Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Last Ultrasound


When I went to the hospital to be induced they did a 3d ultrasound to make sure that Caden was in the right position before they started the induction. It was fun to see what he looked like. The ultrasound picture looked just like him. He had his hand in his mouth just like he does all the time now. (Thanks to his cousin Noah for the fun Sweden onesie that he is wearing in this picture!)

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Caden's Shades

A couple of days after Caden was born we found out that he had jaundice. He had to be under the lights for 2 days to try and get rid of it. He had to wear glasses to protect his eyes. Every 2 1/2 hours we had 1/2 an hour to feed him. Other then that he had to stay under the lights, and no one could hold him. It broke my heart every time that they took him back. We are making up for lost time now with lots of snuggles.



Friday, June 26, 2009

Caden's Birth Story

On Thursday June 18th I went to the doctor for my regular appointment. My blood pressure was a little elevated. I didn't really think much of it because it is usually high when I go to the doctor, but good any other time. My doctor decided to do some blood work, and said that we would induce if I was getting preeclampsia. I honestly wasn't too worried about it because I was sure that everything would be fine. On Friday I went to work as usual, thinking that it was just an ordinary day. When I left I joked that maybe I wouldn't see them on Monday because I would have a baby this weekend, but I didn't really think that would happen. To my surprise I got a call from my doctor on Friday afternoon saying that she wanted me to go to the hospital to be induced. My bloodwork wasn't awful, but the numbers were a little higher then they liked them to be. I called Matt to come home from work, and then I raced around to get ready. Had I really thought that this was going to happen then I might have spent some more time preparing after work. When Matt got home we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Chick-fil-a and headed to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 6pm. My cervix wasn't "favorable" as the doctor said (I was 1 cm dilated and 60% effaced), so they gave me some medicine that was supposed to stay in for 12 hours to help ripen my cervix. About 2 hours later I was having some cramping, but nothing too painful. I had to be hooked up to a monitor for the baby's heart beat and to a monitor for contractions. Every time that I moved the monitor wouldn't pick up the baby's heart rate, so it would have to be adjusted. The nurse had to keep coming in to adjust the monitor all night. (It was hard to stay in the same position for long!) Plus she had to unhook me every time that I had to go to the bathroom. Needless to say, it was a long night. I was hopeful that the medicine was working due to all of the cramping . In the morning the nurse removed the medicine and found that I hadn't really progressed at all. The doctor decided that they would try some gels to soften the cervix. The gels has to be inserted every 2 hours 3 times. After 6 hours of gels my cervix was a little softer, but still hadn't really changed. Then the doctor decided to try pitocin to see if it would get some contractions going. The pitocin started some small contractions, but after 7 hours I still was only dilated to 1.5 cm and 70% effaced. The doctor decided to stop the pitocin and try the medicine that was supposed to ripen the cervix one more time. After 6 more hours my cervix was a little softer, but I hadn't progressed. By now it was Sunday morning, and I was getting a little fed up. The contractions weren't that bad, but after 2 days with little progress I was really tired and worn out. I was ready go home. The doctor came in and said that she wanted to break my water and start the pitocin again. She said that the pitocin works a lot better after the water is broken. I knew that we would have a baby within 24 hours after that because she wouldn't let me go any longer with my water broken. I was worried that I wouldn't make it though the birth after being so worn out. After my water was broken and the pitocin was started again I was having some serious contractions.After a few hours I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced and definitely ready for an epidural. The epidural was the best thing ever! Sometimes I could still feel the contractions a little bit, but it was nothing compared to what they felt like before the epidural. A little bit after the epidural my contractions started slowing down, and they weren't strong enough to make any more changes to my cervix. The doctor said that sometimes the pitocin would stop working because my body would get used to it, so they decided to stop the pitocin for a little while and then turn it back on slowly. After 4 hours my contractions were still very irregular ands not strong enough. By this time it was about 1:30 am on Monday morning, and the doctor came in to discuss our options. She said that this was the 1st time that she hadn't been able to get someone to go into labor, but at this point the only option left was a c-section. The whole time that I was pregnant I honestly never even considered that I would be having a c-section, but by this point I was ready to do whatever was necessary to get Caden here. They had me into the operating room by 2 am. I was awake for the c-section, but I was numbed from the chest down through the epidural. They had a drape up in front of me so that I couldn't see, but I could feel everything. It didn't hurt, but I could feel pressure. It was actually very strange. When they were trying to get him out they pushed down on the top of uterus, and I could hardly breathe. Matt stood up and watched the whole surgery. (He didn't take any pictures though. He thought that I probably wouldn't want to see it!) Caden was just as stubborn about not wanting to come out during the c-section as he had been the whole time that I was being induced. The doctor had to use the vacuum to get him out. It actually didn't work the fist time, and someone was bringing the forceps when she was finally able to get him out with the vacuum. He was born at 2:10 am on Monday June 22nd. The doctor held Caden up over the drape so that I could see him. He was covered in blood and white stuff, but he was the cutest thing that I had ever seen! He had the perfect little features, and he was so tiny. He weighed in at 6bs 12 oz and 20 inches.

After he got all cleaned up and checked out, they took him out to the recovery room where he and Matt waited for me. It took about 30 minutes for me to get all stitched up. I was so exhausted that I could hardly keep my eyes open, and I couldn't believe that my little guy was finally here. We spent so long waiting for him that I was afraid to really believe it until he was actually here. I feel so happy and incredibly blessed to be Caden's mommy!

We are Finally Home!

After a long 8 days in the hospital we were more then ready to come home today!

Here is Caden all dressed and ready to go. We were just waiting for daddy to bring up the car seat.

Here is our little family leaving our hospital room.

This is me and Caden with our awesome nurse Ericka.

Caden is strapped in the car and ready to go check out his new home!

Caden really enjoyed his bouncy chair once we got home.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Caden finally joins the family

Caden finally decided to make an appearance after a long weekend of waiting. We went in on Friday night to be induced and to make a long story short, Cindy had a c-section at 2 am on Monday morning. Despite many days in the hospital, with a couple more days to come, we are very excited to finally have him here. He weighed 6 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long. He is doing good and so is mom, although Cindy is in some pain from the c-section. I will post more pics when we get home from the hospital.

Cindy and Caden in the recovery room.

Me and Caden waiting for Cindy to get stitched up

Caden about 2 minutes after being sucked out of the womb. And he was literally sucked. They had to use the vacuum to get him out.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Congratulations to Bart and Josefine!!

Matt's brother and his wife had their baby boy yesterday. He was 9 lbs 8 oz, and his name is Noah. Josefine was 11 days overdue, so they were definately ready. (I hope that doesn't happen to me!!) They live in Sweden, so we won't to see him until they come to visit later this year. We can't wait to meet him!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Another Baby Shower

Matt's work had a baby shower for us and Celeste (Matt's co-worker) and it was a lot of fun. It was really nice to see all the people he works with and it turned out well. There was a potluck with good food and we got some really good presents. They even had some games that I had not seen before. One game had celebrity pictures with their faces cut out and you had to name the celebrity and their baby. Another game pictured below had a contest of who could drink a bottle fastest. It was very entertaining.


I think the real winners of this game were those of us watching.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Baby Update

I went to the doctor yesterday and I am dialated to 1, 60% effaced, and -1 station. Last week when I went there was nothing going on, so hopefully this is good news. They say you can be dialated for a while and not have the baby though. Matt keeps saying that Caden is going to beat Noah!