Katelyn's Birthday

8/30 Katelyn's birthday

Labor and delivery had called the night before to tell us that we were on the list to be induced the next day but that we'd have to wait for them to call and tell us when to come in.  It could be as early as 5 AM, but it all depended on how many people they had come in through the night.  

I woke up around 5:30 and slept on and off until the boys woke up.  I was very anxious waiting for the hospital to call.  I kept waiting and waiting and nothing.  I finally called them around 9:30 and they told me they had been very busy that morning but that I was next on the list.  They said I could probably expect a call in the afternoon.  So instead of continuing to wait around me and Jessica took Nathan to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point.  He had been wanting to see the animals for a while.

It was a really warm day, but Nathan liked walking around saying hi to all the animals.  Each new animal he'd stop at and say "hi goat!" "hi pig!" "hi horsey!"  He got to go on a horsey ride and we rode the wagon.  It was nice to get out of the house and do something while we waited.

At 12:50 PM I got a call from labor and delivery saying they were ready for me to come in and get induced.  When we got to the hospital at 1:30 PM they were still cleaning the room so we had another little wait.  This time it was just 15 minutes.  At 2 PM the nurse started an IV.  2:30 the doctor came in and broke my water. I was dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced.  At 2:35 they started me on pitocin.

My nurses name was Karen. The head nurse was Judy. They both kept joking about the baby being born by 6 PM because that's when my nurses shift would end. They said they had 7 inductions that day and I was second to last on the list. No wonder it took so long for them to get me in! One of the babies born today was born in the car outside the ER!

Around 4:00 the anesthesiologist came in to do the epidural. His name was Colby. He was really nice and talked to me about how I had to get the epidural twice last time. He explained that sometimes things are so interwoven that it's hard for the medicine to get around where it needs to go. He also explained that since I dilated so fast last time the epidural just couldn't keep up. 

This time he had trouble getting it where it needed to go and we had to take two breaks. There was a lot of pressure on the left side. He said he thought I had a little scoliosis. It finally worked but I was still feeling contractions and I never went totally numb, my legs were starting to feel a bit numb though.   

At 4:45 the nurse inserted the catheter and checked my dilation. She had a hard time getting the catheter in and thought possibly the babies head was in the way.  I was dilated to a 6. But I was also feeling so much pain and pressure. The nurse tried turning me on my other side to even out the epidural and was having trouble finding the babies heartbeat. I was feeling so much pain and pressure and it wasn't letting up! Karen called another nurse in to help her find the babies heartbeat since she was still having trouble.  Then she checked me again and I was at a 10.  I went from a 6 to a 10 in less then 10 minutes! Suddenly there were 5 or 6 nurses in the room and they said to call the doctor and tell him to sprint. They told me the baby was coming right now.  It's really odd to think back on the experience.  I've never had an out of body experience but I think that came really close.  I was in so much pain and there was so much going on! The doctor came in and they told me I had to hold my legs but all I could think about was the pain.  I vaguely remember Michael holding one of my legs and I think a nurse held the other.  The anesthesiologist was also there telling me he was giving me a different pain killer.  And Holly (the nurse Karen had originally called in) kept telling me it would be over soon.  Then I was being told to push but it hurt so much! I kept saying "I can't," and they kept telling me I had to.  There was so much pressure I thought I was going to rip into pieces! I tried pushing but it was really hard. It hurt so much. I ended up pushing maybe two to three times.  She came out pretty fast. It didn't seem like it at the time though.   I had a minor tear and only needed 4 stitches. While the doctor was stitching me up he made a joke about how it's probably a good thing that I scheduled an induction since I dilated so fast and she came so fast!  I was in labor for a total of 3 hours and active labor for maybe 5-10 minutes!

Katelyn Isabella was born at 5:04 PM. I got to hold her immediately.  This was different since both of my boys had breathing issues when they were born and had to be taken away after just a quick look. Katelyn weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces and was 18.5 inches long. She's absolutely beautiful! I was able to do skin to skin with her and breastfeed her. She latched right on and ate on both sides. She didn't have to go down to the nursery at all-which was also amazing!  It was such a different experience to be able to have her with me the entire time.   

Later that night the nursery nurses came and checked her out. They said she looked great. They gave her a hep B shot and a vitamin K shot. She was whimpering on and off but they said that's okay as long as it wasn't consistent. 

At 9:20 PM I called my nurse in because she had been gagging and spitting up a lot of fluid. The nurse said its normal but wanted to take her to the nursery to clear out her lungs and stomach.  They also wanted to give her a bath.At  9:30 the nurse said the suctioning went really well and as expected.  

Clean and dressed after her bath.