Carter's Birth Story

Everything was pretty normal leading up to me starting to have contractions.  I went to work on Monday, March 11 and planned on being back at work the next day.  Around 3:30am on March 12th, I woke up from the pain of what felt like period cramps.  I laid in bed about 30 minutes before I determined that these really were contractions so I got up to see if changing positions would help ease the pain.  At this point the pain wasn't extreme, just uncomfortable.  I went upstairs for a bit and after about an hour decided to take a shower.  When nothing seemed to be working, I decided to time them to see how far apart they were.  The contractions were 5-6 minutes apart and stayed that way for over an hour.  Around 7 I heard Scott get up (luckily he didn't have to be at work until 9am) and I told him he might want to call into work and go ahead and take a shower that we were probably going to need to go to the hospital.
Finally around 8:30am, we headed to UAMS to Labor and Delivery Triage.  We got situated in a room and hooked up to the monitors.  A doctor came in to check me and she stated I was between a 1-2 dilated.  We had a short discussion about this b/c my doctor had been telling me I was between a 2-3.  She stated everyone is different, but no big deal.  They monitored me for about an hour (during which my contractions slowed down) and then she checked me again.  Since no change had occurred, they sent me home.  They told me to go for a walk and maybe I would be back later that day.  I was royally upset at being sent home again, but back home we went.  There was no way I was going to work so Scott and I just hung out most of the day.  I went for a walk, took a bath...nothing seemed to help.  Finally around 3:30pm the contractions had gotten really bad so I called my OB and left her a message.  She called me back around 5pm when she was on her way to the hospital (luckily she was going to be on call Tuesday night!!).  Dr. L told me to come back up to triage and she would check me again, but from the sounds of it I was truly in labor.  I told her that if she sent me home again with medicine we were going to have problems.
Around 6pm, we headed back to UAMS.  Dr. L came in to check me around 6:30 and I had dilated to between 4-5.  Then she said the magic words.."looks like you get to stay and we are going to have a baby!  Do you want an epidural?"  I was soo excited and not shamed to admit that I was like "epidural...yes..how soon can I get it?"  We called our parents and texted our friends and shortly after we were moved to a real room.  Before I knew it there were people everywhere.  Two nurses trying to start my IV (it took 3 tries..apparently I have small veins), a doctor performing an ultrasound (she guessed Carter would be 7 1/2 lbs), and the anesthesiologist getting everything ready for the epidural.  I have always been terrified of getting an epidural and the thought have having to sit really still while a needle is stuck in my back have never been a fun thought.  He told me it could take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour to get it in properly and that I had to sit really still even if I was having a contraction.  My legs were already shaking so this was not going to be fun.  I was pretty much in tears from the pain so I was willing to do whatever was necessary.  Then he said words that were music to my ears..."I'm going to numb the spot with Lidocaine".  I was instantly at ease.  Let me say getting an epidural was super easy.  I really didn't feel a thing and the quick relief it provided there after was wonderful.  I had a couple of spots that didn't go numb from the epidural so they had me lay on one side for a while to let gravity help deaden the areas.
At 10pm, Dr. L checked me again and I was dilated to a 6.  She came back at midnight and I had dilated to a 7 so she broke my water.  The nurse projected I would make it to a 10 by about 6am so our friends who had come by the hospital went home to rest and Scott's parents came back to our house to sleep for a bit.  My dad opted for napping in his truck and my mom dozed in the recliner in the room.  I never really slept b/c nurses were constantly coming in to check something and the dang blood pressure cuff was going off every 15 minutes.
Finally around 5am, after being at between 9-10 for over an hour, Dr. L came back in and said "Are you about ready to push?"  Awesome.  I figured this baby would be here within the hour.  Scott asked Dr. L what he limit on pushing time was and she said 2 hours.  I started pushing at 5:15am and of course my contractions slowed down for a while.  At about 6:45am, Dr. L ordered a nurse to get a bag of Pitocin to try to speed up my contractions.  When I had been pushing for just over 2 hours, Scott asked Dr. L what happened to her 2 hour max?  Dr. L told him we were soo close that there was no way we were having this baby and not going to have a csection at this point.  After 2 hours and 40 minutes of pushing, Carter finally made his arrival at 7:55am on March 13th.  He weight 7 lbs 10 oz and was 21 3/4 in long.  He was perfect and Scott and I cried our hearts out.  Everything we had worked soo hard for the last 3+ years was finally a reality.  They laid a beautiful baby boy on my chest and I was instantly in love!!

Before 1st trip to hospital

Last picture before we officially become parents

1st family photo

He is here!!

Carter arrived on March 13 @ 7:55am. He is perfect. Full story to come.




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Possibly the End of a Great School

I will be the 1st to say that I didn't LOVE high school.  It was by far not the best years of my life, but it was nice growing up in a small town and attending a small school where you knew everyone in your class.  At the time K-12 enrollment was around 500 students.  There were 30 in my graduating class. 
After high school, I went to college and eventually moved about an hour an a half from my hometown.  My parents still live there.  Some of my friends still live there and their kids go to school there.  However, enrollment has dropped over the years.  
A few years back the state decided that any school district whose total enrollment was under 350 should be consolidated with another district regardless of student performance.  A couple of years ago, our little district was consolidated with a neighboring district that is about 15 miles from the current school.  In a big city this wouldn't really be an issue, but in a small town where people are used to letting their kids walk to school, or are able to drop their kids off in the morning, or are used to their kids riding a bus for a short period of time, this sucks.
The community has done everything in it's power to keep the school open.  At some point this year the district we became a part of voted to close my old high school.  Since it was not a unanimous vote, it went before the state board of education today and they ruled in favor of it being closed. 

