While I am still in the hospital, I figure that I better write down Casen's birth story before I forget all of the details. This post is strictly for journaling purposes so feel free to skip it if you're not interested! At my 37 week appointment I found out that I was dilated to a four. At that point, my doctor decided to go ahead and schedule an induction for the week before my due date with the assumption that I wouldn't even make it that far. As much as I wanted my little guy to come early, it was a blessing that he waited because one week before his scheduled induction we MOVED!! The stresses of moving almost sent me into labor a couple of times, but fortunately my contractions never got too out of control and we were able to get completely unpacked (minus a few decorations) before I checked into the hospital.
Most of you know that the place we were living in was for sale, and we have just been renting month to month at a discounted rental rate. However, as my due date got closer I began receiving strong impressions that we needed to begin looking for another place to live just in case the house sold soon. The last thing I needed was to bring a baby home from the hospital and then get a phone call from our landlord telling me that the house had sold and that we needed to be out by the end of the month. After looking at a couple of homes in the area, we decided to sign a lease for a house just a couple of streets over from our current house. The day before we moved, the house had two showings and wouldn't you know it, one of the couples who came by decided to buy the house! Talk about a major blessing!!
Anyway, I checked into the hospital at 8:00 p.m. Monday evening, and got started on Pitocin by 9:45 p.m. After my experience with Bentley, I decided to go ahead and ask for an epidural pretty early on into the process. Unfortunately, my epidural experience was less than ideal during this labor and delivery. For some reason the epidural caused me to have severe itching and I couldn't get any sleep while I waited to dilate. I stayed dilated at a 4-5 for several hours and finally decided to ask for some Benadryl (for the itching) so that I could get some sleep before things really started progressing. Around this time, my epidural also began to wear off and I started shaking uncontrollably (this always happens to me when I begin to come out of anesthesia).
Of course within just a few minutes of the nurse administering the Benadryl, my water broke at 3:30 a.m. So there I was, so drugged up on Benadryl that I could barely stay awake, when my nurse told me that it was time to get ready to start pushing. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stay awake between the contractions, so I slept between every contraction all the way up to the final push. They called my doctor at 4:50 a.m., she arrived at 5:20 a.m. and Casen was lying on my chest at 5:33 a.m.! There weren't any complications other than the fact that my epidural had all but worn off by the end of labor so I felt everything, yikes! So far he has been the perfect baby! He has a full head of dark brown hair and the longest little fingers. Maybe he will be our star basketball player!
Between him and Bentley, my post-partum experience in the hospital has been like night and day. Much of this has to do with the fact that he is my second child and I'm not quite so clueless and frazzled this time around; however, it's also because nursing has gone so much smoother and I don't even really know what Casen's cry sounds like yet because he is just so calm! I am praying and crossing my fingers that this continues at home!! Fortunately, I didn't need an episiotomy this time and I only tore slightly. What a difference this has made in my recovery! The bad news is that I'm still not feeling very good due to a spinal headache caused by my epidural. Yesterday it was all I could do just to look at somebody and focus on what they were telling me. Things have been better today, but the headache is still there and I just wish that it would go away so that I could more fully enjoy this experience.
Casen is absolutely precious and we are so excited to welcome him into our family!! John brought Bentley by to see him last night and it was so cute to watch him interact with Casen. As soon as Bentley saw the baby I asked him if he knew who it was and he confidently exclaimed, "Casen!" He immediately started waiving and saying "hi" to him and then began asking if he could "pat him." I know that once we bring him home from the hospital it is going to be a huge adjustment for both Bentley and me so I can only hope that his enthusiasm for having a baby brother continues.
As long as my headache clears and everything continues to go smoothly with Casen, we hope to be out of the hospital by Thursday morning. My mom is getting into town this evening and I am so excited to see her and have her to help me adjust at home! Moms are wonderful and provide instant comfort just by being in their presence. Thank you to all of our wonderful friends who have been taking care of Bentley while we have been in the hospital. In just the few short months that we have lived in New Orleans, we have made some really great friends and it is so nice knowing that Bentley is in good hands.
Update (11.14.10): After several doses of caffeine pills, my headache was still excruciatingly present on Thursday. We decided to go ahead and do a spinal blood patch which is basically just another epidural but they insert my blood into the spine to patch the leak. We were released from the hospital and it worked for about a day, but by the next day my headache was back (they said there was about a 30% chance this would happen). The anesthesiologist told me it would go away on its own, but that it usually takes a week and can sometimes take up to a month. Fortunately, I woke up this morning and I am finally getting a sense that it is going away!
Most of you know that the place we were living in was for sale, and we have just been renting month to month at a discounted rental rate. However, as my due date got closer I began receiving strong impressions that we needed to begin looking for another place to live just in case the house sold soon. The last thing I needed was to bring a baby home from the hospital and then get a phone call from our landlord telling me that the house had sold and that we needed to be out by the end of the month. After looking at a couple of homes in the area, we decided to sign a lease for a house just a couple of streets over from our current house. The day before we moved, the house had two showings and wouldn't you know it, one of the couples who came by decided to buy the house! Talk about a major blessing!!
