Cameron Matthew Russ

Cameron is finally here. He arrived today, at 9:20 am exactly 12 hours after my water broke. He is so, so sweet and I already can't get enough of him. Well, I must say it was a long 12 hours and the labor was the complete opposite of Drew's. Cameron has his agenda on how he was to arrive. First, the hospital was slammed so we had to wait a little while for a room and the epidural. The epidural injection set-up wasn't a pleasant experience. I got the "shock" feeling in my left side. They say not to jump because the needle is in you, but how do you refrain when you are feeling a shock through your body? My blood pressure then dropped way down from the epidural and they had to give me a shot of ephedrine (I think that was what I was told). It kicked it pretty quick and I started feeling better. My contractions went from 5 minutes apart to about 20 minutes so they had to start the petocin. Cameron didn't like petocin. :-( His heartbeat kept bottoming out and alarming everyone. So they kept it at a 4 on a scale of 1 to 20. It was a slow process, but by about 7:30am they determined I was ready to push. This is when the fun started! Cameron was in the LOP position, which means he was head down, but facing my left side. Dr. Helms worked hard at trying to get him to turn. A little after a hour of pushing and nothing happening with his position, he decided we had to get game plan. He was so great through all of this and I was so impressed! He said we would pull out the vacuum and get him at least OP (sunnyside up). They of course are supposed to be head down. If that didn't work, it was time to go to the OR. I freaked when I heard that word! So with a lot of prayers, screams, moans, and pushing I got Cameron out without the OR or a vacuum. I don't know how I did it. It was God that's all I can say. I was so concentrated on getting him out that I didn't notice the 7 nurses Dr. Helms summoned in to try to get Cameron out. He was so great and helped keep me calm and focused.

I can't believe he weighed only 8lbs 3 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long. Everyone was so surprised considering the difficult time I had getting him out. He is just perfect and I can't quit looking at him. Drew is so excited to be a big brother. He was here as soon as he was born and came back, then Mom brought him back tonight after a 4 hour nap! It is so hard to stay in the hospital when you have one at home. I miss him terribly and can't wait until we are all home together Monday.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!