Keeping up with the Joneses: October 2014

If you do not like hearing about dilation and birthing babies, this post is not for you.

Birth is an amazing thing. After 40 weeks of living inside the womb, a beautiful blessing comes out. (Or at least that’s the way it’s supposed to work). :) It’s also amazing how every birth can be so different. I blogged about Kendall’s birth here and here. With her, I was induced at 36 weeks because I had developed preeclampsia. I had a relatively easy labor and delivery. After 4 hours and a wonderful epidural we welcomed our firstborn into the world. After Kendall’s easy delivery I feared Kate’s would be much harder. It wasn’t likely to have an easy time, 2 times in a row after all.

I blogged about it many times, but pregnancy with Kate was HARD! At 24 weeks I was showing signs of preterm labor, and by 26 weeks I was on bed rest. To say it was a looonnnggg 2 ½ months is an understatement! Early on my OB told me I would be delivering early at another hospital that had a NICU but was further away. The hospital where she works doesn’t have a NICU and doesn’t normally deliver before 35 weeks.

Her bruising didn't look that bad in person!

When 35 weeks came and went we were pleasantly surprised. Still pregnant! I was checked a few days before 35 weeks and was dilated to 5 but not having contractions and wasn’t in labor. At 36 weeks I was dilated to 6 and allowed to get off of bed rest. I cheated and got up a few days early because I didn’t honestly think I would see 36 weeks. It was glorious to be up and off the couch/bed! I was worried I’d have an issue with fatigue after lying around for so long, but it really wasn’t a problem.

During this long ordeal of a pregnancy, I became pretty tight with my OB. I had seen her weekly since 24 weeks. She called me her problem patient. It got to a point each week she’d walk into the exam room, see me, and laugh. For me to still be pregnant was nothing short of a medical miracle. So many people were praying for me and this baby. It was amazing how God worked and allowed me to carry full term. At one point there were concerns if I’d make it to 28 weeks. As 37 weeks rolled around, I joked with Michael that we should ask people to stop praying. I was still dilated to 6 and holding steady. I was tired of being pregnant and ready to have this baby!

At my Thursday appointment that week (still dilated to 6) my doctor told me to do whatever I had to do to start labor. She would be on call all weekend and then would be leaving the next week for a vacation. I really like my doctor and really wanted her to deliver me! I think she also wanted to deliver me also. We spent a ton of time together over the last few weeks. We also stood in the hallway and discussed when the cutoff point to get an epidural was. I make no bones about it, I am a wimp! I wanted pain relief ASAP, preferably before I felt pain. :) I had nothing to prove. In case you are wondering where the cutoff point is, it depends on the situation. Usually between 8 and 9 centimeters dilated depending on the situation and how fast progress is being made. I immediately left that appointment and went to the mall to walk around a few hours. Nothing happened.

I have to say here that I’m impressed with women who carry for the full 40 weeks or longer. There comes a point where misery sets in and I don’t want to be pregnant another second! That extra 3 weeks would seem like an eternity I’m sure.

Friday rolled around. Finally off of bed rest, I was ready to go, go, go! That evening we went out to eat (where I ate spicy shrimp, you know, to induce labor) and back to the mall to walk. We only walked for an hour or so because it was getting late and Kendall is use to an early bedtime.

I had joked all week that Saturday was gonna be a “family fun day”. Actually I was just sort of joking…remember at that point, I was ready to go, go, go. I wanted to go to Dollywood. In my mind it made perfect sense…a ton of walking to induce labor. In my husband’s mind it made absolutely no sense. Taking his very pregnant, gonna have a baby any second wife, to do a ton of walking and then getting stuck in traffic. He quickly vetoed my Dollywood idea. My family fun day turned into a really eventful day with lots of family and fun.

Saturday morning I woke up at 6:58AM (I looked at my clock). I just didn’t “feel right” but couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. A few minutes later I felt a small tiny pain. It was almost unnoticeable. After a second pain, I woke Michael up shortly after 7. I told him I thought I might need to go to the hospital but wasn’t real sure. He jumped up and called my mom (to stay with Kendall) and started getting ready. It only took a few minutes until I realized that I was having contractions very regular. I started getting ready between contractions. We decided to call our neighbor to come and sit with Kendall (who was still in her crib asleep) until my mom got there. That way we could go ahead and leave before my mom got there, just in case. We were ready to go when our neighbor came over. We left our house at 7:23. I know the exact time because Michael laid out his work phone for our neighbor to use and called it from his regular phone so she’d have his number in case she needed it (we do not have a land line).

