Kate's birth story.

Sorry if you've read it already, but figured I'd post it again for anyone who didn't get to. Since its her birthday and all..:) Happy Birthday sweet girl!!!

Thursday morning I woke up like any other preggo day and set about my routine of getting the kids breakfast and doing cleaning. Got into a good rythem and ended up vaccuming, sweeping, mopping, cleaning out a crate that the dog had decided to take a huge load in(uck!), and still felt pretty good physically. However, I was still upset about not having her yet even though I wasn't officially due yet...Made a few rants about her not being here, felt better afterwards. Made lunch, and decided I wanted naptime to be a little bit earlier today..I was feeling the cleaning I had done by now..so I had Liv lay down with me and put Noah in his bed. We all went to sleep pretty quickly thankfully. At approx. 4 I woke up with a nice contraction...umm..this one felt different..but I have had soo many false starts I wasn't about to get excited about one contraction...thought maybe I needed to potty..so went to the bathroom..didn't feel any better...laid down again cause Liv was still asleep. Another one hit...7 minutes from the first. Woke Liv up with my breathing through it..I waited and couldn't lay down through the next one. 7 minutes later. At 4:30 I called Luke cause he had been working with Joel that day..Luke said he was excited at the prospect of labor and was already on his way home.

Called my mom and told her I thought I was in labor...she decided to head this way as quickly as she could. Worked through a few more contractions and Luke made it home...He called my midwife and I requested 30 minutes before she needed to come because I wanted to be sure it was the real deal, but he quickly knew this wasn't the pansy contractions I'd been having so he told me to go get in the shower to help the pain(I love a man who knows how to help a woman in labor!). He set about calling people who needed to know..and called the midwife back to tell her to go ahead and come. He also called two friends and my sister..

Worked through lots and lots of contractions in the shower till Luke reminded me that we needed the hot water for the pool, so I got out...ugh. Not as good out of the hot water. Barely made it down stairs to the couch and more kept washing over me. Luke started filling the birth pool and we turned on the t.v. for Liv to watch some shows to distract her. (Noah was still sleeping at this point). Poor Luke was running around trying to get everything ready while trying to keep my focus during the contractions(I handle the pain MUCH better when I have someone staring right into my eyes during it.). Debi, my midwife showed up and started unloading her stuff..I decided I needed to go to the bathroom, so I got up and went..asked Debi to check me then and she said I was just about 8 cm's...yay! Progress...I was worried I was still in early labor..but here I was in transition. Pool was finally deep enough by now to actually get in, so I got in and sat down...it wasn't as hot as I like it, but it did feel oh so good. I really almost immediately started feeling pressure with each contraction but I was determined not to push yet, I really really wanted that urge to push because I never had that with my other two and it made pushing worse for me. Debi got birth stuff ready, while Luke helped me and occasionally updated his facebook status. haha..



I decided I wanted to move to a hands and knees position because I wasn't dealing with the contractions as well sitting back..Luke walked off to do something, and me and Debi worked through some contractions. (At this point, Noah had gotten up and they were watching t.v. and coming in and out of the room(we were in the kitchen)). During one contraction, I felt LOTS of pressure and went with it...and gave a really good push and felt her move down some...Debi hollered to Luke to COME, and I quickly panicked about pushing cause I didn't want to swell my cerviz by pushing before it was ready...so I just yelled, "Debi, check!"...thankfully she knew what I meant and said all I had was a tiny little lip(same thing happened with Noah...must be the way I dialate), at this point I really needed to push and she said she would just hold it up while I pushed...once she did that I felt the baby move down a lot and immediately started feeling the lovely burn of a crowning baby. Decided I wanted to push past the pain anyways...better to push and be done with it, then continue with the pain..haha..however I felt panicky, so I just stopped and I reached down and felt a slippery head and told Debi to "please break it"..(I thought my water hadn't broken yet and I wanted it to be!), but it had already broken apparently. Luke and Debi said I had her out to her ears...so I gave one good push and out her head popped, such a great feeling, but she still felt like I was having a watermelon, so again I just stopped and I just remember saying that I didn't want to push. We let her sit that way for what felt like minutes, but I know it was only a matter of seconds...it felt to me like they were pushing her head up, and I kept telling them to "stop pushing" on her..course Debi kept reminding me she wasn't even touching the baby..haha..the baby apparently was trying to rotate her shoulders some and thats what I was feeling. I was also prompted to reach down and feel her head at this point to reassure me she WAS coming out. This gave me enough incentive to push again..

I gave another good push or two and the AWESOME release of a baby leaving your body finally happened, Luke caught her and helped her to the surface and around my leg so I could sit back and take her in my arms. Luke and I both immediately looked between her legs and Luke announced- "Its a girl!!"....which I could NOT have been more happy about. I had been secretly hoping for a girl the whole time..she was so cheesy and I remember thinking, well she's not late thats for sure. There is an indescribable feeling that you get after having a baby..its a natural high that I know designed and its the BEST feeling ever...I was just so happy to be finally holding her after all the fake labor and long almost 10 months. :) She needed some suctioning and stimulation, but she was breathing and healthy and thats all I could ask for.



Sat in the tub for a while admiring my baby, all the while we realized the kids had been at tub side for the whole birth. I didn't prepare Noah at all really, so I'm so glad I didn't scare him with all my birthing noises, but neither he nor Liv looked traumatized, so we went with that. (Debi's assistant showed up right before I started pushing for detail sake). Her other apprentice showed up right after Kate was born and so did my sister..Kate waited for no one. :) Placenta finally decided to come about 7:06ish(Kate was born at 6:42pm). We hung out in the pool till the cord stopped pulsing(my first time waiting!) and then we cut it at 7:14...We passed off baby to Luke and the ladies got my upstairs(stairs after giving birth aren't ok..:) ) Got me showered, dressed and in bed. I was brought some crackers till dinner was ready and I tried nursing Kate, however she was less then interested at this point. I was examined and we found NO TEARS, praise the Lord! Better then my first two where I had at least some "skid marks".. Then Kate got her exam, she weighed 10 lbs. even, was 21 1/2 inches long, her head was 14 1/4 inch, and her chest was 14 7/8 inches. Such a big girl all around!

Around 8:49, Kate finally nursed for the first time...Kate was having some breathing issues, but these resolved themselves after about 24 hours. Just seems like she had lots of fluid that she needed to get up because she wasn't squeezed very long in the birth canal.



My mom showed up around 9:00 sometime and then we all went about relaxing and just chatting..it was so laid back and wonderful and such a GREAT birth experience.