The Arrival of Keaton Alexander

As I sit here in the hospital room, I am reminded of a few things. First, life is definitely unpredictable. But damn is it awesome.

I bring you to 12:45 am, Friday February 12th (also Chelsea's birthday & the start of the Winter Olympics!). I'm sleeping, when suddenly BAM... my water breaks! I haven't moved so fast to the bathroom in MONTHS. This is when things start to go fuzzy. I'm sitting there, realizing what happened, and I start feeling contractions almost right away. You know, the ones that everyone says are 'too hard to talk through'. Yes, they are NOT joking. I managed to somehow yell out to Casey a few times (he was pretty crapped out at the time) and finally got his attention. It's TIME!! This is really happening!!!

I hear Casey go in and tell my mom that she needs to wake up because we need to 'go to the store'... LOL... he knew that would get her attention. Then he says, "Ashley's water broke... we need to go to the hospital!" So we all fly around the house (poor Charley had no clue what was happening and kept bringing us toys... LOL)... I am saying strange things like, "We need to turn off the coffee pot!" and other strange things, in between HORRIBLY painful contractions. I manage to call the hospital and let them know we're coming (and cuss loudly at the fact that the number we call is automated and I have to push a bunch of numbers before I can talk to an actual person... gah!) I'm in pain, people... PAIN!!

The drive to the hospital was a total blur. Contractions were 3 minutes apart, and so painful I couldn't open my eyes. We get to the hospital (we got to the wrong entrance... lol) and get to the desk (there was no one there) and FINALLY get a wheelchair and get up to the birthing suite. I finally get in bed and they check me- 6 or 7 cm dilated. Things started moving quickly after that. They asked if I wanted the epidural, and shortly the wonderful guy came in and hooked me up. OH my GOD. It was wonderful. Even before the meds kicked in, I had already totally relaxed. The shot didn't even hurt (compared to the contractions, I barely noticed). When the epidural started, I could actually feel my legs and feet (sort of like pins and needles when they go to sleep, only not painful) and feel the contractions happening, but again, NO PAIN. I could talk and joke around again. Next time I remember them checking me, I was at a 9... then around 7 am, they said we were going to start pushing.

All I really remember about pushing was feeling like I wasn't doing well enough, but the nurse and Casey kept telling me to keep doing what I was doing. The baby moved down a bit, but after about 1.5 hours or so of pushing, not much progress was being made. They started trying to talk to me about c-sections, and how I would need to get one if the baby didn't move down more when the doctor came in next. Not sure how this happened (it was probably the fact that the nurse repositioned the bed), but suddenly in my mind, we were doing this naturally. Actually, to be honest, I had wrapped my brain around getting a C-section, but somewhere I was thinking that we could get the job done. I pushed and pushed and we started to make progress, so much so that when the doctor came in to check, I had moved the baby enough that he just gave the thumbs up sign and left the room again. Lisa, our nurse, was absolutely wonderful and kept telling me how 'awesome' I was doing. Casey was even more amazing. I cannot say enough about the guy. He was so encouraging and wonderful through every single push. They could start to see the top of the head. They even let me feel it. (Funny comment from Casey at this point was, "Our baby has a head!" which made me laugh so much I stopped pushing for a moment... LOL!!) Around 9:45, Lisa told me that if I kept it up, I would have a baby by 10. Again, something clicked in my head and I kept pushing. We started out doing 3 sets of 10 second counts... in the end I kept pushing through it, and I know at one point I did 5 sets of 10.

Suddenly Casey, Lisa, and Dr. Josupait were all cheering for me, "You can do it!! The baby's almost out!!" And then... "IT'S A BOY!!!!"

Keaton arrived at 9:57 am. He was SEVEN POUNDS. We did not think he would be so big!! He must have been accordian pleated in my belly b/c I'm not sure how he fit. He was 18.5 inches long. Little dudes lungs are working WELL!! They put him on my tummy right away, and all I remember is sobbing and laughing, looking at Casey, who happily cried, "I have a son!!"

They cleaned us both up, and soon we were headed to the Mother/Baby ward. I was absolutely exhausted, and for fear of giving too much info, I was SWOLLEN. Everywhere. My face was puffy from the extreme pushing session. I didn't even look like myself when I first looked in the mirror after he was born. I used muscles I didn't even know I HAD to get that kid out, but it worked. Keaton had the biggest cone head of all time at first. His head got stuck on my pubic bone at first, and he's got a little hematoma because of it, which is actually healing well now.

I have a ton of other things to say about the last few days, but I wanted to be sure to write about the birth since I figure I will forget that quickly. Keaton is absolutely wonderful, and worth every amount of pain I have experienced so far. Breast feeding has been a little tough at times- starting off, at least- but since we met with the Lactation Specialist yesterday, we've had 2 really good feedings. Again, they started telling me I would probably need to start supplimenting because he was having trouble latching on, and when the nurse came back in the room to show me what to do with the formula, Keaton latched on and held on for at least 20 minutes! I will do my best not to blog about things such as breastfeeding, but it's part of the process so I don't want to leave it out. :)

We get to take Keaton home today, on Valentine's Day. I hope Charley likes the new addition! We are definitely proud parents, and so excited to start our new life with Keaton. I know it's going to be tough, but we have proven already that we can get through tough situations. We're going to be a good team!! I will post pictures sometime when I get home.. the laptop isn't allowing it here at the hospital. He's definitely a cute kid, though... looks just like Casey in a ton of ways. He even has dark hair! That was another surprise for us. ANYWAY, much more on this later. Keaton is awesome. Casey is absolutely amazing. Life is good.

Love,

Mommy Ashley :-D