We were never told we were having a girl, but we were all pretty convinced of it anyway. So much so that every time I tried discussing boys names with John his response was "we don't need to come up with a boys name because it's a girl anyway". For this reason we had Mr. No Name for a few days and the girls team in the Keyes family became even more outnumbered.
Charlie was one of the names that I liked throughout the pregnancy and after a few days it grew on John. We all adore little Charlie. He has been a rock star from the very beginning. He eats well, sleeps well and is generally very content. I think the Lord knew what was going to hit us the first week of his life and knew that I needed an easy baby.
After a week of inconsistent contractions we headed to the hospital late Sunday September 2nd. It was not an easy labor. Back labor taught me where my pain tolerance ends. I went through 23 hrs of labor with Aiden, 15 hrs with Abby and 7 with Ben and never once considered having an epidural. After about an hour and a half of the worst pain I've ever experienced I requested an epidural. It took a while for the anesthesiologist to arrive as he was needed for a c-section but when he did arrive he was quick and once the epidural was placed I only had to go through about three more contractions before the pain was gone. John got some sleep and I watched the clock and waited for that pressure telling me it was time. The Dr arrived just in time to catch baby Charlie at 5:33 am Monday September 3rd (labor day), weighing in at 7 lb, 7 oz.
I was to be discharged the next day and besides a headache that wouldn't go away and some pain between my shoulder blades I was feeling great and Charlie was doing really well. My nurse had requested that the massage therapist come pay me a visit in the morning before I went home to see if she could do anything for my shoulders, it was awesome. It was during this massage that I received a call from John telling me that he was hit by a car riding his bike to school to see his first patient and that he was in the ER (at a different hospital). He was fine but his left wrist was likely broken (he is left handed).
John's cousin had arrived Monday night and was able to pick John up at one hospital, then they headed over to pick me up at another. John's wrist was indeed broken but luckily I was feeling great. However by that night my headache was back and progressively got worse. I was sent back to the hospital on the Thursday where John, Charlie and I spent most of the day. Though the epidural was textbook I was to be treated for a spinal headache caused by the epidural. The treatment is a procedure called a blood patch. My headache was reduced significantly and by the next morning was completely gone.
So what about John? Obviously a broken wrist is not good in his profession. Thanks to a very understanding program director he has been assigned a couple of fourth year dental students to assist him during his patient consults. Luckily these next couple months are mostly consults anyway. Being in a cast for twelve weeks will put him a little behind and makes lab work very difficult but he's making it work. The orthopedic surgeon is confident that it'll heal well but is sending him to the hand specialist so that he has the best care available.
Through all of this we really have been trying to focus on the positive. We have a beautiful healthy baby and we'll take a broken wrist over what could have been a lot worse. We are so grateful for an amazing church family who took such great care of us by providing us with meals, taking kids to and from school (I missed Aiden's first day) and looking after Ben when I couldn't. Thanks to all who have helped us out and who have prayed on our behalf. We have truly felt loved.
Here's Charlie!
