Caudle: The Jack Attack

Our little Jack Ryan Caudle came January 14th, 2012 and he was 7 lbs 6 oz and 19 inches of adorably handsome joy. I was dilated to a 4 on December 30th so you would think that he was going to coming any day after that right??? Well over 2 weeks later he finally decided to make his appearance. The wednesday morning before I had him they stripped my membranes at my Dr. appt and I thought for sure that would do the trick (so did the Dr) since I was already so dilated. Well no dice with that either. It was supposed to work within 48 hours if it was going to work and I didn't go into labor until the next Saturday night. Anyways here is the wonderfully quick story of how our little man came to be.

Most of Saturday was a normal day. We went to Kyle's church basketball game in the morning and hung out the rest of the day. I had to go grocery shopping to get food for dinner the next day so that evening after dropping Kyle off at the Mariott Center for the BYU basketball game I headed to the grocery store. He had told me all month long that he would be fine with missing work or school but he did not want to miss a basketball game. Surprise surprise within 10 minutes of dropping him off for the game I had my first contraction. I still headed to the grocery store but from then on they came hard and they came fast. I hurried at the store and headed home. By that point it had been about an hour since they started and I was sure that it was the real thing and if i didn't go to the hospital now I probably wasn't going to make it. I packed some last minute stuff and my mom got Lucy ready and I text Kyle that we were coming for him. At one point while I was waiting for my mom to load up the car I laid on the couch waiting for a contraction to pass and I had my head down and eyes closed and Lucy came over to me and started rubbing my head and gave me a kiss. That was seriously the sweetest moment of my life. Anyways we headed to pick Kyle up and then went to the hospital. Funny thing was that the basketball game started at 6 and we ended up picking Kyle up at 5:58. So we got to the hospital around 6, a whole 90 minutes since labor started. Kyle ran in and got me a wheel chair and then took the stroller out and put Lucy in it while my mom parked the car. Another funny thing was when Lucy saw my mom drive off she got really sad and started screaming because she thought she was leaving her. So were sitting there outside the hospital entrance, me in a wheel chair in obvious extreme pain, Lucy screaming her head off in the stroller and Kyle standing there with our bags. In the 2 minutes it took my mom to park we had 2 separate people passing by ask us if we needed help inside. Very nice of them. So from there we went up to labor and delivery and I was admitted quickly and all hooked up to everything. They called the anesthesiologist and I thought for sure he wasn't going to make it in time. They checked me and I was at an 8. Then the anesthesiologist made it about 20 minutes later thank goodness and got me all prepped for the epidural. Let me tell you in those 20 minutes I became complete and had an EXTREME urge to push. The urge came on the minute I was sitting up and the Doc was sticking the needle in my back and I had to stay completely still.. That was by far the worst feeling I have ever had in my life. It was awful. Trying as hard I could wasn't enough and my body just wanted to push. We later found out the Jack was facing sideways and stuck and if he wasn't I probably would have pushed him out then and there. Finally he was done and I got to lay on my back again and it wasn't as bad laying down then sitting up and being hunched over. The OB came a few minutes later and they gave me about 15 minutes for the meds to kick in before I started pushing. They had pumped up the epidural so high to make sure that it worked that by the time I started pushing I was paralyzed. From that point on things were so much more pleasant. I couldn't even tell I was in labor anymore. I started pushing and I was so numb that I couldn't even tell if I was pushing or not. I couldn't even tell when I was having contractions. It wasn't like that at all with Lucy so that was a new experience. It was at that point they discovered he was sideways and we decided that forceps were needed. About 20 minutes after I began pushing our little bundle was born, 3 whole hours since my first contraction.

Well that's that. My recovery has gone really well. After a few days I was up and about and feeling really good. 6 days after he was born Kyle and I actually went on a date to the men's volleyball game to take advantage of having my mom there as a babysitter.

The transition has gone really well. Jack is seriously THE BEST baby on the planet. He is almost 3 weeks old and he has never once been fussy or cried just to cry. He gets mad if he doesn't get fed fast enough and that's about it. On that note he is an excellent nurser too. By the time we left the hospital he was a pro and we haven't had any problems. He sleeps incredibly hard which is a blessing because with Lucy around he wouldn't ever sleep if he didn't. He usually wakes up about 2-3 times a night to eat. He doesn't always go right back to sleep but he's so easy going that I can lay back down in bed with him and go back to sleep and eventually he falls asleep too without a peep. I would rather not have him in bed with us but it beats having to stay up until he falls asleep. It's not that often that happens though. If he's close to sleeping we can lay him in bed with a pacifier and he'll put himself to sleep. He is such a happy boy and is becoming so much more alert and awake day by day. He has already smiled a few times. Warms my heart.

Lucy has taken to him ok. She doesn't really seem to me jealous or anything for the most part. She actually loves him too much. She always wants to hold him and give him love but when she can't she gets mad. She has figured out that when I'm feeding him is the best time to get into trouble. She's had some fits here and there but nothing that's made me completely lose my mind yet. Jack is actually so easy going though that he's so content sitting in the swing or laying in bed that I have actually spent more one on one time the Lucy then I did before he was born. The girl could have it a lot worse.