Kate Suzanne Howard---Her birth story

As you can see from the previous post, Kate was born Monday October 18, 2010! It's still hard for me to comprehend that she is finally here and I now have two beautiful little girls still!

I went to the Dr. on Friday, and luckily I had progressed to being dilated to a 3 and was 75% effaced. That was good enough for him to agree to induce Monday morning. YEAH! I was so happy. My sister had flown in Friday morning (just before the dr appt) and I was hoping to have the baby while she was here to help me as much as possible! So, we were scheduled to be at the hospital at 7AM Monday morning. Well, Sunday night I was feeling pretty crampy, and i just figured it was from having my membranes stripped and from more braxton hicks contractions. However, at about 2AM, I woke up with definite contractions. It was a weird feeling because I KNEW that's what they were, but since I never really had them with Gracie, I kept second guessing myself. However, they were quite regular, and prevented me from sleeping--though I did lay in bed and try to rest as much as possible. By about 5 o'clock however, I had to wake Bryant up. They contractions were getting quite strong and more regular and I just couldn't do it by myself anymore. Of course right at this time, Gracie decided to wake up and want to crawl in bed with us. So, Bry took her back to bed while Kristin got up with me and timed my contractions and talked me through them. She was so sweet, she make me some breakfast (because she said they wouldn't let me eat at the hospital, and was very worried about that), and stayed in the bathroom with me while I took a quick shower. By about 6:30 the contractions were really starting to be intense and I knew I needed to get to the hospital.

So, Bryant and I headed out and got to the hospital just before 7AM as planned. After getting all squared away with paperwork stuff, and getting the IV and into the very attractive hospital gown, the nurse was able to confirm that I was in fact in labor all by myself. I guess Kate was going to come on Monday one way or another! However, my contractions then became very spuratic. I was already dilated to a 5 by the time I got to the hospital however, so the nurse called Dr. Beller to find out what he wanted to do. To get the contractions going again, they gave me the tiniest bit of pitocin--for about 15 minutes is all, and sure enough they came back full force!

I progressed pretty quickly after that, so they called for an epidural. The poor anesthesiologist had a really hard time giving me the epidural however. He tried THREE times, and finally called his collegue to come and help him. The forth try made my legs go numb, but I could still feel every contraction and everything go in and out. Basically the epidural didn't work. But at that point I was ready to push. So Dr. Beller came in, and I pushed for about 20 minutes. That's not that long I know-but since I could feel EVERYTHING, it was the longest 20 minutes I think I've ever had to endure.

I felt Kate's head and thought "Oh good, it's almost over." I looked down and saw a concerned look on Dr. Bellers face, and then all the sudden I felt really nauseated. There were like 5 nurses in the room and at the next contraction as I pushed all the nurses pushed on my stomach at the same time. Finally--Baby Kate was born!

Come to find out, her little shoulder got stuck behind my pelvis and her heart rate dropped (hence the concerned look on Dr. Bellers face) and the reason all the nurses pushed on my stomach. And my blood pressure just dropped a bit which caused the feeling of nausea.

I LOVE seeing Bryant after having a baby. He is the proudest Daddy I have ever seen. They just took Kate to the warming table right next to my bed and I could tell Bry was so torn if he should stay with me or go to the baby (which he really wanted to do). I remember looking at him and saying "go with the baby" while the Dr. got the placenta and stuff out.

Little Kate was just perfect. She had a sweet little cry and despite getting stuck for a few minutes, had a very good APGAR score. We are still crossing our fingers that she stays as mellow and easy going as she is now. She's 5 1/2 days old now, and so far so good!

We Love You Baby Kate!