November 2011

CAUTION: VERY DETAILED INFO OF THE BIRTH OF KALEB

ONLY READ IF YOU CAN HANDLE THE DETAILS

On November 1, the day after Halloween in 2011, all of my worries of the night before of going into labor, were quieted because I felt like a million bucks.  Seriously, I was very energized, had no allergies, and wasn't sore at all from my meanderings the night before.  So what did I do? I cleaned, like a maniac.  Seriously I did everything that I could to prepare for what was going to happen in the next week or so.  Well, little did I know, that the next morning, at around 2:30 am, I would begin to have contractions.  The contractions weren't bad enough that I couldn't sleep, but they were bad enough that I didn't sleep well.  I spent most of the next morning worrying about what was going to happen.  I had never had a baby all natural, so I was very nervous to say the least.  Kory and I spent the morning together talking and enjoying ourselves, as much as we could.  The contractions kept getting harder and longer until I finally called my midwife.  She said that we should meet at the birthing center.  We got there around 4-4:15 pm.  Isaac had fallen asleep in the car, so Kory stayed in the car with him while I went in and talked to the midwife.  Upon checking me, she discovered I was only a 3.  Not very dilated considering I had already had contractions for an hour.  I went outside and walked around in the nice cool weather to try and speed the process up.  When Isaac woke up, Kory came in the house and we ate some snacks in the kitchen with Isaac. At that point, it was around 6:30, 7, Kory and Isaac were quite hungry.  So since there was nothing really happening, I sent them off to the Purple Turtle.  A hamburger joint just blocks from the birthing center.  In the picture below are the fries that came with Isaac's kids meal....yes, there were more fries in his meal than in Kory's.  

Moving on....at about this time my midwife discovered that the contractions weren't causing the baby's head to push on my cervix, which is why I wasn't dilating.  The cervix was towards the back of my body, so she decided that the best method would be to physically move my cervix during the contractions so that it would begin to dilate.  So when my contractions started that is what they did.  Honestly that was probably the most painful thing, maybe even more painful than actually pushing the baby out.  I was lying on the bed, unable to be in a comfortable position, while my cervix was kept in place with someone's fingers.....ouch.  They did this around 7:30.  Diane (the midwife), decided to give me a break, so I had a half hour of normal contractions, and then they had to move my cervix into place during another round of contractions.  This time I opted for sitting on the birthing stool, since that was more comfortable to me.  Well in the process of holding my cervix in place, my water broker.  I'm not sure that it broke because her fingers were there, or whether it just broke on its on.  At any rate, that is when the contractions started getting a lot harder, 8:30.  At 9 I was allowed to get in a water bath, which was so lovely.  I labored in there until around 11:15, when I had to get out.  During this time Kory was in the front room with Isaac, Susan, Chad, Allison, and Samantha.  They were watching a movie.  At about 11:30 Kory came in to see about the progress and see if he could help.  Diane had kept saying that she thought I was going to have the baby that night, but he stayed in, until 12:08.  At that time I was told it was time to push.  I sat down on the birthing stool, Kory sat behind me, and the pushing commenced.  At 12:58, on November 3 (my dad's birthday), I pushed one last time, and our baby boy came sliding out.  Honestly it was kind of crazy how quickly he came out, the midwife almost dropped him because he slid out so quickly.  Kaleb Benjamin Calmes was such a slippery little guy!

At this point the midwife's assistant voiced her concern that I was losing a lot of blood and that I had ripped all the way down.  Upon hearing the word blood, Kory, who was holding the baby, said take the baby I'm going to pass out.  Which he did as soon as the baby was out of his arms.  He was sitting in his chair leaned up against the wall.  One of the assistants started cleaning off the baby, while the other two lifted me onto the bed and started stitching me up.  I was not medicated in any way, so I felt every stitch.  In the meantime we had called for Susan to come in, which she did happily, and discovered that it was her task to wake up her son.  After I was stitched up, I got to see my sweet little boy.  Kory was instructed to go to the store to get me gatorade and some food that would sustain me.  I hadn't had a proper meal since lunch the day before.  Kory came back with orange gatorade, oatmeal and nutrigrain bars.  I remember I felt so exhausted, just laying there, it was a chore to stay awake.  Alli, Chad, Sam, and Isaac all got to come in to see the baby.  Isaac was going nuts.  It was crazy that it was 2 am and Isaac was running around like a nut.  He should've been exhausted, but instead he was looking at his brother and jumping off the furniture and every other crazy thing.  Finally around 3 we sent Alli, Chad, and Isaac home to sleep.  Diane had me take ibuprofen, and drink this horrible tasting drink because of all the blood I had lost.  She had me drink chlorophyll....yum yum.  At about 4 am we all finally got to go to sleep.  Susan held Kaleb in the rocking chair and Kory slept on the bed next to me.  I slept so deeply and around 7 am Susan brought Kaleb over to nurse.  Susan told me about my noisy little baby.  He grunted and groaned all night.  

He was so precious as a little baby!

This is the birthing center where I labored all night.  The next morning at 10 am we all had to wake up and get ready to leave.  I had to get up to go to the bathroom.  Diane and Kory helped me in to the bathroom, where I passed out onto Kory's arms...he had to carry me back to the bed and lay me down.  He packed up all the stuff with Susan and Sam's help and then they carried me out to the car....yes, carried me, because they didn't want me passing out on the way to the car. 

Me laying on the bed with Kaleb.

My energetic boy with his dazed little brother!

Proud Daddy!

We got home and I sat on the recliner with my boy.  Kory had to go take a test, as exhausted as he was I'm surprised he was able to stay awake during his exam.  Susan took Isaac to the store so I could get some rest without worrying about my newborn getting jumped on.  Having Kaleb naturally was a difficult adventure, but I am so glad that I did.  

Over the next few days I recovered slowly.  I had to finish the chlorophyll, and take lots of iron pills.  Kaleb was a very good baby those first few days.  When my mom came a few days later, it was so nice to have help.  I got mastitis, so painful! And my mom was able to help me through it all.  I am so grateful for all the help I received those first weeks I had Kaleb.