The Sparks Family: May 2011

I want to write down Carter's birth story, but if you don't want to read it you can skip it and just look at the pictures from that day. I was scheduled to be induced on Friday, May 20th. I was 39 weeks. My dr. moved from Safford to Goodyear so I just kept seeing him. I wanted to be induced so we could plan to have everyone here and so I didn't have to drive that far if I went into labor. So Thursday night my parents and brother came down and picked up Sienna. They stayed at a hotel near the hospital. Friday morning me and Garrett got up and got ready to go to the hospital. We got to the hospital about 7:45, I was scheduled to be induced starting at 8:00. It took forever to get checked in then I had to get set up in the room, get my IV started (it took 3 times for them to get it in), then we had to wait for my dr. to get there. He got there around 10:00 and checked me. I was a good 3 he said. That's the same that I was the week before, and the head was still pretty high. So he gave me cytotec to get my contractions started. I had to be monitored for an hour and then I was able to get up and start walking. So we walked the halls of the small 2nd floor for a while. I couldn't really feel the contractions. We took a break to eat lunch and then kept walking. I started to feel a few contractions but they weren't hurting yet. A lot of our family got there including my parents, garrett's parents, my brother, Grandma Liz, and later my Grandma and Grandpa. I had to lay down to get monitored again and I was having some contractions close together but they didn't really hurt. We walked some more and then it had been 4 hrs since I had got the pill so the nurse checked me and I was a 4. She called the dr. and he anted to come break my water. So we let the nurse know that after my water was broke, I wanted the epidural. I had started to feel my contractions and they were really close. So she started giving me more IV fluids so that I could get my epidural right after my water broke. We were waiting for a while for the dr. I was getting a lot of fluids and I told her my bladder was really full and I had to go to the bathroom. So she helped me up and my water broke. So I went to the bathroom and got back in bed and the contractions started getting worse. The anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural and by that time the contractions were hurting bad. She had to poke me twice to get the catheter in the right place so it took a while to get the epidural. I was having to tell her to stop while I was having contractions. Garrett was there with me and he could tell they were painful and when I was having one because I was squeezing his hands. So I finally got the epidural and the pain started fading. It was really nice. I was still getting a lot of fluids in my IV and it was cold. I started shaking really bad. I'm not sure if it was from being cold or just from the epidural. The nurse checked me again and I was at a 6. I could still feel my bladder and it was really full and uncomfortable so the nurse had to give me a catheter. After my bladder emptied I started feeling a lot of uncomforatble pressure. They said that was normal but it was really bad. It was only about 20 minutes since I had gotten the epidural and she had checked me but I had Garrett go and tell the nurse how I was feeling. She checked me again and said I was ready to have the baby. The dr. got there and I pushed about 8 times and Carter was here. I felt everything but it didn't hurt very bad. It was different from when I had Sienna. He had a sweet little cry and has been such a good, sweet baby. He was born at 4:39 pm. I didn't start feeling contractions until about 1:00. My water broke and I got my epidural about 2:30-3:00. After that things went really fast. It was a smooth delivery. I'm thankful because I was a little worried about being induced. My family was there with me most of the time but right around delivery it was just Garrett, my mom, and his mom. Sienna was there running around the hospital, entertaining everyone. She didn't think to much of Carter at first but now she loves hugging and kissing him. She's my helper. The recovery has been easier this time compared to last time. I tore in the same place as last time but it's healing faster. Carter has been such a good baby. We've had a lot of help from our families. Carter weighed 7 lbs 3 oz at birth and then lost some in the hospital. At 5 days old he weighed 7 lbs 4 oz so he's already gaining. He likes to eat so I think he'll put on weight fast. We love our little boy.