Caleb Matthew Is Here!

It was a long road, but Caleb Matthew Ramsey is finally here!  We are so thankful for our little blessing!  With such an easy pregnancy, I thought labor and delivery would go smoothly as well...was I ever WRONG!  He was due July 21st and took his time in getting here!  We are glad he's finally here and we can move forward!  Here's Caleb's story in a nutshell:
The journey began on Thursday morning, when I went to the hospital to be induced (as is standard procedure when two weeks overdue).  We had also been to the hospital Tuesday for almost the entire day to see if they could induce labor by giving me a pill-no such luck-NOTHING happened.  So, on Thursday I thought they would start Pitocin, but instead they put some gel on my cervix to try to dilate me, since I showed no signs of dilation or progression.  Starting Pitocin without being dilated at all is apparently risky, as it's like "jamming the baby's head into a wall."  Yikes.  So, gel was applied and immediately began to have INTENSE contractions.  I was writhing in pain on the bed, and was told to stay lying on my side.  When the nurse came to check on me an hour later she said it should not have hurt that bad and I should have told her sooner that I was in pain (I thought the pain was normal).  Contractions subsided for a while and weren't as intense...so we waited.  At 1:00pm my water broke, but I still was only dilated 2 cm.  We spent a long night in the hospital not getting much sleep due to nurses coming in to check constantly and loud noises in the hall.
Friday morning they started Pitocin which was very painful.  Again...more waiting in pain.  A few hours later they checked dilation and I had progressed to 4 cm.  I was a little disappointed being that I had been having painful contractions for over 24 hours and the finish line still seemed a long way off.  I decided to try to sleep for an hour or two.  When the nurse came to check again I had progressed to 9 cm all in a couple hours!  By 4:30 pm I was finally at 10 cm and began pushing around 5:00.  Unfortunately Caleb was still pretty high so I wasn't making much progress.  I started to get tired from pushing so much and Caleb's heartbeat began to decrease after each contraction.  They gave me an oxygen mask to help breathe.  Our midwife then discovered that Caleb was stuck behind my pelvic bone and even if I was able to get his head out, they were worried that his shoulders would get stuck.  He was also face-up, which made the delivery even more difficult.  They began to talk about interventions-vacuum extraction, c-section, etc.  I panicked and begged them not to and told them I could do it!!  The on-call doctor was called in and she decided to get the ultrasound machine to see if she could see anything.  By the time she came back with it I had progressed a lot and it wasn't needed.  Caleb was finally delivered at 8:20pm after 3 1/2 hours of pushing.  We are so glad he's here! 

 CALEB MATTHEW RAMSEY

Born 8/5/11 at 8:20pm

9 lbs 2 oz,  22in.

 Tired Daddy

 Grandma Hawkins

 The Ramsey Boys

 Auntie Julie

Mr. Muscles

Grandpa Hawkins

Uncle Jesse

Going Home!