Calvin Samuel Florence is Here!!!

Calvin's birth is an interesting tale. Here's the gist of it. Long story short... the whole thing was an incredible experience and Heavenly Father was definitely watching over us. Oh yeah, and I experienced the whole delivery without an epidural.

We were expecting Calvin to be born sometime last week, so when we had our appointment on Wednesday--two days after our expected due date--the doctor spoke with us about options for an induction. When the baby gets past 40 weeks and into 41 and 42 weeks, the risks increase for both the baby and the mother so the doctors prefer to help the mother along if the baby isn't wanting to come out on its own.

We talked with two different doctors last Wednesday and Friday, and, because not much progress was being made, we scheduled an induction for Tuesday morning (May 13th) at 6 am. The first doctor we talked to last Wednesday suggested that we might need prostin gel applied to the cervix in order to prepare it ready for the induction. On Friday, the other Doctor thought that I would be far enough along on Tuesday that I wouldn't need to have the gel applied, even though I hadn't made a whole lot of progress.

Throughout last week, I had been combating a cold and by Sunday it wasn't getting better. Worried that this sickness might infect Calvin at birth, we called our clinic on Monday and scheduled an appointment for that same morning to have me checked to see if there was any danger for Calvin. Luckily, my cold wasn't severe and I was able to get some antibiotics which cleared me right up. At the same visit, the nurse practitioner we saw told me that she didn't think I was far enough along to be induced the following morning, so she scheduled two applications of prostin that afternoon and evening. She was a little surprised I wasn't already scheduled to have it done. What a blessing it was that we went to the doctor about my cold on Monday morning. Otherwise we would have gone in Tuesday morning and I would NOT have been ready for an induction, thus increasing my chances of a cesarean section. Maybe there is a good reason why I was sick all last week...

The second of these treatments kicked something into gear and I went into labor and I began to have contractions and cramping. They sent me home (we stayed at Trevor's sister's house for the evening) because I wasn't progressing past 2 cm and told me to come back at 6 am for the induction. I was in a lot of pain at that time and had lots of contractions. When we got home, after they didn't let up, we measured the contractions at 1 and a half minutes apart. I can't tell you how painful they were. We decided around 1:30 am to go back to the hospital because the contractions were really regular and intense. After going in, the hospital monitored me for about 45 minutes and after that time I STILL was not progressing past 2 cm. They sent me home again because they only keep people if they are progressing. I could NOT believe it--I was in SO much pain and I was absolutely convinced I had an extremely low pain tolerance. I asked the nurse for some medication to take the edge off (preferably an epidural but I knew that wasn't an option); she just gave me 2 percocet pills (acetaminophen) and sent us home for an unbearable early morning.

I could not sleep the rest of the night and was in a ton of pain (I don't think the percocet did much at all). I only found one bearable sitting position on the couch and could not move the rest of the night. My contractions were persistent and awful and I'm sure angels were there helping me through them. I don't know how I went that long without adequate pain medication, but I must have done a lot of my own "visualization." Around 5:30 am I realized my water broke sometime that morning (that's how delirious I was) and we got to the hospital around 6 and the nurse came in at about 6:15. After she checked me I asked her how dilated I was and she didn't say anything immediately. I thought, "Oh great, I'm probably still around 2 or 3 cm and I'm in for a long day of labor." I asked her again and she told me I was complete. I could not believe it! I was dilated to 10 cm and went through the entire labor naturally by myself. It was funny because the anesthesiologist gave me an IV and asked if I wanted an epidural. I was thinking, "What in the world for? I've already gone through most of the labor without one. It can't be much worse than what I've already experienced." After that a lot of people came in and out and worked really fast. They rushed the doctor in the room and after 40 minutes Calvin was born! He was born Tuesday morning at 7:21 am, weighed 8 lbs 11 ounces, and was 20 inches long. It was an incredible spiritual experience and one I will never forget.

After a nice day and a half of spending time with our new son and making sure everything was fine with him, we headed back to Trevor's grandparents house (where we are currently staying). Calvin is healthy and doing fine!

We created a photo album of Calvin's birth that you can see here: Calvin's Birth (click here to see a slideshow of the pictures). Hope you enjoy these pictures!