I thought I'd take a moment to write about Cameron's birth story. I'm sure you've all been curious, haha. It has been nearly 5 months so this is kind of late! Sorry!
This is going to be pretty lengthy, so I'm warning you now if you aren't interested in the topic just ignore this post :)
Well, things weren't progressing as we were quite past his due date of April 23rd. I had started experiencing some contractions on Wednesday, April 26th in the middle of the night. I was able to make it through the night and into the next afternoon. Then on that Thursday, April 27th they were getting even stronger. We called into triage because they were about 5 minutes apart. We spent a few hours in triage but I wasn't dilating enough (around 3cm) so they sent us home--I was crushed and tired at this point. We went home and the contractions ended up stopping all together. Even more discouraging. We walked the mall that night and needless to say they started back again in full force that night. So for two days I didn't sleep more then a few minutes at a time. Definitely Mother Nature's way of preparing you for round the clock newborn care! Ha! Just not a good way to go into the hard labor already super exhausted!
I had an appointment scheduled for Friday, April 29th at the hospital to check my amniotic fluid levels. When you are past your due date they start to do a number of tests to make sure the baby isn't stressed. We headed to the hospital and I was in terrible shape. We arrived and the lady could sense I wasn't good--they tried to get me a room right away but I didn't even make it down the hall before I had a monster contraction. She said I'm taking you to triage, and that's when the waterworks started. I think my exact words were, "No, they'll just send me home again and I can't do that another time." They had told me not to come back until they were 2-3 minutes apart--THEY NEVER GOT THERE (welll until I was pushing). The awesome nurse in the clinic took me to triage via wheelchair and they recognized me from the day before and really felt bad for me :) They checked and I was 4-5cm, and said as long as my Dr. was ok with it they'd admit me. It was my lucky day bc Dr. E was in the clinic and was going to be able to deliver! My original appt. was at 11am and they finally had me admitted and in a room by 1pm (they have to monitor to make sure it's for real before they move you to a birthing suite). So I was lucky to share the triage room with 4 other women in labor--I'm sure that was quite the site!
The birthing suite was just like the one we toured, but I don't really remember much about it because shortly after I delivered they moved us to another room. The nurses knew I didn't want an epidural so they tried to keep me comfortable. Yet at about 5ish I'd had enough. I was EXHAUSTED and the pain was just getting worse. I broke down and said I wanted an epidural. They couldn't administer one unless my Dr. was in the hospital and she wasn't going to arrive until I was closer to go time--thankfully she called and ok'd it AND I was progressing fast and she was on her way. At this point I was around 6 cm. The epidural was a breeze--my nurse said I had the best anesthesiologist in the hospital. Nice! I was able to rest a little bit before I was in pain again (some epidurals only go about 80% in some women--that was me). Yet the pain was just bc I was fully dialated and ready to push! Wahoo! About 30 mins of pushing and little Cameron made his grand entrance into the world at 8:09pm. Chris was there the entire time and did an awesome job. I didn't yell at him once! :) He was pretty concerned about my pain levels though, very sweet of him!
All the pain and exhaustion quickly faded (in fact I think I've already forgotten, wink). He was definitely worth it! Anyone that knows Cameron's personality would assume that he'd make his entrance into this world his own, full of spunk :)
Love,
Chris, Amber & Cameron
