Carter Hayden Dail

Well Carter Hayden Dail has arrived!  I went to work on Monday March 31st just like any normal day.  I had my 40 week appointment that afternoon to schedule his induction.  Well we never made it to the appointment because around 9:30am my water broke at my office!  Ha!  I called the doctor's office and they said to go on to the hospital.  I was very calm and about this.  I wasn't having any contractions still and got my boss to drive me to the hospital.
Josh met me there and we went on into triage.  They had to determine if my water in fact had broken.  By the time we got there and checked in it was around 11am.  The first test they did came back inconclusive.  To say I was ticked was an understatement.  I knew my water had broken.  No question!  They had to do a second test and it took about an hour and a half for them to get the test in.  That test determined that my water had broken.  Yay!  Once that was confirmed I was able to go to Labor and Delivery.
I got to a room a little after 12:00 in the afternoon.  I found out that I wasn't allowed real food at this point and had to be on a clear food (jello, popsicles etc)...not fun.  When they asked what I wanted I told them a gin and tonic!  ha~  They didn't bring one.  Oh well.
The nurse I had was BEYOND wonderful and I wish I could have brought her home with me.  They monitored me for a bit and checked for dilation.  I was 5cm dilated (half way there) but my contractions were non existent.  He was also too high up so they had to do Pitocin to get my contractions going.  My main concern was if I could have my epidural.  I definitely wanted one.  They promised I could have it! 
Well after about an hour on Pitocin it was time for the epidural.  My nurse warned me that the doctor that did the epidural did not have great bedside manor, but was the best in the business.  He came in and he was just as she had described, but he ended up opening up to me and we laughed and had a good time.  He did an excellent job!  When I had an epidural with Garrett I couldn't feel when it was time to push.  It also took FOREVER to wear off.  I had no feeling whatsoever from the waist down.  With Carter's I could feel and it made it so much easier and it lasted an appropriate amount of time.
The nurse went to put my catheter in and couldn't get it in because Carter's head was so far down and it was GO TIME!  She called the doctor in and we got started.  With Garrett I pushed for 15 minutes.  With Carter I only had to push for 6 minutes and he was here!  He weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 20 inches long.  It was such an incredible delivery.
He was a really good baby in the hospital and would just go to sleep when we put him down.  Things were going great.  We got home and the first two days were magical.  I thought we had won the lotto.  Then things started to get a bit complicated.
He had bad reflux/gas/something going on.  We changed formulas, didn't work.  He was not sleeping, especially at night.  He would fall asleep, but then would be up every hour and a half.  Night time was just HORRIBLE.  I cried and cried.  I'm just going to be honest.  I had forgotten this stage.  I know newborns don't sleep at night...I get it.  Something additional was going on with him.  Something internal.  We went to the doctor twice, called almost daily.  Changed formulas again.  That didn't work.  They changed us again to a soy formula (this one is supposed to be the BEST for digestive issues) and paired it with Zantac.  It seemed to be working until the spit up got worse and then he got diarrhea.  Apparently this is a side effect of the formula.  So we made the decision to change his formula back to Gentle Ease and pray.  We changed it this morning and hope that his stomach feels better.
We are very blessed to have this beautiful, healthy boy in our family, but look forward to him feeling better.   I think he will do better once he isn't hurting all the time.
Garrett LOVES his brother.  It is a bit overwhelming for us at times because all he wants to do is talk to him, touch him and be in his face!  Shew.  We just take a deep breath and try to tell him to be gentle, etc.  It has been a journey.
Josh and I are alternating nights currently taking care of Carter.  Luckily our new house has an upstairs bedroom and playroom and we can close it off so that the other person can get sleep.  It is amazing what we took for granted before an infant!  Ha!  Shew. 
Carter is a sweet boy that we look forward to watching him grow.  He is starting to smile for me on times first thing in the morning and it is the sweetest thing that melts my heart.  He also has strawberry blond hair and BIG blue eyes.  Looks like he may be hanging with his dad at the beach if he is as fair skinned as his dad is :-)
We would appreciate any prayers for Carter that whatever is going on internally will be healed and that he will feel much better. We truly believe if we can get that figured out he will be so much happier and things will go smoother for him.