Carsen Keith Bradford!

He's here! He was born on Aug 10th at 8:39 am, 21 inches and 7lb 12oz...or is it 13oz? Don't really know, they kept telling us two different numbers. I guess that's not what matters though, right?





This is Keith, by the way, and this is the first time I've ever posted. No better time to start than with the birth of our first child I suppose.
I actually started this post two days ago at about midnight while I was trying to hold Carsen...that didn't go over too well, he was having a rough night he just wanted to be held and rocked. This kid is working hard to break his daddy in fast.
So I better tell the story of Carsen's birth and our hospital experience. Last weekend, on the 7th, we went into what would be Heather's last checkup. The doctor told us that this would be the weekend Carsen would be born but he thought we should wait until Sunday to get Heather started. The Doctor wanted to speed up the dilation process by inserting a foley catheter, which forces the cervix to dilate, on Saturday and start her on the pitocin Sunday morning. It sounded like it would be a long couple of days until Sunday...I didn't yet know what long was!
We really hoped that we could 'encourage' Heather's body to go into labor on its own so we went down to the Hogle Zoo with Melis, Joel and the kids. I thought for sure that it wouldn't be long before I was pushing Heather through the zoo in a wheelchair but she toughed it out and walked a full TWO laps around the zoo! She was desperate to get things started. It didn't do anything but make her feet sore and swollen.



Saturday rolled around and we just sat around resting and preparing for Sunday. We didn't leave the house all day except to meet the doctor to get the foley tube. I think we're both glad we rested because Saturday night didn't bring much sleep. Heather was having contractions for most of the night and that kept both of us up, we each got about four hours of sleep.
We got up early the Sunday morning to get ready to go to the hospital. Labor and Delivery called the evening before and told us to call them at 6:00 am Sunday morning to find out exactly what time they wanted us to be there. Well we kept our end of the deal and called at 6:00 but they apparently weren't ready for us because they told us they would call us back when they knew the time for sure. We waited and waited and for what seemed like eternity, it was really only three and a half hours. They finally called back and told us to be at the hospital by 10:30.
The drive to the hospital seemed almost never ending but we finally made it and got Heather checked in. It was hard to believe that the next time we both got in the car we would have an extra body going with us.



The nurses showed us to Heather's labor and delivery room where we would spend the next 22 hours together. I have to admit I got really choked up when I saw the warming bed that Carsen would 'soon' be laying on with nurses checking him out.
Heather got changed and comfortable in the bed and over the course of the next 5 hours the nurses got IV's started, the doctor came in and broke her water, and finally after feeling contractions for long enough she got her epidural.
Unfortunately when Heather got the epidural it only took on her right side so would feel contractions until 7:00am the next morning. Even with 3 redoses of anesthetic the pain only subsided for and hour or so at a time. Heather was a real trooper for enduring so long.
We had anticipated that we would be in recovery by evening but the hours kept melting away and before we new it Sunday had slipped away and Monday morning was upon us. There's not too much to say about the events that filled the time other than Heather's progress was slow and painful. It was slow enough that a nurse was sure that it would all end in a C-section. That was so hard for both of us to accept because Heather had worked so hard for so long and endured so much that it didn't seem fair. Just when a C-section looked imminent, she started to make further progress and we kept going.



At about 6:00am the doctor came in and confirmed that Heather was complete and ready but he wanted Heather to rest and let the baby continue to descend. Finally, at about 7:00am Heather got one last redose with a different drug and that completely numbed her...why that couldn't happen 16 hours ago I don't know.
At around 8:00 she started to push. Carsen didn't react well to that he started to go into distress. We were told that if that happened again Carsen would be take by C-section. The doctor gave Heather some time to rest until they were completely set up for delivery and he gave the go ahead to push again this time Carsen did awesome! It only took three sets of pushes until he was here. For me, the pushing was so exciting. I was there helping Heather, counting off her breathing and pushing all the while watching Carsen make his way into the world. The emotions that come at that point I think you only experience when becoming new parents. I leaned over to give Heather a hug, both of us were crying a laughing all at once, it was amazing! 22 hours of labor and Carsen was here! I'm so proud of Heather for enduring what she did, I love her so much!



I went with Carsen to the transition nursery to be with him and watch him get his first bath and to hold his hand for the first time. He had such a cone head from being stuck in the birth canal for so long. He also had a nice red mark on his forehead from hitting Heather's pelvic bone and marks on the side of his head from the forceps...poor little guy! They kept him for a little while to watch his breathing, apparently he wasn't breathing as deeply as they wanted him to. Carsen recovered quickly and it was soon time to go see mommy in here recovery room.
At this point I would say the story is pretty much over but there is one last tale to tell...



We really got comfortable in the new room holding Carsen and getting to know him. Soon, a couple of nurses came in and helped Heather to the bathroom...that seemed harmless. It didn't take long before nurses flooded into the room and two nurses that were in the bathroom with Heather came out carrying Heather. Apparently she hemorrhaged badly and passed out in the bathroom. She looked completely lifeless as they laid her in bed. She was almost completely unresponsive for what seemed to me like forever. Anytime a nurse would ask Heather a question the answer came slurred if at all. At this point I lost it completely, I had been emotionally drained from the labor and delivery part and now to see Heather passed out from blood loss on a hospital bed sent me over the edge all I could do is sit down and sob. I was a wreck.
In true Heather style though, she came to and slowly began to get color in her face. She was too weak at this point to attempt feeding Carsen so it was up to me. Although not as well equipped as Heather, I thought I did an okay job. Finally, things turned up and if my tired memory serves me right things went pretty smoothly from that point on.



Now were home and working hard on getting adjusted to having Carsen here and caring for him. It is definitely a challenge but I know we have it better than a lot of people. Carsen is the most mild manned, chill baby ever. I don't think we really ever heard him cry until he woke up a while after getting circumcised. Even still the only time he's had a real fit was the other night when we let him get way too tired and way too hungry...not a good combination.
We couldn't have done all this without the support of friends and family so thanks to you all, we love you!