My Baby Girl, Little K

I can't believe it has been a week. I thought it was high time I get things in order so I can sit down and type out the story about our wonderful little gal's arrival.

After the disappointment of being sent home Saturday at 11pm, I was actually at peace with everything because I was totally excited to see my kiddos and spend one more day with them and one more day with Little K in my belly.

Oh, and I was kinda excited to get sleep!!!

Anyway, the alarm went off at 5:30 am on Monday morning. I called the hospital to make sure they were properly staffed---and it was a go!!!

We arrived a little behind our 7:30 time due to several long goodbyes with our daughters. But we made it nonetheless... and the pitocin was started around 9. I mentioned in a couple posts below that my water broke and the pit was stopped due to baby's heartbeat.

Well, that wasn't the end of the drama. After 9 hours of labor, I started to get to the point where I wasn't getting any rest (so much for that I'm bored between contractions comment I had to make) between the awfully strong, pitocin induced contractions... and I wasn't progressing beyond a 4-5 cm, -2 station. That's when I called in for back up... thank you Mr. Anesthesiologist with the epidural.

(All but the last 30 minutes of my labor was felt... if this were in color, you'd see Matt's purple fingers)

By the time I actually felt the effects of the drug, I was blissfully unaware of much else...

... until I started feeling too much!

I kept telling myself that I could tolerate it, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking-- didn't I just get this so I don't have to feel anything? Not to mention I knew it was already on my bill--and I'm not about to pay for an epidural that didn't work!

So, they call the doc back and he does something with the meds to adjust something... I don't really know what! After 30 or so more minutes pass and I'm still working/breathing through contractions, my nurse notes that I should not be feeling anything... but I am!!!

So, we call the doc again so he can re-do the entire thing (I better not be charged for two epidurals!!). By the way, I've never really minded the epidural process, but these two times SUCKED! I felt things that I'd never felt--the first one being much worse. I never remember shaking, crying, and breathing so hard with any other epidural---but the first one had me all messed up. So I was naturally a bit more terrified of the second one. It still hurt, but it wasn't as bad. And thank God it took.

I was still a 4-5 (had been the better part of the day) 30 minutes after the second epidural at about 9:30 when the nurse declared the birth would happen after midnight and my doc said she'd run to Subway real quick. Jokingly she said, That'll ensure this baby gets here soon! They were even getting ready to put more water back in in order to cushion the baby's cord during contractions since she wasn't tolerating them well. But there was no time!

(You can see her dips here, but these are nowhere near how bad they got)

I felt the pressure during one contraction and wrote it off. The next contraction I suggested a quick check. Sure enough, Complete +1!

(One of our first moments together)

Thank goodness my doc was still trying to get her coat on. She rushed in and they prepped the room in seconds. Nurses flooded the room and it was go time. I got my first attempt at pushing and the entire time I could hear the sounds from the internal fetal monitor dropping too, too low. In the middle of pushing I was trying to catch glimpses of the heart beat on the screen and I was freaking out about how low she was dipping. I tried to focus, and soon enough that was easier to do... because that's just how it is when you birth a baby... it's kinda hard to focus on something other than the 8 pound human about to enter the world!

(This is just precious in my eyes)



(The first of many love sessions between the two of us)

(Little K just minutes old)

(Our Doc. who has delivered all of our babies, holding her first fifth-peat)

Apparently at this point the doc wanted a vacuum ready in case her heart got too low and she wasn't coming out fast enough--- but luckily she was out with three pushes. I didn't hear this conversation and didn't even know about it until hubs and I were watching One Born Every Minute the next night and the doc on the show ordered a vacuum. Matt said, that's what doc ordered for you. But I was totally clueless.

When she was born we did discover the cord around her neck and she was very purple (she still is the purple-est baby I've had).


But I still got lots of good snuggle time in for several minutes after birth. And it's true what they say (all you friends out there who are anticipating your first baby...), you hardly pay attention to anything else once this happens. There is a lot of activity all around you when the baby comes, but I had no idea what anybody else in that room was doing. All I could see was my newest baby.

(Some scary moments after she came out... we had to add some oxygen to her first minutes of life)

We had several kisses and oohs and ahhs, and then they took her to the warmer to clean her up a bit and get the stats. She weighed in at 7lbs, 15 oz... my second heaviest baby. She is 21 inches... my longest baby. She is perfect... my baby!

She has all her toes, all of her fingers, lots of hair and the sweetest eyes. Her fingers and toes (though purple) are quite long. And at this moment, I think her belly button is about to fall off! All of our babies' bippies (what we call belly buttons in this family) fell off at exactly one week! And that's how old she is today.

(Our pretty princess at one week old)

My next update will feature the sisterly lovin' going on around here!