Dave and I went to visit his Uncle Phil and Aunt Celeste on the evening of the 23rd. As we were sitting and talking I felt like I lost control of my bladder... knowing what that feels like and that this was very similar but slightly different I decided to wait a minute or two to "figure out" what was going on. The wet feeling didn't subside at all so I decided to use the bathroom to evalutate. Before I even made it down the bathroom hallway, I had fluid running down my legs and dripping out the bottom of my skirt. I will spare you all the graphic details from this point on, but needless to say, my water had broken. Feeling like this couldn't really be the case simply because I was so early, I decided to call my mom and tell her about it... maybe at that point, I would realize that the enormous amount of amniotic fluid that has just exited my body was a figment of my imagination. When she told me I needed to go the hospital, it kind of snapped me out of my stupor, and Dave and I realized this was the real deal and the baby was on his way. Before we left Phil's house, Dave gave me a BEAUTIFUL blessing which put me at ease and let me know I could do what I needed to do and that the baby would be healthy.
We got to the hospital sometime around 5:30/6:00 ish. I got all hooked up to everything and in my lovely gown just in time for serious labor to set in. Because I wasn't sure if my body was really ready for what it had to do, I didn't know if I would start contracting enough, or if they would have to induce me etc etc. I REALLY didn't want ANY extra drugs whatsoever. As it turns out, I had no need to worry. I started contracting about 7:00 and they were hard to say the least. My contractions started at 2 minutes apart and only got worse from that point on.
When I called my mom she basically dropped what she was doing and came straight away (from Idaho Falls). I labored with Dave till around 10:00 at which time my mom showed up, and between the two of them I was in great hands. Dave did labor breathing with me through a VAST majority of my labor, and had even crawled on the bed at one point to put his knee under my back while he tried to sooth me and keep the oxygen mask on my face. Dave held my hand throughout the entire thing, and even has the scars from my fingernails to prove it. I didn't know that I had squeezed that hard until a day or two later when he told me about it...I think we will always get a good laugh from that. My mom did counter pressure on my knees and kind of "ran" everything. She did so well helping that one of the nurses thought she had some sort of medical training for this kind of thing.
As the timeline goes, it took me from 7:00 till about 11:30 to dilate to a 4 (I started off at 0% effaced and 0 cm...yeah, NOT ready). At this point I was ready to give in and get an epidural. My contractions were unusually hard, and I was hardly progressing. I decided to stick it out nonetheless and by 12:50 I was FINALLY dilated to a 10 and was 100% effaced. When they told me I could push, I DID. Heavenly Father really knew what he was doing when he gave women then urge to push. That urge was something I cannot describe, and I have never experienced anything even remotely close to it, and know that I won't until the next baby. It took me 4 contractions and 9 pushes to bring Carson into this world. He was born at 1:03 Christmas Eve morning, and was healthy as could be.
Because I went into labor early, and "full term" is 37 weeks, I technically had a medically premature baby by 23 hours. This was frustrating as we had to endure the "preemie tests" for our 7 lbs 13 oz, 21 inch miracle. He passed everything with flying colors. Can you imagine how huge he would have been if I had gone 40 weeks?!?! He would have been around 9 1/2 pounds and 22+ inches long. Considering the average baby boy is 7 lbs 5 oz at birth, I STILL had a big baby.
To sum up the last couple of weeks, Carson has had a little bit of jaundice so we had him under the billi lights for a day and a half...he was a trooper and that didn't last very long. He also seems to have two good night of sleep where he allows me to get a LITTLE bit of rest, followed by one bad night, and then we repeat the cycle. He is eating like a champion and has surpassed his birth weight by half a pound. He is filling his diapers more than adequately which lets me know I am feeding him enough. He doesn't mind pain; he doesn't cry when he gets poked and bled for various tests, but if you undress him and make him cold in any way, shape, or form he gets MAD! He came out with a full head of dark, dark brown hair that is turning blonder by the day. He is VERY expressive as you can tell in a lot of the pictures. I could go on and on, but am sure these details don't thrill you as much as they do a new, inexperienced, vigiliant mother. Simply put, this boy is adorable and I didn't realize the depth of feeling I would have for him. I feel like I am under-qualified, and overly blessed. Here are some pictures in no specific order...
I thought I would throw these two pictures in for fun. The one above is me one week prior to delivery, and the one below is the evening before I went into labor. Can you even tell I am pregnant, or do I just look like I ate too much?
In case you don't remember, this outfit that Carson is wearing is the same that Dave wore when he was blessed. It is one that I wouldn't have chosen out myself (after all, it is 24 years old), but I thought it was really neat to put our little boy in those special little clothes.
Here is our happy little family once again. I feel so blessed, I know Heavenly Father is really looking out for us.
My mom is the one of the left, Dave's is the one on the right. (We missed you Grandma Gabrielsen and Fager)!
Here are all the men in our family, minus Kevin (Becky's husband) who helped out with the blessing. From left to right, Richard (my sister Jenn's husband), Dave's dad, Carson, Dave, and my dad.
Just for the record, Carson was perfect during the blessing. He was awake the whole time but didn't make a sound.
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I do know what I was doing in the picture above. My friends had all written down/come up with names according to the letters that are in Daves full name as well as mine. I forgot to bring the little slips to work so I could type them up, so I will have to go from memory and and add the rest later. Some of the names people came up with were:
