Let me back up to my last prenatal appointment on Monday, September 17th. Dr. Hulsen finally declared I was dilated to 3cm. Yay!! Since my due date was September 16th, Dr. Hulsen gave me the option to induce labor if I desired. I desired!! We set up an appointment for Wednesday at 6am. The next two days seemed to take forever...... I even push mowed the yard on Tuesday, hoping to induce labor on my own. We made plans with Nolan's babysitter to watch him Wednesday until my mom could pick him up and watch him at our house.
Bill and I still had not decided on a girl's name, so we stayed up Tuesday night until around eleven searching through baby name books and the internet, but we still couldn't decide on a name. Bill decided that he would roam the halls with the footprints/names on the walls to find a girl's name if we delivered a girl. We called it a night and went to bed.
4:30am rolled around pretty quickly. Bill and I showered, dressed, and packed Poot up in the car and headed out. We gave Nolan lots of love and kisses and headed to the hospital. The delivery room was packed!! There was a line of women checking in at the nurses station to deliver!! We checked in, the nurse directed us to our room, and the waiting began.
Pitossin was administered at 6:00am. The contractions were very regular and intense, so I decided to go ahead and have my epidural given. I had to have three different epidurals when I delivered Nolan, so I wanted to go ahead and have an epidural given as soon as the Pitossin was started. I didn't want to be in pain this time around at all. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me an epidural. Bam!! It took immediately and I was comfortable. Dr. Hulsen came in around 8:30am and broke my water. I immediately started into active labor. Around 10:30am I told the nurse I was feeling a little pressure and she said she would check my cervix. She did the exam and started to laugh. She said, "Babe you're complete and we are ready to deliver this baby." I looked at Bill and we both started laughing. Bill had just bought a bagel and Starbucks coffee. He was settling in for a long labor like last time. Instead, he chugged his coffee and woofed down the bagel. He was ready for the action.
The nurse started to prep the room and others came in to help. All of a sudden the nurse became really serious and said she couldnt pick up the baby's heart beat on the doppler. She moved the doppler around and found the heart beat, but it had dropped from 120's to 60bpm. The nurse ran into another room where Dr. Hulsen was gloved up and ready to deliver another woman's baby. She grabbed Dr. Hulsen and brought him into my room. Dr. Hulsen checked me and said it's time to push, we need to get the baby out now. Three pushes and Carter Lynn was born. I literally pushed him out in like 2 minutes. Carter seemed fine to me, but the nurse said he was struggling to breathe. His sides were retracting when he breathed in. They took his footprints, I held him for 15 seconds, and they took him to the nursery to be checked out.
I've never felt so helpless and useless in my life. I had to stay in recovery and Bill kept running back and forth to check on Carter in the nursery and keep me updated. I prayed and prayed and prayed for my little Carter. The pediatrician took a chest xray, blood work, and placed Carter under an oxygen hood. The nurses weren't really tell Bill anything which made him even more nervous. After the blood work and xrays came back okay the nurses filled Bill in on Carter's status. Carter's pH and oxygen saturation levels were not good, but he had greatly improved after being hooked up to the oxygen. The blood work came back negative for an infection, no pneumonia. The pediatrician said some baby's have a hard "transition" from the birth canal to learning to breathe on their own. Carter was expected to be under the oxygen hood for 6 hours, but because he was recovering so well he only had to stay under the hood for about 2 hours. Praise God!!
Little space man under his oxygen hood
Finally, holding my baby
Bath Time
No more oxygen hood
I was given the okay to move from the delivery room to the upstairs room. Bill and I didn't have anyone come to the hospital this time and we were very glad. It was a long day of waiting and we really didn't have a whole lot of time to ourselves with Carter until the afternoon. Once we found out Carter was in the clear, we were able to relax and hang out by ourselves. Nana brought Nolan in to see Carter, but since he was still in the nursery Nolan was only able to see him through the nursery window. He kept saying, "go inside" and pointing in the nursery. While Nolan was visiting, I found his footprint and sat him down by it to take his picture. Nolan saw me adjust the bed when he came in to visit. He figured out how to move it on his own very quickly. Nolan really liked the buttons on the bed. LOL!!
Nolan went back to the house with Nana, while Bill and I waited to have Carter brought up to the second floor.
Finally, able to relax with my little man.
Once Bill and I were able to spend some time with Carter, we called Nana and had her bring Nolan up to meet his new brother. Nolan thought Carter was pretty cool. Nolan calls him "be be carta" and kept giving him kisses.
Nolan checking out his little brother
First family picture
We had several visitors stop by to see Carter. Nana, Papa T, and Aunt KK were the first. Grandma Donna, Grandpa Rick, Grandpa Bill, Grandma Mary, Lisa, and Sam all stopped by too. Whenever Nolan was at the hospital he liked to hang out in the closet for some reason. He would wave and say bye then go inside the closet over and over again. Carter and Nolan were showered with lots of love from lots of people. Thank you to everyone who made their day special. Thanks to Bill, Kellerman Dental, and Nana for the beautiful flowers they sent me!!
The first guest to hold Carter
Terry Lynn and Carter Lynn
Bill, Carter, and I enjoyed our time together in between visitors. I'm breastfeeding and it is going much better this time around. I think I learned what not to do when I breastfed Nolan. Carter is eating great, but this also means every two hours. Not much sleep for me, but it is so worth it to have a breastfed baby. Nolan is such a busy body he only came to the hospital a couple of times for about 2o minutes each time.
We had a busy last day at the hospital. The hospital has a contract with JDA Imaging to take newborn and family pictures. I will post those pictures separately. We had to get ready and take the pictures in the morning, sign paperwork to be released, and have Carter's footprint placed on the wall. The hospital puts each baby's name and footprint on the wall. This was the last step we did before heading out the door to go home. We found Nolan's once more and the nurse placed Carter's footprint next to Nolan's footprint. Nolan kept putting his foot on the wall like he was having his footprint taken again.
Applying the blue paint
Right next to big brother
Carter Lynn and Nolan Henson
Finally, we arrived home early Friday afternoon. It felt so good to be at home with Nolan. Carter launched right in with a feeding and then slept for 3 hours. Nolan fell asleep on the way home from the hospital and took a 3 hour nap as well. I couldn't have asked for an easier first few hours at home. Once Nolan awoke, the crazy new life of the Purcell family hit full throttle. :) Nolan enjoyed playing with all of his new toys he received and Carter ate.
My three boys!! :)
Little Angel
Choo Train from the Martinez family
Matchbox cars from Grandpa Bill
Carter is only 3 days old, but he fits into our lives perfectly. I know him and Nolan are going to be the best of friends when Carter becomes a little older. I know Nolan is going to be the best big brother anyone could ask for too. I love my little family and cannot wait to see what the future has in store for us...... Bill says lots of wrestling matches; I tease him saying basketball is what the boys will be playing.
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