Flashback Friday: Kate's Birth Story

In August of 2009, I decided to start doing Flashback Friday on my blog to document things that happened before I had a blog. I didn't start the blog until Kate was 18 months old & I was 8 months pregnant with Claire. Because I started this blog as a scrapbook for my girls (but it has turned into much more!) I want to incorporate things from Kate's first 18 months!

In honor of Kate's 4th birthday this weekend and the fact that 4 years ago today was my due date, here is a flashback of her birth story.
Read Claire's birth story HERE.

January 21, 2007 was my due date with Kate.
I wrote Kate's birth story when she was just a week old & had it saved on my computer, so I thought I would put it on the blog! Just a warning, it is long. I wanted to remember everything.

On Sunday, the 21^st, we went to church & then I spent the rest of day nesting like crazy & cleaning house. Kevin and I went to a local pizza for their pregnancy pizza. It supposedly makes you go into labor within 24 hours. It didn’t work for me!
Here is my last belly picture with Kate on 1.21.07


(You can see the rest of the belly pictures HERE)

My 40 week appt. was Monday, January 22. I was hoping to make it to then for a few reasons. First, Dr. W. was out of town on a hunting trip in Seattle until Sunday. And, the school semester ended for me on Friday, January 19, and Monday the 22^ndwas a teacher workday. I was hoping to get in all my days before my maternity leave.I went to my appt on Monday January 22 with Dr. W. I was still 1 cm dilated and he said, “you have a big baby, we need to induce you.” I didn’t like hearing that I had a big baby because I didn’t want to end up with a C-section. Dr. W said he would induce me that night or on the 23^rd. He would call me back that afternoon. I didn’t want to be induced because I wanted the labor experience where I told Kevin, “It’s time!!!” But, oh well. And, I had heard some scary things about Pitocin. As I was driving back from my appt. Jennifer from Dr. W’s office called and said that they would be inducing me tonight and that I needed to come back to the office at 3 and they would be inserting a Foley catheter into me to help dilate me. Then, I would check into the hospital at 7 pm and they would start pitocin at 5 or 6 am on the 23^rd. So, I went back to school for a few hours and I was freaking out. This baby was coming within 24 hours!! We would finally get to find out if it was a boy or a girl. I couldn’t wait!

Kevin and I went back to Dr. W office at 3 and Jennifer put in the Foley catheter. Getting that put in was NOT comfortable at all. She had to use this duck billed metal tool. Ouch!! Jennifer also took out my mucus plug. Gross! But, once the Foley was put in, I was fine. It had this tube thing hanging down that I could pull on every few hours to help dilate me. Pretty funny. Kevin and I went home and got organized. I ate a strawberry bagel with cream cheese for dinner because I didn’t have an appetite. I was too anxious & excited about meeting our baby!

We got to the hospital a little after 7. It was empty; there was only 1 other woman in labor. They hooked me up to the machines, the heart rate monitor and the contraction monitor. Our nurse was very friendly and nice. She checked me and said, you are having regular contractions every 2 minutes. I had no idea, I couldn’t feel a thing. She wanted to call Dr. W and tell him this to see what he wanted to do. She came back and told us that Dr. W wanted them to start the pitocin at midnight instead of 5 am. I couldn’t believe it, I was very excited! The nurse would come in every few hours and check me. Kevin slept on the pull out chair bed, but I was too anxious & scared so I couldn’t sleep! A little after midnight, the nurse came and checked me. I was at a 2 and the Foley catheter fell out, and they started the pitocin. She asked if I wanted the epidural and I said not yet. The pitocin was no big deal, I could barely feel the contractions and I was still very comfortable. I was wide-awake the whole time listening the heartbeat on the monitor. A little after 2 the contractions were getting a little stronger, I was still very comfortable. The woman down the hall was getting her epidural and the nurse asked if I wanted mine. I wasn’t in pain, but I figured maybe since the anesthesiologist was up, I might as well get mine. So, a little before 3 I got the epidural, it wasn’t painful getting it put in and the doctor did a great job. His name was Dr. Chang; he was probably in his mid 30s. At that time, I was dilated to a little over a 3. Well, a few minutes after the epidural, I had NO feeling in my legs or lower area. It was crazy. I thought to myself, what have I done, why did I get this….I cant feel a thing!!! Then, I started getting very nauseous. I didn’t throw up, but I felt like it. About 10 minutes after that, I started feeling very light headed and dizzy. Then, my blood pressure machine started beeping. Kevin got one of the nurses and my blood pressure had dramatically dropped. It was 70 over 35. Very low. The nurse ran to get some epinephrine to add to my IV. Basically, it is a steroid. Well, that didn’t help right away and the machine keep beeping and I still felt nauseous and dizzy. Finally after about 20 minutes, they got everything under control and stabilized. Luckily, during this whole ordeal Katelyn’s heart rate stayed the same and consistent.

