It's a Boy!!!!!!!

Hayden Curtis Peever was born on December 5, 2010 at 9:49am. He weighed 6lbs 10ozs and was 20 inches long.

Here is his story:

On December 4th, 2010, Curtis, Mom and I went shopping to a local mall. We were going to "shop til I dropped" since I was 2 days overdue, and I somewhat did. We walked around the mall for quite some time. Some time during our shopping my bag of water had ruptured but Hayden's head prevented it from gushing so it became a slow leak. I didn't really notice anything different while walking around. We came home and decorated our Christmas tree and watched fireworks in the park that kick off the Festival of Lights in the town we live in. Again still really not noticing anything. It wasn't until I had to go to the bathroom that I noticed the crotch of my underwear was soaked. Because I hadn't felt a gush of fluid or anything I was a little concerned so we called HealthLink and spoke to a nurse. She suggested we go to the hospital since I was Group B strep positive (which is normal) and would need to be put on Penicillin as soon as possible.

We got to the hospital around 9:00pm and checked in. Curtis and I went into Triage and I was assessed. The doctor said my water had broken, I was 3cm dilated, and we were admitted to the hospital. Around 9:30 they started my IV and penicillin. The doctor said that because they weren't sure what time my water had broken and because it was only a leak, they were going to use Oxytocin to induce my labour and get things started. I was only having mild contractions at this point and they were very sporatic. They wheeled me into my labour/delivery room around 10:00pm and started my Oxytocin around 10:30pm.

The Oxytocin didn't do anything at first. It gradually brought labour on and my contractions started to get worse and closer together. When the doctor came to examine me at 12:00am I was still only 3cm dilated, even though my contractions were worsening. The doctor explained to me that my water hadn't fully broken. There was still a bag of water behind Hayden's head that hadn't ruptured yet, called forewater. He broke this bag and man things went bad quickly. Within 5 minutes of him breaking that bag, I had intense contractions that didn't ease up. My mom was watching the monitor and said on the scale from 0-200 my contractions were close to 160. Also they were right on top of one another. I would start having a contraction and before I could finish that one I was already starting another one. This went on for about an hour. It was 1:10am when the doctor came to examine me again and recommended that they stop the Oxytocin since my contractions were so intense. However, with all of those contractions I was still only 3cm dilated. That was frustrating!!!!!

Up to this point I had no medication whatsoever, but the intensity of the contractions, the fact that I had no break between them, and I was still only 3cm dilated, I made the decision to have an epidural. I didn't want morphine or laughing gas or anything like that, so the epidural was really my only choice. I was a little upset with myself for getting it because I really wanted to have a natural birth, but it was for the best in the end. The anaesthiologist came to see me around 1:45am and started my epidural at 2am. However, the epidural didn't work!!!!! It only froze from the middle of my thigh to my toes. I could still feel all the contractions, but now couldn't get up and move to ease them. This was incredibly frustrating. They can only top up the epidural every so many hours, so I had to deal with it until almost 5am when they came back and adjusted the dosage. Finally I had a little bit of a break. I was able to sleep a little bit and relax.

Usually epidurals slow labour down, but actually my labour progressed quickly once my epidural started. By 8:30am I was fully dilated and they were going to let me start pushing. The only problem was Hayden was still not fully descended into my pelvis, so they told me pushing could take upwards of 2-3 hours. The doctor also discussed the possibility of a C-section with me because he was transverse (laying sideways instead of head down) and wouldn't move. She manually tried to turn him and he kept turning back. I was terrified of a C-section, so I was determined to push as best I could to prove her wrong.... and I did. They had me start pushing at 9am and by the time the doctor came back to examine me again at 9:30am he was already crowning. She said afterwards she couldn't believe it and would've bet her paycheque I was going to end up having a C-section. That made me feel better!!!! Anyways I must have pushed well because I only ended up pushing for 49 minutes and he was born at 9:49am.

Only one more complication faced us at this time. Hayden had pooped while labour was progressing and that is dangerous because he can ingest it after birth. So they had to bring in a special team of nurses that clean him up and extract all the meconium (poop) from his mouth, nose, eyes etc. Around 9:45am the doctor told me that I would have to put all of my strength into the next push because this might be the last one. I closed my eyes and beared down with all of my strength. Nobody told me not to stop pushing and because I was frozen from my epidural I couldn't feel them put Hayden on my chest. I was still pushing and he was already out and on my chest. Because of the meconium they put him face down, quickly patted him dry, and then took him away to the special team of nurses. When I opened my eyes from finishing pushing they were already taking him away. I looked at Curtis and asked him what the baby was, and he told me he didn't know. We both looked at the doctor and she said she didn't know. They were too busy getting him cleaned up and since he was face down on me nobody could see his gender. Curtis immediately ran over to the incubator and proudly announced it was a boy!!

They cleaned him up and extracted all of the meconium while I delivered the placenta and the doctor cleaned me up. I am proud to say I only had a minor internal tear that required 2 stitches... that was it! It might gross people out to read that, but I was quite proud LOL! Once they had cleaned him up they brought him back to me and I got to hold him for the first time. It was an amazing feeling and I immediately was overwhelmed with tears of joy. Curtis had spent his time making sure Hayden was being cleaned properly, and finally got to relax a little. We announced officially that his name was Hayden Curtis and Curtis began phoning relatives. They were very excited to hear that everything had gone well and Hayden was finally here.

They kept me in the labour/delivery room until 12:00pm and then transfered me to post-partum. I felt so proud to be wheeled down the hall holding my little man. We spent 24 hours in post-partum and were released on December 6th, 2010 at 3:10pm. It was very nerve wracking and exciting to pack him up and bring him home. Curtis' parents and my mom were at the house waiting for us and they had decorated the house with an "it's a boy" banner and blue ribbons. It was really cute! We were excited to be home and get settled!

We cannot thank people enough for their kind thoughts, wishes and gifts. Hayden is beautiful and a true gift to both Curtis and I. We are so blessed to have him and remind ourselves of that everyday (regardless of how much sleep we have lost lol). We want to officially invite you to follow Hayden on his own blog, which will be coming soon. Our plan is to load a picture each day of him so peope can see him growing and changing. It will track his milestones, and let you know all about him. We thank you for your love and support in following this blog. I can't believe how many hits we got. It is incredible. It was quite the journey and we cannot wait to continue it with him.

All of our love
Holly, Curtis & Hayden