39 weeks...and SHE'S HERE!!!

 So little Kate (Katherine after her mama) came very fast! I had a doc appt on Tuesday morning (Sept 6th) when he said I was a tight 3 cm dilated and about 70-80% effaced which is a BIG change from the previous week of 1 cm and zero effacement. So he stripped my membranes (just a quick sweep of the cervix to help things along) and told me to keep active the next few days and "we'll see what happens". So that day my sis-in-law and I walked the mall, went to lunch, Target...just out and about pretty much all day. I was getting periodic cramps that were a little stronger than regular Braxton Hicks but nothing too steady. I did notice that they may have gotten a little stronger as the day went on but nothing too bad. Then around 7:30 that night they started to get stronger and more rhythmic. We probably tracked them for 2 hours or so and they ended up being around a minute long and between 3-8 minutes apart. We finally thought that this may be it and we should maybe go to the hospital (Bryan was running around the house grabbing items, making last minute lists, etc) ...but there was still a little bit of doubt in me that I wouldn't be far enough along or whatever and they'd end up sending us home but we went anyway.

So we get there and get placed in triage to check in. By this time they are getting more intense and closer together although we stopped actually timing since I was hooked up to the monitors so I don't know what the rhythm was but apparently it wasn't too impressive to the nurses since it took FOREVER in triage...like 2 hours or something. So anyway, she checks me when we arrive and I'm about 4-5 cm at this point (so basically I've progressed a cm or so since my doc appt that morning) but before they can give us a straight answer (whether I'm far enough along to stay) she tells us to go walk the halls to see if I keep progressing. By this time the contractions are pretty strong. Bryan's wondering why the heck we need to walk the halls at this point (I'm clearly progressing) but I was like "no it's ok I've seen this on tv, it's normal)...so I thought. So we walk the halls and about 30 minutes later she checks me and I'm already at 6 cm! So we can stay (YAY) but by this point I'm done with the pain. I give in and request for the epi...terrible I know but I told myself I tried my best and that was that...I mean the pain was bad but if I was only 6 cm at that point, I got a little nervous of how it was going to be later on so I gave in.

So at 6 cm I request the epi...we are STILL in triage and continue to be there for, in my opinion, an unnecessary amount of time...who really knows how long, I just know that I'm In pain, Ive requested an epi and these people aren't moving fast enough! So they finally come to move us to a labor room (by this point I've had some MAJOR pain contractions and am getting to a breaking point). They tell me I should walk to the labor room (reminder getting MAJOR contractions at this point) and Bryan just looks at them and tells them to get a wheelchair. She says "but this may be your last chance to walk around"....again, enough talk-y more get-y the wheelchair lady. They finally come with the wheelchair, like 10 minutes later, after realizing that I can only take 2 steps and practically become paralyzed from pain. Once in the labor room I start severely asking what is taking so long with the epi. By this point the contractions are ridiculous but for some reason everyone is just taking their sweet time. Now I've actually gotten to the point where I am starting to push uncontrollably during my contractions and am freaking out because I swear I can feel her head coming down. Then there is a point where Bryan and I have been left alone in the room. I tell him I can feel her head and can't control this pushing through my contractions (I'm am soooo trying hard not to push but my body is taking over). So Bryan runs to grab someone, the nurse checks me again and what am I at?? 9 CM!!!! NOW people are finally starting to move! Its like my progression was in fast forward and everyone had been in slow motion. At this point the only thing I can remember thinking is the sheer terror I felt when I thought that I was going to run out of time and have to do this all natural. So epi doc comes in, AFTER they tell me I have to drain a bag of saline via IV first before he can start...at least the nurse was squeezing the bag as hard as she could. The epi doc attempts to do his thing in the teeny amount of window time I now have between intense contractions and 10 mins later THANK GOD I finally feel relief!! But no rest yet since by this point I'm 10 cm and 100% I am the real pushing stage...so here we go and bam 20 mins later she's out and WOW I'm in shock! I think Bryan's in shock too since it all happened so fast we didn't really have time to react. So a majorly fast labor of 4 1/2 hours...20 minutes of which was pushing time.

Well because of my quick progression, I did have some issues with blood loss afterwards which was scary. I was told when the uterus goes through a quick and intense labor like that, it sort of sends it into shock because its working so hard in a short window time that it will sometimes have problems with clotting properly and contracting afterwards. I ended up losing a lot of blood via clots and ended up fainting a couple times and feeling EXTREMELY weak for the remainder of the day/night and into the next day. They were having trouble getting it under control and were talking about doing a uterus scrape (?) and then a blood transfusion if that didn't work. Yikes! It was pretty scary there for a bit but luckily (and finally) I recovered and didn't need either of those.

Ahh but its all ok and all worth it now! My little girl I swear gets cuter and cuter every time I look at her! Its so crazy and surreal when I try to wrap my brain around everything. I could just stare at her forever! Baby Kate born on 9/7/11 weighing 7lb 4 oz (THANK GOD no 9+ baby for me!!!!) and measuring in at 20 1/2 inches. Wooo!