Happy Birthday CJ!

It's hard to believe five years ago to this day I became a mom. And it's hard to believe how fast five years have gone by. CJ is such a sweet, caring boy. He melts my heart every day. He is so sensitive and in tune to everything around him. He loves all animals and bugs, and sports. Most importantly though, he loves me!

February 11Th I started to go into labor. My contractions started about 230am, they weren't painful or really consistent but they were there! About 8am I went to the hospital to get checked out, and although I didn't stay the nurses were certain I would be back in full blown labor.

I got home from the hospital with Magellan around noon, had some lunch and decided to take a nap. I sent Magellan to work since he didn't need to sit around and watch me sleep. I kept a log of my contractions and how long they lasted. They were still pretty inconsistent but getting stronger. I had called into my work to let them know how I was doing and everyone was very excited! They wanted me to stop into work b/c they had prepared a baby shower for me, but obviously that wasn't going to happen, LOL. I didn't even want to leave my bed.

About 4pm that day, my contractions were finally consistent and quite strong, so I went back to the hospital and was finally admitted. I was in quite a bit of pain but was managing it well. I was pretty determined not to have any pain meds (WHAT was I thinking?!), so I made it thru the pain by using different breathing techniques and walking around. They didn't have any rooms available when I first got there so I had to hang out in the triage area. Boy, that was fun as it was full by about 630p! Finally a room opened up, don't ask me what time it was, and I was able to get settled. I used the jacuzzi and that helped with a lot of the pain, but it really was pretty painful. CJ decided at the last minute he was going to change positions on me and turn sunny side up and I had some horrible back labor. I got bored in the tub and I needed to be checked anyways so I had to get back in bed. I was stuck at 3cm forever, so about midnight my Dr said I really needed to be on pitocin to jump start my body to get things moving faster. Obviously at that point it was highly recommended I get an epidural and get some sleep.

I was all for it by then! Sixteen hours of intense back labor and painful contractions was enough for me. I even remember I was in so much pain from the contractions that the epidural never even phased me. The relief was awesome too!

A couple hours later I finally got to about 6cm, but my epidural had worn off and I was in some serious pain. The anesthesiologist came back and told me the tube that the medicine goes into in my back must've fallen out of my spine b/c she was pumping the meds in and I was getting zero relief. So we made the decision to have that epidural taken out, and a new one put in. Didn't bother me in the least bit again. Relief was wonderful.

I slept a little bit off and on, and about 6am I was in transition and ready to throw up. I can remember telling Magellan to get me the bed pan and he had no idea what one was. I was so ticked, and trying to keep from barfing all over the bed, so I couldn't yell at him. Thankfully, the nurse knew exactly what I needed and ran for it. Lucky for me, I did not end up getting sick but I still remember how nauseated I was. Not a good feeling. Around 730a my OB came to check on me and said I was ready to start pushing. Thank goodness, get this kid out, was all I could think of. I had had enough!

My this time my epidural had completely worn off and I was in the worst pain I have ever been in in my entire life. No joke. But I wasn't one of those pregnant ladies who screams and grunts with every contractions. Nope, I was not going to do that. I had heard a woman earlier scream her brains out as she pushed her baby out and I was embarrassed for her!

I remember there were some issues with CJ's heart rate going down with each contraction, so after each push I had to turn onto my side. That in itself is hard to do as you are in labor. You really don't want to move. I also had to have oxygen b/c I was having a hard time getting enough breath and energy to push. I can remember saying to my mom, "Good lord, will he just come out already? What is the problem here?" It just seemed to take forever!! Yes, my mom was there in the room, helping me. And naturally Magellan was there as was his mom. Finally, after pushing for an hour and a half, Carl Jaxon Salatino was born at 909am on February 12th. He shares a birthday with my Grandfather and Abe Lincoln. He weighed 7lbs 5oz and was 21" long. He had the umbilical corn wrapped twice around his neck, which was why his heart rate would drop with each contraction.

From the moment CJ was born, he only wanted mommy. All he wanted to do was snuggle and be cuddled, and to this day, he is still this way. CJ was a very hard newborn. He had reflux and was very colicky. He hated to go to sleep at night b/c he wanted someone with him at all times. He rarely napped, and if he did it was never more than 30 minutes at a time. He was exhausting, but I loved him with all my heart. CJ was/is my world. I took him everywhere with me, and loved every minute we had together, as I worked full time when I first had him. Taking him to daycare every day was tough for me, b/c I just wanted to be the one to watch him grow. But, at the time it wasn't in the finances for us.

CJ hit all of his milestones right on time. He was way ahead of schedule when it came to talking and understanding English. He was speaking sentences by about 13 months and a huge vocabulary. His first word was "tickle"! Funny, huh? He had 16 teeth by the time he was 15 months, and was loving life!

So, that's CJ's birth story in a nutshell! Ella's was by far much easier! But that is for another day!