One journey has come to an end, and another is just beginning!
We are very excited to announce the birth of our second daughter, Kathryn Elena. She was born on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 9:39pm. She weighed 8lbs5oz and measured in at 20.5 inches long. She is absolutely perfect in every way.
The following is Kathryn's Amazing Birth Story!! :)
Starting around 37 weeks my body began to practice for labor. I began nightly regular contractions that were usually gone by morning (although still managed to keep me away at night despite taking Tylenol PM). I was so sure that she was gonna come a little early like her big sister Carissa did. (Carissa was born at 38.5 weeks). 38 weeks comes and goes. I had a couple nights that contractions were strong enough to make me time them and even consider whether or not to call the midwife. Of course, I ended up falling asleep before calling and they were gone or irregular by morning. I just knew from how the contractions were feeling that something had to be happening, so at my 39 week visit, I requested to have my cervix checked. I was 2cm, and really soft.
Saturday night June 5th, I felt like contractions were starting to pick up again (as usual), but surprisingly they never left or became irregular by morning time. I began to wonder in the back of my mind if we were getting close to being real this time, but didn't want to get my hopes up. Went to church, out to lunch, and walked the mall for a short while. The contractions were getting stronger that it was really starting to bother me to walk and talk. The drive home they seemed to still intensify yet and were coming often. I decided to lay down and drink water at home and time them. They came every 5-6 min consistently for an hour. So I called the midwife. She had be take a bath and try to rest and call back in a couple hours with an update. After taking a bath, and doing a couple other things, I laid back down to time contractions again. They were now coming every 4-5 min. I called the midwife back and she had me come in. By the time we got there contractions were coming every 3-4 min.I was 3cm, 25-50% effaced, but baby was still high. My midwife gave me a shot of morphine to help me sleep through the contractions since I hadn't been sleeping through them. By morning, I had made no cervical changes - but baby had dropped to 0 station! It was promising progress ... but her head was still a little off to my right (much like her sister!)!
So we were sent to breakfast and to walk, and did all kinds of exercises to convince my angel to move her head over a little bit. Contractions were stilllllll every 3 min, couldn't walk or talk through them. Walked about 3 hours and came back to find out I made ZERO change! I was starting to get really worn down.
They decided to send me home to wait out early labor, and gave me a prescription for Ambien to help me sleep through contractions. Of course, my next question was: "okay, so how do I know when to come back in because obviously painful contractions every 3 min wasn't my cue". At this point I had not had any bloody show (midwife said I was super soft on the outside of my cervix but the inside was still firm). She said that having bloody show would be a good sign that the inside of my cervix is making progress. So off I went to return home.
So Monday night and Tuesday I tried to stay busy and walk to keep encouraging Miss Kathryn to decide to put her head in position. Finished each day with a nice relaxing bath and Ambien to help me sleep. Well, the bath and Ambien worked Monday night, not so much Tuesday night. By this point I was forcing myself to walk and talk through contractions just so I could get through a day without stopping every 3 min to deal with the contractions. (Of course, this was no easy task.)
Wednesday June 9, 2010 .... The day all the early labor came down to. This is the story I will love to tell over and over. This is the day that made all the practice contractions and early labor contractions worth it!
My mother-in-law came in town Monday night to help with Carissa. She has a friend in the area who has a grandchild Carissa's age. So we met them for lunch and a play date at the park. It was a hot day, but Carissa was thrilled to be at the park (poor girl has been deprived since Mommy was too pregnant to try and take her to the park by myself). Well, she decided to be independent and climb all kinds of things with drop off edges and other things that made Mommy's heart jump. And she even got stuck going headfirst down a slide. Needless to say, Mommy ended up following to help her along. Yes, the day before my due date I was climbing a playground, crawling through tunnels, and even going down slides. I am sure it was quite the site to see (I do have a couple pics for proof haha). We figured maybe having fun at the park might be the thing to encourage Kathryn to come. We left the park around 2 and boy did my contractions change. I don't know how to explain the change, just that they changed.
We got home, put Carissa down for a nap, and I "napped" between contractions for a bit. Around 4:30 that afternoon, I went to the bathroom and had bloody show. I called the birth center, and waited for the midwife to call back. Talked to her around 5:30. She decided to go ahead and have me come in to be checked. I called David at work, and he came home and we left for the birth center. Along the way, my contractions got even stronger. In fact, they felt much like the contractions I had with Carissa around 6cm. I was hoping that was a sign of progress.
Got to the Birth Center at 7pm. I was STILL 3cm ... but was 90-100% effaced. Baby was still at 0 station, but I had a bulging sack of waters. They don't normally admit patients until 4cm, but she was afraid that that bulging sack meant my water could easily break soon and she was afraid I'd go too fast to get the antibiotics for group B strep. So I got admitted. I hydrated so they could find my vein and give me an IV by 8pm. Over that next hour my contractions got SO strong and I started getting hot and cold and feeling much like I did during transition (8-10cm) with Carissa. I was getting really discouraged thinking this was how it was gonna be all night and that I was just being a big wimp about the pain. Got my IV in on the first try (yay!). And David suggested I try to change positions and maybe walk around a bit. So I did. I was able to manage the contractions okay standing but the unbearable pain was in my hips and legs. I just couldn't stay on my feet anymore. So I got back in bed. Around 9:20pm, my water broke. Within a few minutes I started feeling urges to push, but I thought I must be having trouble knowing what my body was saying. There was just no way I went from 3-10cm that fast. The urges got so strong that I could no longer NOT push. I made David go get the midwife. She came in and checked me. I was 9 cm. She said to push the next time I had the urge while she felt what my cervix did. I pushed and she said "good. we're gonna have a baby." I was in complete disbelief!! I began pushing, and I heard comments about her head full of dark hair, then almost there, was told to do half pushes, and then told to look. Next thing I knew they were handing me my gorgeous baby girl!! 19 minutes from the time my water broke she was completely delivered! I was only at the birth center for 2.5 hours and went from 3-birth!! (And no tearing worth even stitching!!) No wonder the contractions were horrible, and I was not being wimpy after all. All that "practice" paid off.
My first thought and words were "She's so tiny." To which, the nurse and midwives laughed saying that she is a big baby. But compared to my 32lb toddler, she is so little!! :)
After her cord was cut, they took her to weigh her - 8lbs5oz. Then while I delivered the placenta and got sat up, David got to have some skin to skin with Kathryn. Once I was ready, I took her back for our skin to skin and first nursing session. David handed her to me in a cradle position; and while trying to adjust her comfortably and get a good look at her, I passed her in front of my nipple and she lunged for it - latching on first try. I had not had her in my arms longer than 15 seconds and she'd already latched herself on! She was hungry from birth and a natural nurser! Once she latched she nursed on each side back and forth (per her demand) until 4am ... minus a couple Mommy-demanded breaks for potty and food.
Things are just perfect! Carissa loves her quite a bit and we are so happy to have a beautiful family of 4! :)
