Carter T. Ballantyne

Alright, I finally have a few minutes to write a little bit about our day Tuesday! What a day. I was very ready to not be pregnant any more and meet our little bundle. No one in either of our families knew the gender of the baby. It was really fun keeping them guessing and having a little secret for 9 months and we were excited we were going to be able to tell them soon. We also decided to keep it a secret that we were at the hospital until after he was born. We didn't want them to be worrying, and that way we could REALLY surprise them! Anyway, I'd been having contractions for a week or so pretty regularly and was very uncomfortable and tired! It was quite a relief to finally be walking through those hospital doors! (Sorry if you don't like labor and delivery stories . . . If I post it here, I don't have to repeat it quite as many times.) We got to the hospital a little after 4:00 am on Tuesday and I was at a 4. We tried to sleep, (Spencer was snoring, but I never could fall asleep.) hung out, checked our email, and tried to keep busy for the next 6 hours. By then I was only at a 5. They decided to break my water to get things going. They did that and hooked up some internal monitors on the baby. (His heart rate would go down every time I had a contraction, so they just wanted to make sure he was doing alright. They called for my epidural and while we waited for him to get there, I was ready to die! When the anesthesiologist finally got there, the baby's heart rate was really slowing down so he wouldn't give it to me until the baby stabilized. By the time I got the epidural, I was at an 8. All of this happened within about 40 minutes. Things were much happier when it finally kicked in. My nurse left for 15 minutes to eat some lunch and when she got back, he was almost crowning! If and when we have anymore kids, I am getting the epidural BEFORE they break my water!! I go way to fast and I don't want to feel it! Dr. Sanders came in, I pushed for maybe 15 minutes, and he was here!!! All 9 lbs 9 oz of him. He was 20 3/4 inches long. The doctors and nurses couldn't believe how big he was. My doctor kept teasing me saying I delivered a teenager. We were so happy to see him and hold him. They got him cleaned up and gave him his shots and we got to be with him for a few hours before they whisked him away to the nursery.

Spencer went to get Mason from our friend Audra's house and brought him to the hospital. He went to the nursery to get Carter, but he didn't come back for a long time. . . Carter had some trouble adjusting to life outside my tummy. His oxygen levels were low and he had fluid in his lungs. He ended up hooked up to oxygen, he had a tube down into his little tummy, an IV in his arm, and he had to have some tests done to make sure he didn't have an infection. We just hung out that night waiting to see what would happen and make sure he was alright. Mason got to see him through the nursery window, but he couldn't go in. It was really hard for me not to see him and hold him. I didn't want to see him hooked up to all of that stuff though because I was already super emotional! Wednesday morning he all of the sudden decided to figure things out and everything was fine! We were so grateful everything turned out okay. Mason was excited he FINALLY got to meet his little brother face-to-face. He instantly loved him!



Mason loves singing to Carter and rocking him. He is a very big helper. When we got home from the hospital, I was listening to them in the other room and Mason said this, “Carter, I’m going to tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a baby at our house, and it was Carter.” It was so cute. He is going to be such a great big brother. Carter has been a great baby so far. He sleeps all of the time and doesn’t cry much. When he is awake, he has big bright eyes. He has a TON of dark hair that naturally forms a Mohawk. It goes great with his long sideburns! He is so cute. We really love him so much already. To make a short story long, that is what happened! Sorry for my long windedness!