Kate's Birth Story

Although this week has been the most stressful one of my life, I was lucky that it started out with a great delivery!!

I should start out by mentioning that throughout this pregnancy I had planned on having a natural birth. I really wanted to experience the whole thing and not be numbed up at all. Also, I was not happy with my epidural for Paige's birth, for several reasons, so I wanted to go without it this time. I was open-minded though, because I know that you can never plan for exactly how your labor will go. You'll see how my plan played out...

On Wednesday the 10th I had a doctors appointment and had my membranes stripped. I was 3-4 cm dilated and 40% effaced at that point. For the rest of that day and all day Thursday I had irregular contractions. Sometimes they were actually painful and not just the uncomfortable kind. On Thursday night I was still having some contractions, but they were about 10-20 minutes apart. I thought they would probably just go away. For some reason I just didn't think Kate was ever really going to come out. :)

So I went to bed at about 1 AM and then woke up at 3 AM with a painful contraction, which I felt mostly in my back. I pretty much jumped out of bed because it hurt so bad and I had to remind myself to breathe through it. I didn't want to wake up Nate since I didn't know if this was the real thing or not, so I wandered around the house, doing some last minute things. I started timing the contractions and they were around 10 minutes apart I think. They were really, really painful. I was shocked. With Paige, I was in labor for 12 hours, and on Pitocin, and I never thought the contractions were nearly as bad as this. I realized that I was having "back labor." From 3 AM to 5 AM the contractions got worse and they were suddenly 3-5 minutes apart. I frantically woke up Nate and he started doing the dishes. Ha ha. It was the only thing that I had left un-done and he didn't want a mess to come home to. He's cool like that. I hopped in the shower and while I was in there I started having some contractions even closer together. I was crying and crying because it hurt so bad. I got out of the shower and told Nate, "We have to go NOW!" And then I threw up. Nate's brother headed over to stay at the house with Paige and we left for the hospital.

We got there at about 6 AM and they monitored my contractions for a while to make sure I was really in labor. I think they were around 3-4 minutes apart, but sometimes closer. Every time one would come, Nate pressed on my lower back as hard as he could, which helped, but I was still in tears with almost every one. I knew even on the way to the hospital, that my drug-free labor was NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. I was pretty much begging for an epidural when they got me to the delivery room at 7:30 AM. I was 6 cm when they gave it to me and my doctor broke my water soon after. The epidural went in very easily, unlike with Paige. And it took effect right away. I was so amazed and relieved.

Everything was great for a while and then I started feeling insane pressure in my butt. If you've had a baby- you know exactly what I'm talking about. Right? I was like, "How about more drugs!" They upped the epidural, but it did nothing. I knew it was time to push. There was so much pressure.

It was just before 10 AM and I told Nate to yell for the nurse because I felt like Kate was about to fall out. Seriously. I said to the nurse, "I think she's coming out right now!" She acted like I was an idiot. Then she checked me and said, "Oh, you're 10 centimeters!" I knew it!

So they started setting up the room really fast and called my doctor. This was the worst part because I felt like I needed to push so badly, but they made me wait for him to arrive. He came into the room 5 minutes later and after about 2 minutes of pushing Kate was born at 10:08 AM. Wow. It was so fast. It took maybe 2 pushes and she was out. The best part was that I didn't tear at all! (Is that TMI?) I'm sure the fact that Kate was so tiny helped.

When they laid her on my chest I was shocked. She was SO SMALL. 5 lb 12 oz. Almost 2 lbs less than Paige. I was scared that there was something wrong because of how small she was and because she was purple. But she was crying really loud and started to get more pink over the next few minutes. Everyone assured me that she looked completely healthy- just small. Her APGAR scores were perfect. I was so happy to have her out and to finally see our little angel. We love her so much. She is such a sweet baby.

I have to say that recovery, when you have no tearing, is a breeze. Wow. I don't feel like I just had a baby at all. That's one major benefit of having a little baby.