Kate's Birth

Monday morning, April 22nd, I found myself awake at 5am and not able to go back to sleep.  The alarm went off at 5:30, and I jumped out of bed and headed to the shower.  I have been induced with every single pregnancy, and while part of me wishes I had the opportunity to go into labor naturally, I mostly love the predictability of being induced.  As I got ready that morning, I kept ticking down the minutes in my head, knowing that I'd be meeting my little girl in a matter of hours.

We left for the hospital at 6:30am.  My parents (who had arrived the day before) and the kids were still sound asleep when we left the house.  We arrived at the hospital just after 7 and I posed for our traditional "last pregnancy picture" at the entrance to the hospital, before heading up to Labor and Delivery.

We checked in and immediately were taken back to our room.  My nurse was just getting ready to start my IV when my doctor came in to break my water.  She decided to wait till he was done before doing the IV.  So, at 7:30am I had my water broken, and said goodbye to my doctor till it was time for delivery.  I was still at a 2 (the same that I'd been for the previous two weeks).  My nurse went to work trying to find a vein for an IV.  She couldn't find a good one in my left arm, so she tried one in my right.  She couldn't get the IV in, so she called another nurse (who is a pro at IVs) to come do my IV.  This nurse struggled, too.  Apparently I don't have very good veins for starting IVs.  After two attempts by the "expert nurse", I finally had an IV in at 8:15.  

Once the IV was in, the Pitocin started.  I felt my first contraction at 8:30--the official start of labor.  The contractions didn't hurt, so I waited a bit before getting my epidural.  The contractions started to get uncomfortable around 9:15, so I got my epidural at 9:30.  The epidural worked great, and the rest of labor was very comfortable.  I could feel I was having contractions, but I had no pain.  

At 10:00, the nurse checked me.  I was only at a 4.  It was pretty slow progress thus far, but I could tell that things would start going quickly soon.  The kids called to see if they could come down to the hospital, and Scott told them to go ahead and come.  I had arranged for Owen to stay with my neighbor that morning, but the other kids wanted to come down to the hospital and wait with us till Kate was born.  They arrived about 10 minutes before 11:00.  As they came in the room, I sat up to greet them.  I suddenly felt very light headed, and told Scott I thought I needed oxygen.  The nurse came in and gave me oxygen, and I told her that it probably meant that I was getting very close.  With all my other deliveries, I've needed oxygen at the end as I go through transition, and I suspected that was what was happening.  (At this point, I handed the camera to Savannah, and she went to work taking pictures.  I have so many pictures from this delivery, and I love it.  With my other deliveries, Scott was busy helping me, and most of my pictures came from a nurse picking up my camera and taking a few pictures.  But with this one, Savannah did a great job documenting everything, and I love that I have the whole thing for me to look back and remember.)

At 11:00, we sent the kids out of the room while my nurse checked me again.  I was between a 5 and a 6.  I told her that meant things would be happening fast from here on out.  The kids came back in and I visited with them for a bit.  Aaron was full of questions about all the machines and equipment in the room.  Nate and Josh were quiet and good, and the girls were just giddy with excitement.  I had told the girls that when the time came, if things were going well, they would be able to stay for Kate's birth.  

During the next 20 minutes, Scott watched me closely.  He could tell that things had changed, and he was watching me for any clue that it might be time.  Finally, at 11:20, I told him I thought it was time.  My parents took the boys out to the waiting room, and Scott got the nurse to come in and check me.  The first thing the nurse said when she came in, was that we had a cord issue, and showed me the monitors.  When I would have a contraction, Kate's heart rate would drop dangerously low (from the normal 120-150 range down to 60).  She had me roll onto my right side to try to get me in a position that didn't put so much pressure on Kate.  She also checked me, and said, "You weren't kidding, when you start to go, you go FAST!".  She said I was complete and ready for the doctor.  She picked up the phone and called for Dr. Lowder.  

Scott and the girls watched anxiously out the window to see Dr. Lowder cross the courtyard from his office over to the hospital.  I told the nurse that the girls would like to stay, but if at any time she thought they needed to leave, they would.  She assured me that they would be fine.  Soon Dr. Lowder arrived and went to work setting everything up for the delivery.  The girls stayed up by my head, so they didn't have to see any of the icky stuff.  Savannah took lots of pictures.  At first I was a bit hesitant to post any of them, because you can see so much leg, but I decided that you don't see anything you wouldn't see if I were wearing a swimsuit at the pool.  And since this is our family's journal, I want to remember all of this.  (I love that the clock is showing in the background, so you can see just how fast all of this went at the end.)

Because she had the cord around her neck, Dr. Lowder had me push a little, then stop while he loosened the cord, then push a little more.  I pushed through only one contraction, and she was out.  The miracle of birth never ceases to amaze me.  One minute she is inside of me, the next minute she's out and screaming and breathing and so perfect. 

Scott cut the cord.  Because the cord had been around her neck, she was quite purple in the beginning (especially her hands and feet), but within 5 minutes, she had pinked up quite nicely.

I held my little girl and just marveled at how perfect she was. 

My doctor had predicted she would be 9 pounds like Owen was.  When they placed her on me, my first words were "She's so small!"  She weighed in at 7 pounds 11.5 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long.

My labor team (my doctor took this picture for me).

 Me and my girls.

As soon as things calmed down a bit, I sent Scott to go get the boys.  It was wonderful seeing them meet their little sister for the first time.  I wished Owen could have been there, but knew that he would not have done well waiting around in the hospital.

 After a bit, the nursery nurse came down and checked Kate all out.  Kate was not a fan of getting checked out.  In fact, she wasn't a fan of any part of the whole birth experience.  She screamed and screamed and cried and cried.  Scott said he's never seen any of our kids start crying as fast as Kate did.  Once her head was out, she started crying.  I think she was pretty distressed because of the cord.  In fact, as she was born she had what the doctor called "terminal meconium", meaning she pooped at the very end as she was being born.  Thankfully it was just at the very end, so we didn't need to worry about her getting any in her lungs.  Savannah loved that Kate reached up and grabbed her hand for comfort during her exam.

After everyone had their turn to hold Kate, Grandma and Grandpa gathered the kids to go home.  No one wanted to leave, but I promised them they could come back with Owen.

And then Scott and I were left alone with our sweet baby girl.  I marveled at just how fast everything had happened - a complete whirlwind.  I was so relieved to have her here safe and healthy.  And I immediately felt a twinge of sadness that this was the last time I would get to experience this amazing miracle of birth.  This pregnancy has been a difficult one, and I've known that this would have to be the last time I carried a baby inside me.  And while I feel our family is complete now, it breaks my heart that this is my last baby.  It makes me want to hold this little one and never put her down, so I can cling to every second of this newborn stage that goes by all too quickly.