Week With Granny, G-ma, Nan...My Mom

Mom my came to help us out this week and to see her first grandson. She was such a huge help and I am so glad she was able to come. She cooked and cleaned and slept with Camden at night. She even got me out of the house from time to time.

I always thought the hospital gave you a copy of your child's hand and footprints, but I thought wrong. So my mom and I had a riot trying to get them ourselves. Dan just thought we were plain crazy
I didn't know how to go about giving Camden his first bath so I let my mom(grandma, nan, granny, whatever she will be called) do it for me. She seemed to know what she was doing a little more than Dan and I.
Seeing how Camden won't be around his extended family any time soon, he was soaking up every moment he had with my mom.
Dan has been very open with the fact that he did NOT want our son sucking his thumb. So being the funny one's we are, my mom and I snapped this pic for him while he was at work.
Thanks for taking time out of your own busy life Mom to be here with us and help!

Welcome Home

Leaving the hospital brought mixed emotions to both Dan and I. This meant we could no longer have Camden stay the night in the nursery but instead we would be getting up with him. But at the same time we were both SO ready to come home and start this new adventure together.
We said goodbye to room 626 and our nurse(who I was NOT very fond of, hence no picture of her) and left the hospital late in the day. Even though it was the middle of June we bundled Camden up and left that place.
Here he is in his adorable little "take home" outfit. Now it's back to reality!

Camden Daniel

So this is when things got a little foggy for me. My nurse wheeled me into the operating room around 7:30pm. I crawled up onto the operating table, the anesthesiologist gave me the magic potion and told me I would be completely numb from my chest down in less than five minutes. And he wasn't lying. I remember having the urge to bend my legs but couldn't. I also remember passing gas and had NO control whatsoever(I know, how embarrassing). They strapped my arms down, placed oxygen in my nose, brought Dan in and went to work. The smell of burning flesh was in the air, I could feel no pain, but quite a bit of pressure. I remember the moment they pulled him out because I loudly exclaimed, "I can breath". For so much of this pregnancy I felt like he was up under my rib cage making it hard for me to breathe, and sure enough he was. I heard him cry(a relief for any mother), and waited for what felt like an eternity to see him.

I remember being scared seeing blood coming from his mouth when they held him close to me, but was told not to worry. I immediately felt anxious not being able to hold him and felt ripped off that they took him away so quickly. Dan followed the nurses into the nursery and watched him get his first bath and bottle.

From this point on I am not sure of everything that went on but am grateful for the pictures to prove I was really there. I had some negative side effects from the morphine in the epidural and began itching immediately. In order to soothe the itching they had to turn off my epidural as well as pain medication but nonetheless I stayed pretty wiped out. I was groggy and not allowed to be left alone with Camden.

Dan took care of everything( I never changed a diaper the entire hospital stay) and was in heaven watching his son's every move.

We were fortunate enough to have our "family away from home" rooming right next door. Tiffani's brother and his wife had baby Calli the same day, same doctor, and by c-section. I didn't need much entertaining because I was out of it for the next three days but I know this was nice for Dan. Having them next door was a little bit of normal-ness(is that a word?) in this life changing time.
Happy Birthday Camden Daniel Walker

7lbs 6oz and 21 1/4in

June 12, 2007

7:50pm

Today Is The Day

Five days ago, on my birthday, I had what would be my last OBGYN visit with Dr. Tutt for this pregnancy. The visit went as most of them did previously; I weighed in, gave them a urine sample, they listened to the heartbeat, checked my vital signs...etc. Only this time Dr. Tutt came him, sat down, clasped his hands in his lap(as he does when he wants to talk serious with you), and asked me what I thought about having a baby today. My heart immediately started racing! The doctor than began to explain that I was showing signs of pre-eclampsia and he wanted me to go directly to the hospital to be checked. I was so done being pregnant and totally okay with this. Dan seemed a little nervous for both the baby and myself. He was worried something was going to go wrong. His mind went from worrying about if the baby was developed enough to be born today, but did NOT want to jeopardize my health. Dr. Tutt quickly reassured him that the baby is more than ready seeing how my due date was originally on June 17th. And the reason he wanted me in the hospital was to to insure nothing would go wrong.

So being the obedient children we are...we headed to the hospital. On our way there I started to freak out a little. If anyone would have asked me 10 minutes earlier I would have said I wanted this baby out NOW. But for some reason when it started to be real, I panicked. I called my mom, Dan called his, and we arrived at the hospital. After a few hours in an uncomfortable bed, hooked up to monitors, they informed me that everything looked okay and I was to come back on the 12th for induction(the inn was too full, and my blood work was okay). It was a bittersweet moment for both Dan and I.

So here we are, June 12th. Dan sold his big screen TV and they came to pick it up this morning. I had to run a few errands to get Dan treats for the hospital, our fridge stocked, and for sure, our house spotless.
These swollen , fat feet, have pretty much been my normal look the last few months. I gained(shh don't tell)40 pounds and I say 39.5 was water weight seeing how it is so dang hot here in Arizona.
We took one last picture. I started to get emotional knowing that from this day forward it will never be just the two of us. I am okay with that fact, it is just a little overwhelming at times.
I checked in at 3:00pm sharp and was anticipating a long night of labor. The unit was very busy and I was a low priority seeing how I was NOT in labor that second. It wasn't until about 6:00pm that I got hooked up to the fetal monitor and my IV placed. About 6:30 my nurse came in, started me on pitocin, and decided she would "check me". She was a little weirded out with the results and decided to do a quick ultrasound. It was crystal clear on the ultrasound that this baby was breech. His head was under my right rib cage and his butt perfectly placed down, you know where. She stopped the medication and told me she would call Dr. Tutt who would need to come take a look. Less than 30 minutes later he arrived to do another ultrasound. After that was finished(I was already crying at this point), he grabbed a chair, sat down, and clasped his hands together in his lap. He told me it looks like I would be in need of a c-section. After ten minutes of complete misery trying to turn this child around in hopes of a normal delivery, we gave in. My nurse gave report to the upcoming shift, while Dr. Tutt called his wife to warn her he wouldn't be home for dinner. I sat in my hospital bed and cried with Dan, Tiffani, and her brother Dustin. Knowing we didn't have long before I would go into the OR, Dan called his Uncle Bob to come assist in giving me a blessing. I am so grateful Uncle Bob dropped everything he was doing to come help us. Together they gave me a beautiful blessing of comfort and health. I called my mom and Dan called his, the next thing we know I am on the operating table. Dan was able to be right there and I threatened him with his life that he better take good pictures because I didn't want to miss a thing.