The Cram Family: May 2014

On May 3rd we welcomed our sweet little boy into the world. My due date was that Tuesday and my mom flew in that evening. I had had a few bouts of contractions that I thought had been promising but they would go as soon as they came. I had my 40 week appointment on Wednesday and the doctor didn't see much progression. So they scheduled a stress test for the following Tuesday. By Friday morning I was feeling pretty stressed Denver's movement I felt had decreased and my blood pressure had been slowly creeping up at each appointment so we decided to go in to the doctor just to get things checked out again. They did my stress test and Denver was doing fine but my blood pressure had gone up even more to the point that they decided to send me over to the hospital to be induced.
We got admitted around 11am and they started the pitocin around 2pm. We just spent the afternoon waiting. I was having contractions but not anything too strong. My doctor came around 9:30 and broke my water and after that the contractions got really strong and the anesthesiologist came in around midnight to give me my epidural. After only an hour and a half of sleep the pain came back a bit and I was fully dilated by 5am. At 6 they had me start pushing. After almost 5 hours of pushing my doctor told us we needed to think about having a c-section. By this point I was so exhausted but thinking about a c-section after all that work seemed ridiculous to me. At that point I asked Erik for another blessing to help me know what to do. In the blessing I was told I would be able to deliver Denver and we would be ok. After that I had so much more progress with the next few contractions the doctor decided to let me keep trying. After another horrible hour of pushing with the best medical staff and my mom and wonderful husband at my side Denver was born at 12:11pm with the cord around his neck 3 times. They let me hold him for a second and then took him over to help him breathe better and get him crying. It took him a few seconds but he got the hang of it. He was 8lbs 10 oz! No wonder it was so hard to get him out!

Me all ready to be induced.

Denver on the breathing machine with his little conehead he had. It went down really quickly now he has a cute little round head.

Getting to hold him after they cleaned him up. I don't look nearly as put together as I did in that first picture. I guess labor does that to a person.

Minutes old and finally crying.

New little family. I could barely keep my eyes open I was so exhausted.

Peaceful brand new babe.

First bath with daddy. Our nurse Laura there was incredible. I was so impressed with the staff that took care of us they were very kind and helpful acted like they had all the time in the world to be with us and help us.

In his little bed in our recovery room.

Daddy and Denver. Erik is such a natural with him and he loves his dad.

Ready to go home!

Wide awake. This kid is so alert everyone who sees him thinks he's older than he is. This is him just a few days old.

Snuggles with mom. We pretty much live on the couch...

Grandma and Denver the day she went home. I loved having my mom here she got to spend some time with me before, during, and after he was born it ended up being the perfect time for her to be here.