Cale Taft Cragun

Cale was born January 20, 2009 @ 3:20 PM in Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, Utah. He was due January 26th, but I was induces @ 4:40 AM January 20th. At 7:40 the Dr. broke my water and by 11:30 I was completely dilated. I had an epidural of course, after the Dr. broke my water the pain got worse by the minute. Epidural was not bad, I was scared, but it didn't hurt at all.
At 11:45 AM I started pushing. Man, that is a hard task. I felt like I was going to pass out so the nurse gave me oxygen. I pushed for almost 2 hrs and there was very little progress. He was on his side and his head was tilted at an angle. The Dr. came in and said I could keep pushing, but it would probably still be a while and I might hurt the baby and myself. I still pushed a little longer, but Cale's heart beat dropped every time I pushed. The Dr. strongly suggested a c-section. This was a very hard decision. I really did not want to get one, but I wanted to do what was best for the baby. We decided the c-section was the best choice for us. There was an emergency c-section so I had to wait about 45 minutes. The Dr. told me I could keep pushing if I wanted, but we had got to the hospital at 3 am and I had not slept all night, and I was tired.
After 45 minutes I got a medication that numbed my whole body basically. I didn't like it, I felt like I could not breath, even though I was breathing fine, I really did feel like I was suffocating. The medicine also made me shake uncontrollably. They started the procedure and I was so scared. Bryan was right there holding my hand and watching the c-section. They had the baby out in a couple of minutes. I didn't get to see him right away, but I heard him cry and I was so happy that I started to cry. Bryan went with the nurses to get pictures and film him while the Dr. sewed me up. That part took about 40 minutes. He weighed 7lbs 9 oz and was 19 inches long. His face and head were severely bruised from the pushing because of the way he was positioned. (you'll see in the pictures.)
I went to recovery for an hr. while the nurses took him to the nursery and gave him a sponge bath. Finally after and hr. I changed rooms and got to hold baby Cale for the first time. It was so amazing. He had been with us for so long and now we finally got to meet him. We love him so much, it is amazing the instant love and care you feel for your children.
Bryan was sick with something similar to a sinus infection so he stayed one night at the hospital and then went home. I had to stay longer because of the c-section. I kept the baby with me as often as I could. I know people tell you to send them off to the nursery, but I just wanted him with me. The days in the hospital were lonely, just the baby and me. It was hard to do things because I was so sore after the c-section I could barely get up and go to the bathroom. The second day it was a little bit easier, but I was still in some pain. Normally you stay 3-4 days after a c-section, but I wanted to get out of their. The Dr. released me 2 days after the surgery, which I am so grateful for. Bryan came back to the hospital and picked us up.
We finally had the baby home. It was so nice to be home with our new family member. His first night home he did not sleep well, up every hr. It was hard because I had gotten so little sleep the past 4 days. My mom arrived the next night. She stayed with us for a week and she was so helpful. She helped me clean, take the baby to Dr. appointments, change him, bathe him, and even took him some of the nights and brought him to me when he needed to be fed. She made the first little while so easy.
He sleeps a lot during the day. He has a lot of gas, seriously, more than any baby I know. He takes after Bryan for sure in that department. At his two week appointment, after losing a lot of weight in the hospital, he was up to 7 lbs 12 oz. At a different appointment I had to take him to he weighed only 7lbs 6 oz, so I was glad to see he was gaining weight. He's still a little guy, but you can tell he's getting bigger.
He will be 3 weeks on Tuesday. We feel so blessed to have him in our lives. He's such a cute little guy. We love him.