Our Little Hargrove Family: Channing Chase Hargrove makes his debut......

So these past few days have been a little crazy. I can not express in words what it has been like to finally hold my little man after dreaming about him for the last 9 months. The labor and delivery went better than I could have ever imagined. I am not saying it wasn't painful or stressful at times but hey I would do it all over again to meet this wonderful little man of mine. So now to begin the story of his journey...

On Sunday I was originally suppose to go into the hospital at 10 pm to be admitted and start the cervidil and the pitocin would be started at 10 am. We were going to go and have the Chamberlain family thanksgiving that night at Chase's parents house before we had to go in. Well we spent the day making sure we had everything in order for the next few days. I made sure to have everything I thought we could possibly need while at the hospital and double checked to make sure I had everything for Channing. Later in the day (around 4) while we were sitting at home I received a call from the hospital. I thought it was just going to be a reminder that we had to be there by 10 but they were actually calling to tell me that they could get me in earlier than they thought and that I needed to be there at 6. I was so excited because that meant I was going to get to meet my little man sooner than I thought but all of sudden extremely nervous. My stomach was in knots and I kinda wasn't feeling all that well. We called all the family to give them the new update of what to expect so they would know when to come to the hospital in the morning.

Chase, Vanessa and I all headed to the hospital to get checked in. Originally Vanessa wanted to follow us up there so she would know where to park and what room I would be in so she could find her way back in the morning when it would be time to get everything rolling. We walked in and the checked me in at the front desk getting my weight and asking when my original due date was and the last time I had eaten anything. They then showed us back to the room where all the magic would take place. We get in the room and meet the nurse who would be starting everything but would not actually be my nurse through out the the night. Of course they started the million question game as I got dressed in my hospital gown and comfy in my new bed. Once all the questions were done it was time to poke the mommy! I hate needles with a passion so I always tell them not to count or tell me when they are going to poke me just to poke me and get it over with. She was putting the iv in my hand which wasn't to bad. We then waited for the nurse that would be with me for the night. When she came in she asked the million question game as well and I told her that I kept feeling water or something all over my hand. She checked my iv to find that it wasn't staying in place. She told me she was going to have to re poke me. Of course I was freaking out!! She put it in my wrist so I would still have movement and to my surprise, it didn't hurt that much there either. The next step was to start the cervidil. This was just to finish thinning me out and to help me move along in the dilation process a little bit. She let me know this would be inserted and left for 12 hours or until I was at a 3 and the pitocin would be started at 6 am. She then checked me and I was still at a 1 almost a 2 and inserted the cervidil. Before the cervidil was inserted or I was checked they had set me up on the monitors. Once the monitors were on she asked if I felt anything. I told her no, why? She said because you are having some pretty good contractions right now, probably the reason I didn't feel so well earlier. Chase, Vanessa and I all watched the screen as I was having contractions but yet not feeling a thing.

Not long after the cervidil was inserted I started to go into labor. I was all of a sudden breathing a little heavier and really beginning to feel the contractions. Chase and Vanessa were great with telling me how long my contractions were lasting and to just breathe through them and make sure I did not hold my breath. After a little bit of these contractions and heavy breathing we decided I could use a little oxygen to help with my breathing. The nurse came in to check me since I was all of sudden having contractions that were harder and closer together. I had already progressed to a 2 and since my contractions were so close and strong she decided to give me some meds to help with the pressure I was feeling. When the meds kicked in it was like heaven. My body finally relaxed and I could barely make it through my sentences and I was all of a sudden extremely tired. We all decided maybe I should get some rest while Chase and Vanessa updated the family to let them know what was going on. Well unfortunately the rest part didn't last long because the pressure came back as well as the me feeling the contractions. I kept telling Chase I really needed the nurse to check me because I was really hurting and I was ready for the epidural. At this time it was around 10ish and the nurse finally agreed to check me. Now they same cervidil normally takes the 12 hours to work or a little less but for some reason my body just really took to it because when she checked me I was at a 3 and completely thinned out. She said she would call my doctor to make sure it was ok to take it out and asked if I was ready for the epidural, I was most def ready for that!! She came back in a not to long after she left and said that Dr. Vert said to take the cervidil out and it would be ok to start the epidural and that she would see me at 6 in the morning to get the pitocin started. At this point Vanessa thought it would be a good idea to head home and change into something more comfortable and come back because we all originally thought she would just come for a few minutes and then get to go home until the morning. Well since I was progressing faster than we all thought she just wanted to run home and change and head back. While she was gone I finally got the cervidil removed, received my epidural (which wasn't nearly as painful as I thought) and was checked again to be told I was already at a 4 and it was only 11 pm. So while I tried to get some rest Chase updated the family to let them know we were probably going to have Channing here sooner than we thought.

Between 11 pm and 4:30 am when Channing made it into the world not much had happened. We had a few visitors: Jimmy, Katy, Michele, Dad, Jessica, Alison, and Hunter. I had been progressing faster than we assumed and a few time was starting to feel pain again so they would have to come in and adjust my epidural to help me out. The nurse was getting frustrated with me because I would not sleep at all and was blaming on people being in my room. So we asked everyone but Chase and Vanessa to step out into the waiting room so I could get some rest. But rest was not really my friend. I would constantly all of a sudden be breathing hard and having pressure which had Chase up and checking on me. Finally we convinced the nurse that I was really feeling a lot more pressure and they checked the epidural again and me. To the nurses surprise I was right I was feeling more pressure because I was dilating faster than anyone could imagine. I kept asking when she would call my doctor since I was moving so fast and she told me once I got to a 10 then they would call the doctor because by the time she got there we could begin pushing which could in turn take hours. It was quickly moving through centimeters and was quickly at a 9 wondering if the nurse was seriously going to wait until I was at a 10 to let my doctor know. Not long, literally after she checked me and I was a 9 I told her I was having a lot of pressure and I really felt like I needed to push in which she looked at me like you have a long ways to go before you will be ready to be pushing him out. With reluctance she decided to check me again and to her surprise I was at a 10 plus 1 and that made her decide to call my doctor. I am sure all of you are wondering when did her water break because she never mentioned it well that was because it never did. Once she called the doctor who said she was on her way she told me to go ahead and start pushing so we could see where Channing was at and see if maybe I could break my water that way. Well after pushing a few time it was clear my water just was not going to break so she had to do it when I was pushing, to which I felt a little relief. It didn't take my doctor long to get there which was good because after pushing for a few minutes I was told to stop because I needed to wait to push him out until the doctor got there. Let me tell you trying not to push when he is right there and you have a lot of pressure building up is not easy. Finally in walked Dr. Vert and the nurse feels her in quickly as they try to dress her and she asks me are you ready to start pushing and my answer was I have been ready. She told me to give her a good push to see where I was at and to her surprise she said ok he is about to be out. I gave her 3 more good pushes and out came our little angel. We were all very shocked at how quickly everything had happened, if I had not gone in to be induced I would have probably had him on my own the next day or so and Channing obviously did not want mommy to have to have pitocin either.

Channing Chase Hargrove born at 4:30 am 7 lbs 9.5 oz and 19 inches long. They cleaned him up while Chase went out and shared the good news and told them they could come back soon once I was cleaned up. Chase finally got to hold his son, then mommy did, then the godmother and then the doctor. Once we all had a few minutes with him we let the family in to meet our pride and joy.

Sorry for the long blog but the experience was amazing and I wanted to share it and have all the details to look back on later. Now for the pictures.

Getting Started