Introducing... Cody Carter Conway!

Cody Carter Conway was born on Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 6:53 pm. He weighed 9 pounds and was 20 1/2 inches long. This is the story of how our baby boy entered the world!

On Saturday night, we were up in Camryn's bedroom doing our bedtime routine (bath, books, bed) and as I sat in the glider, I started noticing that I was having 'different' contractions. As you'll recall, I went into preterm labor four weeks before this and basically had been having contractions on a regular basis since ending the medicine two weeks before. But, for whatever reason, I noticed that these were a little different. The contractions were about 6 minutes apart at this point and were not very strong. After putting her in bed, I told Kevin about the contractions and decided that this was probably the real deal, but I would not call the doctor for awhile. I took a shower, straightened my hair (very important!) and we went to sleep just like normal. I woke up at 2 am and the contractions were still about 6 minutes apart. At 4:30 am, they had changed to about 4 minutes apart and I decided to call the doctor then.

Of course, my doctor was not on call. I would later find out that the doctor on call (whose name I didn't even really catch until after I saw Cody's birth certificate paperwork two days later!) was not a part of my doctor's office. But, he was very nice and said that I should come to the hospital.

We called Mom and had her come over since Camryn was still sleeping and we headed to the hospital. We got to our labor and delivery room about 6 am and the nurse checked me - 2 cm, 70% effaced. Not really any change since at the doctor's office two days before. They decided to check me again at 9 am and let me know that even though I was in labor (just early stages - I guess my body moves slow in the beginning!) and two days from my due date, the doctor on call would not keep me unless I was 3 cm. Very disappointed because I was ready to have this baby, I begged the nurse to keep us. At 9 am she checked again, no progress. She also told us that my contractions were starting to spread further apart, which did not help my case for staying. She suggested that I walk the halls for an hour. So that's what we did! Around and around, and as we did, the contractions increased and it worked! When she checked me again, I was at 3 cm and moving along. Whoo-hoo!

The next few hours of the day was a bit of a blur for me. The nurse suggested that I have some IV pain medication to help me 'relax' and her words were 'it's like having a few cocktails'. I'm not sure what this chick drinks on her off time, but it is not what I was used to having pre-pregnancy, that's for sure. I was completely out of it - could barely open my eyes or hold up my head. The good news is that it did help me to relax and I slept for three hours.

When I woke up (and no longer felt the effects of the 'cocktails'), the contractions were stronger and they gave me the epidural. For whatever reason, the epidural only numbed the left side of my body (they did try a few times to have me roll over and move the medicine to the right side with no luck). So, I felt everything on my right side - and it was intense! Just like with Camryn's labor, after the epidural, everything moved very quickly. The on call doctor made it just in time for the actual delivery to happen - we pushed for three minutes and the baby was here! When they put him on my belly after delivery, he looked so small - I thought in my head, he's probably 7 lbs, 12 oz. Later, when the nurse said that he was 9 lbs, I was shocked! After they cleaned him up, we got to hold him again - he was absolutely perfect.

Granny, PawPaw and Kayleigh joined us in our room shortly afterward and all got to see him. My mom and Rich came up around 9 pm (had to wait until Camryn went to sleep - Robby stayed back with her). They did not get to meet the baby that night because he was in the nursery; they did get to peek at him through the window.

A picture of three generations of Conway men:

We did not decide on his name until the day after he was born - the names are always hard for us! But now I know - Cody is the perfect name. And, Kevin likes the idea of calling him "Trip" (for the three C's) - not sure what other nicknames he'll pick up along the way.

We had big plans for Camryn to come to the hospital on Monday and meet him. We had her big sister t-shirt and a bag of goodies for her. However, since she had a cold our pediatrician recommended that she be on antibiotics for 24 hours before seeing her new baby brother. I was very disappointed (glad that Mom and PawPaw understood and let me cry a little!). But, after we talked, we figured out that it was going to be even better for her to meet him at home, so I would have to wait another day for my kiddos to be introduced.

We were released from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. Cody was a 'low to intermediate' risk for jaundice, so we were given instructions to sun him for the next few days. Our parents all met us at the house when we got home and were there for Camryn to meet her new baby brother. I had her sit on the couch with me and we told her that Daddy had a surprise for her - when he brought out Cody, she had a look of pure amazement. Then she said, "Cody" - so sweet. When we held him together, she had a big smile on her face and it made me tear up. Very overwhelming feeling to see one piece of your heart meet another. I never knew I could love instantly - and two times instantly! Such a blessing.

So, we are now a family of four (well, seven if you count our furbabies). We are so very lucky and grateful. (Thanks to Granny and PawPaw for the pictures!)