Anyway, I checked into the hospital at 8:00 p.m. Monday evening, and got started on Pitocin by 9:45 p.m. After my experience with Bentley, I decided to go ahead and ask for an epidural pretty early on into the process. Unfortunately, my epidural experience was less than ideal during this labor and delivery. For some reason the epidural caused me to have severe itching and I couldn't get any sleep while I waited to dilate. I stayed dilated at a 4-5 for several hours and finally decided to ask for some Benadryl (for the itching) so that I could get some sleep before things really started progressing. Around this time, my epidural also began to wear off and I started shaking uncontrollably (this always happens to me when I begin to come out of anesthesia).
Of course within just a few minutes of the nurse administering the Benadryl, my water broke at 3:30 a.m. So there I was, so drugged up on Benadryl that I could barely stay awake, when my nurse told me that it was time to get ready to start pushing. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stay awake between the contractions, so I slept between every contraction all the way up to the final push. They called my doctor at 4:50 a.m., she arrived at 5:20 a.m. and Casen was lying on my chest at 5:33 a.m.! There weren't any complications other than the fact that my epidural had all but worn off by the end of labor so I felt everything, yikes! So far he has been the perfect baby! He has a full head of dark brown hair and the longest little fingers. Maybe he will be our star basketball player!
Between him and Bentley, my post-partum experience in the hospital has been like night and day. Much of this has to do with the fact that he is my second child and I'm not quite so clueless and frazzled this time around; however, it's also because nursing has gone so much smoother and I don't even really know what Casen's cry sounds like yet because he is just so calm! I am praying and crossing my fingers that this continues at home!! Fortunately, I didn't need an episiotomy this time and I only tore slightly. What a difference this has made in my recovery! The bad news is that I'm still not feeling very good due to a spinal headache caused by my epidural. Yesterday it was all I could do just to look at somebody and focus on what they were telling me. Things have been better today, but the headache is still there and I just wish that it would go away so that I could more fully enjoy this experience.
Casen is absolutely precious and we are so excited to welcome him into our family!! John brought Bentley by to see him last night and it was so cute to watch him interact with Casen. As soon as Bentley saw the baby I asked him if he knew who it was and he confidently exclaimed, "Casen!" He immediately started waiving and saying "hi" to him and then began asking if he could "pat him." I know that once we bring him home from the hospital it is going to be a huge adjustment for both Bentley and me so I can only hope that his enthusiasm for having a baby brother continues.
As long as my headache clears and everything continues to go smoothly with Casen, we hope to be out of the hospital by Thursday morning. My mom is getting into town this evening and I am so excited to see her and have her to help me adjust at home! Moms are wonderful and provide instant comfort just by being in their presence. Thank you to all of our wonderful friends who have been taking care of Bentley while we have been in the hospital. In just the few short months that we have lived in New Orleans, we have made some really great friends and it is so nice knowing that Bentley is in good hands.
Update (11.14.10): After several doses of caffeine pills, my headache was still excruciatingly present on Thursday. We decided to go ahead and do a spinal blood patch which is basically just another epidural but they insert my blood into the spine to patch the leak. We were released from the hospital and it worked for about a day, but by the next day my headache was back (they said there was about a 30% chance this would happen). The anesthesiologist told me it would go away on its own, but that it usually takes a week and can sometimes take up to a month. Fortunately, I woke up this morning and I am finally getting a sense that it is going away!
Induction Day (39 weeks)
He's alive!
Dr. Kathryn McClure happy to be woken up at 4:50 a.m.
That should be easy to remember 
Proud Daddy
Bentley opening his present from baby Casen
Nana to the rescue!
We're home!
8 comments:
I'm so glad you posted the details of Casen's birth. I feel your pain with the headaches...I had a headache for almost 2 weeks after I had Savanah and I was tempted to go back in but I just suffered through it and luckily it went away. I can already totally see John in Casen! He is a cutie, keep posting pictures!
I hope your headache goes away quickly! Casen is so so cute! I can see a lot of Bentley in him. I loved all the pictures!!
So smart to write it all down now, you will soon forget...everything! He is adorable, we are already planning our trip to come meet him. The kids love seeing pictures of their new cousin :) Love you guys!
Thanks for sharing the story! I am so sorry about the headache!! I hope all has remained calm and well at home. Please keep posting pictures (of your new home too!) And what a neat story about listening to your prompting to move.
Casen is sooo sweet! I'm sorry about your head ache, that's not fair you had to deal with that AND a new baby at the same time! Glad you're feeling better.
Oh no a spinal headache? I hear those are terrible! :( But you have a cutie baby boy to show for it and I am so happy your mom could come help out. What a wonderful woman your mom is!
I'm sad I'm just reading this now! What a cute little guy! Good work, Melanie! :) We're still waiting for Susannah to go into labor!
Wow! Sounds like quite the experience! Casen is a doll! Hopefully we can meet him on one of your trips to Vegas!
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