The Chronicle Of Carter (birth story)

(We wanted to get the labor/delivery story written down. Some times are exact due to cell phone records and computer timestamps. Others are estimated. TImes without the tilde (~) mark are exact.)

FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2009
1:00pm: scheduled prenatal visit. Jen is at 2 cm.

~3:30pm: Jen starts noticing "an odd feeling" in her abdomen that lasts for 30-45 seconds, and keeps repeating on a fairly regular basis.

~4:30pm: Jen calls me at work. "Honey, I think I might be having some sort of pre-contractions or something." I tell her that I'm coming home right away. She says I don't need to do that; it's probably nothing. I immediately pack up everything I might need to work from home for the next week, and jump in the car.

~4:45pm: In the car, I call Jen:

JEN: "It's probably nothing, just those Braxton-Hicks things or something."
BEN: "How long has this been going on?"
JEN: "A little over an hour."
BEN: "How far apart are they?"
JEN: "About every 8-10 minutes or so."
BEN: "Uh, Jen. That sounds like the real deal."
JEN: "No...no....this doesn't really even hurt."
BEN: "Well, just in case, I think you should at least finish packing your bag, and let your mom know." (Her mom was planning on being there for the birth. As for the bag, given everything that we'd been told about first-time moms, she'd planned on finishing that on Saturday--a week before the due date.)
JEN: "OK...ok....I guess I can pack the bag. But I don't think I should get mom worried. I don't want her get her excited and she drives all the way down here for nothing because I end up not having the baby for another week."

4:59pm: I call my mother to let her know that her 7th grandchild might be on the way.

~5:10pm: I arrive at home, fully in "about-to-be-a-father" mode. I take over the timing of the "funny feelings." They're ranging from 6 to 10 minutes apart at this point.

~6:00pm: With the "funny feelings" down to 5 to 8 minutes apart, Jen decides to at least let her mom know that maybe something is going on.

~6:15pm: Jen describes the "funny feelings" as being somewhat like cramps and not the real deal. Given the repetitive nature, I'm convinced that we're going to have a baby in the next 12-18 hours. She is not. We decide to go next door to talk to our next-door neighbors, Matt and Trista. Trista has had two, the most recent one coming 6 months ago. We knock on the door. They invite us in. Jen and Trista start small-talking. This small talk is going on for a good 60-90 seconds before I just interrupt and say, "Uh, Jen, this ain't a social call. Trista, we're here for a reason. What do contractions feel like?" TRISTA: "WHAT?????!!!!" (big grin) She tells her that the early ones feel somewhat like cramps. DING DING DING!!! We're at their house long enough for 2 or 3 more of those "funny feelings" to come on, then we go back, probably around 6:45pm.

~6:45pm: Jen calls her mom to report back in. Still she tells her that it's probably nothing. I take the phone from her: "Susan, Jen is downplaying this. I think this is it. If you wait until tomorrow morning, I think you're going to miss the birth. Come tonight if you still want to see your first grandchild born."

~6:55pm: I call Columbus to let my mother know that I think her 7th grandchild is coming soon.

~7:30pm: Nearly all the "funny feelings" have been 6-7 minutes apart for the last 90 minutes. Jen tells me about a web site where contractions can be timed by just hitting "Begin" and "end" buttons when they start and finish. Starting at 7:32pm, we have a complete record of her contractions until 12:16am.

7:41pm Facebook Update: "Ben Lewis and Jen are not in agreement on what is a contraction, but she's having some sort of pain like clockwork every 7 minutes."

7:43pm Facebook Update: "Ben Lewis needs to clarify: he thinks they are. She is downplaying. We'll see who's right, I guess. ;-)"

~7:45pm: Trista and two other moms of young ones on our street knock on the front door. Jen hangs out with them for 10 minutes or so on the porch. All four are giggling, telling labor stories, trying to figure out if these are really contractions, etc. (Of course while she's out there she tells me when the "funny feelings" are beginning and ending.)

~8:15pm: I ask Jen if she's had a "funny feeling" lately. She says that she hasn't. I say "well, I expect you'll be having one in the next very short while." About 10 seconds later, there comes one.

