The Morrows: Caleb's Birth Day

Here are the details of Caleb's arrival! It was a special day and I don't want to forget any of it, so here goes... We woke up bright and early Tuesday morning for our scheduled induction. Actually mommy was up from 3:30 am on, just couldn't sleep I was so excited and a bit anxious for what was to come. Having done this before, there was a bit of awareness that added to my nervousness! But, knowing is half the battle, right? Anyway, God and I had lots of conversations about this big day, as we have throughout the entire pregnancy. Giving it over to Him and asking His will to be done in Caleb's life and mine is all I could do. So, wide awake, ready to go- showered, dressed and of course, makeup applied and out the door by 5:30 am. Here's my LAST pregnancy pic- 39 weeks!

I asked my OB if I could at least have coffee the morning of and he said no, but he could! Fasting is not fun! We made a bleary-eyed stop at Starbucks for Daddy and Dr. Ross, had to make sure he got his skinny vanilla latte and was on his A game today. Our check-in at labor and delivery couldn't have gone smoother. We walked in, signed in and were directly shown to our L&D suite. This was our first time in the newly renovated Brookwood Women's Center, so much nicer than when I delivered Will and Logan. It felt like we were checking into our hotel for the week, almost. My L&D nurse Stacy was very sweet and we were happy to find out she would be with us for the entire process (no shift change mid delivery- another difference from my first delivery.)

Stacy got me all set up and ready to see Dr. Ross by 6:30am. Then things got rolling: Dr. Ross broke my water by 6:45 and low dose pitocin started at 7:15. Dr. Ross said a prayer for baby Caleb and the delivery, just as he did before Will and Logan's delivery. At the start of things I was only at 3cm, so my Dr. estimated we would be having Caleb by early afternoon. Ok- ready, let's go! And wow, did things get going!! I very quickly began having regular contractions, that very quickly turned into serious contractions. I was ready for my epidural by 8:30 or so, things were moving fast. My Dr. was performing a c-section, so my nurse couldn't order my epidural until she caught him coming out of surgery. I never dreamed things would move so fast and I would actually be "laboring." With Will and Logan, I never felt a single painful contraction, so this was a whole new experience! Wow! Thankfully she caught him and got the epidural order put in. I was breathing through the worst pain I've ever been in while the anesthesiologist inserted my epidural, scary. Everything went fine and within 15 minutes I began to feel some relief from the pain. About 20 minutes after epidural my nurse informs me that I was ready to deliver Caleb... what??!? So basically, I had gone from 3cm to 10 cm in less than an hour and a half and now it was time for baby.

Suddenly, there was a flurry of activity, paging Dr. Ross and getting the room ready. We quickly called our mothers, who weren't even at the hospital yet. We hadn't wanted them to hang out at the hospital for hours and were going to call them in when things got closer. We were a little shocked at how quickly all of this happened and were excited amidst the whirlwind of activity going on around us. You prepare and pray about this moment for more than nine months and then it's here, and you're so not prepared for it! Anyway- Caleb was ready to be born and we were ready to meet our sweet baby. Three sets of pushes and he was here!! We heard that precious cry and saw him for the first time- we were overjoyed! The memory still makes me tear up, it was so beautiful seeing our son. God is so good to us to give us another healthy baby boy. Great is His faithfulness.

Our wonderful OB- Dr. Nathan Ross delivered all of our boys!

Caleb's sweet cry- welcome to the world precious boy!

The nurses quickly wrapped him up and placed him in my arms. What a sweet moment, Andrew and I couldn't be happier. Holding another little miracle, amazing!

We couldn't believe how fast the entire process was, have I said that already? It was such a blessing to have a quick and easy delivery. This was a completely different experience for me and I was soaking it all in. What a joy to hold my sweet baby and not have to let him out of my sight! We traveled together to our room and got settled in a huge new room in the women's center. Loved it! Our moms made it up to the hospital minutes after Caleb was born and the rest of our crew headed up shortly after. We couldn't wait for the boys to meet their little brother- which has to be a whole post in itself!