I've had these photos pending in a post just waiting for me to actually sit down and write something for the past two weeks which means Cole will be 3 weeks tomorrow. I swear we just brought him home from the hospital yesterday. The day before I was induced we went on one last walk around the Rose Bowl as a family of 3. I wanted to try to speed up my induction so I thought walking 3 miles couldn't hurt.
Al's mom flew in that night to take care of Alex for us and before we went to the airport we got sushi. I figured it was ok since I was being induced the next morning.
I was scheduled to get induced on November 6th at 5am. I woke up at 4am so I could shower and do my hair. Around 4:30 I had a voicemail that I luckily listened to and it was the hospital letting me know they were full and would call me when they had a bed that opened, worst ever. I was so anxious it took me awhile to fall back asleep, but we slept in until 7:30 when the hospital called me back and told me that I could come in. We got there around 8am and it took them until 10am to start me on Pitocin. I was a little bummed because I didn't like my nurse that much. She was all business and didn't know how to put an IV in. It was more painful than my epidural and my wrist was bruised for a least a week after. When my Dr checked me at 10:30am I was dilated to a 2 and that's also when she broke my water.
They gave me a time frame of when I could get an epidural which was until 11:30am. Otherwise I would have to wait until after a c-section was finished around 1:30pm. I was a little annoyed because I think you should be able to get an epidural whenever you want. I was also nervous so I chose 11:30am which ended up being around 11:45am. Al and I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and watched a lot of election tv while I ate jello, drank chicken broth, and water. Side note all the nurses and Dr were amazed with my hospital gown. Apparently customized gowns aren't a big deal in Los Angeles. Must be a Utah thing :)
Around 4:00pm my Dr checked me again and I was still only at a 2 which was super frustrating. She told me that it could be a long night and to try and get some rest. I started to get anxious and a little emotional and that's when I started feeling contractions. They started to get really really painful so we asked the nurse if the anesthesiologist could increase my epidural. He was in a surgery so I had to breathe through them for a bit. I kind of felt like I needed to push so I told the nurse and she decided to check me. She told me I was dilated to an 8, she had me try to push and that's when she called my Doctor. The anesthesiologist showed up just before the Doctor and made the pain a little more bearable before it was time to push. My Dr started telling me to push and I remember thinking I refuse to push for 2 hours again. I pushed really hard the first time and then she said something like ok let's just do a few half pushes. I pushed maybe 5 times and the last few weren't even full pushes and then Cole was born. What an amazing feeling to see your baby right after they are born. I don't think there is anything more beautiful.
Right when Cole came out he peed on Dr Morrissey and had a really loud cry. The experience was so much different than with Alex. I didn't have to deal with contractions for an entire day before I went to the hospital, I didn't feel pressure like I did with Alex before I had to push, and the best thing I didn't have to push for 2 hours. If I had the choice I would get induced with every baby, loved it. Al was supportive and amazing through the entire labor. I couldn't ask for a better husband and I'm very thankful to have him by my side. There was not a dry eye in the room and I think we were both in shock and extremely grateful at how fast and smoothly everything went. We have truly been blessed.
Cole Ryan Cameron was born at 5:55PM and weighed 7lbs 80z. Alex weighed 8lbs 5oz but was born at 41 weeks.
After Cole was born we had Shelly bring Alex to the hospital to meet Cole. When they walked into the room he wouldn't look at me. It was like he caught me cheating on him...lol He finally decided he wanted to sit by me and Cole's foot brushed his side and he swatted it away. Does this mean the brother fighting already begins? We had Cole give Alex a Pillow Pet Dream Lite which he loved. We even turned out the lights in the room so Alex could see the stars. He is still a little young to understand it all, but it was about how I expected.
Right after Cole was born Obama was re-elected, boooo. Al and I told each other if Romney won we were going to name Cole, Cole Mitt or Cole Romney.
Cole's first bath.
1 Day Old with mom
Grandma Cameron
Our second night at the hospital was a little stressful when Alex came to visit. I was a little relieved when he left so I could breathe again and try to understand how I was going to do this at home.
