Today Caden is 1 year old and I am sharing his birth story! Happy birthday baby boy!

Two weeks before Caden was born our air-conditioning quit working. While we were waiting for our insurance to determine if they would cover a new unit Josh and I packed up a few necessities and stayed with my parents. Nothing like a big slumber party with your family! While we were staying with my parents we had our 37 week check up with the OB and an ultrasound.

My ultrasound had been on Monday and by Wednesday both Josh and myself were anxiously awaiting to have a new air conditioner installed so we could return home. Wednesday morning I woke up and headed to the gym for a swim and made my way over to our house to meet with the insurance agent. After a long morning and afternoon spent sweating in our little sauna of a townhouse we were informed our insurance company would not cover a new unit. The rest of the day was spent contacting companies and getting quotes. Thankfully we found an amazing company who could have a new unit installed in two days.

When I made it back over to my parents house that evening I had the entire house to myself. Josh was at work and my Mom and Dad had gone to a concert. I knew I needed to eat but I wasn’t super hungry so I settled on a green smoothie and a banana muffin. I followed up my dinner by taking a nice long shower before going to sleep.

I woke up around 10:50pm needing to go pee and after I was done another rush of liquid came out into the toilet and the water was really cloudy. Thinking it was a little odd, I proceeded to wipe and when I looked at the toilet paper it was a light pink. This is about the time I started to realize what might actually be happening was probably actually happening.

Thinking my parents were still at the concert I called Josh at work told him what was happening and we decided he would come pick me up and we would go to the hospital. While Josh was on his way over I called the doctor and she told me it was best to go to the hospital to determine if it was in fact my water that had broken and not an excessive amount of pee.

When Josh came into my parents house a little after 11pm I heard my Mom from upstairs asking what was going on. I had missed hearing them come back from the concert and they had been home the whole time without me knowing. My Mom looked a little in disbelief when I told her I thought my water had broken. I had just started my 37 week of pregnancy so all of us were slightly surprised. We had to stop at our house before going to the hospital because my bag and Caden’s carseat were sitting by our front door ready for us to grab when we would need them in a few weeks.

We got in to the hospital and were sent into the triage area for labor and delivery. Thank goodness for pre-registering all my information 3 months ago, it made for a much smoother check in. I was then hooked up to the monitors and checked to see if my body was prepping for the baby to be born. They ran some slides of the fluid to see if it was amniotic fluid. The first round of tests did not allow the nurse to determine if my water had broken, but because of the amount of the fluid she saw I was retested. This next test showed that my water had indeed broken. The nurse then checked to see how far I was progressing and told us I was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced and that they baby was really low and she could already feel a good portion of his head. When Josh and I heard this we knew we were going to meet our son sooner then we had anticipated.

I was then moved to delivery room where I would have Caden. It was around 5am when we were settled and called my parents to let them know we were going to be having Caden a little bit earlier then we had thought. My friend Catherine had given me the great idea to bring food for the nursing staff at the hospital so we asked my Mom to pick up bagels on the way over to the hospital for the staff. They were very appreciative. My Dad, Evan (Brother), and Rhiannon (Evan’s girlfriend) also came around the same time. I ate some popsicles, drank lots of water and rolled around on an exercise ball to stretch out my hips. I also did some yoga poses as well :).

My family hung out with me until about 11:30am when the nurse came in to do another exam to see how I was progressing along and at that time I was 4 cm dialed and 90% effaced. I started to become uncomfortable and Josh and I decided it would be a good idea to keep everyone out of the room at this point so I could really concentrate on relaxing and breathing during the contractions.

I knew I wanted to have Caden without any medication and Josh knew that in order for this to happen I would need to stay completely focused.  My Grandparents made a quick stop in to hi and then it was the nursing staff, Josh, and my Mom left in the room. At 12pm I asked to use the hydrotherapy tub to see if that could alleviate some of the discomfort. Getting in the water did feel pretty nice but after 15 minutes I needed to change positions again and decided to head back into the room.

From this point on it took everything I had not to cry and loose focus on my ultimate goal of having Caden without medication. When 2pm came I was so nauseated I began vomiting and the nurse asked if I would like some medication to help me from being sick. She also hooked up my IV drip at this point to keep me from becoming dehydrated. I told her the IV bag was fine but I would wait on the anti-nausea medicine and if I still was getting sick I would reconsider taking it.  Thankfully I did not get sick again and did not have to take any medication.

At 2:30pm I was checked again and I was 8cm dilated, I was so happy because I knew I was getting closer to be able to push. I was on my hands and knees at this point and Josh and my Mom were pressing down as hard as possible to help relieve some of the discomfort in my lower back. (Side note: The next day they were both sore from pushing so hard on my lower back.)

At 3:20pm the urge to push was so overwhelming it took everything in me to try to fight it off. Josh and my Mom were an incredible support duo.They talked me off the edge of a complete emotional meltdown several times. The nurse started to get me into the stirrups when I informed her I would not be using them and wanted to use the squat bar instead. If you have never seen this before the end of the hospital bed lowers down and a bar is placed above that you can grab onto. The squat bar and my doctor (Dr. Brass-Jones, Center for True Harmony and Wellness) appeared at the same time and I cannot even begin to describe how good it felt to be able to start to push. Six minutes later Caden Joshua Buschel was officially and literally squatted into the world and caught by Josh.

We love that our doctor allowed us to have the exact birthing experience we had hoped for. When Josh handed Caden to me I was so happy and all the pain I had felt was nothing to the amount of love I had for this little person in my arms. He was so perfect and I could not stop looking at him. I really felt like the two of us were the only people in the room at that point.

From the time my water broke to Caden’s arrival the whole process took about 16 hours with only 6 minutes of actual push time without medication. Josh and I are so thrilled to be Caden’s parents and love our little boy so much! This past year has been the best year of our lives!

Caden’s Birthday June 7, 2012 at 3:46pm | Birth Weight 6 pounds 7 oz. | Length 19.1 in