Hello!
I write to you now, from the other side. That's right, after 9 full months of anticipation we have crossed over the line from being pregnant to being full time parents :)
Corban Michael was born on 6/2/2008 at 11:40am and weighed 7 lbs and 9 ozs, was 19.25 inches long and his head was 14 inches around.
Why has it taken me so long to update? Well, Im going to use the age-old excuse "I've been a little busy!"
I am starting to get the hang of some of this parenting stuff (nursing, sleeping, nursing, sleeping, etc) but it all still seem a little sureal. Here is how it all unfolded if you haven't had the story yet.
It was early Monday morning (like 5:30am) and Micah's alarm went off so he could get ready for work. Neither of us really wanted to go back to work after the weekend of anticipation (Corban's due date had been on May 31st and although we knew that it wasn't likely for him to be born on that day, we allowed ourselves to hope!) Anyway, June 2nd, a Monday was staring us in the face and so he got ready for work and I laid in bed thinking about how strong these contractions seemed. I sort of timed a few but nothing official and as he was close to leave the house I requested that he have his cell phone on and near him for the day. He was concerned and asked if he should go to work - I assured him that I would rather he go to work than stay home in case they were "false" labor. But I was definitely feeling these contractions more than I had at any other time during the pregnancy. So, he went to work (about 7:00)
I got up and took a shower and thought that it might slow them down if it was false labor... well, again, with no clock, I sort of timed them and they seemed to be coming closer together, but the hot water made them a little less uncomfortable. I eventually got out of the shower (I'm known for taking long showers and using up all the hot water :) and decided to go and "officially" try to time these suckers. Micah had found a program online for timing contractions where you just hit the start button when they start and the stop button when they are over... so I started doing that and they were about a minute long and about 3 -5 minutes apart. And standing and sitting (cause I was trying to make myself a smoothie while timing the contractions) was getting more and more painful - not just uncomfortable. Lua tried to help me by licking my face while I was doubled over or laying on the floor a couple of times... that was when I called and asked Micah to come home.
By the time he got home I had made, drank and puked the smoothie that I wanted - so much for having any food in my stomach for the day (which turned out to be a huge blessing!) The contractions had also gotten much stronger and I was really feeling them in my lower back and some of them seemed to be only contracting on my right side. I thought that was weird but didn't know what it could mean. Around 9:00 we finally decided to go to the hospital and find out if this was the real thing or not. My water did not break but these were close together and life was getting more and more serious (if you know what I mean). So we packed up - I should say, Micah packed up the final stuff and got it all in the car and we headed out to Portland! Of course I was going into labor during high traffic time, but it didn't end up being too bad and we made it to the hospital with no problem (glad we filled the tank the night before :)
When we got there we had to find the maternity ward - we had never made the time to go and get a tour - partially because we had been there before to visit friends with new babies. So, after walking around and gripping walls and breathing and what not (I'm sure the hospital people are used to seeing this sort of thing - but I'm not used to doing this sort of thing...) All this time Micah was coaching me through the breathing and telling me to relax my muscles and all that - he was doing a great job of keeping me calm and focused and rubbing my back and stuff. I love my husband!!
We got to the maternity ward and since we were preregistered they took us back to a room to get "checked". The nurse, Beth, asked me if I was hoping to go natural or if I was wanting any pain killers, etc. I told her that I hoped to do this all natural, but that I realized that sometimes things change... I was flexible. She checked me and she never actually said if I was dilated or not, but said, "hmmm, that's not a head" and I think I probably gave her a crazy lady stare and said "what do you mean it isn't a head?". My Doctor had assured me during the last 4-5 appointments that he was head down and ready to go - so this was a little surprising! She said that she needed a Dr. to confirm and left for a little bit - she came back with a midwife and the midwife checked me and then went and got an ultra-sound machine to check me that way as well. She confirmed that it was not ahead, but it was our little man's shin. He had, during the contractions, flipped and was now breech. I was a little shocked but didn't know exactly what that meant (oh, keep in mind that I was going through painful contractions this whole time as well!). The midwife said that this meant that we were most likely going to need a C-section because they are hesitant to try to turn a breech baby while labor is already going. So, she said that the surgeon and my doctor would give me their recommendation... and then they left for a little bit. We were letting that news soak in when the surgeon came in (my doctor was on her way to the hospital) and used the ultra-sound machine to see what position he was in. He said that it would be a C-section and at this point the pain that I was feeling was getting pretty hard. I said "okay, when?" and they said that they could get me into surgery by 11:30am (it was about 10:45am at the time). Micah started calling parents and a few other people to have them pray and get on the road to meet their grandson, etc. We agreed to move forward with the C-section even though my Dr. wasn't there yet - and then there was a SWARM of people coming in and out of my room explaining things and getting signatures and asking questions. It was incredible how fast it all happened from there. The drugs started coming in (to stop the contractions and the antibiotics that I needed because I tested positive for Strep B (pretty common)... Micah was in and out of the room making phone calls. And when we finally had a moment for just the two of us to talk we didn't really know what to say - but I could tell that this was affecting him just as much as me (a little scared). I don't remember what we said to each other - but we just held hands and waited for me to be wheeled out to the O.R.
When they wheeled me out to the O.R. we passed (although I didn't notice it) Tim Ootman (spelling?) - they were waiting to adopt a little girl that was being born and we ran into them several more times while we were in the hospital. That was a cool little blessing.
Micah joined me in the O.R. - wearing scrubs - after they had moved me to the operating table, numbed me from the armpits down (a spinal block) and they were ready to start the surgery. He got to hold my hand and neither of us could see what was happening (they put up a sheet to block it from us). The anesthesiologist also sat right by my head to explain what was happening and make sure that I was numb only in the places that were intended, etc. They were all very nice and we were actually having conversation and making jokes and such during the surgery. A few minutes later we hear our little boy cry (after he had peed all over the place :) and I looked over to the side of the room and saw our son for the first time as they cleaned him up. Micah went and met him and held his hand while they cleaned him up. They bundled him up and brought him close to me so that I could see him and kiss his face... but I couldn't hold him right away because there wasn't a way for me to hold him (although my arms and hands were not numb). They stiched me up and a few minutes later they were wheeling me back to the room. The whole thing took about 30 minutes (from wheeling me out to wheeling me back in) and Corban was rolled into the room right behind me. THEN I got to hold him there began "recovery".
Corban Michael Stickler was totally healthy and we were so happy to be through the "delivery" part and a little overwhelmed to consider that we were now parents!
More about our hospital stay to come. (We need to leave for Bible study now!)
I am watching Jeapordy... did I spell that right? (I guess that tells you how well I will do)
