Casen's Arrival

On Tuesday, just as planned my mom and dad arrived to help us out with Camden and whatever else we needed while Casen made his arrival into this world. I was very glad they were there, and bless their hearts, I put them to work. Shane still had to work until Thursday, so on Wednesday my Mom and I went and did a little shopping while Dad watched Camden. When we arrived back at the house, we put D-ad to work hanging a new fan in Casen's room as well as hanging pictures all around the house, since I had been putting that off since we moved into our home a year ago. I was thrilled with the way the new fan looked, and was glad to check that off the list of things I wanted done.

I was scheduled to be at the hospital at 6:00 am on Thursday morning, which did not bother me, however the University of Alabama girls softball team was playing in their final game for the National Championship on Wednesday night, and it was rain delayed, so was not over until 12:45 am -which I stayed up for. That put me getting a whopping 4 hours of sleep before heading to the hospital, but I am not sure I would have slept all that well anyway.

39 Weeks - taken on Wednesday night

We arrived at the hospital at our scheduled time of 6:00 am and we were taken straight to the room where I would be having Casen. I was put in a gown and after a lot of questions, getting my IV started and hooked up to the monitors, we were ready to get this show on the road. My labor nurse for the day, Jennifer, was great and we got along very well. Casen's heart rate was on the low side - between 100 and 110, so I had to shift from laying on one side to the other to see if we could get his heart rate up. After an hour or so, his heart rate finally got up into the 130 range, so I guess he was just sleeping and chillin out in there enjoying his last hours in utero. At 7:30 am Jennifer checked me and told me that I was still 4 cm and then started my Pitocin. She told me that she would be increasing the medication every 15 minutes until we got a nice steady pattern of contractions. Let me just say, within 15 minutes I was feeling the contractions!

After helping my Dad get Camden fed and settled for the morning, my Mom arrived around 8:45 am ready to help in any way she could. Dr. Bruce arrived around 9:00 am  at which time she checked me and broke my water. Let me just say I had TONS more amniotic fluid with this pregnancy than I did with Camden. This time it felt like what I expected it to with Camden, lots of warm fluid. I was 4 to 5 cm and 50% effaced. After she broke my water, I dealt with the contractions for awhile until they got to the nice steady pattern and decided I would call for an epidural, which I did around 10:10 am. The nurse checked me and said I was still about the same but his head was really low. I was not surprised to hear that, because I was feeling a lot of pressure. Within no time at all, the anesthesiologist came in the room and got my epidural started at 10:35 am. Of course, I had it in my head that it would be like it was with Camden - that I wouldn't really feel the contractions anymore and would have a little rest time. Boy did I have another thing coming!!! I am not sure what the heck that epidural did to me, but I think I would have done better going without it. The contractions that I felt prior to the epidural were all in my abdominal area. After the epidural, I no longer felt anything in my stomach, however the pain and discomfort in my vaginal area was almost more than I could stand. It started out feeling like I had to urinate horribly and within no time, it was a pain that was beyond anything I had ever felt before. After the pain continued to intensify with each contraction, my nurse called on the anesthesiologist to see if he could come and readjust something. In the meantime, she decided to check me and found that I was 8cm, thinned out, and Casen was low. She went ahead and called Dr. Bruce to come over and while we were waiting I had the horrible urgency to push. Now I had seen this on TV and could never relate to those women, but now I completely understand that urge and let me just tell you it is a horrible feeling to need to push, and being told you need to wait. Dr Bruce arrived within 15 minutes or so of Jennifer calling her and after she got all ready, I was ready to push. Once again, apparently I am not a good pusher, but I tried. Dr. Bruce brought out the mirror so I could see Casen's head - apparently that still did not help. So I kept pushing with the horrible contractions with Mom and Shane at my side. After about 30 minutes, Casen's heart rate was decelerating and Dr. Bruce was very concerned due to the size of the opening between my pubic bone and sacrum. She said it was a very small opening and was not sure that Casen was going to make it through the small opening. After each contraction as I was to be resting, Dr. Bruce was steadily trying to stretch the area that Casen would be coming through to help in any way possible. After a bit, Dr. Bruce decided we were going for an emergency c-section and next thing I knew, Shane was putting on a blue surgical suit, as was my nurse and several others in the room and Dr. Bruce was calling for backup. Now let me just stop here and say, that earlier after I received the epidural and was in horrible pain, I was praying that I just have a c-section and be done with it all. However, when I heard her say we were headed for an emergency c-section, I decided I better get this show on the road. I had one last opportunity to push before we headed to the operating room and I pushed with everything I had and at 12:33 pm, Casen James Hood made his arrival into this world. The cord was wrapped tightly around his neck (as he had a red mark on his neck from where the cord was) and so she quickly cut the cord before I was allowed to push him the rest of the way out. I had a first degree episiotomy, but she had to cut me and make it second degree in order for Casen to come out easily. Luckily, this time the placenta looked better, and did not appear to have any holes in it, however she did tell a nurse to prepare it to send it off to the lab. The neonatal nurse took Casen and got him all wiped down and under the warmer. She obtained all of his measurements. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 inches long. I remember the minute Casen came out, my mom said, "He has hair!" and he did, light brown hair - more than Camden even had even at a year of age.

When they got Casen's footprint, the nurse called over to Shane and told him to come over to Casen and get his tattoo - which she put his foot print on his fore arm. I thought that was cool!

After they got him all cleaned up and Dr. Bruce had finished sewing me up, they brought me Casen so that I could hold him and nurse him. Just like Camden, he latched right on - thank goodness! I once again was in awe looking at the precious gift God had blessed us with. How fortunate are we to have two healthy boys??? Around 2:00 pm they took Camden to the nursery for his first bath and said they would have him for about 2 hours so they could do the needed tests and make sure his temperature was stabilized. Shane went with them to the nursery and was able to watch him get his first bath. He said he cried the whole time until they let the water run over his head, which calmed him right down.

