{Carter's birth story}

Don't worry, there are more pictures to come of our sweet little Carter. He really has got the be the cutest newborn ever! (aside from Alexis, of course:) However, before I forget all of the details, I want to record the story of his birth. It really is a pretty crazy story!
The day Carter was born, I was 2 days over my due date of April 4. Adrian and I decided to go ahead and have my doctor schedule an induction for that day. That way we could at least make a better plan as to what to do with Alexis, etc. So the morning of April 6, we were told to call the hospital at 6:30 a.m. to see if they had room for us at the hospital. When we called they were full, so they told us to call back at 8:00 a.m. When we called back they said they could get us in between 9:00-9:30 a.m. So Adrian's sister Natalie came to pick up Alexis and off we went to the hospital. It was surreal to think that we were actually on our way to have the baby!
Anyway, we got checked in at 9:30 a.m., and I was actually already having contractions about 5 minutes apart, so I probably would have gone into labor that day or the next day anyway...wahoo! At 9:55 a.m. I was hooked up to an IV of Penicillin (because I was Strep B positive). By 10:30 a.m. I was dilated to 2cm and 70% effaced, and they did an ultrasound to see that the baby was posterior (face-up). This made sense I guess, because I had been having quite a lot of lower back pain. They started me on Pitocin around 11:00 a.m. to get those contractions to speed up. At 1:40 the doctor came to break my bag of waters, and I had an epidural at about 2:15 p.m.. Yes, I am a wussy, I was only dilated to 3cm! :) At 3:20 they put in an internal monitor to measure the intensity of my contractions to see whether or not they needed to increase the pitocin, and said the contractions were coming along nicely. Then with my nice, numb legs Adrian and I settled in for a nap.
We expected that it would be like Alexis, and that it would be hours before our little guy arrived. During the nap I was laying on my left side and I started to really be able to feel the tightening of the contractions in my belly, as well as in my rear-end. I didn't remember feeling the contractions so intensely in by butt with Alexis, so this seemed like an odd sensation. The nurse came in an hour later, at 4:20 p.m., and I mentioned the tight feeling in my butt with each contraction. She decided to just have me turn over to my other side. She had me lay on my back first so she could check to see how far dilated I was. As she checked me she said, "Um, okay, well, you are ready to have this baby!" I said, "I'm fully dilated to 10cm?" She said "Oh yeah, and his head is RIGHT THERE!" She then proceeded to go call my doctor, who was 20 minutes away. It took a few minutes, but they finally got a hold of him, and he said he would be there in 15 minutes. In the meantime, they got the room ready, and the NICU had to be there, because there was meconium in the amniotic fluid (the baby had pooped in the womb). The nurse also had a resident doctor come into the room too, just in case the doctor didn't make it in time.
It was seriously SO crazy! I had gone from 3cm to 10cm and the baby had completely dropped and moved into the birth canal in about 2 hours! At this point the nurse told me to try not to move, laugh, cough, or do anything or else the baby would come out, and we just had to sit and wait for my doctor to get there. After waiting for a little while the resident asked if he could take a look under my sheet to see what was going on. Well, when he lifted up the sheet the baby's head was halfway out, and they said whether we wanted him to or not, the baby would be born with my next contraction, and they were right! My next contraction came and so did little Carter, screaming at the top of his lungs, at 4:53 p.m. I didn't have to push AT ALL!!! CRAZY!!! I was seriously in shock!! About 3 minutes later my doctor came in. We told him he had just missed it! He proceeded to take care of a few things with me, and that was that!
So in all, I was only in labor for about 7-8 hours...half the time it took to get Alexis here! I am seriously still in shock about how the whole thing took place. It was definitely not how Adrian and I expected it to go! The recovery has been a lot better than it was with Alexis, which I am glad about. I'm sure it helped that I knew more of what to expect.
One thing's for sure, we couldn't be more in love with our little boy, and are so glad that he made it into the world healthy and safe. Aside from being a little too sleepy when I try to feed him, he is such a good baby, and I just can't get enough of him. It still seems like the whole pregnancy and everything went by so fast. It truly is the miracle of life!
Now it's just a matter of me adjusting to life with 2 kids. From what I've experienced thus far, it truly is a big adjustment. Alexis had a really hard time the first day and didn't seem to be too keen on the idea of having a new baby in the house, but she has gotten a lot better, and will hopefully continue to do so. She always wants to rub and "pet" his head, as she calls it. She is always sticking toys by him, trying to put his pacifier in his mouth, and is very concerned whenever he cries. She is such a little sweetheart.
I'm super nervous for when Adrian goes back to work and it's just me with the kiddos. Say a little prayer for me and wish me luck...I'm sure I'll need it!

 Adrian and I right afterthey started me on my IV

Carter, right after he was born and cleaned up (yes, I edited the picture..gotta give the boy a little privacy:)

Mommy and baby

Sweet little almost smile for his mommy :)

Father and son....aahhhhh

Carter's first bath...which he hated apparently, until the hair washing, which he LOVED!

Alexis meeting Carter for the first time

She kept saying how little he was, and that he had "little fingers, little eyes," etc. She thought he was cute, but probably didn't think we would really be taking him home.

Here we are on Friday, ready to go home (and take a shower!)

Carter wasn't too keen on the car seat...can you tell? I love it, because we have a picture of Alexis coming home from the hospital that looks EXACTLY the same!