Presenting.......Dawson Daniel Cassula!!!

He's here!!!!



He was born Friday, March 6th at about 6:50am. He weighed 7lbs 8oz and was 20.8 inches long. (I still need to make sure these conversions are correct!)

We're home now after one night at the hospital. Today we're just resting and trying to adjust....which I think we'll be doing for awhile. We all took a nap this afternoon which was great. Camden LOVES his baby brother! He can't stop kissing him, and wants to hold him all the time. What's funny, is that Camden had a meltdown this morning when I was trying to breastfeed Dawson, he saw me doing it and starting crying his head off. I don't know if he was scared or jealous or what, but it was kinda funny. This afternoon's breastfeeding session went much better, but Camden asked if he could have some "milk" from me too.....so we're adjusting! :)

OK, so here's the story..........
I was scheduled to be induced Friday morning at 7am. I went to sleep around 10pm praying about the birth and asking God one more time for a fast delivery (6 hrs or under) and that it would start on its own. Well, I woke up at about 12:30 with a funny feeling. I got up and went to the bathroom and noticed my underwear was wet. I wasn't sure if my water had broken or not, but I was thinking it had. As I was getting up and thinking I should wake up Renato, I felt a "gush" and then I knew that my water had definitely broken. Renato was so funny when I woke him up.....he was so disoriented he didn't know what to do. I just said, "Honey, call your mom to come be with Camden, he have to go to the hospital."

I started feeling a some contractions, but they we just more like cramps. We got to the hospital around 2am. They don't have an OB/GYN at the hospital at all times, just a general Dr. who is at the hospital, with others on-call. So we went to the ER and had to see the general practitioner who was there. First they put me on monitoring for contractions and such. Well, I knew something was wrong with the monitoring because I had done it 3 times before. The contractions we only registering at about 20% with pain this time, and I had had the same percentage all 3 times before with not feeling any contractions. Then I went downstairs to see the Dr. He asked questions and we told him my water broke, he looked at the monitoring, then he checked for dilation. He said I wasn't dilated at all. SO....if you can believe this, he sent me home! Even though my water had broken and I was having contractions 2 minutes apart!!!! He said that my contractions weren't strong enough and that I wasn't dilated so he didn't really think I was in labor. Needless to say, I was a bit upset.

So, we went home.....for about an hour. My contractions continued to get stronger, but were still 2 min. apart. I was scared to go back to the hospital because I didn't want to see that Dr. again. Praise God, a new Dr. was there and he was shocked that they sent me home with my water broken. He checked and I was 2-3 cm dilated and they went about doing paperwork and admitting me. (Which took awhile!)

They got me into a room and called the OB/GYN who was on-call. He came in and checked me and I was about 5-6 cm dilated. The contractions were getting pretty strong, and I knew that the anesthesiologist (sp?) was not in the hospital, and IF I needed him, I better ask now. They said they'd wait till I was 7cm to get an epidural. They took me down to surgery to prepare me and everything. This is where there is a BIG difference in birthing in Brazil. In the US you get total comfort in your room while delivering. In Brazil, it's a very sterile surgery room....and a VERY uncomfortable, narrow, flat, hard surgery table that you give birth on. Not comfortable at all!

My contractions were getting REALLY hard and I kept asking where the anethesiologist was and when he was coming. I believe the whole hospital was hearing me scream....if that gives you any indication on how strong the contractions were. Then all of a sudden I felt like I needed to push.....and still no epidural. I got really scared and screamed "NO, NO, NO" through that whole contraction of pushing. Then Praise God, the "miracle no-pain man" came!!! Ha! They sat me up as quickly as they could and it took him about a minute to get the epidural in. Here it was just a shot straight into my spine, not a cathedure like the US. And heaven came to my body and I as instantly numb. Just in time too, because as soon as they laid me down again they said "Push"! I was so numb I couldn't even feel to push, but I did what I could. I think I only pushed like 3 times, and less than 2 minutes after I got the epidural, Dawson arrived! Wow, that was just in the "nick of time". :)