Then, when Kevin and one of the nurses where moving me to my other side, I heard this fart noise. When the nurse left, I asked Kevin if he farted and he said, no, that was you. How funny! I didn’t even feel it! Around 6 in the morning they checked me and I was at a 6. I still had not slept a bit because I was too anxious. At 7 am the new nurses came in for their shift. We couldn’t believe it when our friend Andrea walked in. She graduated high school with my older sister, Elyse. She went to college with Kevin went out with her a few times and took her to one of his Fraternity functions. What a small world! So, that was fun. A little before 8 Dr. W came by and checked me. He said I was about a 7-8 and my water was bulging. He said he had to go help with a c-section and that he would break my water in an hour when he was done. Then we called our families and told them the update. Well, about 15 minutes after Dr. W leaves, I feel a big gush, I was pretty sure my water broke. I had Kevin go get a nurse and tell them. Sure enough my water broke and I was at a 9. Then, my mom gets there and she is freaking out because she is the first one there and my water broke and when her water broke with all of us, we were born within 30 minutes. Then my sisters get there, and they were frantic because my mom was frantic. It was pretty entertaining. They check me again at 9:30 and I was at a 10. Dr. W was still in surgery. When he got back at around 10, he wanted to wait for the baby’s head to come down before we started pushing. Apparently, part of my pelvic bone sticks out, and he wanted to have the baby come down on her own before I started pushing. By now, my mother in law is here along with my dad. Jeff and Cindy are on their way. We do a few practice pushes, I have no idea what I am supposed to do! But, I just listen to the nurses. Finally around 11:15, we start pushing for real! Every contraction that would hit, I would push 3 times for 10 seconds. Her head was stuck on my pelvic bone and it wouldn’t get past it! My goal was to get past that pelvic bone! After every push I would ask, “Is the head past the bone yet??” I was getting very tired, hungry and thirsty. I hadn’t eaten since 6 the night before and all I had was a bagel and cream cheese. I was so thirsty, all you can eat is ice chips. I was so tired, I had been up since 7am on the 22^nd. And, I was so hot! I was sweating and I wanted the air on, or I wanted the door to the balcony to stay open so I could cool off. But, that wasn’t allowed. So, Kevin would feed me ice chips, which was almost more effort & energy to chew! And, he would dab my forehead with a washcloth, to cool me off. One of the nurses got an ice pack to put on my neck, which helped! I was so tired pushing at every contraction, the nurses let me push on one contraction and wait out the next one. I felt no pain pushing, just a lot of pressure and the desire to push when the contractions came. Finally, her head was past my pubic bone. Dr W arrived at about 1:20, I had been pushing for almost 3 hours.

Finally, at 1:58 pm, she arrived. I cannot explain the feeling or emotion when she was pulled out and laid on me. It was the most surreal & amazing experience. Kevin and I were both crying.

When Dr. W said “It’s a Girl!” it made all of those months waiting, totally worth it! The nausea and throwing up for 20 weeks was well worth the arrival of our beautiful daughter. She received APGAR scores of 8 & 9. They put her on the warming table and she pooped out her meconium. They weighed her and she was 8 pounds 5 ounces and 20 ½ inches long.

Then, I noticed Dr. W stitching me up. Apparently, he gave me an episiotomy and I had a 2^nd degree tear! I felt nothing, my labor and delivery experience was wonderful, and I felt no pain! It was great! I would do labor and delivery any day! After they were done cleaning up, Kevin went out to tell everyone. Jill and Linda were right outside the door, and Kevin said “It’s a Girl” I could hear the screams from the room. It was funny. Then he told everyone else who was walking up the hallway. A few minutes later, everyone got to come in the room and see her. It was so fun & exciting!

We couldn’t believe how long her fingers were! They looked just like my fingers! Even Dr. W commented on her fingers. She looked similar to how I did as a baby, but her face was much rounder, and we decided she looked like her Auntie Becky!

About an hour later, they moved us to our post partum room, but before we left labor and delivery, the nurse had me ring the bell that plays angel music throughout the hospital. It was very special because when I had my miscarriage in October 2005, Kevin heard that music while I was in surgery for my D & C. So, to be able to ring the bell was very special.

We had a lot of visitors that night. Cindy & Kathy came by, Tara P, The Shields brought us Jamba Juice which was so refreshing and good!!! Our pastor also stopped by & prayed for Katelyn. Dr W came by around 11 pm because he was on call. I still had not slept and I was so pumped on adrenaline! I couldn’t sleep if I wanted to! He told us to send Katelyn to the nursery for a few hours so we could get some sleep. We did that I was able to sleep for a few hours. In the morning around 6:30 Dr. H came by to check out Katelyn & meet us.

No one tells you about the pain you feel the next day after giving birth! Or the amount of blood that comes out of you!!! My whole body hurt. My legs, my arms, my neck, my jaw muscles, my face. It felt like I had done preseason soccer for a month. The weird part was on my right hand, my index, middle and ring fingers had nerve damage or something! The tips of those 3 fingers were numb and tingly. It was very strange. It lasted 2 weeks!

Kate's Birth Announcement:

So that is the birth story of Kate, our first child born on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at 1:58 pm. She is the most beautiful baby and everyone who meets her thinks she is beautiful. I can’t imagine our lives without her. We are so very blessed and thankful to God for a wonderful delivery of a healthy baby. God is so good. I feel privileged and honored to care for her and to call her my daughter!