Welcome Cameron James Kruepke

Cameron James Kruepke arrived August 19th at 7:52 PM. He was 19 inches and 6 lbs 12 oz!!!!

My water broke a little before midnight so we ended up at the hospital around 1 am on the 19th. After walking the floor a few times, contractions became more regular around 2 am. As they would occur every 5-10 minutes, I didn't get much sleep. Greg, on the other hand, took advantage of caught some zzzzs.

After several hours of more frequent and more severe contractions, I finally gave in and asked for an epidural around noon. Shortly thereafter, I was given pitocin to help progress the labor as I was not very dilated. I don't know why I didn't ask for the epidural earlier - it was grand compared to the pain of the last few contractions I felt before being doped up. I especially appreciated the meds when I could feel a little pain from the contractions through the anesthesia later in the afternoon. I could only imagine what they would have felt like without the epidural. Though I will say it is very weird to not be able to use your legs and then when you touch them, they feel like puffy marshmallows.

Labor was fairly smooth except for one rough patch. Cameron became distressed shortly after the pitocin was administered and his heart rate dropped significantly. My blood pressure also dipped pretty low so all of a sudden there was a room full of nurses trying to reposition me as they believed the cord might be wrapped around Cameron. It's a good thing I was out of it from the meds and dozing in and out (sleep was only possible once I had the epidural - another reason I'm glad I got it so I could recoup some before delivery) as I did not realize the severity of what was going on at the time. Poor Greg, who was fully cognizant, had to watch all of this happen. Fortunately, after several attempts at repositioning me, Cameron's heart rate stabilized. It did drop again a little bit later but after that round of repositioning, he was steady the rest of the time.

I started pushing around 6pm and around 7:30pm, I could tell his head was getting close to crowning, if not already. Greg, the trooper that he was, was a great coach. He was supportive, yet clear in direction, and I could tell from his facial expressions and tone of voice when good things were happening so that motivated me even more. Also around this time, Mike Cameron of the Brewers was driving in a run. No, that's not where Cameron got his name, but it makes for a good story.

Once Cameron was born, the doctor put him on my belly and gave me the honors of identifying whether he was a boy or a girl since we had opted not to find out prior to his birth. Because a friend told me a story recently about a proud grandma who mistook the umbilical cord for little man parts, I checked twice before saying we had a boy. That was probably the most emotional part of the day and definitely made the previous 19 hours, heck the previous 9 months, worth every second.

Mom, Dad, Cameron & Jess ("big brother" aka the dog) are now all home and a bit tired, but doing well. More to come after mom & dad settle in & get some sleep!