Carrinton has arrived!!!

I have so much to share, and not enough time in the day to write about it! The biggest news of all is that Carrington Elizabeth DeEsch was born on Friday, October 29, 2010, at 8:30pm. She was 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and 21 inches long. Perfect, Perfect, Perfect!!!!

To backup a few days... On Wed., October 27th, Dr. Gorsuch announced that I was already 3cm dilated and we went ahead and scheduled the induction for Friday, Oct. 29th, but she said that there was over a 50% chance I wouldn't make it all the way to Friday. Well... my body and little Carrington had other plans and stayed put! :) My mom arrived on Wed. night, to be sure she wouldn't miss anything, and we spent all day Thursday shopping and walking! What most of you don't realize is that my brother is getting married on Nov. 13th, so there was a TON of stuff that still needed to be done (tuxedos, shoes, dresses, fittings, jewelry, gifts...). Amazingly, on Thursday, I managed to get Trey a tuxedo, a rehearsal dinner dress for myself, a few new clothes, and a handful of other misc. things. On Friday morning, we all showered, dressed and headed to the hospital at 7:30am to be induced.

Several months prior to this, my friend Melody had asked to photograph the birth. At first I said No, thinking it would be very boring for her, and the pictures would not be something I would love. I couldn't have been more wrong. Melody arrived at the hospital around 8am and documented the entire process. To be honest, the process was nothing special. I was given pitocin and NOTHING all day long- no dilating, barely any contracting, pretty much nothing UNTIL... I went to the bathroom at 5:45pm. As I was getting back into the bed, I felt a "pop" and as I sat down, my water broke. Let's just say I have never felt anything like this in my entire life! YUCK!!!! I never experienced this with Trey, so it was definitely a new sensation. Shortly thereafter, my contractions started coming a lot more closely and I had the epidural around 6:30pm.

At 8pm the nurse checked and said that I was still only about 7cm dilated and we still had lots of time. But, she said that if I felt the need to push, to call her. Well, the next contraction I had definitely felt like I wanted to push, but (not wanting to look stupid, and knowing I was only 7cm dilated) I didn't say anything. About 2 min. later I felt it again, and mentioned nonchalantly to my mom and Melody that it sort of felt that way. Doug and Trey had just left the room, and I didn't want to call the nurse quite yet. A few minutes later, I was sure- I really wanted to push. I called the nurse, she came in and verified it- I WAS READY!!! My mom was frantically calling Doug, and he immediately came back to the room and around 8:20-ish, with my Mom, Doug, Trey, and Melody all there to watch (and photograph), I started pushing!!!! Carrington (just like her big brother, Trey) came out quickly and smoothly with about 5 pushes total. She was officially documented as being born at 8:30pm, and she is the most beautiful little girl I have ever laid my eyes on. My mom cut the umbilical cord, the nurses weighed her, and all was right in our little world!

Several people have been shocked by a few things regarding this "birth story". The first was that they couldn't believe we kept Trey (at 19 months old) in the room for the delivery. It was important to Doug that he be there- as long as he wasn't scared or fussy- and he was an angel. I wouldn't have done it any other way, and it was extra special for us, as a family, to experience all of this together. I have been extra sensitive to Trey and I don't want him to feel that there is any reason we wouldn't want him to be with us, and this was just another example of that. The second thing was having a photographer in the room. I felt slightly uneasy before I actually experienced it, but it was wonderful having Melody there. She was great to work with, she blended in to the backround and didn't push us or make us feel uncomfortable. And when I saw the pictures later, I cried, they were so beautiful. We never would have been able to capture those moments on our own, and for that, I will forever be grateful that she was there!