After my epidural wore off and I was able to feel my legs and get up with the nurses help to the bathroom, which was sometime around 3:00 pm, we were moved to our room where we would remain the rest of our stay. My mom had left a bit earlier to go and check on my Dad and Camden and would return later with Camden so he could see his baby brother for the first time. Around 5:45 pm Melissa arrived to visit Casen and then Shawn, Mason and Braden arrived about 30 minutes later.

Braden and Casen

Mason and Casen

Aunt Melissa and Casen

 When Mom and Dad arrived with Camden at 6:25 pm Melissa was holding Casen (which I did not want to be holding him when Camden arrived so that he would not feel like he had been replaced by the baby). Camden was very leery of me and would hardly look at me, much less talk to me when he got there. It made me so sad, but finally after about 15 minutes or so, he finally talked to me and asked me, "What are you doing?" pointing to me in the bed. He could not figure out why I was laying in a bed. After he ate his dinner, he decided he would like to hold "My baby Casen" and was all smiles when he did. Luckily, it seemed like he was going to be fine with Casen being in our lives. After he held Casen, Shane gave him a present from Casen - Hot Wheels!!! He was thrilled and thanked Casen.

Camden thrilled with his Hot Wheels from Casen

Camden patting Casen and telling him "Thank You"

Grandma and Grandpa Key with Casen

Around 7:30 pm, Lorrie and Lisa arrived to visit. I was excited to see my great friends! Everyone else left and Shane went home and took a shower so it was just me, the girls, and Casen. I enjoyed their visit and as usual, we had LOTS of laughs which I needed to help deter my thoughts from the discomfort I was feeling.

Aunt LiLi with Casen

Lorrie and Casen 

That night, I let Casen go to the nursery around midnight so Shane and I could get some rest. I did not get much rest, but from the sound of Shane's snoring, I don't think he had any problems at all! During the night I had a fever of 100.3 but by 4:00 am I felt my fever break and my temperature was 99.3. They brought Casen back to me around 7:30ish and I was so glad to see my sweet angel. Around 11:00 am Mom, Dad and Camden came to visit Casen again, but didn't get to spend too much time with him since they took Casen around 11:30 am to be circumcised. They said they would be using the bell method of circumcision and would have him for a couple hours to monitor him afterwards. I was thrilled with them using the bell method, which keeps you from having to put vaseline and gauze on their penis each time you change the diaper. It leaves a ring where they cut the skin which falls off within a week to ten days. While they were monitoring Casen after his circumcision, Kelsey and Shanelle came to visit. They were finally able to meet Casen before they had to leave.

Shanelle and Casen

Later that evening, Lorrie came and visited while Shane was home taking a shower and brought me a chocolate shake, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate brownie from Chic-Fil-A. OH MY GOSH!!! I had been craving a  chocolate shake for sometime, but due to the lactose intolerance, had not been able to partake in one. I love how things like lactose intolerance and heartburn go away almost as soon as you give birth. Let me just say, the shake was divine!!!!

After having the baby on Thursday, they asked me if I would want to go home on Friday or Saturday. Well after feeling tired and sore, I told them I would stay to Saturday. By Friday, I was bored to tears, and was wishing I had gone home instead. But, I figured I would do my best to use the opportunity to rest. Around 12:30 am Saturday morning I was about to call the nursery to come and get Casen for us to rest, and the nurse walked in to get him for the nurse practitioner to do her discharge paperwork and exam. At 4:30 am the nurse came in the room and informed me that Casen's bilirubin was elevated at 10.2 and that the nurse practitioner was very conservative so they had him getting phototherapy under the bili lights with the plan being that he would be under the lights until noon when they would redraw his level, but they expected him to still go home. She said I could go in the nursery and visit him and feed him whenever I wanted. So I went in at 5:30 am when he was due to eat, but they requested that he have formula instead of breast milk. UGH!!! So, I fed him his bottle and stayed with him awhile while he was getting a suntan.

Around 7:30 am, I met the new nursery nurse who normally works in the NICU and she was a bit surprised that they had him under the lights with his level being only 10.2. I asked her if I was able to breast feed him at his next feeding or if he still needed formula so I would know if I needed to pump or not. She was all for me breastfeeding, but said I only had 30 minutes to keep him out of the bili lights. So we did the best we could and then she supplemented him with formula when we returned him to the nursery. Around 10:45 am she called to let me know that the pediatrician, Dr. Tam said she could redraw him then instead of noon and after we received the results after about an hour, we hopefully would be headed home. So about an hour later, she let us know that his level was down to 7.8 and that he would be discharged. He is to follow up with his pediatrician on Monday for another bilirubin check. When he returned to our room, he had raccoon eyes from the bili lights.

Raccoon Eyes

Finally, around 2:00 pm we were headed out the doors, on our way home. He wore a precious going home outfit that Lorrie got him, although I struggled getting a good picture. You can't tell, but his initials are monogrammed on his hat. Too cute!!!

Headed home

When we arrived home, Shane's parents and Connor, as well as my parents and Camden were at the house awaiting his arrival.

Poppa Ron, Nana, Casen and Connor

Proud big brother holding Casen

Camden was thrilled to have his Baby Casen at home and was even willing to share the Hot Wheels that Casen gave him!

We are so blessed that Casen was born healthy and that Camden has been very accepting of his baby brother. I can hardly wait to see what our future holds as a family of four. I am so grateful for all the wonderful blessings of our family and friends. It is times like this that make you realize just how lucky (or as Shane would say, blessed) we truly are.