugar cookies, because I didn't get the chance before Christmas. I also debuted the letter cookie cutters that my mom gave me for Christmas this year.

Charlie wearing his "Chaphegory" onesie that Hannah made

Me and Greg

Our happy family

CB, SB, GB

We knew that Charlie would be awesome, but we didn't know that he would be perfect. We love our dream boy.

Christmas Day 2011

 

 

 

Charlie does the cutest things. We bought him a moses basket to sleep in, and we put it next to our bed, but he will not sleep in it. He sleeps in our bed, which is fine with us. It's nice to cuddle. In fact, Charlie will only fall asleep if he is being held or if he is within reach of one of us. In his sleep, he always puts his hand out to touch the person next to him. It's adorable.

These are pics of Charlie at one month old:

I love my little Charlie Man. And I love Greg for being his daddy. There is nothing more attractive than Greg holding Charlie. Just sayin...