And Then There Were Six...: And baby makes 5!

It's official, we have another baby!

Camdyn Annabelle Harig
Born October 2, 2013 at 9:02pm
6 pounds 15 ounces, 18.5 inches long

Hospital Door Wreath

Proud Daddy

She was a little unexpected. We had our normal weekly check up on Wednesday (the 2nd) and I hadn't progressed much from the week before, which was a little surprising. The doctor thought he felt her hands when checking things out so he decided to do a sonogram. This girl is an acrobat. She decided to do a flip on us since the last appointment and was now breech again!

Since I was dilated to a 3 and 60% effaced the doctor said I needed to have the baby today. He said he knew that the baby and I were both healthy right now and that is what's important. If I left his office, he can't guarantee that I will return in the same condition because if I went into labor or dilated anymore, I would be at high risk for the umbilical cord falling out and causing some serious issues. I needed to be admitted right then.

I panicked a little knowing that a c-section was a strong possibility. Not that it was the end of the world, just wanted to avoid it with this likely being my last delivery and having to go home and recover while attempting a normal life with two other small kids.

I sent Dylan to do a few of my errands that I needed to do for the day and to get my hospital bag and clothes for himself while I went and checked into the hospital.

The doctor said we could try a version (ECV), where they attempt to turn the baby. I have heard it's very painful but was willing to give it a try in order to avoid a c-section. The version has risks and my doctor was very clear about everything. He hadn't had much luck with the procedure and actually stopped doing them all together. Also there was a chance that the placenta could separate from the uterus which would be an emergency c-section and no time for a spinal tap so they would have to put me under.

I was checked in ready to go by 11 but since I had breakfast, not knowing I was having a baby that day, I had to wait until 4pm to get the epidural so I sat in bed pretty bored for about 5 hours.

Once the doctor arrived I had the epidural which was between a normal birth epi and a c-section strength, just in case I had to go through with the surgery after all. I felt like my lungs were paralyzed and had trouble breathing...that's how strong this epidural was.

I always get nauseous with epidurals so they gave me some oxygen to get through it. I also had to lay on my right side for a couple hours in hopes the baby wouldn't turn again.

When they did the ECV I just laid down and closed my eyes. I was told if I tensed up, it wouldn't work so I didn't want to tense up just by seeing what he was doing to my stomach. Dylan said it looked awful and that I would for sure be sore the next day. He also said he did not think this was going to work and was absolutely amazed when he could see the doctor turning the baby!

So...it WORKED! I am one of 3 patients this has every worked for for my doctor in his 20+ years of delivering babies. My prayers payed off! She turned and he immediately broke my water in order for her head to fall a little lower in hopes that she won't turn again before delivery.

I labored for a couple hours and then it was time to meet her.

We are hoping she gave us all this trouble in the womb and that now she will be our perfect angel. The doctor realized half way through pushing that she was facing backwards which makes it difficult to deliver because they have to hyper extend their neck to come out. Sometimes they will get stuck so a c-section was back on the table. At that point I decided I had been through enough and there was no way I was going to be wheeled back for surgery, so I gave it my all and then some! She finally made her debut after what seemed like an eternity.

Vicki and Mom came up to the hospital to meet Camdyn.

It was late in the evening so we didn't have the kids come up to the hospital and they had school in the morning.

Dylan was a trooper. We went to bed around 1am and then got up around 6 because Thursday just happened to be "Donuts with Dad" at the kids school. It worked out great since G-Pop was here to help he was able to have donuts with one of the kids while Dylan was with the other.

Tatum and Druz came up to the hospital to finally meet their sister after school. They were so excited and wanted to hold her and wanted to know when we were coming home. They didn't stay too long because Tatum had soccer practice so Dylan, G-Pop and the kids headed out while I spent some time resting and hanging out with little Camdyn.

We stayed in the hospital two nights. Other than the food, we were treated like royalty and I would have liked to stay forever. They took the baby at night and only brought her in for feedings. She slept 6 hours the first night so that was nice, especially since we were both pretty exhausted.