Baby K's Arrival

Well, I am finally on here and decided to tell the story of Baby K's arrival! As mentioned in a previous post, we arrived at the hospital Tuesday night, April 28. I was started on Pitocin around 7:45 pm - let the labor begin! I certainly did not feel the contractions very much early on. They also gave me 2 Ambiens so I could get some sleep that night. I think I had some good quality sleep for probably 4-ish hours. I woke up when my nurse came in to check me and I was having some pretty strong contractions. Needless to say, I didn't go back to sleep. I continued with the contractions and was clinging to the side of my hospital bed - it was definitely time for an epidural. I got the epidural around 5:45 am and felt so much better after that. I could tell on the screen that my contractions were becoming more regular and I could still feel some pressure, but they were nowhere near the pain I had experienced earlier in the morning. At around 8:30, both my mom and Brad's mom arrived - it was all becoming more and more real (as if the pain hadn't made it more real...ha). My nurse would come in to check me about every hour and I slowly made some progress. They did have do an internal monitor to get a better feel for my contractions and the baby's heartrate. I continued to progress to about 6-7 cm and the baby was at -1 station. At that point, it was pretty clear that the baby was just not going to be able to come out that way. My nurse called my doctor and they said it was very likely, as in 95% chance, that I would need to have a c-section, so I told them to go ahead. They indicated that there was no need to put the baby through more stress and my body through more stress if it were that unlikely to happen that way. At this point, things become slightly blurry to me - I was anxious, scared, excited, and on drugs :) I do know that less than an hour after they told me this, I was holding my sweet daughter. I am thinking it was probably about 10 minutes after they suggested a c-section that I was wheeled into the OR. The moms were moved to the room where I would recover and Brad was in the OR with me. I remember them saying they were starting the surgery and then minutes later hearing "OK, we are about to pull her out! Dad, you want to see?" And then I heard the sweetest sound in the world...the cry of my little girl. The first word they used to describe her was "feisty"...that's about right if she's anything like her momma! They showed her to me and took her over to be cleaned up. A minute or two later, I was holding this baby that had been in my belly for almost 10 months - words cannot express what was going through my mind at this point. After I held her for a little bit and the doctor's finished sewing/stapling me up, they took her and weighed her and measured her. After we did some pictures and everyone was finished, they wheeled me into my recovery room. I know both the moms had just sat down in that room and saw the gurney coming in but did not expect it to be me at all. Then they did a double take and saw it was me on there holding my baby girl - wow. Brad accompanied Baby K to the nursery to get her first bath and get checked out and then he came back to my room. After about 2 hours or so, I was taken to the room I would be in the rest of my hospital stay. I know I had lots of well-wishers and visitors that day, but I was extremely groggy - it is definitely all a blur. The main thing I remember is that it was, by far, the best day of my life. She is the cutest, sweetest little thing and I love her so much. I know everyone says you don't realize how much you can love someone until you have your own child, and now I realize that that is so true. I love my family and I love Brad, but my love for this little girl is just immeasurable.

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