The FULL Story

So, I finally have a little time to chronicle the events leading up to the birth of Mr. Beautiful...AKA Conrey.

SUNDAY, JUNE 8th, 2008: With the selling of our car (Millenia), we were trying to be nice to this lady that bought it, so we agreed to meet her about 20 minutes from our house. She lives over an hour from our house, so we were trying to help her out. We're on the highway...me in the Millenia in front of Mark and Cassie in the Civic. Remember that I'm not supposed to be driving? Don't worry...I didn't pass out, but I was nervous about it. Anyway, we're on the highway going about 70. All of the sudden, the van in front of me slammed on their breaks and then jetted over into the fast lane with about a foot in front and behind him. I look in the road and there is a big, full tire...metal wheel and all. I swerved over to the avoid it and looked into my rearview mirror in horror as Mark hit it straight on. Then, I see the stupid thing in front of him again! His car was so low that he hit and threw the stupid thing forward. He lurched over to the other lane, barely missing the car that was there and then came back to the middle lane after avoiding the tire. The guy that had been behind him pulled up next to him and told him that it had blown out his radiator and that the fluid was all over the guy's car, so he'd better watch his heat gauge. As we get to the exit that we're getting off on, his car goes from normal heat, to all the way at the "H," to smoking within a matter of 30 seconds. He pulls into a gas station and quickly gets Cassie out before the car overheats and blows up...which DIDN'T happen, but could have. I went on to meet the lady and then she brings me over to the gas station. She never said she was sorry it had happened or can I take you anywhere or anything...just left with our only functioning car with a 2-year-old and a 39-week pregnant woman in 90 degree heat. Nice...

We got it towed and Mark's dad came. His mom met us at our house so that we could borrow their other vehicle since I had to be at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. the next morning. Needless to say, it was a crazy, stressful way to spend our last evening without an infant. It was truly a miracle and blessing from God that Mark and Cassie didn't flip. By all rights, they should have. God was really watching out for them!

MONDAY, JUNE 9, 2008...6:00 a.m.: We left the house at 6 so that we could put gas in Mark's mom's car that we borrowed and get a little McDonald's. I was too sick to my stomach from nerves to eat, so just Mark did. I went and checked in to the hospital at 6:30 with it pouring rain outside. We got up to our room (which was the room my nephew, Lucas, had been born in 6 years earlier), got changed and into bed with the monitors, and settled in to wait...which we were quite used to with all of the hospital stays as of late. At about 8:20, my pitocin was going and I was watching my contractions (I had been having them since arriving at the hospital) and was thinking that by mid afternoon, I'd be holding my darling baby...not so much...

My contractions increased in intensity, but not really frequency. By early/mid afternoon, I was ready for an epidural...it did NOT come soon enough. I had to have a whole bag of fluid before the epidural could be administered and then there was the matter of getting the doctor to my room. By the time all of that had happened, my pain level had skyrocketed and my pain was out of control. I was screaming and crying through each contractions. I can honestly say that I have never, ever had that kind of pain in my entire life and I was only dialated to a 4. With my last delivery, I never screamed or cried. I never even felt like screaming or crying. This time was at LEAST 3 times worse thanks to my good friend, pitocin. Let's just say that I would NEVER, EVER choose to be induced again without getting an epidural when my pain is like at a 3 out of 1-10. This time, I waited until it was like a 5-6 and by the time I got the drugs, it was like 15!

Well, at about 8:00 p.m., the dr came in and said we were ready to push. By this time, I was feeling the contractions as a dull ache. By the time they got me set up to push, I was feeling whenever I had a contraction, so I was able to dictate when to push. Two contractions and 7 pushes later, he was out at 8:09! After the first push, the doctor said he had blonde hair. I was stunned! We had been thinking he'd be dark. Cassie was even dark haired when she was born, so to have him come out blonde was a surprise! He was the MESSIEST baby EVER! He was absolutely covered in vernix...the cheesy/waxy stuff that protects their skin in the womb. He was a little bit blue because he was holding his breath, so between that and the cheese...he was quite the sight! However, it's not too hard to look past all of the guck when you've got such a beautiful face underneath it all, and MAN was he beautiful! There was not a blemish to be seen and his head was perfectly shaped (thanks to minimal time in the 'ol birth canal). PERFECT! They got him all cleaned up, weighed, measured, etc. When they did his foot prints, they were quite a bit bigger than the space available in which to print his feet, so they overlap quite a bit. I kept trying to figure out what on earth was poking me in there and now I know that it was just BIG FEET!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2008, 9:40 a.m.: We left the hospital! We were both doing great and saw NO reason to stay and eat crummy hospital food, so we got out of there and were home by 10 (with a little stop to get Daddy some breakfast)!!!

Let's see...what have I left out of interest? Oh, yeah...this is kind of important...when I got my epidural, they wanted to watch me very closely, as it makes your blood pressure go down, which I'd already been having trouble with along with the passing out and such. So, all of the sudden, I get extremely sick and start puking. My blood pressure bottomed out. I seriously didn't know if I was going to live to see my baby. It was all pretty scary. They gave me a dose of ephedrin (basically speed), which helped a tiny bit, but I was still low and in bad shape. They ended up giving me 3 doses total before getting me stabilized. Because of the drug, my heart was racing and beating out of my chest and I couldn't rest as I had intended to with the epidural and all. It was really scary for us all and they kept a really, REALLY close eye on me the remainder of the time. In total, I threw up at 3 different times; once at this point, once right before delivery, and once after delivery. It's strange how the body deals with trauma. Puking seems to be my response most of the time. I don't love it...

Well, I think that that is about all I have to report. With the trauma and the loooooooong labor, he sure is a perfect little guy and such a good baby! We couldn't be happier than we are with our 2 healthy, beautiful children that God has blessed us with. I don't know if we'll ever have another or not. I guess that's in God's hands and that's all I can say about that for now. My heart still aches for another, but God has truly blessed us and I can't ask to be blessed more than we already are. We don't feel deserving and feel the burden of raising them to be children of God.

Before I end this, I will tell a little about big sister, Cassie. She is finally adjusting a bit better. Daddy started back to work today, so hopefully we can get back into our little routine and help her feel more comfortable with all of the changes. She has a name that she calls Conrey. She has started calling him "Baby Buddy." I think that it is sooooo cute and absolutely love it! I hope she calls him that for a long time to come.

Speaking of Baby Buddy, it's time for him to eat, so I'd best go do that. Sorry this was soooo long and I hope you have all enjoyed the saga. :) More stories and pics to come!