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Saturday, July 3, 2010

Katie Brooke's Arrival!

Sunday, June 20th I was admitted to the hospital to start my induction.  To help me get started my doctor gave me Cervidil that was to work throughout the night.  After some Ambien I got a really good night of sleep.  We were surprised to learn that I had started contractions on my own, but I didn't feel them at all.  Around 5am I woke up, the nurse removed the Cervidil, and I enjoyed a shower.
The doctor came in sometime around 7am and got me started on Pitocin.  I still hadn't dilated much or thinned out.  Half an hour later she broke my water.  Within 45 minutes my contractions were about 3 1/2 minutes apart and we were hopeful that my dilation would pick up soon. 
I had pretty bad back labor for a few hours, some of which I was able to have visitors through.  I was nervous to learn that epidurals weren't routine until you were around 4 cm.  I wasn't sure I would be able to make it.
Besides the back labor I had really bad nausea partially due to not being able to eat- I was STARVING!  Thankfully I was able to get some phenergan and did receive my epidural when I was just 2 1/2-3 cm dilated sometime in the 1 o'clock hour.  I was kinda scared about it hurting, but the worst part just ended up being the initial numbing shot.  Afterwards I was knocked out and able to sleep for around 2 hours.
Sometime around 5:30 p.m. my doctor came in to check me.  Yet again, I was still only 3 1/2 cm and 80% effaced.  At that time the doctor talked a little about a c-section saying that with the "power" my contractions had been, she expected to see more progress.  Knowing some surgery history of mine and that I was a 9 lb baby she wanted to know my thoughts of having a c-section.
Overall I was alright with the idea- if it's what was best for Katie Brooke and myself.  I just didn't want to go through hours of pushing and then end up with one.  She agreed and said that she would give us an hour to an hour and a half to see if there was anymore progress. 
By 6:20 or so the doctor check me and yet again found that I was still only 3 1/2 on my own and around 90% effaced.  With that news she scheduled a c-section for around 7pm.
By an hour later I was in the OR getting my epidural topped off and prepped for surgery.  My nerves weren't too bad...but my nausea was still in full force.  I had been given zofran earlier after I declined more phenergan (I didn't want to be out of it).  However, I'm pretty sure they gave me phenergan in the OR because I had to fight to stay alert before her arrival.  It took a while for me not to feel anything.  In fact, at one point Dr. T. "tested" me and then asked if I felt anything.  My response was, "A pinch-Like a knife slicing".  It took a while, but I was finally numb enough for them to start.  Dr. T. later said that I did have quit a few "hot spots" where I wasn't completely numb. 
Eventually at 7:46 p.m., with Brendan right by my side, we heard the doctor announce that our daughter, with a head full of dark hair, was here!  We didn't hear a cry right away which made me a little nervous, but it wasn't long that we heard her sweet whimper.  Later we learned that we didn't hear her cry because her cord was wrapped around her neck.  Earlier in the day the nurses kept coming in to tell me I needed to roll a bit to my right (I was laying completely on my left side due to back labor).  Now we know it was because KB's heart rate was dropping a bit- probably due to her cord being around her neck.  We are SO grateful that God's providence was for us to delivery via c-section so the cord couldn't cause any harm to our beautiful little girl.
Within 15 minutes or so we had our first family picture taken, I had kissed my daughter, and her daddy was taking her to the nursery.  On his way he showed her off to our sweet family and friends who had been waiting patiently all day long for her arrival.
Our next three days there were great.  We had some great friends come and meet Katie Brooke, got some gorgeous newborn portraits, enjoyed a sweet steak dinner, and received some great care from very sweet nurses.  Since June 24th we've been home.  That's 9 days of adjusting.  The biggest is of course getting "use" to the interruptions of our sleep.  Katie Brooke is a great sleeper and would probably let us sleep through the night if we let her, but the dr. told us to not let her go past 4 hours between feedings.  We've also started having some trouble of getting her back to sleep after her midnight feeding- but hopefully that will soon swap back.

God sure has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams!