Colt

We came. We saw. We conquered...and we have a baby to prove it.

On Thursday, September 4th @ 9:14pm, Colton Samuel Breden entered the world with a sore dome and [i'm guessing] a pounding head ache. I say, pounding headache, because he pounded his momma for 4 L O N G hours until he slid out in his naked glory...all 10lbs, 5oz of him. I tell no lies.

These last few weeks have been some of the best days of my life. I can’t help but melt every time those little eyes look back me. My mom has said to me a few times to hold him as much as I want, no matter what the baby books say, hold him while you can because it doesn’t last that long. I have taken that advice to heart. All I do with my little boy is snuggle. Suddenly you forget about life as you knew it…and the internet…which is why it’s taken me three and a half weeks to blog : )

So here is my story…

Colt decided to hang out in me a whole week past his due date and after being 4cms dilated and 80% effaced (with no contractions or much pre-labor at all) Dr. Lyons scheduled me to be induced. The doctors were telling us that Colt would be a decent size baby…8-9lbs. I was okay with that because I wanted a healthy, plump baby. I got hooked up to pitocin at about 8am and after a few hours I was still not feeling any contractions. Which I was okay with. In the back of my head I was thinking…’Could this really be the 1st pain-free pregnancy ever??’ – I started to day dream about what it would be like if it truly ended up being pain free. SO FAR. SO GOOD. I’m sure I would be on The Today Show…The View…hopefully, ELLEN. I just knew they would all ask me to share my miraculous pregnancy story.

Around 11am my doc popped in to see how I was dilating and after seeing that I have dilated to 6cms they decided to break my water. That's when my pain-free pregnancy turned into PAIIIN. Now remember, I’m the girl that hadn’t ever really felt pain before. No broken legs, no twisted ankles…nothing that ever sent me to the hospital. So yea, I went from nothing to having some really incredibly bad contractions.

Before I elaborate more on the pain, let’s take a few more seconds and talk about how disgusting it is when your water breaks. I think I set a world record for 'the most fluid lost' after they broke my water. I sat forever on the bed just wetting myself...asking the nurses if I was overflowing onto to floor. Anyone else think that the sickest feeling ever?? I keep saying over and over good thing my water didn't break in Target or something! After sitting on the bed for a good ten minutes with little to no stop of my glorious flow…I got up…strapped on one of those larger-than-life boat pads the hospital so kindly provides and decided to walk the halls through my contractions. I left a river of amniotic fluid behind me where ever I went. One time that river turned into a giant puddle. Feeling embarrassed (don't know why I felt embarrassed-it’s not like your fancy mesh panties aren’t hanging out for the whole world to see anyhow.) I asked Andy to go get some help. The mop lady quickly showed up to take care of the giant puddle and followed my soggy-sock footprints all the way back to my room. My nurse was waiting for me in the room and had me strip down to MY naked glory and stand on a pee pad. AND so there I stood…and pee’d…on a pad. Pee Pad.

Andy and I stayed in my room working through the rest of my contractions. I found the rocking chair to be quite helpful. Andy was very sweet...trying to rub my back and hold my hand through the contractions. He was doing everything we had practiced over and over in our Lamaze class. Unfortunately or fortunately for Andy he quickly found out the rules 1) no talking...2) no touching...3) no fun...while I'm having a contraction. I think at one point I think I even threw my gum at him. Andy later told me that I said the ‘S’ word…which I asked if the ‘S’ word stood for ‘shit?’ He nodded. I’m actually proud of myself for only letting the ‘S’ word slip. I’m pretty sure there were a few other choice words floating around in my head the whole afternoon.

Before things got more physical and I chucked a remote…or let’s say an IV stand across the room I gave Andy the cue to get a nurse because I wanted some serious meds, STAT! The anesthesiologist was there very quickly, which I much appreciated. He was cheery and sang songs while he gave the epidural. He totally broke all of my no talk/no touch/no fun rules...but I of course didn't say anything...didn't want to tick him off...he was after all the man with the meds who was about to make me a happy camper once again. The epidural was practically painless, which I was so happy about. A smile slowly started to form back on my face. I ate Jello...took pictures...took naps…and after 3 hours or so my body went to 10cm/100% and my nurse asked if I was ready to push. I asked if we could wait until the Ellen DeGeneres show was over before we started to push and she said she would ask my doctor. Dr. Lyons said that was fine with him. I know, that sounds ridiculous, but I wasn't in pain, he wasn't in the building, and I really like Ellen...so we met in the middle.

