Birth Story- Best Christmas Gift Ever!!!

Cameron Lloyd Henderson was born on December 21, 2014 at 2:33 am!  He weighed 5 lbs 15 oz and was 19.5 inches long!  He is absolutely perfect and by far the best Christmas present I could have ever asked for!  We are so in love and are enjoying getting to know our little guy!

I had my last OB appointment on December 17th.  I was 40w4d pregnant and hadn't made any progress despite all of our attempts (lots of sex, endless miles of walking, and evening primrose oil).  Apparently, Cameron was super comfortable right where he was and not quite ready to make his grand appearance!

After the cervical check I knew what I wanted to do (it was dependent on how much progress had been made).  My OB and I discussed our options for induction and she started the steps of scheduling it for sooner rather than later.  We had hoped to deliver at our hospital of choice but quickly found out that they would not induce me until I was 41w3d pregnant, which happened to be two days before Christmas.  Both Lloyd and I were anxious to have Cameron here and preferred to not have him born on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  We also didn't want to be in the hospital over Christmas if at all possible.

So, I asked my OB to see what the availability was at her hospital (80 minutes from our house).  She was able to schedule my induction for Friday, December 19th at 11:30 pm.  In the meantime, I walked and walked and walked, hoping and praying that Cameron would come on his own terms.

With no such luck we arrived at the hospital Friday night.  I talked to the midwife and, after doing a cervical check and being "almost" 1 cm dilated, we agreed to try out the Foley bulb catheter and go home for the night.  The catheter was supposed to get me dilated to 3-4 cm, which would be more favorable for future induction steps.

We went home and I contracted strongly until 11 am on Sat.  Then all progress seemed to stop and the catheter did not fall out (it was supposed to fall out when I reached 3-4 cm and by around 1 pm on Sat).  I called L&D and they advised that I tug on it.  I did and still no progress.

Now frustrated and wanting to stop the induction process all together, I called L&D again.  I was advised to come in around 9 pm instead of the scheduled 11:30 pm and that we would go from there. 

We arrived at the hospital and talked to the midwife.  We came up with a plan to try Cytotec, which would be an 8 hour process but would give my cervix a chance to ripen before trying Pitocin.  The first dose of Cytotec was around 11:30 p.m. 

I was brought my "last meal" and told that we would likely meet Cameron sometime Sunday afternoon or around dinnertime. 

Cameron had other plans though and around 1:00 am he started not tolerating my contractions (these contractions were so minor that I wasn't even feeling them).  The nurse came in three times between 1 and 2 am and on the third time I knew that we were not delivering Cameron vaginally- it was time to get him out safely and meet our son.

Honestly, those minutes of being prepped for a c-section were the scariest moments of my life.  I prayed and prayed that Cameron would arrive safely. 

I was finally prepped and ready to go.  Lloyd was right there by my side, holding my hand and reassuring me that everything was going to be ok...and, we were about to meet our sweet precious Cameron!  He came out and I cried as I heard his cry for the first time!  It was music to my ears and I knew that he was here, safe and healthy!

As I was being stitched up they brought him over to me.  Seeing him for the first time was beyond words!  It was truly love at first sight and I couldn't wait to get to hold him and to breastfeed him!  We were quickly out of the OR and into recovery.  I was able to breastfeed him shortly after birth and have skin-to-skin time with him.  I am amazed at how well he fed in those first moments...they are moments I will never forget!

After our bonding time we made it to our postpartum room and welcomed a visit from all my parents!  Cameron is the first grandchild on both sides and everyone has been excitedly awaiting his arrival for a very long time!  Seeing them with him was amazing!  We are so blessed to have such great family and friends who have walked this journey with us!  Little Cameron is one lucky little boy and is so very loved!

Our hospital stay was quite challenging...Cameron was tongue tied at birth which affected his ability to feed.  On top of that, he just wasn't ready to be outside yet and made us know that he wasn't too happy with his eviction!  He cried a lot and was pretty inconsolable.  It broke my heart to hear him cry and not know how to soothe him.

I also didn't have the smoothest recovery from the c/s due to eating dinner at 6 pm and then the "last supper" they fed me around midnight.  I threw up in the OR and continued to vomit throughout the day, mainly when sitting up to feed Cameron.  Thankfully, we got that under control and I was able to get up and move around about 14 hours post-surgery.  After that, recovery got better and I bounced back pretty quickly- so much so that they were willing to release me the next day.  We still had to deal with Cameron's tongue tie issue though so we decided to stay one more day to take care of that and avoid very heavy traffic going home.

The next day we were able to get Cameron into the ENT and have his tongue clipped before heading home.  Leaving the hospital was so surreal...I had been to that very same hospital twice before and left knowing I had lost two babies...this time we were leaving with our precious son!  The feeling was overwhelming to say the least!  And, he arrived just in time to celebrate our first Christmas as a family of three! 

I cannot express enough how amazing our God is and I truly cannot thank Him enough for all the ways He has blessed us throughout this entire journey!  He is good, He is faithful, His promises are true, He will always provide, and He never leaves us!  This journey has forever changed me and I am so full of anticipation for all that He will do in the upcoming days, weeks, months, and years as we close one chapter and start another!