Welcome Camden Christopher Snyder!

Our Family of 3 has become a family of 4! Let's start with the day Camden was born....

Friday March 11 I had a "scheduled" induction. The reason scheduled is in quotes is that my induction was supposed to be Friday but we were told that there is no guarantee I would get a room because mothers in active labor (ie those not being induced) have first priority. Of course I understood and knew this was fair but I really hoped we could get in. So the doctor who I wanted to deliver my baby scheduled me on a day she was at the hospital. I was told to call the hospital at 7:30 am to get further instructions. So I wake up at 6:30, get a shower, thinking I will go in early. I hardly got sleep the night before because the anticipation was so great. Well I call at 7:30 and they say that there are not any beds and to call back at noon. Oh man! Now I have to wait another 4 and a half hours! So I took it easy, played with Alex, watched tv, etc. Noon rolls around. I call back.....and they say.....we are super busy there are still no beds, call back at 3:00. What on earth am I going to do for the next 3 hours??? I felt bad now because Chris took off of work for that day and also has off Monday and Tuesday and he only gets 3 days for paternity leave. Of course I knew I had no control over the situation. Well when told to call back at 3 I knew I couldn't just sit around and watch tv because I'll be bored out of my mind and the time will drag on. When I was on the phone I asked what the odds were that I would get in that day. They said I would get in but I was thinking it may not be until later that evening. I was now starting to worry also that my doctor who scheduled me would not be able to deliver Camden. So 1:30 comes around and I put Alex down for a nap and then my mom and I went to Walmart to get out of the house - I did need some things anyways so it wasn't a wasted trip.

We return just about at 3 and I called thinking that they are going to say call back at 6, then call back at 9, etc. Well I called and talked with a nurse and they said come on in. Then the doctor got on the phone and was apologizing feeling bad and I said I understood. I guess she felt bad because she scheduled me for that day. So we got around and by the time we drove to West Chester it was about 4:00. And so the birth story begins....

Camden's Birth Story

So we arrived at the hospital at 4 PM and we went back to our labor room so I could be hooked up to the fetal monitors. We monitored the baby's heartbeat, my heartbeat, contractions, and went through some questions. Then at 4:45 my doctor came in and checked me to see if I was dilated/effaced any more since my last appointment and we would go from there. Well I was 2.5-3 cm and 80% effaced. So since I was so effaced she decided to not even give me the first round of medicine which is supposed to get you effaced to 100%. She decided to start right in with the Pitocin- which was an IV drip medicine which is supposed to start contractions.

At 5 we started the Pitocin and by 6 I was feeling slight contractions that were about 2-3 minutes apart. They were not painful at all and I was fine through them. Then at 7 my doctor broke my water and slightly afterward the contractions got stronger. They still were not unbearable but I knew I could get an epidural and feel totally comfortable so I decided to do so. At 7:45 I decided to get one and it wasn't bad at all. I was numb by 8! So then I just had to lay there while the contractions dilated me. I thought I could be laying there for hours. Well at 9:15 the nurse checked me and said I was already 10 cm and we would be ready to go! We just had to wait for the doctor (who I learned would be there until 8 am) to get back from doing a C-section on another patient. She came back around 9:45 and we were ready to have the baby.

We got all set up and I started pushing at 9:45. Each time a contraction would come I was supposed to do three deep breaths and three pushes per contraction. So I did this sequence about 5 times and by 10:17 Camden was born. Another short labor - 5 hours from the start of the medicine to meeting our baby boy.

Camden's Stats

8 lbs. 14 oz

21''

full head of dark brown hair

After he was born they laid him right on me as they cleaned him off. This was a different experience from Alexandra. Dr. Akins said the nurse should take a picture of Chris cutting the cord (again a new experience for Chris). We stayed in the room for about an hour and a half and had some visitors and then we moved to our recovery room around midnight. We had to share a with another patient which was another first for us. That was a shock that we would have to share a room but it all worked out!

So arrival at the hospital at 4 PM on Friday and home with our new baby boy by Sunday at noon - happened so fast for such a long pregnancy! Now that we are home I'll have to get adjusted to life with 2 kids while trying to recover from pregnancy and labor but I'm sure I'll be able to do it.