♥♥♥ Camden Robert Kromray ♥♥♥
The contractions started at 1:30am.
I went to bed at 11:30pm and had already woken up 4 times over those last 2 hours, but wasn’t sure if the contractions were already taking place or not. At 1:30am, however, I immediately recognized the familiar pain and started timing– “I’m 2 days past my due date, so this has got to be it”, I thought.
The contractions were 9-10 minutes apart. Within an hour or so, they were around 7 minutes apart. I checked the internet to see how long it takes to go from 10 to 5 minutes apart (when you should head to the hospital), and was informed that it typically takes around 7-12 hours for a first-time pregnancy, and quicker thereafter. Since Carter’s birth was 36 hours… I figured, hey… I’ve got time. Cory can sleep until 7 or 8 am and we’ll head in then.
The plan was to call my mom so she could watch Carter, but since it was the middle of the night and she’d be driving from 30 minutes away, I wanted to make sure this was the real deal. Before I knew it, my contractions went from 7 minutes apart, and jumped to 3-4 minutes apart. I called my mom at 4:30am, and anxiously awaited her arrival.
Within a minute of her walking in the door, I started getting nauseous. I grabbed a generic Zofran (which I only needed to take a hand full of times during this pregnancy) and popped the whole pill before we headed out the door.
We arrived in the intake room at 6am; after confirming that this was “go time”… I was wheeled to my room, and connected to an IV. By that point, I was 3cm dilated and contractions were about 2 minutes apart.
TURN UP THE HEAT– AND THE NOISE!
Tick tock, tick tock… I was waiting for an epidural as the contractions got strRONGER and STRONGER. Fortunately, there were no other mothers in the delivery ward because my aching moans turned into screams and eventually… screams and swearing.
I was 7cm dilated when I finally received my epidural! I don’t know what’s normal… but I had wished the entire time that I hadn’t waited so long to go in! After the painkillers finally kicked in… I didn’t feel a thing. Zip. Zada. NOTHING.
It was bliss. The cervical checks during Carter’s birth legitimately made me C.R.Y… but this was great. There wasn’t an ounce of pain!
8:00 am turned into 10:00 am and I had been fully dilated for over 2 hours. We all thought I’d be pushing by that point… but my body wasn’t “registering” the urge to push. We turned down the flow of the epidural by 40% and some minor pain returned. After unsuccessfully waiting for the urge-to-push to start… we decided to start pushing anyway.
“BOY? GIRL?” We couldn’t help but wonder!
Within 50 minutes of pushing… he was here!
“It’s a BOYYY!!”, exclaimed Cory!
It was over! It was finally over! After a super quick 11.5 hour birth with only 3-4 hours of hard pain (2 of which were unbearable)… HE WAS HERE!
I vividly remember Cory shedding some proud-papa tears when Carter was born… but today… today, he was ecstatic in a whole new way! Cory was hoping for another boy, and here he was! And this smile… this JOYOUS SMILE of his… ^^^ now THAT is what I’ll always remember with this birth! :)
It took us a few hours to officially decide between Connor James and Camden Robert, but eventually we went with our gut reaction and picked CAMDEN!
We had been prepping Carter for a while with the idea of having a baby… and he couldn’t have been any sweeter when Camden finally arrived!
Uncle Mikey wasn’t able to attend Carter’s birth… so it was exciting to have him present after Camden was born. Neither of us grew up with babies around us, so after Carter was born almost 2 years ago, we were both adjusting to the reality of holding/playing/taking care of a baby.
Because of this awkwardness… Uncle Mikey compensated by trying to “play” with newborn Carter by legitimately scaring him. Other than Christmas a few weeks ago, this was Carter’s first time being so affectionate with Mike. It was heartwarming :)
…I definitely think he’ll be better with Camden this time-around! :D
Cory’s 94 year old grandmother visited us and graced us with a 4-generation photo!
♥♥♥
♥♥♥ Camden Robert Kromray ♥♥♥
kayleefrischphotography.wordpress.com 
Omgosh, congrats on your second bundle of cuteness and memories to last a lifetime! Thank you for sharing your birth story. Next time go for the water birth, haha! Happy New year!
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Thank you! :) Had I not waited so long, I think this one would have been a slam-dunk, walk in the park! I don’t know if I could do a water/natural birth! Yikes!
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