Monday, October 3, 2011

Kaitlyn Hope's Arrival

This is mostly for my records and partly for those of you who read this and are just dying to know exactly how my labor and deliver went.

It was induction #3 for me. My babies are too comfortable to want to come out on their own...however it always seems to work out that natural labor is just a hop-skip away.

September 29th: We got to the hospital at the requisite time of 6am (evil). I had only gotten 3 1/2 hours of sleep that night. I love the staff at Swedish Covenant. They're all super sweet. We were plugged into the computer system, asked a gazillion questions, IV was set up, contraction & heart-rate monitors were attached, and Pitocin was started at 7:30am. We had a trainee as well as a head nurse, again (we had a trainee with Kyleigh) - Lisa & Kathy, you're awesome!

I was already having irregular contractions, so the whole induction process just kicked what was already happening into gear. They bumped up the Pitocin every little bit. I did my crossword puzzles, Brian read his books, random daytime TV was watched...there is nothing on during the day. The staff let me know that there was a C-section was on the schedule at 11:30 and that my OB was coming in around 10am to check on me and break my water. They also let me know that if I wanted my epidural they'd let the anesthesiologist know so they could take care of it before the C-section happened and they weren't available for at least an hour.

So...water broken at 10:15am. I was 3cm dilated & 80% effaced. Epidural at 11:15am - same status. I attempted to rest, but ended up channel flipping. Things started to get a little interesting around noon, anyway.

Midget's heart-rate would mildly drop during a big contraction so they had me try laying on my left side, then my right side, then my back to see if the change in position helped the baby's heart-rate. I'm noticing the contractions are getting stronger and closer together. I'm feeling a little nauseous. Guess that means we're in the "transition stage". The nurse checks my progress around 12:15pm and I'm still only at 6-7cm. The changes in position didn't seem to change the baby's reaction to the contractions. They attempted to put a heart-rate monitor on the baby's head instead of monitor from the outside to get a better/more consistent reading. Progress checked at 12:30pm - 7-8cm. The direct heart-rate monitor came loose, so they hooked me up to some oxygen and had me rest on my knees and elbows to ease some of the contraction's pressure on the baby. They called my OB, Dr. Wos. She arrived around 1pm. They all assess the situation, check progress - fully dilated around 1:15pm. I feel ready to push, they get everyone and everything set in place, have me flip back onto my back, and we're ready.

I'm told to push whenever I feel a contraction coming on & in the midst of my pushing I was jolted from my concentration by the words "they have a full head of dark hair". Not what I expected to hear having already had two blonde babies.

Two, maybe three contractions with pushes and we hear the words "It's a Girl!" Kaitlyn Hope Sanders arrived at 1:44pm.

For those of you keeping a time table that's a whole whopping 6 hours from start of Pitocin to delivery...only 3 hours between water breaking and delivery. Fast. The fast labor is what caused Kaitlyn's heart-rate to drop with contractions. Not uncommon.

Kaitlyn weighed in at "slurpee weight" - 7lbs 11oz and was 20 inches long.

Recovery was a breeze...I astound the nurses & doctors. They enjoy having patients like me. We were home from the hospital 25 hours after Kaitlyn was born.

Three princesses. We will not be trying for a boy. Our family is complete. We are blessed.

Comparative stats:
Mackenzie Grace born at 5:06pm - 7lbs 4oz, 20.5 inches - 5 contractions w/pushes
Kyleigh Faith born at 7:38pm - 7lbs 12oz, 21 inches - 4 contractions w/pushes
Kaitlyn Hope born at 1:44pm - 7lbs 11oz, 20 inches - 2-3 contractions w/pushes

For it is by Grace you have been saved through Faith... Ephesians 2:8

Let us hold unswervingly to the Hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful... Hebrews 10:23

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