It is a sad day for the community and for all of the kids in high school there.  It's a sad day for anyone who is an alum also.  I feel that soo many of those kids will choose to go to school elsewhere rather than be forced to go to a high school that does not perform as well as the one they are currently attending.

I know there is still action to be taken to try to save the school and I hope they succeed.

38 Weeks

• As much as I have loved being pregnant and feeling Carter move around in my stomach, I am beyond ready for him to be here.
• We made another trip to triage on Monday night.  I was pretty sure they were actually going to keep us this time and we were going to be holding this sweet child in the hours that following.  While I was having regular contractions, they didn't feel that I was actually in labor so after being poked and monitored for a couple of hours, we were sent home.  When we got there this time, the triage rooms were full so they actually put us in a labor and delivery suite which made leaving that much harder.  Teasing you with a nice big room like that and then telling you to go home is no fun.  I really had my hopes up this time and they were crushed.
• I went back to the doctor on Tuesday.  Still no change from last week.  She stripped my membranes when she checked me and I have been hoping ever since that it would get the process started.
• Exercise has been great this week.  I am determined to walk until this baby comes out so I have been hitting the pavement almost every day (6 out of 7 days!!).  So far it hasn't helped, but it can't hurt either.
• I am up 2.2 lbs for a total of 26.6 lbs.
• The car seat is now installed in the car.
• The bags we have packed are now in the car.  The only things missing are things I use everyday like my hairbrush, make-up, iPad, etc.

37 Weeks

• Carter is officially considered full term.  According to my app, he is roughly the size of a watermelon and weighs around 6.5 lbs.
• I am down 3.4 lbs this week for a total weight gain of 24.4 lbs.  As I said last week, sometimes I feel like I have no control over what my weight does.  Although I think our eating habits were slightly better this week.
• Last Friday I started having braxton hicks contractions.  I ended up going home early and as the night went on the pain became constant.  I work up just after midnight and the pain was bad enough I could barely stand.  After a quick call of the 24 hour line at the hospital, I woke Scott up and we headed up to triage.  It turned out I was having come contractions, but I was also having muscle spasms.  Luckily they were able to give me a muscle relaxer which worked wonders.  Unfortunately, we were there 3 hours and didn't get home until 4:30am Saturday morning.  They checked me while at the triage clinic and I have dilated to 1. 
• After our trip to the hospital, I decided it was time to get serious about getting a bag packed for the hospital.  Carter's bag is now packed and mine is mostly packed.  About the only things missing are the things I use every day, like my make-up, hair brush, etc.
• Exercise has better this week.  I actually went for a walk 4 days.  The weather has been hit and miss but I have forced myself to get outside for bit.
• I went back to the doctor today and I am dilated to a 2 almost a 3 and am 75% effaced.  She doubts I make it 2 more weeks, but anything can happen.  Carter's heartbeat is till really good, but he has dropped.  I better get to putting the car seat in the car!!!

36 Weeks

• This past week we had our final baby shower.  We only spent time returning a few things we received duplicates of and buying a few things we still needed.  We still have a few more things we need to get, but the weather has been yucky here this week which makes me not motivated to get out and finish it up.
• I took off on Monday so that I could recoup from the weekend of traveling and to attempt to straighten up Carter's room.  It looked like a hurricane had hit.  
• I am getting to the point where it isn't very comfortable to ride in a car for long periods of time.  Luckily this past weekend was our last out of town trip before Carter gets here.
• Exercise has been almost non-existent this past week.  Between a busy schedule, being out of town, and the yucky weather, I haven't had much time to get outside and walk.
• I am up 5.0 lbs for a total of 27.8 lbs.  This rapid weight gain here at the end is not really sitting well with me.  I know I am still well within my target weight gain, but some weeks it seems like the pounds just pile on no matter how well you eat or how much or how little you exercise.
• I have started thinking about packing a hospital bag, but I haven't actually done much about yet.
• Carter still moves around a lot, but I can tell he is running out of room.

Hometown Baby Shower

This past weekend Scott and I went home to NE AR for our last baby shower.  I was completely overwhelmed by the number of people who showed up and/or sent gifts.  I haven't lived there almost 10 years, but long time family friends came to help us celebrate.  That is one of the great perks of being from a small town.

Scott and I before the shower

Scott even got talked into attending this shower and he helped open gifts.

Reagan, Cassidy, me, and Kristi (a mini high school reunion)

It was soo nice to see people I have not seen in years.  I keep up with most people through Face.book, but it was soo fun seeing them in person.

Unfortunately, my camera was messing up and I didn't get a lot of pictures.  Thankfully someone else had a camera and is going to send me most pictures.  We are soo thankful to have soo many people in our life who are excited about this precious baby.  I can't wait for Carter to make his arrival.