When I pushed, there was a nurse standing beside me and was pushing hard on my stomach too to help Dawson out. (I know it was hard now, that I'm REALLY sore on my stomach from where she pushed.) I didn't even really know he was out until they told me. They didn't show him to me or anything, just took him behind a glass wall. So after about 5 minutes they finally brought him to me to see quickly before they took him up to the nursery. They stitched me up (they gave me an episiotomy) and I had to wait in the "recovery" room until my epidural wore off. Then I was back up in my room and they finally brought Dawson to me....about an hour after he was born.

So, I "almost" made it without the epidural, but I was so happy that I got it. I have a feeling though, that if I had made it that far in the US without it, I probably would have not gotten it...I was just so unsure of everything at the time here. But, there's always next time to try again. :)

Praise God, He answered so many prayers! I prayed specifically for my water to break on it's own and have a quick labor of 6 hrs or less, and that's what happened! AND, the best part, is we have a handsome, healthy, and perfect little boy!

Pregnancy in Brazil-Part 7

Yes, I'm giving ANOTHER pregnancy update. I was hoping that by now I'd be able to post about my new little boy, but he doesn't seem to want to join the rest of us and is in no hurry to join the outside world. So yes, I'm still pregnant. *Sigh* And I think what's really making these last days difficult for me is the heat. It's been in the 90's for almost 2 weeks now, and it's just not cooling off. So that means that I'm not cooling off either. We are trying to spend as much time as possible at Renato's parents house because there house seems to stay much cooler then ours, and of course they have a pool....which helps in keeping us all cool. Although yesterday when I got in the pool it didn't even seem cool at all, just like a warm bath. Even "cold" showers don't work now because the all of the water comes out warm, not even cool anymore.

I had another appointment yesterday.....and the baby has moved down and there is progression, but I'm still not dilated. So, my Dr. said that if he still isn't here by Thursday, Friday, or Saturday they'll put me in the hospital to induce. She's going to call the hospital to see who the Dr.'s are "on call" there those days and choose the best Dr. for me, then call me that day to come in. Last week I wasn't very happy about being induced, but to be honest with you, at this point, I've lost patience. It was the same way with Camden. It seems that once I get past my due date, I'm just ready to be done. So Camden was induced and was 7 days late. And I'm going to go along with the induction this time around too, which ever day they call. I am still praying that today he'd decided to come on his own, but I'm not going to be upset if I get induced. It just wasn't my first choice, or the best choice, but if it'll get Dawson moving....I'm all for it right now!

Getting induced for me means that I'll probably have to get an epidural too. I'm not against them, I just really want to have a natural birth....at some point...maybe the next one?!? I didn't have that great of luck with the epidural last time either. The 1st one they put in didn't work and within an hour I was back at the same pain level I had been in. They called the Dr. but he was in surgery. So I had to wait for him to get out. When he came back he couldn't get it in the right way. He had to poke me and "try" 6 more times to get it to work. I distinctly remember him saying, "OK, I'll try one more time." You better believe I was praying soooooo hard by then for it to work....I was getting pretty nervous. But it turned out, he just had to angle the needle a different way for me to get it to work. And I was SOOOO thankful that it worked! It still took another 7 hours for Camden to come out, so I don't honestly know if I would have had enough strength to push him out if I didn't have that time to rest. And as I recall, the epidural didn't help that much with the pushing part...I remember asking the nurse why it hurt so bad, and she just said, "Sorry honey, it doesn't take away the pain of pushing all the time." But, it all worked out well in the end because I finally pushed out a perfect little Camden. :)

So now I'm just wondering how this birth experience will be....especially since it's in a different country. I know that God is good and that He is in control, no matter what may be different here.

So we're just waiting and waiting. We'll update the blog as soon as we can after Dawson is born, but it may be a few days.....since for some reason, I'm guessing the hospital here doesn't have wireless internet available. :) We'll post pics as soon as we can.