Carson's Birth Story

The whole day after I had my night of false labor I had contractions that were on and off but not very intense. It felt like I would be pregnant forever. Things usually change when you start thinking that way. I went to bed on Wednesday night feeling better than I had in weeks. And then at 1:30 am Carson stepped in. I had a contraction that woke me up out of my sleep. The first thing I thought was, " A night of false labor again?!? You've got to be kidding me!" But this one felt more intense and longer than the contractions the night before. After a couple more contractions about 7 minutes apart I got up to see if this was the real deal. Honestly this was not like the night before. I couldn't sleep through these. I thought this was a good sign and welcomed the first pains of labor knowing I would be meeting our son soon. I washed Kate's bottles just as I had done the night before. These contractions were not going away or weakening like they had the night before. Two hours later of timing contractions and I was ready to check this out at the hospital. I woke up Jared at 3:30 am.He had been sleeping soundly just as he had the night before. I told him, "I think this is worth checking out." He sat up straight away and said, "Ok what do you got?" Just like he was a Dr. going to into an ER trying to assess the situation. I said, "Ok I have contractions coming about 4-5 minutes apart lasting about 45 seconds to 1 minute." He popped out of bed and asked if he had time to take shower. Thinking back to Kate's labor I said yes. I called our friend Jodi and told her it was time to come stay with Kate. Jodi was my on call friend. She had been waiting with hers and Derek's cell phones by the bedside for weeks. She asked how much time she had. I told her the contractions were now coming 3-4 minutes apart which sounds close but that was my pattern with Kate right up until I delivered her. I could go forever at 3-4 minutes apart apparently. Jodi got there and Jared and I continued to get things ready for Kate. I would pause every now and then to get through a contraction. I know we were making Jodi nervous. Jared was making coffee, I was filling bottles. But I knew we had some time. Finally, we were in the car and ready to go meet our boy. In the back of my mind I kept thinking, "I hope this is not false labor." Some good contractions on the way to the hospital bolstered my case that this was definitely worth checking out. We got into the triage area where they looked at me with suspicion. The nurse checked me and I was 2.5 cm dilated and 90% effaced. She said I was most definitely staying. Yeah! It was thankfully uneventful after that. We got into the room and a wonderful man named Dr. Fox came in to give me my epidural. I remembered his name because I wanted to add him to our Christmas card list. Ok, just kidding but an epidural is such sweet relief. It's pretty amazing. My body was able to relax and I was able to sleep. When my Dr. came to check at around 10:45 am I was a 6. He said he was thinking around lunchtime for Carson's birth. I was overjoyed. It was going so fast! When the nurse checked an hour later I was fully effaced at a 7. Within the next hour I went from a 7-10. We were ready to meet our boy! I started pushing at 12:30. I had the perfect epidural. It started to wear off a little to where I could actually feel the contractions to push and I could actually feel him being born. It was the most amazing feeling of my life with out a doubt. And then at 1:13 PM (or as Jared likes to point out 13:13 military time) Carson entered the world. I was so emotional. This time I was able to hold him right away. I had this incredible feeling of joy washing over me. I was very tearful and kept saying, "Hello my wonderful surprise!" and, "I feel so blessed!" God answered my prayer for an easy, smooth, and safe delivery. I am overwhelmed with blessings right now and you can be sure that I am cherishing every single moment.