September 23-29 2024

September 29, 2024

Monday was a busy day, we got the laundry, groceries, and some meal prep done then Nana got to our house at 1:30 pm, we're glad she made it safely. We had a good evening visiting and watching Moana, Mary's new favorite movie. Mary loves to quote Moana by saying, "choose someone else," and handing me a little jewel.

Tuesday, I had my last doctor's appointment. Nana and Mary dropped me off and the nurse made some efforts to kick start labor. I requested my induction date get moved up from October 1st to September 27th and the office said they would contact scheduling and let me know. After the doctor, we went shopping, went to lunch, then came back home and went for a walk to the park. I did some curb walking to see if it could help get some contractions going. Paul worked the second half of the week from home.

Wednesday, we went out to breakfast, did more curb walking and played at the park, and watched the new Inside Out movie. Before we went to the park, I called my doctor's office and confirmed the change of my induction from Tuesday to Friday. It was too hot to play outside in the afternoon, so we walked around Walmart, got some frozen yogurt, played Phase 10 and a Harry Potter board game.

Thursday, we thought I might go into labor spontaneously since it was the same gestational age as Mary when I went into labor, but Katie had other plans. We made waffles and later went bowling. Mom kicked our butts and got a high score of 156. We got some lunch in Fallon and played at a park there then Mary fell asleep on the way home and got a much-needed nap. We pulled the telescope out that night and saw Saturn's rings and a few stars. We can see a very clear sky in our very own backyard, it is so gorgeous. I was restless that night in anticipation for my induction.

Friday, we got ready and headed to the hospital first thing for my 8 am induction. They got me hooked up to Pitocin at 11 am and I started having uncomfortable contractions. They had a scheduled c-section for another patient at 12 pm that the anesthesiologist was busy with for an hour, so I got my epidural after that, and that got set up by 2 pm. My doctor was supposed to get back to the hospital to break my water at 2 but then the nurses told her to wait until 3 to give my epidural time to kick in but then my doctor wasn't able to get there until 4. She broke my water at 4:30 pm and said they would check me again in 4 hours to adjust my Pitocin level. I had not dilated any more between when I checked in at 8 am and when they broke my water at 4:30 pm, so it looked like we were going to be there for a while. I told Paul to go get some food while we waited. After he left, I started getting painful contractions. There was a spot on my abdomen that the epidural wasn't really affecting, and I felt the full contraction in that spot. They checked me again at 5 pm and I was fully dilated, and Katie had descended and was low enough to push. I called Paul and told him we were ready to push, and he sped back to the hospital. I started pushing at 5:30 pm and Katie was born at 5:40. I just had to push through 3 contractions, and she was here. It was scary because Katie's head and shoulders came out and the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck tight, and the doctor had me stop pushing while she cut the cord. The nurse said she had never seen the cord cut while the baby was still in the perineum. They put Katie on my chest, and she was all blue. They had to take her to the baby bed and get her to start breathing, which they did quickly. They had Paul properly clamp the cord then they gave her back to me. It was scary to have that happen, but the doctor and nurses handled everything so quickly and efficiently that Katie was doing great before I had time to comprehend what had happened. When I told Mom about it, she said she thought Katie might have been tangled in her umbilical cord for a while, explaining why I hadn't changed dilation even with Pitocin. I'm grateful we were able to get Katie here safely. She weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 20 in. long.

Saturday, we stayed in the hospital until Katie was 24 hours old. She got all her tests and vaccines, and the doctors and nurses were happy with how we were both looking. Mom and Mary came to visit, and we had lunch together. Katie did have a rough birth, she spent Saturday throwing up amniotic fluid and getting her system cleared out.

Sunday was a relaxed day of baby cuddles and resting. Mom took great care of us and made us a yummy dinner of teriyaki chicken, rice, and veggies. That night we were surprised by a gift from Joe and Brooke, they sent us a teddy bear for Katie just as they had for Mary. They sent well wishes and hoped Katie would pick a name more tender than what Mary picked for her bear from them (Mary's bears name is Diapers).