We had lots of fun visitors. The Dannels family came to visit and brought yummy cupcakes from Dots.
Laura came who is also pregnant. I'm sad we couldn't share our cravings together.
The first day at the hospital Shelly brought Alex and we all had lunch together. This is one of my favorite pictures.
Alex warming up to the idea of having a little brother.
Al changing the first diaper.
Sweet little Cole.
Skyping with Grandma Ranes so she could meet Cole.
Ready to go home. He already outgrew his newborn onesie and is on his way with the pants.
This was my favorite nurse Utah who I also had with Alex. I requested her both days I was there. She brings you extra diapers and wipes to take home. She also brings huge cups of pebble ice with lots of juice, love her.
We are very blessed to have two healthy little boys in our lives.
Around 8pm I went down to our exercise room and walked 2 more miles on the treadmill. After that I took a hot bath which was amazing....I can totally see why women give birth in baths now. The contractions still weren't getting to where I needed them to be so I sat on the exercise ball and suffered through what seemed like 100 more contractions. Finally around 11PM the contractions were about 5 minutes apart and were lasting about a minute each, so I looked at Al and said I think we need to go to the hospital. This was it!! We grabbed the bags I had packed for over a month and drove to the hospital in the pouring rain. They checked me into Triage to make sure I was really in labor and sure enough I was dilated 2-3cm....HOORAY!! They put us into a labor and delivery room to monitor the baby and check my contractions. After about 30 minutes (who really knows how long it was) the nurse told us we could go walk around the hospital to help me dilate more. From our room I could hear a lady screaming bloody murder that was obviously having a baby and I think my face went 3 shades whiter because Al said something like we don't need to listen to that, lets go walk around. It was great because there was no one else walking around the hospital at 2am. We walked in circles for about an hour and that's when those awful back labor pains I heard about started. I can't even explain how painful and tiring they were every few minutes. 
After our hour long walk I bounced on the exercise ball and laid in my bed until I couldn't handle it anymore. I got an epidural around 4am and finally felt relief as you can see in the picture below. 
We both tried to sleep and got about an hour which was not enough for the next 7 hours. We had great nurses and one in particular that was Mormon. She came in and was like you guys are my people...lol My Doctor came around 8am to break my water and right after she snapped those gloves on her hands and was about to lift up my gown I was like Uhhhh I think my water just broke. They thought I was joking, but sure enough it had just broke and I'm so glad that didn't happen in public because it was a lot of water!! My Doctor had the nurses give me some Pitocin to help speed up the process and increase those contractions which thankfully I was not feeling thanks to that amazing epidural. Around 9:30am I started feeling a ton of pressure in my lower back and butt. It was just as awful as a contraction and the nurse said it was because the baby was getting ready to drop. Around 10:30am when I was in tears and complaining about the pain the nurse said "ok you're ready to start pushing." I was like huh, already, what? They had an anesthesiologist come in and give me more pain medicine which I don't think really helped. At this point I was thinking all those girls that said you don't feel a thing after an epidural are full of it. If you're reading this and really didn't feel anything after an epidural than I'm jealous and you're lucky. I pushed for 2 hours and hopefully burned like 10,000 calories. It was painful, tiring, and emotional. Al stood by my side the entire time and coached me through everything. I seriously couldn't have done it without him. 
Inititally his transition breathing was worrisome to the Doctor because it lasted longer than normal. As it turns out he is just fine and had some extra fluid in his lungs from the stress of the birth, so they had to monitor him for a few hours at the nursery until he could come to our room. 
The hospital staff was great, we loved the facility and were impressed with everyone there. I had one favorite nurse named Utah. She was from Africa and would come in with cranberry juice and apple juice and say hey I brought you a cocktail. She would bring me those hot underwear they make you wear and say I have some sexy panties for you...hahah
Alex is 2 weeks old tomorrow and everything is going great. We are excited to be starting our own little family. He is the sweetest baby and we can't get enough of him. Thanks to all of you for your love and support. It has been an incredible expericence and we are glad to share it with so many great people 
