Elliot Whittaker Kamper

I have tried to write this post multiple times over the last week and it just hasn't happend. Something always interupts me, or I just don't want to think through all the details, or can't remember something that happend and get frustrated about it and give up.

With that said, I am going to try and give most the details as consisly as I can so we can move on with life.

We went in for the induction at 8 am on the 5th. Things moved along fairly fine, slowly, but that wasn't too much of a surprise considering my history with having a baby. Finally things really got moving and both my midwife and the nurse said we would be having this baby probably within the hour. We were excited and ordered dinner to eat after we had this little boy.

Then things went downhill fast! Looking back on it, I am surprised at how fast it happened. Elliot had been transverse all of labor, meaning his face was up towards the ceiling instead of down towards the floor. This meant a lot of back labor and a harder trip down the birth canal. He then got his head turned sideways and ended up getting stuck, poor kid.

So the decision was made to use the vacuum extractor. Not my first choice, but the goal is a healthy safe baby. Yeah, that didn't work. After multiple tries and a whole lot of work, the decision was made for a C-section, which needed to happen quickly. Oh, did I mention that the epidural had worn off a this point? No one could explain why, well, didn't really have time to tell me why.

At this point, I am now having contractions, feeling them strongly and we are headed to OR for the emergency c-section. God bless my midwife and nurse...they were there the whole time and my midwife even prayed multiple times with me. As they were preping me for surgery, the anesthesiologist made the decision that since the epidural had worn off and because this was an emergency, I needed to be put under a general, meaning I wasn't conscious for Elliot's birth. This also meant that Noah wasn't allowed in the delivery room.


Elliot came out of this whole ordeal perfect, not a single issue, praise God! I, however, lost more blood than they liked, ended up needing to get a unit of blood, had some issues that made them suspect seizures, so had an EEG (everything looks good from that) and a very slow recover.



I am so thankful for the help that we have had, my mom was with us for over a week and Noah's mom is here for this week. I am so thankful for a healthy little boy!



I am still dealing with the emotion of this all. It hit me that 100 years ago, I won't be here and neither would Elliot. Noah would be by himself with Forrest. I still cry when I think of my dear midwife praying for me while in the OR. God had brought us through so much in the last 2 weeks! Thanks for all your prayers!

It's coming

In case you haven't heard, we did have our baby, Elliot Whittaker Kamper. He was born November 6th at 8:06 pm. What a sweet little boy he is!

We are having a very slow recovery at our house. After a long hospital stay (5 days, 1 blood transfusion, 1 EEG, 2 passing out sessions) we came home last night. Once we figure out life, and I can handle more than walking, eating, and nursing, I will write up the whole ordeal, get some photos edited and be back to blogging as normal (maybe a little less than normal, I do have a toddler and a newborn now:)

But for now, we are home, God is good and we would appreciate a prayer or two as we figure life out now.

On the Way?

Liz is bouncing on a ball, but it isn't what you think.
Labor can be a funny thing, especially while you are in the midst of it, as we are now. Who knew Drinking red raspberry tea and sitting on a bright yellow ball would help.
Last night was rough after a full day here in the Hospital but with the new sun came renewed hope of having the baby today along with a good nursing staff shift.
Keep praying for Liz's strength and perseverance and that she would dilate some more.

Listening to Rich Mullins,
The Kampers

Update

For all of you who guess today would be a Kamper birthday, you were wrong. We are here at the hospital, and while we started with the pictocin this morning, they decided that since was I wasn't very dilated, we needed use some other meds to get the rest of me ready to go.

So, right now, we are waiting for the other meds to help me dilate. That should take until about midnight tonight and then we will restart the pictocine tomorrow about 6 am.

So, here we sit...waiting. Still.

Soon

After 3 trips to Alpena (an hour away) in 5 days, we are headed back tomorrow morning early to the hospital for an induction. Because my blood pressure is still high, and because it looks like I am ready to go, the doctor decieded that was the best route.

I am a bit nervous about the whole induction thing, but ready to get the "show on the road." So, by the weekend, we should have a baby to introduce you all to.

And because I haven't done a great job at posting photos, here is one from yesterday. Forrest and I took a walk and went to the Loggers Bunkhouse (read playhouse/logger museum scaled for little kids). Forrest thinks it's great because it's all his size. He was watching some of the other staff kids play volleyball while he was pretending to eat a strawberry. What a little boy!

Poll

So, ( I have noticed I start most of my posts with that little word. Hummm, maybe not the best plan, but let's just chalk it up to my "voice" as it is commonly called in literary circles.)

Anyway...

So, in the spirit of the season, let's try conducting a small poll. My guess is there will be about 4 of you who answer, but that's a big enough polling group, I would say.

1. Is this baby a boy or girl?
2. When will this baby be born?
3. Who will our next president be?


Ok. There you go. Let us know. You will only have to wait 2 weeks at most to know the answers to all the above.

Current Status

Forrest- In bed asleep. The early darkness fooled him into thinking it was bed time.

Noah- Studying for his next exam. 5 exams down, 2 to go for the semester.

Liz- Sitting here, typing, still pregnant.