Kelton's Birth

***Being that this time tomorrow I will be in labor with my 2nd child, I've had babies & labor on the mind here lately. It occurred to me that I've never actually blogged about Kelton's birth so now is as good a time as any. This is a long story, but I wanted to write every little detail down so I didn't forget it. Also, there are some graphic descriptions, but I've never been one to hold back much. So, here it goes!

Let me first start by saying, James & I didn't want to find out ahead of time what we were having. I'm all about surprises & to me there is no greater surprise than waiting 9 months to find out whats been kicking you the whole time! I get ragged about this a lot. "How on earth can you wait...that would drive me up the wall"! Well, I absolutely love the fact that I've waited. I understand why some people find out, that's just not me, I'm old-fashioned & love that James got to be the one to tell everyone (including ME) what we had! Anyway, the baby was due August 12, 2005. By the time July 26th rolled around, the doctor already guessed that I had a 9 pound baby inside of me. It had been over 100 degrees every day the previous week & we hadn't even hit August yet. Both my pediatrician & obstetrician were leaving town right around my due date. After lots of begging & pleading my doctor finally agreed to induce me on August 1st! Amen! James & I arrived at the hospital around 6:00 a.m. the morning of the induction. It's kinda funny, I remember going into the bathroom to put on my hospital gown because I didn't feel like I knew the nurse well enough to be disrobing in front of her. (which cracks me up b/c the same nurse would be checking my hoo-haa through out the entire day & by the end of labor, you couldn't care less who has seen you naked...so much for keeping your privates private during labor & delivery)! They hooked me up to an IV & started the potocin drip. All was smooth sailing. I made all of my family promise to be there by 10:00 a.m., because I just knew that I would deliver really fast, like in the movies. At one point I looked around the room & there were 12 people in the room & that was all immediate family. Yes, I have a large family. I was having so much fun! Everyone was laughing & joking & having a grand time. The doctor came in & checked and told me I was 1 cm dilated! Hmm, okay so maybe this was gonna take longer than I thought. I'm pretty sure my dad, brother & brother-in-law decided it was safe to go to work for a couple of hours, but all the gals stayed & hung out. Around 1:00 that afternoon, I was having some painful contractions, but more than anything, my back was killing me. Every time I exhaled it literally felt like someone was hitting me with a metal bat. Because I like to avoid pain at all cost, I got my epidural around 2:00 ( I think I was dialated to a whopping 4 cm at this point)! Seriously, I'm sure I could deliver a baby naturally if I had to, but that makes about as much sense to me as going to the dentist and saying "hold the novicane, doc...I think I can handle it". An epidural is the greatest invention since Dairy Queen's Blizzard & my anesthesiologist was never far away. I think I fell in love with him. By mid afternoon, I began running fever & became so nauseated that they gave me some phenegran, which was good because I never slept the night before due to nerves! I looked over at one point & poor James was covered with a blanket from head to toe because I had the AC so cold in our room! What a sweetie. He never left my side. He just sat there watching ESPN & freezing all day long! About 8:00 that night the doctor came by & announced I was an 8. I wanted to avoid a c-section at all cost. Again, I'm not big on pain & I just wanted to try & do it myself. Around midnight, I was a 10 & it was time to push. I think I faked the first few pushes because I had no idea what to do. I just figured if I held my breath & pretended to push they would never know the difference. Wrong, Dr. Sawyer said "okay, Amber I really need you to push this time"! That was kinda embarrassing. My mom was also in the delivery room, which was really comforting, even though at one point she began to chant "push it out, push it out...way out"! I wasn't amused, nor was I amused when James said "Okay, Amber, make this push count", as if I'm trying to hold the baby in longer just to build up the suspense. Finally, at 12:59 a.m., I gave one final push & heard the sweetest cry I've ever heard. The doctor let James tell me & with huge tears in his eyes he said, "babe, it's a boy...IT'S A BOY"!!! I couldn't believe it. I was so excited. James "Kelton" weighed 9 pounds & 11 ounces and was 21 inches long. I gave birth to a toddler. They handed him to me & I immediately said "take him, I don't feel right". I handed him to James & then I passed out. I awoke awhile later to James holding my hand & my mom rubbing my forehead. I felt her playing with my hair long before I realized where I was or what was happening. It's strange, I knew something was wrong, but I knew I was safe because I could feel James & hear & smell my mother (for anyone that knows my mama, you know what I mean...she has worn Estee Lauder Private Collection for 30 years). I drifted in & out of consciousness several more times, but finally was able to open my eyes & ask about the baby. He was healthy as could be & apparently he had a very large head. 15.5 inches to be exact. I was later told that Kelton was born with his soft spot already fused. So, when passing through the birth canal, there was no overlapping of the skull, as normally happens when babies are born. So basically 15.5 inches came through something that was dilated 10 cm. You can imagine what that did to my body. I lost a tremendous amount of blood & the doctor was stitching on me for the next 1.5 hours, much of the stitching was way up inside of me. All that to say, all of our family piled into the room around 2:30 in the morning. By this time, there were probably 15 people piled in there, including Aubin's boyfriend at the time & somehow my dad's business partner was even in the room. James was holding the sweetest little baby in the world & he was the one to tell everyone "it's a boy"! Everyone screamed & jumped up & down. It was the hardest & best night of my life. We named him after James' grandpa so that's where Kelton comes from. In all seriousness, how can anyone ever witness the birth of a child and question God's existence? I feel like this was one time in life when I truly got to assist God in a miracle. I was on an IV for the following 3 days & they checked my blood pressure every 30 minutes for the following 24 hours. Being that I once again passed out the following day, fell off the commode & tore some of my stitches, they decided to keep me in bed until I was finally allowed to go home Thursday night! Kelton was worth every bit of discomfort & pain. All that to say, I would also be very happy if this time around I delivered a 7 pound baby with a smaller noggin. ***Okay, I just re-read this and I'm not sure if I am more scared or excited about having a baby tomorrow. Well, I guess it's too late now so I better go ahead with the induction, as if I have a choice!