The Lee Family: Sterling Brian Lee

Welcome Sterling Brian Lee to our family!

A few weeks ago, Karina's doctor said she could be induced up to a week early from her due date (September 8th she was due). We decided to do so, mainly so the baby could be as small as possible (she says she was just anxious but I my reasoning was that I wanted the baby to be as small as possible so it would be easier on Karina to birth him).

The scheduled induction date was September 1st, and funny enough, on that Sunday morning at 3:00 A.M. Karina woke up with mild contractions. So it seems the baby was planning on coming regardless of the planned induction. Karina only got a few hours of sleep that night because she was excited and nervous about getting that baby out of her. As scheduled we got up early to drop Savannah off at my parents' house. We arrived at the Los Alamitos Medical Center at 6:00 A.M. The rest of the day went as follows:

7:00 A.M. Karina was "induced" by receiving her IV with Pitocin
9:00 A.M. the doctor came in to break Karina's water, she was dilated to 4 cm
11:00 A.M. Karina was having severe labor pains, but the epidural doctor was treating another patient. Karina wept a few tears, it was pretty sad for Karina's mom [Kim] and me to see her like that. (Side note, at that moment I remember thinking about this whole experience from Kim's perspective, and how much it would hurt to see my own daughter going through this kind of pain. I felt sympathy for her.)
11:30 A.M. Karina received her epidural, what a relief for all of us, especially Karina. Interestingly she was VERY numb on her right side, and semi-numb on her left. She still didn't feel much pain on her left, but she could feel some more pressure on that side during contractions, and she could still move her leg, wiggle her toes, etc. The right side stayed numb for a few hours after the medicine was ceased.
11:45 A.M. Karina was dilated to 6.5 cm
1:00 P.M. the nurse brought Karina something and was about to leave. She stopped and said, "should I check how dilated she is, just because I'm already in here?" We said yes, and the nurse did so. She then informed us that Karina is at a 10 and can push basically whenever. I thought that was kinda funny that she wasn't going to check but was like, 'well, since I'm already here...'
1:20 P.M. Karina began pushing
1:55 P.M. Sterling was born. 7 lbs. 13 oz., 21 inches long

While Savannah's birth was fun and exciting, as far as the hospital staff is concerned, we had a much better experience this time around with Sterling. With Savannah at the Orem Community Hospital, the nurses told Karina there was basically no chance of vaginal birth, so "don't get your hopes up." The cord was lightly wrapped around Savannah's neck three times (I say lightly because it wasn't affecting her blood flow or vitals negatively.) Right after Savannah was born, the doctor cut the umbilical cord without hesitation (I was a bit shocked but also just awe-struck that this new child was mine, which is probably why I didn't speak up about it, plus it happened within like 4 seconds of her birth.)

With Sterling, the nurses were all really nice and supportive. They were really uplifting, saying "Great job" when Karina pushed and were really genuine and encouraging. They listened to us and talked about what we wanted. When Sterling was crowning (a few inches of his head showing) the doctor told Karina and me to touch his head. We touched it. It was soft and relatively hairless.

Literally, as Sterling was coming out, the doctor told Karina to look. Karina looked and said, "Oh my goodness, I can't look!" The doctor then commanded Karina to LOOK, LOOK AT YOUR BABY!!! Karina looked again and saw his face (he was facing to the side), she thought, "whoa, there's a baby coming out of me, this is scary...I can't believe this is happening."

After he was born, I cut the umbilical cord, though it wasn't that special for me like it seems to be for others. I was just overwhelmed with joy and I couldn't stop smiling. As Sterling lay on Karina, I smiled and told her, "he's amazing honey, you did amazing and he's seriously amazing." Babies are such miracles.

39 Weeks Pregnant