8:17pm Facebook Update: "She is now fairly convinced that they are contractions. Last one was 58 seconds long. They're 6 minutes apart now. "

8:22pm: The first of a series of contractions five minutes apart or less begins. I *think* this is the first one where she started feeling noticeable pain and not just "kinda like a cramp."

~8:45pm: Bag is packed. Jen has eaten dinner. Contractiosn have been five minutes or less for half an hour. First call to doctor is made. Doctor wants her 4 to 4 1/2 minutes apart for an hour before coming in, but gives us option to come in then if we want. Jen declines. :)

~9:00pm: Jen's parents in High Point are frantically running around and packing the cars. I believe they departed at around 10:00pm.

~9:25pm: Jen realizes that she has no really good "pregnant pictures," so we get up, get dressed, and go next door to ask Matt and Trista to come take some pictures of us. Pic was taken at 9:34pm.

11:12pm Facebook Update: "Ben Lewis and Jennifer are sitting in the den on our laptops timing the contractions. 5 minutes and counting. Methinks we're going to get to meet Carter soon. " So we basically sat in the den. Jen contracting and breathing, me doing the timing, for the next 45 minutes..until....

11:58pm Facebook Update: Ben Lewis is wondering if it is normal behavior for a woman who is having contractions 4 1/2 minutes apart to get up and start vacuuming the house, refusing to let her husband do it.

Yes, when I informed her that she'd hit the 4 1/2 minute mark, she got UP and started vacuuming, and would not let me do it.

SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2009
12:16am: We record the last at-home contraction. It's 48 seconds long, and is only 2 minutes and 35 seconds after the most recent one.

~12:30am: After calling the doctor once again and letting her know that Jen had been at or around 4 minutes for nearly an hour, she gives us the go-ahead, and we depart for East Cooper Regional Hospital. In the car on the way there, we call a few people to let them know that this is it.

~1:15am: We get checked into a room.

~1:25am: Jen's water breaks. She is at 8cm.

~1:30am: Nurse struggles to get I.V. in, which is needed for epidural. (As of this writing, over two weeks later, Jen still has a nasty-looking bruise on her arm from this...)

~1:45am: Second nurse finally gets I.V. in.

~2:10am: Epidural begins. (Turns out this was only a partial, and needed to be redone later.) Jen is at 9cm.

~2:30am: Jen's parents arrive at the hospital.

~3:45am: Jen is at 9cm. Doctors ascertain that epidural is not working as needed. New epidural is ordered.

~3:50am: Things improve dramatically for Jen as new epidural kicks in.

~4:45am: Jen's brother Sam arrives at the hospital, having also driven all night from High Point.

~5:00am: Doctor ascertains that Jen is at 10cm, but baby needs to drop down a little further. Jen is pretty comfortable at this point, so they sit her upright for a while and let gravity help out.

5:58am: At this point, it's just a waiting game. Jen's parents are pretty tired from driving and being up all night.


7:13am: Still waiting. Loving the epidural.

8:57am Facebook Update: "Dr just said she will have Jen start pushing in 30ish min."

~9:45am: Pushing actually commences, a little later than the doc had said.


10:44am: Carter Ravenel Lewis is born!!!


10:51am: On the scale



11:02am: Mommy, Daddy, and Carter



11:04am: (20 minutes old and alert...she was this way pretty much from birth)




11:05am: (21 minutes...Jen looking none the worse for wear!)

~11:30am: Due to minor breathing/transition issues, Carter is taken to the nursery for observation. Her blood oxygen count was at around 82%. We were told that they're looking for 90 or better.

~11:35am: An oxygen mask is put on her.

~11:36am: She pulls the oxygen mask off.

~11:37am: The mask is put back on.

~11:38am: She pulls it off again.

~11:38am: The doctor notices that the count has risen to the 97-99 range, and decides to leave the mask off and see how she does.

12:01pm: In the nursery, no mask


~1:00pm: Carter is allowed to return to our room after a little over an hour of all vital signs looking perfect.