At around 5:15pm the pushing began. My nurse labor nurse was awesome. I pushed (pain-free) for two hours. After those two hours of pushing passed, Dr. Lyons discovered that Colt was face up and ordered for my epidural to be turned down...practically turned off...so we could get some ‘serious’ pushing done. With my epidural on I could still lift my butt up...I had control of my legs...I could feel pressure...I was pushing well but he said that wasn't good enough. Colt's head was at station +3 by then and he was so close. BUT Lyons insisted that it be turned down and said if things got too painful we could turn it back up. That was just his way of shutting me up : ) I really didn’t want to lose my drugs that had brought me to my happy place. But I wasn’t really in control. So I agreed and I held on for what was to come…pain and more pushing.

The next two hours were horrible. I felt every ounce of pain imaginable and stopped believing them when they said 'you're almost there!'. After 4 hours of pushing and the baby's head being 'almost there' for so long you start to think that it will never be over. I felt like crying. My lip quivered in-between contractions and my doctor could see I was slowly losing hope. He kept telling me to breathe through my contractions and take control. I tried my best. Not only does this kind of pain throw your body into physical exhaustion to the point where it takes over and you can’t help but shake uncontrollably but it takes your mind into a mental state you’ve never seen before. I just remember focusing on a dot on the ceiling in between my contractions and when it was time to push I found a dot on my hospital gown I stared down. I repeated ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me…’ over and over in my head. At one point I thought…’you keep reciting that verse but you’re not believing it.’ – Looking back maybe that’s wasn’t me just thinking it, maybe it was the God with me in that moment trying to help me pull it together.

Around 9:00 pm we discovered that some of the fluid was a brownish color, which meant that meconium [baby poo] was mixed in with the amniotic fluid that the baby was floating in. Dr. Lyons said I had one more push and if we couldn’t get the baby out, I’d have to have an emergency c-section. He made a call to let them know I may need the c-section…got out the vacuum which they suctioned onto Colts head and while he pulled on the vacuum I pushed. I pushed with every ounce of energy I had left in my body. The vacuum wasn’t enough so I saw him grab a scalpel and I knew what that meant. : ( They needed to cut me to make some more room for the head. I received a 2nd degree episiotomy and finally I saw the head! Relief at last! Well…kind of. Usually after you birth the head, the shoulders and the rest of the body typically slide out…BUT…not in my case. Colt’s shoulders didn’t slide out, they stayed nice and broad and square and after the head was out, I had to continue to push out the shoulders. I could finally see the body and knew the end was in site. Dr. Lyons told me to reach forward. He guided my hands under Colt’s arms and told me to pull out my baby. Out he came from my belly and straight into his momma’s arms. There he was… perfect, little, slimy, poopy, bloody, adorable, cone-headed boy : )

Our hospital has a skin-to-skin agreement that after the baby is born they don’t get weighed, measured or held by anyone but the mother for an entire hour. Skin-to-skin, one-on-one bonding time with Mommy. It was a precious thing. I wish my epidural could have been turned up at that point because I spent that hour in throbbing pain and getting stitched up.

After the hour had gone by our family and friends who had been in the waiting room since early in the afternoon all were able to come in and see the baby boy. I later found out about all the adventures they had in the waiting room. You wouldn’t typically label my family as quiet, patient people and so it was funny to hear how many times they got yelled at by the nurses at the hospital. They even had a mini-tailgate. The spread consisted of chicken wings, chocolate and diet coke. Yum.

They even saved me some chocolate too!

Colt is amazing. Just when we thought we knew love, God opened up more room in our hearts for this baby. It's crazy how much they change from day to day. Andy has been awesome. He is Super Dad. He has been off from the fire department for almost all of September so we've been learning and taking each day one at a time together. It’s been so much fun.

I also am breast feeding and Colt is a great sucker. Good for him, bad for my nipples : ) I have enough milk to feed a third world country so I've been freezing some and always leaving a bottle or two for Andy to help out with the feedings and have that bonding time with Colt. We’re slowing catching up on sleep. Colt sleeps 5 hours at night. We’re pretty proud of him for that being he is only 3 weeks old. He’ll wake up around 5 or 6am to eat then he’ll sleep for another 5 hours or so. I sleep right along with him.

We’re happy and blessed and as Andy’s grandma says, ‘When God gives it to ya, he gives it to ya GOOD!’