He's here...Yay!!!!!!!!

Well, Cason Michael Kates is here. He arrived at 12:10am on 12-31-08. He weighed 6# 13 0z and was 17 3/4 inches long (not so sure about that, we will double check the length at the doctor's office on Monday.)

We had a doctor's appt on Tuesday and just before I left to go to it I thought I started leaking my water. Well, at the appt it was confirmed and she sent us to the hospital. I was still a 1-2 and pretty thick. We got checked in around 10:00am. I signed all my papers, got my IV, got connected to all the monitors and we were ready. We were so excited. They started me on Pitocin around 12:00pm and Dr.Jordan came and broke what was left of my water. I received my epidural at 1:15pm. The epidural didn't make my legs go numb, which I was very excited about. It did, however, make my face all numb and tingly and my blood pressure drop. I was sat up in bed and received a shot of ephedrine and shortly after began feeling better. Cason was just chillin...in no rush to join the world. Well, they continued to increase my pitocin because my contractions were not making me dilate anymore. Cason's heartbeat began dropping a little so they checked me at 9:15pm and I was still only dilated to a 4 and my contractions were very irregular. They weren't as strong, but they were coming in waves where I would have 3-4 in a row that wouldn't let up in between. That was causing stress on Cason. By this point, I was ready to throw in the towel and go for a C-section. The nurses called Dr.Jordan and she said she wanted to wait just a little longer before resorting to that. I started feeling sick and began vomiting around 9:45pm and the nurses said "it probably means your progressing." At that point I was a bit negative and didn't believe one word of that. Well, I rolled over and dozed off for a few minutes and next thing I know, both the nurses are running into my room yelling at me to roll over and get on my hands and knees (good thing that epidural didn't make my legs numb), putting oxygen on me and opening up my IV. One nurse checked my and said she didn't felling anything...I was like, what are you talking about, I'm still pregnant, there is still a baby in there. She said, no, I mean your complete. I couldn't believe I was finally fully dilated. This was at 10:32pm. So, it took from 10:00am-9:15pm to go from 1-4, and from 9:15pm-10:32pm to go from 4-10. I would have never guessed. I started pushing at 10:36pm and Cason arrived at 12:10am. It was the most amazing thing ever. I can't believe he is here. He has lots of blonde hair that is pretty long. He has the most amazing cherry red lips (still not sure where those came from) and everything else about him is perfect. He loves to be held close and cuddle...I'm so thankful for that.

We got to come home today around noon today. Cason is a little jaundiced so we are putting him in front of the window for sunlight exposure with only a diaper on throughout the day. We go to the doctor on Monday to get his bilirubin rechecked. He is nursing well and sleeping a lot right now. We will keep are fingers crossed that that continues.

We had so many friends and family members there that stayed with us all day. It helped so much to have so much support. I know it was such a long day for everyone. Thank you so much to all of you. I could never express how much it meant to Chris and me. We count our blessings daily to have such a wonderful network of friends and family. You are all amazing and Cason is one lucky guy.