Labor Day(s)

Carson Andrew Meier made his big debut on Saturday, January 24th, 2009 weighing in at 8lbs 1oz & 20 1/2 inches long. He was born at 2:30 pm in the afternoon. We are very excited to welcome him to the family. Since so many of you are near to our hearts but physically far away we thought we would keep you updated with news and pictures on this website. So here's our story so far:

I started having contractions Friday afternoon at about 5pm and by 8pm they were already 4 minutes apart. They stayed that way until about midnight when we called the Doctor and she told us to go to the hospital. Upon arriving I began having blood pressure spikes with the highest being 150/101. They immediately gave me an epidural to bring that down. I continued in labor for the next 14 hours. Unfortunately, labor stalled at 6 cm for about 5 hours and little Carson's heart beat was slowing. At noon the doctor told us that the heart beat slowed with contractions but recovered quickly which was somewhat common. However, if it continued to happen we might have to consider a cesarean. Two hours later the heart beat was still slowing with contractions but not recovering very quickly. His heart beat was going down to about 80 bpm instead of the normal range of 130-150 bpm. The Doctor told us he was very concerned and that cesarean was really the only option. We agreed and asked when I would have it and he said "Well, we'll do it right now...do you have your camera?" Andy had left it in the car! The doctor told him he could run get it so he did and by the time he got back ( about 4 minutes later) I was already in OR being prepped. Needless to say we were both terrified they would operate without him in the room. I have never been so scared. Fortunately, Andy found a nurse to show him where we were, he scrubbed in and sat down at my side for the surgery to begin. It ended up being a good thing we did the surgery because Carson was born Face Up when he was supposed to be face down, his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck once and one of his arms twice and very tightly at that. I don't think he would have ever delivered normally. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

He also had a very strangely shaped head for about a day. It looked like someone had pulled it up and then out. This was from being stuck in the birth canal for so many hours. I am happy to re port he has a perfectly round head now! He also had some bruises and scratches from his head hitting my pelvis from being at the wrong angle - face up. Who can blame him for wanting to see where he is going.

It was all very bizarre and was a lot to absorb in such a short amount of time. I could feel them operating but without any pain and with in 10 minutes they had they baby out. For anyone that has never seen this surgery, it was pretty gruesome to watch, they let you see a lot more than we necessarily wanted to see of the inside of my body. Anyhow, after Carson arrived they let me hold him for a minute and took him and Andy to the nursery and sent me to recovery. An hour later they were back and we were a family meeting each other for the first time.