Caden Davis Easley's birth story
October 28th was the day we had been looking forward to for months. That was the day Caden Davis Easley was predicted to be born. All along I was saying, “I hope I don’t have a Halloween baby!” As someone who isn’t really into scary or spooky things, Halloween is lost on me. Sure dressing up is fun but that is the extent of it.
Well October 28th and 29th came and went and we were still waiting (oh so patiently). October 30th started like any other day, except while in the Chick-fil-a line I started feeling contractions. I ordered my lunch and took the contractions one breath at a time while Sheena, my bestie, watched and reassured me that I was fine and they weren’t that bad. I had an ordering appointment with a client and then my anxious sister, nephew and mom came over hoping I would spontaneously go into labor. We decided the best thing to do was walk this baby out, so we participated in the early trick-or-treating hosted by Cresthaven neighborhood. On the way there my contractions got more frequent and stronger but manageable. Everyone told me if "I you smile through the contraction your fine"…so that was my test..and I was fine. Each new house brought on stronger contractions and we finally decided to go home. On the way home my patience for idol chit chat was wearing thin and my husband calmly decided that Jordan wanted to play the quiet game. We attempted to go to bed, but the contractions got stronger and I was getting more and more anxious. It was 10 o’clock and at this point I asked Chris to call the hospital! From the kitchen I could hear him telling them I was having contractions that were getting more frequent and intense, followed by a RIDICULOUS question that only my husband would ask…”So if we come in now, are we billed for an extra day or is it by the hour?” I could not have rolled my eyes any harder. I wasn’t sure what the answer was nor did I care...Chris we are going to the hospital. We loaded up, dropped the dogs at Sheena’s and off we went.
We checked in around 10:20pm and by the time I was settled in a room I had already dilated more than when I checked in. We just knew that meant things were going to happen fast and at this point I was like "Give me my epidural and lets do this!" We notified family and within 30 minutes we had a room full of anxious family all decked out in the Team Cade shirts we had made...little did they know we would be waiting another 10 hours before he would arrive.
To keep from oversharing, lets just say there were lots of laughs, awkward moments, amazing nurses and several bed changes between check in and “push time.” At 7am it was shift change which meant my doctor would be there to deliver Cade and something only a photographer would care about…a beautifully lit room. I had prepared Sheena to photograph these moments and dreamed about that sweet moment when they place the baby on the mom's chest and she is glowing and smiling. After pushing for 2 hours, I can’t say I was a glowing new mom...I was EXHAUSTED! Definitely overjoyed that he was out and anxious to see him but very weak and feeling as though I had not trained properly.
As it turned out, our baby boy was born at 10:47am on Halloween. He was perfect in every way and his birth date was perfect too! Chris and I both have birthdays on special days, Chris was the first baby born at the hospital on 8/8/88 and I was the first one born at my hospital on Mother's Day, so Cade decided to continue the tradition and arrived just 30 minutes before the next chime rang in the hospital!