Thankfully the Saturday early morning traffic was very sparse. The drive to the hospital normally takes me 45 minutes. The best we can figure, we made it in less than 30 minutes that morning. Michael was really moving on! I didn’t realize at the time but on the interstate he never got below 100 MPH. I was timing my contractions on the IPad. There were coming less than a minute apart at times but were only lasting less than 45 seconds. I knew that was close but felt they weren’t lasting very long. My water was broke before we arrived at the hospital. I’m not super sure when it happened. I never had a huge gush of fluid.

When we were about 2 exits away from the hospital, I told Michael I was pushing with each contraction but wasn’t trying to. It’s amazing how your body just takes over. I never pushed intentionally 1 time when delivering Kate. It scared me some to feel that but I still didn’t realize just how close we were to having a baby. In hindsight I realize that sounds super stupid. How could you not know? I probably would have killed over in shock had I known, so it was actually a blessing.

When we arrived at the hospital, Michael parked under the drive through awning in front of the closed valet parking. He ran in to a get a wheel chair, because I was pretty sure I couldn’t walk. In between contractions I decided to walk as far as I could. I made it about 10 steps to the nearest bench just inside the door. It took him several minutes to get a wheel chair. The lady at the information desk was almost rude to him and acted aggravated that he needed help with that.

Once we got upstairs the nurses let us into the labor and delivery area immediately. Michael had called on the interstate to let them know we were on our way. They took us to triage to evaluate me, to see if I was in labor (FYI, I WAS!!!!). Once in triage the nurse handed me a gown and wanted me to go in the restroom to put it on. I quickly but politely told her I COULDN’T. Then she wanted me to put it on in the room. Once again I quickly told her I couldn’t. I later joked with her that I didn’t want to wear her “stupid” gown. The nurse started to believe me at this point and decided to check me as I was. All I remember after that was her shouting out the door that she was delivering a baby in Triage.

And at 7:59, she was here. From the time we were let into the labor and delivery area, until I had Kate was 2 minutes. It all happened so fast. The cord was wrapped around Kate’s neck. At that point there were only 2 nurses in the room with us. Just seconds later there were about 10. One of the first things I said was, “I was supposed to have an epidural.” The nurses just laughed. A minute later my doctor walked in the room. I was obviously full of myself because I said, “We don’t need you now.” Later on I asked if we still had to pay her. And we do. How is that fair? Just saying. :)

The doctor who did not deliver Kate.

The nurses took Kate right away. Since Triage isn’t really set up for birth, they took the baby to a different side of the room and I couldn’t see or hear her. I hated that part. I didn’t see her until probably 15 minutes later.

We have gone over the many what ifs. What if we had waited on my mom to get to our house? What if there had been a lot traffic or my maniac husband had been pulled over? What if Michael had been at work or at home asleep after working all night? What if we had delivered in the car and the cord was around her neck? What if we had tried to make it the hospital that was further away? God was in all the details. He’s never late or too early.

So that’s the story of how sweet Kate was born, in triage, in my street clothes, without my doctor, after 1 hour and 1 minute of labor and 2 minutes of being there. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. In all honesty, it was actually an easier labor and delivery than Kendall’s, even without the beloved epidural.

     It's unbelievable that it's already been over a full week since we brought our sweet little Kate Alaina home! And we've survived!

Kate has been pretty jaundice so our first week has been full of hospital blood labs, doctor appointments, and round the clock feedings every 2 hours. To sum up our week...exhausting! Thankfully after three days under the "lights" Kate's biliruben numbers were significantly better. Jaundice is such a minor problem to deal with in the big scheme of things!

   We are still figuring out this parent of two jig. I'm not gonna lie, some moments have been almost overwhelming. We are ready for a normal routine and schedule to our days and that should help quite a bit.

   I'm dying to get some good pictures of Kate, so hopefully that will happen this week. And also I hope to write down the details of her birth story.