Corbin's Birth Day

Thankfully my doctor was nice enough to induce at 39 weeks again like she did with Cason. One thing is for certain----if we add any more children to our family, they will NOT have an August birthday! Overall I feel like my pregnancy with Cason was a lot less uncomfortable than this pregnancy. A lot of that has to do with the fact that it was just so HOT this summer. I had lots of swelling towards the end and I am still dealing with it a week later. In fact, on the day of his newborn pictures, I think I was the most swollen of all! I still have swelling in my hands so the carpel tunnel has not gone away---4 of the fingers in my right hand are constantly numb. I say all of this to emphasize how happy I am that she did not make me wait until 40 weeks. Not too mention that he would have been entirely too big if we had waited another week---LOL.

Corbin's Birth Day
August 26, 2011

We had to be at the hospital at 6:00 that morning but that was fine because I was wide awake very early. By the time we got all checked in, hooked up to an IV, waited on my doc to get out of her c-section and break my water, etc. it was already close to 9:00. When my doctor checked me, I was already dilated to a 5 before they even started the pitocin. Chances are I was about to go into labor all on my own---but it was nice to have it all planned out (especially since we needed to have someone here to watch Cason).

Another great thing about my doctor is that she lets you get your epidural right away. Thank goodness too since I was already a 5. They put my epidural in and they started the pitocin around 9:30. Once again they had trouble getting my epidural to work on both sides. With Cason, it didn't work on my left side. With Corbin, it started out not working on my right side. Thankfully, after some trial and error, they got it working on my right side. I pretty much had to lay on my right side all day and press the "happy" button often. Because I was only lying on my right side, the right side of my cervix started to swell right after lunch time. So that delayed the process for a while. They had to switch me to my left side and wait for the swelling to go down.

Once the swelling went down and I was fully dilated, the nurse told us we were about to start pushing and she would be right back. She didn't come back for 30 minutes and when she did she said that she was going to let Corbin "labor down" for a few more minutes (it ended up being another 30 minutes). I don't know what all the delay was all about but I was dilated to a 10 for over an hour before we started  pushing. With Cason, I had to push for 2 hours and with Corbin I pushed for just about an hour. I was hoping to only push for about 30 minutes but no such luck.

Poor Corbin was so big that his shoulders got stuck during his delivery. We were very lucky that he did break any bones. My doctor and nurse didn't tell us how nervous they were about him being stuck until after they delivered him safely. Thank goodness too because that would have really worried me! My doctor said that his size was really too big for my frame and that if he had been any bigger there would have been some complications. So she said that since I make such big babies, that if we decide to have another baby she would have to fill out the paper work to induce earlier than 39 weeks. Also, because of his size and my frame, he came out with a VERY bruised face. They even warned us before they handed him to us that he was very purple and not to be alarmed. Cason had some bruising when he was born but nothing like poor Corbin.

Poor bruised face....

The most exciting thing was that he got to stay with us after he was born and we were able to hold him right away! Cason's umbilical cord broke off right after delivery and he lost a lot of blood so they had to take him straight out of the room to be monitored in the nursery and we didn't get to see him for about 3 1/2 hours after he was born. I was so excited to get to hold Corbin and love on him right away---such a special moment!

One thing that was different this delivery was that I experienced some side effects of the epidural that I did not have (or even know about) with Cason. The only reason I can guess that it didn't happen with Cason is that they never did get the epidural working correctly with him and they did this time. During the whole day, I was itching like crazy and right after the delivery I had uncontrollable shaking for a little bit. I did not know that these were things that could happen but even knowing that now---the epidural is still very much worth it!!!

Corbin Luke Ray
August 26, 2011
4:13 p.m.
8 pounds, 11 ounces
21 inches long

Our precious baby boy is just perfect and we couldn't feel more blessed!!! He is so beautiful and I just want to hold him all day long. Right now he just pretty much eats and sleeps and is such a little cuddle bug! He barely gets put down all day long. I remember when I had Cason, I thought having a newborn was so hard. Now that I have a busy 2 year old, I think having a newborn is so easy in comparison---LOL. I know things will get increasingly more difficult but for right now I am enjoying this stage :)

My mom has been here the past week helping out---thank goodness for her!!! Mom, we appreciate you so much and we just don't know what we would have done without you. We love you!

I haven't had the boys all by myself yet NOR have I gone anywhere with both of them by myself so these next few weeks should be VERY interesting while I get adjusted to our new normal. Please pray for me!

I love all my boys so much----I am one blessed wife and mother and I couldn't be any happier!!!