Birth Story

Well, I feel that I have finally gotten back in the world, or at least for the time being anyway, and I am ready to post again to the blog! Things could change at any moment though! That is what I have come to expect...to take a line from Big Brother, "EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED". After a few cries and a few trial and errors, we are on our way to raising a baby! This is definitely by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, but so far, the most worth it! Everyone tells you that it will be hard and will be worth it, but you don't quite get it until you are holding a little life in your hands that you created, or at least I didn't. Okay, enough about that for now...on to the birth story!

We went to the doctor on July 13th on the day when I was 4 days overdue. We had a 4D ultrasound where you could see half of her face (the other half was covered by her hand...it's like she didn't want us to see her yet until she was good and ready)! Immediately, we could tell she had chubby cheeks, and Lee exclaims, "Oh no...she has the fat gene"! He thinks he always had the "fat gene" growing up and he was afraid she was just going to follow in his footsteps! The sonographer then tells us that she is estimated to weigh a whopping 8 lbs. 14 oz and that her belly is nice and round and fat! We were blown away!

I then had to take a stress test for 30 minutes where they measured the baby's heartbeat and my contractions. To my surprise, I was having some, but just didn't know it yet!

Then, the bomb hit, and the doctor checked my cervix and says, "I'm going to help you out a little bit"...which means, he stripped my membranes. That was by far the most uncomfortable painful thing I had had done to me, at that point. I had no idea what was coming the next day!

Even though I did not like him very much at that point, I did want to give him a big hug when he says he is going to see what he can do about me having a baby the next day! In less than 5 minutes, the nurse was back in the room and says, "Ok, be at the hospital at 7am tomorrow, you are scheduled for an induction".

So, after our last meal together as two that night and getting our bags packed and ready, we were at the hospital the next morning raring to go. I was in my room by 7:05 am, changed into a gown by 7:15 am, been checked by the doctor by 8am (already at 3cm, since I had had contractions the whole night before), had my water broken by 8:30 am, and had internal fetal monitors set up shortly after that. Doc said we should have a baby by 6 or 7 o'clock that night!

After monitoring my contractions for an hour, he decided to bump it up with the med Pitocin and see how fast my contractions started then. The very nice nurse told me that she was glad I was all smiles that morning, but she was afraid she was about to knock that off my face. Every 30 minutes or so (it seemed, probably more like every hour), she bumped up that Pitocin to a little more and more, therefore giving me crazy contractions like every 60 to 70 seconds. It was definitely working at that point.

So, now I am having the worst pain of my life and will not let go of Lee's hand for nothing in the world. After giving me Stadol to knock the edge off of the contractions (yeah right...I don't think so), they check me again around 1pm and decide I am ready for an epidural, or as the doctor called it...a "HappyDural".

After having to do the epidural twice (the first one went into my blood vessel and gave me an immediate ringing in my ears), I was on my way to relief. The rest of the afternoon I just laid there (trembling uncontrollably...they said it was normal) and dilated. The doc said I was being a good patient because I was just lying there doing my job. I was doing all I could...ha!

By 6pm, I was dilated to 9cm, but still not quite ready and he said the baby's head was starting to cone because it was being pushed into my pelvic area without going anywhere. He said he would check me again at 7pm and then make a decision as to what to do next because he was afraid this 8 lbs. 14 oz. booger wasn't going to come out of my small frame...his words, not mine...that's why I love him.

Seven o'clock came and after no progression, he said it was time to get Miss Ella Katherine out of there by C-section. I was immediately prepped for surgery, all the media was alerted (family & friends) and in just a short 30 minutes, I was lying on the operating table shaking even more uncontrollably. Again, no power over that...I had to hold onto the side bars that my arms were lying on to try and stop moving, but with no luck.

By 7:50pm, the doctor calls out, "Okay, Lee...get the camera ready...here she comes". And Lee was up and shooting pictures like crazy. He wasn't sick, he didn't faint, and I am pretty sure he never made that face ever like he did in the birthing class! He was a very proud daddy at this point and I am pretty sure there was nothing you could tell him that would have changed the way he felt at that point. After checking her out and weighing her and all that stuff (7 lbs. 15 oz and 19 inches long), they gave her to him and I finally got to see her. I immediately knew that was her...she was exactly like I had imagined in my dreams. I wanted to touch her cheek, but my hand was shaking so hard, I was afraid I would hit her, so I just had to settle for a quick look.

They took Lee and Ella to the recovery room while they finished closing me up, but before that, the Doc asked Lee if he would like to see his wife's uterus to which he quickly replied, "That's okay...I'm good"!

Dr. Welsch told us he was glad of his decision to go ahead and do the section because the sweet baby girl had turned "sunny-side up" and would have been much harder to deliver that way.

By 8:45 or so, we were all in the recovery room together as a little family!

Some things I want to remember, so I will comment on them here...

• My doctor, Dr. Welsch - super cute and super nice - has a daughter named Jessica Katherine and he said they call her Jessica Kate. I thought that was so neat, considering our name selection and that we were thinking of calling her Ella Kate (we are trying it on for size now) Here he is with us in the recovery room...

• The nurse that tended to me in the recovery room was our nurse teacher Jill from our birthing class. She remembered us immediately (probably because we were the immature giggly ones from her class), but nonetheless, she did and was very happy for us. She just kept apologizing over and over again that I had to have a C-section. I told her it was okay, that she prepared us well for that too.



• I will never ever forget the look on Lee's face while looking at our daughter in that recovery room and the way he was immediately attracted to her and comfortable with her. He is an absolute perfect dad and I have fallen in love with him all over again. (Can you tell I am very mushy now...those dang hormones)!

To end it all...here is my favorite picture from the hospital of our beautiful Ella Katherine...

Hopefully I can get more updates on here soon of our first week together! I can already tell that this Lee miniature is definitely going to be a wild ride!