Birth Story (not too bad)

The Birth Story of Carsten Lee Balch

On Thursday, March 9th, 2006, I was taken off of bed rest and allowed to go out to dinner. Mark and I went out for Mexican food with another couple. While in bed, I began contracting around 11:00pm. I was able to sleep off and on through them, but about 2:00 am, March 10th I woke up and the contractions were too strong to sleep through. I started timing them and woke Mark at 2:30 because they were 3-4 minutes apart. By 2:50 we were on our way to the hospital. I was 4 cm upon arrival and 70% effaced. I was monitored for an hour and rechecked without a change. So they sent us out to walk. After walking, I was dilated 4-5 cm and my bag of waters was bulging. I was in some real pain by this point and I told the triage nurse that she could not send me home because I wanted my epidural.

After speaking with my doctor, they decided to admit me (5:45am), get my epidural started (6:30am), and when my doctor arrived she broke my bag of waters (6:55 am). When my doctor checked me I was 5-6 cm and 90 minutes (8:20am) later pitocin was started. At 10:30 am I began feeling a lot of pressure and asked if my nurse could check me. I was complete! My doctor was called and she headed back to the hospital. Luckily I had a wonderful epidural and didn’t mind waiting for her. I began to push at 11:15 am and pushed through about 5 contractions and 20 minutes later Carsten Lee was born. I was able to watch the delivery in a mirror and it was just amazing. Carsten weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long. He had a head full of dark hair and was just darling! He took to nursing like a champ!

fam

car1

car2

6 Comments

  1. Dad said,

    March 24, 2006 @ 7:47 am

    Thanks for the story Hegs. Carsten will just LOVE that his all and all was posted on the internet when he gets to his teens. 😉

  2. Aunt Donna said,

    March 27, 2006 @ 12:29 pm

    When will we see some pictures?

  3. Heather said,

    March 27, 2006 @ 5:02 pm

    I gave you three…that’s not enough??

    Picky people! 😉

    I will work on his album now!

  4. Dad said,

    March 27, 2006 @ 9:06 pm

    I was going to point out those colorful things in this post are called “pictures”.

  5. Aunt Donna said,

    March 28, 2006 @ 9:20 am

    Okay, I should have said when will we see some “MORE” pictures? I want to see what he looks like at 2 1/2 weeks old. Thanks for posting!

    How’s Camden adjusting?

  6. Heather said,

    March 28, 2006 @ 9:48 am

    So I worked on his album, but they are all pics from his first few days. I will download some more recent ones today!

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