Cormac's Birth Story

*Disclaimer* This post is extremely long. It is mostly for my memories : )

It all started on the morning of Friday, May 10th when we went for a checkup at the doctor. We had been hoping that Dr. Finkle would say, "congrats...you are in labor and need to go to the hospital right now!" Unfortunately she did not say that. She did however tell us that she would be surprised if we didn't have a baby before the weekend was over. She also told us that she could do a little procedure that could induce labor that night. We decided to let her do the procedure  and left the office excited that we would probably be seeing her again later that night! We did also decide to induce Monday morning if Cormac had yet to make his big debut...

As soon as we left we called both sets of grandparents and told them they should head up to Kansas City because we would most likely be meeting our  little guy very soon. Chris and I rushed home and started cleaning and doing some laundry. We also called Dick to come pick up Bear for the doggie farm. Within a few hours we had everything taken care of and were ready to head to the hospital at any minute. We decided it might be our last good meal for a few days so we went to Red Robin and had some amazing burgers. We also hit up Costco for a few things. It's pretty funny the looks you get when you are a gigantic pregnant lady due at any minute.

The day progressed into the evening and we were still waiting for any signs of labor. I was having a few contractions (mostly in my back) but nothing consistent. Finally it came bedtime, so we reluctantly climbed into bed just sure we would be waking up soon in labor. Well, we both woke up on Saturday morning no closer to our baby. We did however now have both of our families in town. We went for lunch at the Bass Pro seafood restaurant and did some walking around the path there...trying to walk the baby out. On Saturday night we all had dinner in our apartment together. Everyone said good night with the hopes that once again we would wake in the night and head to the hospital.

Sunday was Mother's Day and we still had no baby. We went to church and had Mexican food for lunch. I ate spicy salsa and did more walking around with Jenny and Dianna that afternoon. We went down to Summit Fair for some shopping. And once again the day passed with no signs of active labor. That night was hard to sleep knowing that we were going in to induce the next morning. I was filled with excitement, anxiety and some fear. Mostly excited to finally meet our sweet son and fear of the unknown.

We woke up at 5:15 and started getting ready to go. Chris took one final picture of my big baby belly...

and off we went! When we got to the hospital I got to put on the lovely hospital gown and get all hooked up to all sort of monitors and my i.v. We turned on the Today Show (my fav) and I remember thinking how strange it was to be doing something to trivial when in just a matter of hours we would be meeting our son.  We also met our WONDERFUL nurse Melissa. She will forever be in our hearts.

As the day progressed they started me on pitocin and around noon Dr. Finkle came and broke my water. Everyone kept saying how great my labor was going. I was definitely having contractions but they still felt manageable to me. Finally around 2pm and 8 cm...I was ready for my epidural. A very nice anesthesiologist came and put it in. I was a little worried about this hurting but it was fine! All throughout the day our families came and checked on us.  We also recieved many encouraging text messages from our  sweet friends. Finally around 4pm, Melissa said I was at 10 cm and that it was time to start pushing. Dr. Finkle finished up her office visits and came straight over to the hospital. After such an easy labor, I had in my mind that this would be a piece of cake! Ha! Little did I know, I was in for the workout of a lifetime. Right before I started pushing we asked Dr.Finkle what her guess was for Cormac's weight...she guessed somewhere around 6lbs. I told her my guess...9lbs 7oz. She said that if he was that big she would retire...hmm  : )

After 2 hours of pushing we finally met Cormac. Our sweet nurse Melissa was so helpful during those long two hours. For a lot of the pushing she held one end of a towel while I held the other and we did "tug of war" to help me push. My arms were sore for days!  He had a rough time getting out due to his size, 9lbs 15 oz, and because his shoulder got stuck. Dr. Finkle wasn't sure if I was pushing correctly and had my epidural turned off but he wasn't coming because he was stuck. Ouch! I remember thinking to myself, "why does this hurt so much??!!" No one told me they were turning off the epidural...sneaky!

 

I was only able to hold him for a few short minutes before I had to be taken back to the operating room. I was losing too much blood and Dr. Finkle needed to get me taken care of. That whole process was somewhat of a blur as they put me back on my epidural and gave me more drugs so she could do surgery. Finally around 8pm, I was all sewed up and was able to go back to my room and really meet sweet Cormac. Chris, such a good daddy, did "skin to skin" with him since I wasn't able to. 

 

 Later that night, one of the nurses came in and gave Cormac his first bath. He screamed bloody murder the whole time, but smelled so good when it was over! It was quite a long night for everyone but we were so glad he was finally here. 

Here are a few more pictures of those first few days...

Getting weighed right  after birth

 Getting checked out by the peditrician. He said, "Congratulations...you gave birth to a 3 month old!" haha He also said that Cormac was "perfect".

 Headed home!!

 

Chris was such a good daddy driving home. I asked him what he was thinking (wish I would have gotten this on video) and he said, "I just wish all these other drivers weren't on the road!"