Our Birth Story... We love you Carter.

Well, our dream has come true...

On November 27, 2010, at 7:05 am, we delivered a perfect little 8 lbs. 2 oz. baby boy. Carter. Herbert. Reed. And we fell in love. Here is how it all happened.

We woke up on Friday November 26, 2010, like it was any other day, anticipating the arrival of our little Jelly Bean in about a week, I was exactly 38 weeks and 6 days. The snow outside was as white as could be, the sun was shinning and the temperature was warm. I had lots of energy this day and wanted to "get things done". Brian left for work at 7:00 am and I got out of bed. I dusted and vacuumed the house, shoveled the driveway, got a hair cut and painted nails (a little pampering before baby arrives i thought would be nice). At 4:15pm I was drinking some Raspberry Leaf tea standing in our room and *Surprise* my water broke! I was so excited I could not stop smiling.. but i did not have any contractions and did not feel any "different". Brian was supposed to come home at 6:00pm but I called him and told him what had happened, I assured him that i was feeling just fine and there was no need to rush. Brian was home just before 5:00pm. It was actually a very relaxing process at the beginning... we double checked the bags and made sure the car seat was perfectly in the car. We took George to my parent's house where he would stay the night, and we headed to SUBWAY! I know... I know... but I heard that once you are in labour they wont let you eat... and well.. baby and I were hungry, so before we headed to the hospital, we had a wonderful sub... delicious!

We arrived at the Rockyview Hospital at 8:30pm. Immediately, the nurse hooked Baby's little heart beat up to a monitor to make sure everything was going good. He was doing Great.

We got tested to make sure that my water did in fact break and the results came back to us around 11:00pm... it was broken. Because I was not having any contractions or signs of labour, our options were to 1. be induced right then and there or 2. go home, get a good night's rest and come back in the morning at 8:00am to be induced if contractions had not yet started on their own.

We prayed, and talked it over together about what option was better for us and Baby. I was nervous because the doctors had told us that if you are induced, labour will last longer, the contractions will be stronger and there is a higher risk of a c-section, forceps or vacuum. .. none of which we wanted, however after Brian said a prayer we both felt impressed to "get the show on the road".

We started the Oxytocin drip at 12:00 midnight on November 27, 2010, at first the contractions were what i thought... pretty bad... later i realized that I would give anything to only have those "pretty bad" contractions compared to what they turn into, but I was more than blessed to have my wonderful Husband and mom there to help me through every one of them.

The best part of the contractions was being able to constantly hear little Carter's heart beating. It helped me to stay focused. Brian had his laptop and played very relaxing Norah Jones music the entire time, it was wonderful.

We had the most amazing nurse named Monica. She was absolutely incrediable and I know that our labour went as smooth as could be because of her. Every time I had a contraction that was unbearable, she would come and rub my back and keep me focused on deep breathing.

It took me about 3 or 4 hours to go from 1cm dilated to 3cm (this was not very motivating) however within a couple of hours i was at 6cm which was a relief. I was continually offered an epidural, morphine and any other drug available but I never wanted to take any and did my best to stick to the game plan.... oh natural... although I cannot take all the credit.. Monica, Brian and my mom were so supportive and gave me so many words of encouragement that it made it "easy" to turn down any sort of pain relief. Thank you guys!

Labour started to quickly increase and I went from 6cm to 10cm within 40 minutes (what a blessing!) the last 4 set of contractions before I was aloud to push were H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E! I sat on the yoga ball for most of my labour... i found so much more relief in that then lying on the bed... that was not a good experience for me. Labour is nothing that you can explain and nothing that I expected it would be. Once I was aloud to push, it went fast. Luckily, i only pushed for 15 minutes and then I heard that sound that every new mom longs to hear. The first cry.

They immediately put Carter on my tummy and Brian cut the umbilical cord.

We all cried.

Thank you so much mom for your support. I love you!

I felt so many emotions. Relief. Happiness. Excitement. But most of all... Love. And in an instant all the pain, and horror of labour went away. We finally had our Baby boy. Carter Herbert Reed. He weighed in at 8 pounds 2 ounces, 20" long and a 35cm little round head.

Pure Love.

Perfect. From the moment we saw him we feel in love. A completely different kind of love that I never knew even existed until we had Carter.

We decided to name him Carter Herbert Reed. The name Herbert comes from Brian's side of the family. Brian, Brian's Dad and Grandfather all have the middle name of Herbert and now Carter does too.

The first couple of days brought us so much joy and many surprises. Brian had his first poopy diaper experience and it was to die for! If you know Brian well, you know that he does not do bodily fluids very well... especially poop. Before we could take Carter home, he had to have his first poop at the hospital.. so when it happened it was such a happy moment for this little Reed family and Brian eagerly said "I'll change it". Brian was being so careful and making sure that he was getting all the poop cleaned off Carter (while holding his breath of course) and just as Brian was almost finished and ready to strap on a fresh diaper, Carter took another HUGE poop... Brian caught it with the cloth and started to say "oh crap... oh crap"... not even 5 seconds later, Carter pees about 2 feet in the air and it almost got Brian right in the face but he was able to dodge it (at this point my mom and I were no help.... we were crying from laughing so hard.. sorry Brian) just as Carter stopped peeing everywhere Carter took ANOTHER HUGE poop and 2 seconds later he spit up. Needless to say, Brian was stressed but he handeled it and handeled it well.

Brian is such an amazing Daddy. I love him with all of my heart and I know that Carter and him will have the most amazing relationship ... and that makes me happy. I love you Brian.

Carter was such a good boy while we stayed in the hospital, he did not even make one peep when they took his blood to run standard tests and was always so content. However when Carter had his first bath... he was not impressed.

We were able to leave the hospital on Sunday November 28, 2010, in the late afternoon. I was so excited to take our little man home. What a blessing he is.

Our first day at home was fun, exhausting and so special. George got to meet Carter and he L.O.V.E.S him. Every time Carter cries, George runs around trying to find him and when he does he lies down right beside him (or his basinet) until he calms down.

Having Carter has changed our lives completely and even though he is only 4 days old we cannot imagine life without him. We are excited to record all of our little adventures with him on our blog. Check back often!

We love you Carter Herbert Reed.