Yes! We finally had Cameron! She was born at 8:10pm on Wednesday, August 12th (a day before her cousin Tyler’s birthday!), 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 20.5 inches.
I woke up at 6am that morning with contractions about 15 minutes apart. After determining that they were continuing, I called my sisters, mom and Heather around 9am to warn them I might go into labor later in the day. As it turns out, I did!
The contractions were about 4-6 minutes apart at 10am, so I called the maternity center to see if I should come in. They informed me I was in early labor and that I should monitor contractions and call back in an hour, so Heather, the girls, Dylan, Tom and I went for a very short walk in the neighborhood during which it seemed my contractions were getting more intense. But, as soon as we got back home, the contractions spaced back out to 6 minutes apart. When I called Sutter again, they said it was common for contractions to get further apart and, if I could, I should try to make it to my 3pm appointment with my OB (this was to be the last of my appointments and the one during which we’d make plans to induce!).
Even though the contractions seemed consistently between 4-6 minutes, we all hung out at home. Cindy and Christina arrived to help take care of Dylan. He had a blast making mud pies and birthday cakes out in the backyard with Taliana and P.
As it turns out, I made it to my appointment but, by then, my contractions were about 4 minutes apart. When the doc checked me, I was 4cm dilated and 70% effaced. She advised us to check in at Sutter, across the street from her office, where they could check me again at 6pm. If I wasn’t in active labor by then, the plan was to either induce or let me go home for a few hours to labor some more.
Once checked in (by now it was about 4pm), I was determined not to labor forever, so Tom and I walked the stairs and hallway at Sutter for about an hour. By 6:30pm, I was dilated to 6cm and the nurse informed me I should get my labor support over here right away. As soon as I hung up the phone with my big sister (about 6:45pm), my water broke!
In the meantime, Heather had taken Dylan back to her house where he would spend the night (and my sisters and Heather had also cleaned our house!!). Then, Cindy, Christina and Heather arrived by 7-ish. By then things had already begun to pick up. Luckily, I got a room with a tub — the very same room in which Dylan was born! — so I rocked in the rocking chair until the tub was filled up and then I lay in the tub moaning until I felt like I just wanted to push.
The pain was pretty unbearable and I wasn’t sure if I could make it, so I asked for an epidural after just a few rounds of contractions out of the tub, but by that time, they told me that they could already see her head.
I could tell nobody was going to go get that epi! I was a little annoyed, but I also realized that if even Tom and my sisters and Heather were saying I could do it and she was almost there, it must be the case!
In the end, I pushed for only 15 minutes (the longest 15 minutes of my life)! The on-call doctor arrived just in time to tell me to give just one more “gentle” push and there she was!!
They immediately placed her on my chest while they took my vitals and her’s. She tried nursing within that first hour and was pretty successful at latching on. After about an hour, I needed to get up, so they took the opportunity to bathe her and weigh her.
We’d given the staff a heads-up on Dylan’s bili scare, so everyone was very, very attentive to her bili levels. We were elated to take her home on discharge day (Friday). She did have a bili reading of about 8+ on her chest, but it was below the “alarm” level of 12!
She is an amazingly mellow little gal — she’s slept through so much playing, cooking, talking, laughing, etc — and Dylan is The Most Amazing Big Brother Ever! He constantly wants to hold her, comfort her, kiss her, and tell her he loves her. He currently tells us that she’s “his” (as in his little sister). He’s very proud! We are also very proud of him. He’s been such a big boy, helping out with collecting laundry, picking things up for me when I drop them, etc. and, of course, he’s been so kind with Cameron.
Awww, so good to read this story! So happy for you guys…welcome to the word, Cameron Jade. It’s pretty amazing to see your baby’s first laugh at the older sibling– get your camera ready. It’s gonna melt your heart!