Colin's BIRTHDAY!!

Warning: Long post and maybe TMI for some, but I want to have this super special day documented for our memories :)

 

The big DAY! Leading up to his birthday, I grew (and literally grew) tired of being pregnant...like anyone pregnant I'm sure. I had been having stomach cramps...which turned out they were probably contractions since we saw them show up on the monitor at the hospital.
 

Colin's due date was November 1. Dr. Boyd had us come in weekly the last month and the Friday before his due date he said we were finally progressing! He also mentioned he'd be out of state Nov 1-3 so wanted us to come in Monday and have Colin earlier that week. He did some..uncomfortable procedures.. and I was pretty uncomfortable all weekend. Monday we had progressed more and got to go to Erlanger to have our little Nugget! We checked in that AM and got the party started around 10. We called our families to let them know it was the big day!

 

He broke my water and started me on Pitocin. I was of course most worried about the IV..haha. It wasn't bad. About an hour or so later the contractions picked up. Derek was so supportive and snuck me gummy bears in between my allowed popsicles :) The contractions were pretty bearable for a while. Our friend Keshia came by with some lunch for Derek and was a good distraction for a while.

 

Once they got really close together and I had "maxed out" on the Pitocin, I went ahead and called for the epidural. I thought I could handle the stress of getting that done if I was in enough pain! So around 3 I got the epidural and was numb soon after...WEIRDEST feeling ever! I was so much more comfortable after that, and the worst part of the procedure was sitting still during the contractions. I couldn't look at my legs when they moved me, it was so strange!! Our families showed up not too much longer and we all hung out and waited! The men were very into checking out the monitors :)

The anxious waiting grandparents
 

Thankfully, Colin did well throughout the whole day with laboring. Around 6 I began to feel a lot of pressure and was actually able to start moving my legs pretty good. The nurse came in to "check" me and I was completely dilated (but NOT NUMB, ah!). She told me to push for a bolus of medicine from the epidural pump and when I did, the machine beeped "occluded". To summarize, the line was caught in the pump door and I had stopped getting medicine a while back.

The anesthesiologist came in pretty quick and gave me medicine through a different port and an hour later Dr. Boyd showed up and I was numb again :)

He had the nurse start making me push, but the nurse quickly told him that Colin's head was already down and so into the stirrups I went. Derek on one side and the nurse on the other, they helped me hold my numb legs and push. 18 minutes later, Colin Terry was born at 8:18pm!

No surprise to anyone who knows Colin's personality...he came out screaming loud!

I'd say those ab workouts did me well, for those who made fun of me working out while preggo ;). Derek cut the cord and I got to do skin to skin with him for an hour. It was the best (even if he did scream the whole time). We got to spend about 1 1/2 hours with him before Derek went with him and he got weighed and taken to the nursery for bath time!
 

Meeting dad!

Meeting mom!

 

His sweet twisted toes :)

 

The 1st of many bath times between these 2!

Happy to be all clean! He was so alert!

 

I would say it was a very surreal experience..Colin looked like a mini-Derek and we were instantly in love with the little man! I felt extremely blessed and grateful that things went smooth and he was a perfect healthy baby!!