Ok... So it has been almost 2 weeks now, but I'm sure most of you know what it's like to have a newborn in the house! Haha! You don't get much done! Any way...
Tanner Loel Cahoon was born on Monday, May 14, 2012 at 6:05am! He weighed 7lb 6oz and was 20 inches long! He is perfect in every way and we are SO IN LOVE with this little tiny man!
We actually had a pretty great experience... all in all... and the labor was pretty easy. Our original plan was to have him naturally at the Hollistic Birthing Center at St. Johns Medical Center and have a Water Birth. Well, he hadn't come by his due date and my parents were flying out here for a week, so we decided to have them induce me. I had been having some pretty strong, painful contractions for a few weeks, but mostly the last 4 or 5 days before he was born. In fact, we thought I was in labor the friday before. I was having contractions, but as soon as I laid down, they went away. Any way, we checked into the hospital at 6:00pm Sunday, May 13th (Mother's Day - what a great way to spend the evening!!!!) and they had the Pitocin going by 7:00pm. The contractions started coming pretty strong and fast after that. I don't think we realized until we were already going, that because we had induced, we had given up our chance for the Water Birth. I had to be hooked up to the IV and the Fetal Heart Monitor the whole time... and with all that and the room we were in, it didn't turn out the way we had planned and practiced for. About 1:00am I decided that I was bummed about all of that and I was in a lot of pain and I really wanted to enjoy the whole experience, so I decided to get the epidural. It was started about 1:45am and kicked in about 20 minutes later. The nurse stayed in the room for a while, getting us settled and told us to get some sleep cause it was probably going to be a long night. She left the room around 2:30 and she hadn't been gone for just a few minutes when my water broke! Haha! We called her back in and she didn't believe me! She checked me and had another nurse check me too, and they weren't sure if my water really had broken. But I was almost fully dialated and completely thinned out. Within the next hour, the contractions got really strong and I really had the urge to push. So, around 4:00am they called my midwife. (yes, because she wasn't there. She had told us she would be there Monday morning to check on us, because it was our first and she really didn't think it would go fast! But she had been calling the hospital all night checking in on me!) She told the nurses to not have me push and she was on her way. Sadly, it took over an hour, closer to an hour and 15 minutes for her to get there. Every time the nurses would check me, they would say, "Oh my! His head is right there! Don't push!" Yeah, not an easy thing to do! So, my midwife got there and we got things going about 5:30am and our sweet little guy was born at 6:05am! They brought in a big mirror, so I got to watch him being born! It was such a neat experience!
As Tanner came out, the cord was wrapped pretty tightly around his neck, so they cut the cord and rushed him away pretty quickly. They put him on oxygen and suctioned him out and it took several minutes for them to get him to cry. Tom stayed with him while they worked on me. The midwife seemed to be working pretty hard to get the placenta delivered and after about 10 minutes it came... and then I started going down hill! I lost a lot of blood and my blood pressure bottomed out. They had to put me on oxygen and start a second IV. It was kind of a scary morning for us! But, around 8:00 everything had calmed down and I was finally able to hold my sweet little guy! It was so cute to watch him... from the moment he got into his daddy's arms, he was awake and alert and concentrating so hard on his daddy's face! The look on his little face was like "Oh! This is the voice I've been hearing for so long!" It was the cutest thing ever!
We ended up staying in the hospital until Wednesday afternoon and I was so ready to come home! Tanner had to have his blood drawn every day to test his Bilirubin and luckily his number kept coming down! I also had to have my blood drawn every day and they were debating whether or not I needed a blood transfusion. Luckily, I didn't!
My parents came in Tuesday afternoon and they stayed for a whole week! It was so nice to have them here! Tanner got some great "Homma" and "Bompa" time and we loved spending time with them! Tom and my dad did a lot of projects around the house and my mom was such a blessing to have around!
Tanner and I are both healthy and doing well! And Tom and I are LOVING being parents! This is something we have wanted and waited for for SOOOOOO long and every step along the way to getting Tanner here was a miracle and a blessing! I feel that we were inspired with every decision we made along the way, even up to and during the labor... with decided to induce and have the epidural (because of everything that happened) and we are so grateful for all those promptings from the Spirit!
Enjoy the pictures!!!
Check out his "cone head"! He was in the birth canal, ready to come, for a long time and his poor little head was pretty cone shaped!
Right after he got cleaned up! He was bright-eyed for several hours after he was born!
He just stared at his Daddy for hours! And it was so fun the watch Tom! He is such a "Proud Daddy"!
I had to wait about 2 hours to even hold my little man, but what a sweet moment that was!
Our first picture together (before all my drama started!)
Tanner loves to cuddle with Daddy!
Sleeping in Daddy's arms!
1 day old! And the first day he met Grandpa & Grandma Carter!
2 days old! Getting ready to leave the hospital!
All ready to go home!
His first car ride wore him right out! (He actually really likes the car, which we are very grateful for!)
1 week old! Just chilling in his diaper!
He looks so tiny in this bouncer chair!
Daddy helped him with some tummy time, which he didn't enjoy very much!
Cool dude in his cute outfit from Aunt Mallori and Aunt Nana!
Just looking handsome!
"Homma & Bompa" Carter, just before they left for the airport. We sure miss them!
Daddy and Mommy and Baby Tanner!!! We couldn't be more happy or feel more blessed!!
