Carter Grant: A Birth Story

Carter Grant Dunaway

May 30, 2017

12:41 pm

8 pounds, 4 ounces

20 inches

truth: this is boring (& long AND loaded with a million pictures). But in my opinion, birth story and boring together is a great thing. That means it all went well and we are proud owners of a new healthy baby boy.


My pregnancy was great, mostly uneventful outside of having polyhydramnios (an excessive amount of amniotic fluid, that is generally unexplained). I had to take it easy towards the end of my pregnancy to help prevent my water from prematurely breaking. Since Grayson was a cesarean, Carter was scheduled for May 30th, right at 39 weeks. Although I was paranoid about not making it to "the day", we made it without a problem!


If you know J, you know that he is a creature of habit/borderline OCD. So when we discussed what we were going to do on the last night as a family of three, it was a no brainer in his book. The hibachi dinner we had the night before G. No complaints here - hibachi is by far a favorite of mine and Gray loves it just as much as I do.


From 2 to 3:

Our family of 3 ready to meet Carter

Just like the night before Gray was born, I slept really well. We woke up early that morning, got G ready to head to school, and J dropped me off at DryBar to get my hair blown out. Gray knew it was the day he was going to meet "Baby Carter" and had been so excited about it! Until, I got out of the car... he cried the entire way to school (which he never does) then proceeded to have an epic meltdown while J tried to drop him off. Finally the teachers told J to just go... and not a half hour later they sent us a pic of a smiling boy, doing just fine. Thank goodness!


We arrived a bit early to our scheduled time so we sat and waited in the waiting room... nothing like having your nerves start to get to you!

The beauty of your first time to have a baby is that you have no idea what to expect (or at least for me it was) I just went with whatever they said. But this time, I knew the drill. I knew what it felt like to walk into the cold OR. I knew I was going to have to hop up on that table and hunch over for the spinal block. It made me much more nervous this time.


Thankfully my wedding photographer/super sweet friend, Brittany, agreed to photograph the day with us, just like she did for G. She makes both J&I laugh and helped to keep my mind off of everything. I love that lady -- BIG.

Although Britt wasn't allowed into the OR with us, my nurse was confident to use her gigantic camera and captured some really amazing photos for us (specifically of the birth, but I wont share the guts and glory of those)


This time the nerves got the best of me when I stepped foot into the OR. J isn't able to come in until I've had the block so its a lonely walk in. My nurse and the anesthesiologist were amazing and so sweet. But I was not relaxing enough to get the block in. Several sticks later (OWWWWWWW) it was finally in and I was getting prepped.


J came in and Dr Walsh was ready to go!

Before I knew it, I heard Dr Walsh saying "How many chins do you have?!" Another  chunk chunk baby.... yaaaaasss!

 The close up this time seemed longer than last, but you tend to not think about it since your sweet babe is there with you. Once he was cleaned up/weighed/etc. they immediately brought him over for skin to skin. There was a brief moment where J had to take Carter since I was getting nauseated but as soon as that was under control, he was back on me.

 Once we got back to the recovery room, Carter got to eating right away. Latched on without a problem, which is such a great feeling!

 The recovery room is probably some of my favorite time after Carter was born. its dark, its quiet, and you get to just look at that sweet babe from top to bottom. Once we finished up in there we were on our way upstairs for Big Bro to meet Carter, and for the grandparents to as well.

We had a smaller crowd than when G was born, but that was just fine for us. It was an overwhelming situation for Grayson as it was. Leading up to that day, Grayson was so excited. We had a countdown and he would repeat all day every day how many more days until we meet "Baby Carter" but then it was the day. Gray was not very interested in holding/touching/really anything about Carter.


"Grayson, do you want to hold Baby Carter?" "Nope."


Over the next few days in the hospital Gray warmed up by touching his hand, feet and then with a little bribery we finally got him to hold Carter. Since being home Grayson has changed his tune - he loves on Carter all the time and asks to hold him several times a day. phew

Its hard to remember life without you already, sweet boy. Our family of four is just perfect thanks to you.