The Story

the picture above is of me and caleb just minutes after he was born!

on tuesday morning, june 14, i woke up with sudden backpain. i had a really smooth pregnancy so far, so it was really out of the ordinary. as the day progressed, i was feeling contractions. victor and i timed them and found that they were about 4 to 5 minutes apart. by 8 pm that night, we decided to go to the hospital. i was hooked up to monitors and the nurse confirmed that i was having regular contractions, but i was still only 1 1/2 to 2 cm dilated. she said that i was in early labor (which could last anywhere from 8 to 12 hours), so she sent me home and said that i would probably be in the next day... but not to come in until my water broke or the contractions were regular and so painful i could not talk or walk.

so wednesday and thursday go by... my back aches even more, i had a harder and harder time walking, but my water hadn't broken and my contractions were irregular. soon, the weekend rolls around and i'm still at home. (so much for the 8-12 hours of early labor...) the pain is much worse. i had some excruciatingly wicked back pain (some that bring on tears), but no sign of baby coming. i called the doctor's office and the nurse told me that 1st time pregnancies can take a long time to progress because your body isn't used to this process (no kidding). she suggested taking a long walk (as if i can even get myself across the house). anyway, because i had been stuck at the same stage for awhile (1 cm dilated, 80% effaced, -1 station), the doctor said that if he didn't come by monday, we could induce. (thank the LORD!) i couldn't imagine going through more of the back pain without progress.

on monday morning, we got to the hospital in nervous anticipation. they started my pitocin drip at 8 am. i immediately went into some serious contractions and they told me i was progressing very quickly. my blood pressure skyrocketed as the contractions got stronger. i couldn't hold out any longer. God's gift to women: the epidural. whew!

by 1:30, i started pushing... victor was by my side encouraging me. as caleb's head started crowning, the nurse kept telling him to come and look. i could see the look of hesitancy in his eyes, but the nurse wouldn't let up, so he took a quick glance, said "oh my goodness!" and came straight back to my head. later, he told me that it was the bloodiest thing he had ever seen. :) good thing he didn't pass out.

at 1:55, caleb entered our world. yay! we liked him so much that we decided to keep him.