Carter's Birth Story

I was 38 weeks pregnant and had been off work for just over a week and half when Carter decided to make his grand entrance. We had renovated our kitchen that week and had a new sink, countertops and backsplash installed. All the construction made our house a mess so my mom and I spent the day cleaning the house from top to bottom, had a pedicure, and I went to a friend's house for dinner.

 

Eric and I went to bed after midnight and I was just starting to fall asleep when I had my first contraction. I hadn't had any braxton hicks contractions but  I quickly figured I was in labor. We learned from our labor prep classes that with your first child you are supposed to stay home until your contractions are 5 minutes apart for 2 hours. We tried to time them, but there weren't any breaks between the contractions, just more intense pain and less intense pain. Nothing I did made it any better and after over an hour I couldn't take it anymore. Eric thought it was too soon to go to the hospital but I finally convinced him to call the hospital and tell them we were on our way... if this was going to last any longer I definitely needed an epidural!

 

Just as we were heading out the door I felt the need to push, unfortunately the hospital was 30 minutes away. We got in the car and I spent the next 20 minutes with my eyes closed just hoping we'd make it to the hospital. About half way there my water broke and I was so relieved when we finally pulled up the emergency room!

 

Eric was still convinced that I was just being a baby and we had many more hours of labor so he leisurely walked into the emergency room when I told him I needed a wheelchair. Eric pushed me in the hospital and left the truck running out front. He figured he'd get me in the room and then go back out to park the truck and get our bags. We had barely gotten into the labor room when I told the nurse I needed to push. She quickly got me on the bed, checked my progress, and told me she hoped I didn't want an epidural because Carter was ready to come! Two pushes and 3 minutes later and our little boy was born. From start to finish my labor was 2.5 hours and it was a crazy, unbelievable experience! Definitely not how we had planned, but I wouldn't change a thing.

 

Carter Raymond Ortega

August 10, 2012

2:56 a.m.

7 lbs 8 ounces

21 1/4 inches long

 

 

The nurses had a good laugh when Eric told them we'd left the truck running out front, good thing we were in Folsom and all our stuff was still there! Obviously none of our family was there for the birth (we barely made it ourselves!) but everyone got to meet him later that day. We've been in love ever since...