Well, we did it! Our little man made his debut last week, at exactly 38 weeks. Here’s my final bump picture.
I have to admit that I miss feeling Carter bump around in my belly. I still catch myself resting my hand on my stomach at night and waiting to feel him kick. But, having him here in my arms is absolutely perfect too.
When I went in for my regular weekly appointment Monday morning, I asked my doctor about Carter’s reduced movements. I noticed that he was sluggish in the mornings and it would be several hours before I’d feel him move, but he would always make up for it with a dance party in my belly by evening. To be safe, my doctor had me do a NST (non stress test). Basically, I was hooked up to a fetal heart monitor and hit a button every time I felt Carter move. They’d ‘buzz’ my belly with a little vibrating noise maker to encourage him as well. After about 30 minutes, Carter had failed the test.
So then I was sent downstairs for a BPP (biophysical profile) ultrasound. They were looking for things like fetal movement, practice breathing, fluid level, etc. We could see his heart beat on the screen and he looked okay, but the test took the full 30 minutes instead of the predicted 15 to check off everything the tech needed to see. Then it was a really long wait for the tech to share the results with the doctor. At that point, my husband told me that he was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be leaving the hospital. Sure enough, the doctor came in and asked how I felt about having a baby that day. Carter had scored 4/10. We were sent directly to labor and delivery to start the induction. Thankfully I was already 4cm and 70% effaced on my own, which meant my body was starting to do the work on its own already. At this point it was 1pm and I was STARVING though. I knew labor could be really long, especially being induced. Thankfully my doctor let me order a light lunch while we were doing paperwork. I wasn’t able to eat much due to anxiety, but it was better than nothing. By about 3pm, pitocin was starting and we were underway.
It was sloooow progress and they ended up having to break my water at 5am. The nurse suggested I go on and get my epidural before breaking my water because that can sometimes make things progress quickly. While the epidural made me super jittery and I hated the way I couldn’t feel my legs, getting the epidural wasn’t actually as painful as I had expected. I kept telling my husband to put my legs back on the bed, but they already were. LOL! Ryan did a really great job supporting me though. He even had the badge to prove it.
Okay, truthfully he kept eating snacks and taking naps. But… he still got the badge. 😉 Finally, our little man was born at 11:00am Tuesday, just about 24 hours after my initial appointment. He was 7 pounds, 9 ounces and 19 inches long. Totally adorable and perfect, of course.
After two days in the hospital, we were on our feet and ready to head home.
He even held my hand on the way home. Our wedding song even came on the radio right about this time. How appropriate is that?
Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We’re gonna teach them to fly
You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes
We can always look back at what we did
All these memories of you and me baby
But right now it’s you and me forever girl
And you know we could do better than anything that we did
You know that you and me, we could do anything
You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
When we got home, the dogs did great. Izzy and Lily think Carter is their baby. So sweet!
We’ve also survived our first bath. Love his hair and how soft it is when it’s all clean!
Of course, when Daddy does bath time Carter gets a mohawk. Such a little dude.
As for me, we’re surviving our first day with Daddy back to work right now. Little man loves helping me work.
