So, off we went. I went home and honked as I drove up. Stuart came out with a puzzled expression and I said "It's time to have the baby now." He said "Now?" and I said "Yep, my water broke just as we got to church". Of course, minor panic insued as he got all wacky and nervous. The girls decided they wanted to sit in the car while we got stuff together to take them to grandma's and to go to the hospital. I went in and called my MIL right away so she would know since she was supposed to go to the hospital with us. Stuart's sister and BIL and his dad were going to watch the girls. They were already ready for church, so they would just take them with them when they went at 11. Well, turns out my MIL had some intestinal thing and was to sick to get up. Food poisening probably, since no one caught the flu from them. So, after that we ran around and got all the last minute items together and then drove to MIL's. We dropped the girls off and then headed to the hospital. MIL was going to rest the rest of the morning and see if she was feeling better to come over later.
So, we arrived at the hospital around 10. I hadn't called ahead, we just showed up. I told them my water had broke and that I was sorry we hadn't called ahead. They smiled at me and said they would see which room they wanted to use and then check to see if it had really broke and asked me if this was my first. I told them I was positive it had and that this was my 3rd and all my labors had started with my water breaking. So, after that the didn't doubt me anymore and set me up in a room. This hospital has "all in one rooms", so you never have to change rooms the whole time you are there. So, I went thru all the normal stuff with changing and getting monitored and then she checked me and I was at a 3 and about 60% effaced, pretty good since just a few days earlier I was nothing! So, we hung out and they checked me in. Around 11:00 they had the antestigioligist come in to explain to me all about the epidural so that I could get it when I wanted it. Oh--a bit before that they put my IV in to start fluids so I could get the epidural. The contractions were still very managable at this point. At 12:00 she checked me and I was a 4 and 90% effaced. By about 12:30 the contractions were starting to hurt, I could still manage, but I didn't want to wait to long, so I requested my epidural. I was a bit nervous, since I had had one with Salina, but it hadn't worked that well. I had an all natural labor with Brittany, though, and didn't want to go that road again. So, about this time Stuart's mom arrived as she was starting to feel better. The nurse put the internal fetal monitor in and then I got my epidural. By 1:00 I was feeling no pain. But, I got really bad shakes, uncontrollable. I said it was still better than the pain, but they turned it down a bit, and then by 2:00 the shakes were basically gone. At 2:00 I was at a 6 and basically completely effaced. An hour later there was a shift change and I was still the same. But, I was resting really well and had been just laying with my eyes closed since 2 while Stuart and his mom visited. So, after the shift change the dr. on call (Dr. Hartman-he delivered Brittany too) told the nurse to give me a little bit of pitocin to help get the contractions closer together. He was in the hospital and had been since 1 and was just doing different things and hanging out I guess. So, around 3:30, they gave me a bit of pitocin. Five minutes later I was in total agony. I felt like I was having one giant nonstop contraction and I just wanted to die. The nurse said she thought maybe I was ready, so she would check before she called the antestegiolist in. Sure enough, in 5 minutes I'd gone from 6-all done and she was on her way down the birth canal. So, they all started moving really fast and setting up the room and paging the dr.. Strangly enough, I had never felt the urge to push in my previous delivers, but this time there was no question, and the only way I could not feel like I was dieing was to push. They continued to page the dr. and the antistegiologist gave me a couple shots of something into the iv so that I could get on top of things a little bit. This helped tremendously. The nurse let me push a couple times, but had me stopped so I wouldn't deliver before the dr. got there. Finally, he arrived and I guess she was having heart decels and they starting getting the vacuum ready to pull her out, even though he hadn't tried having me push. My previous two deliveries were with the vacuum also as the babies had had their cords around their necks. The nurse asked him if he wanted her to open the package for the vacuum or not and said that I was right there and he said for me to see if I could push her out myself really quikly. Her heartrate was decelling into the 70's. So, I tried and after only about 5 pushes her head was out. I even reached down and touched her head when her shoulders were still in. I had never wanted to do this before as the pain was too bad. So, I then tried to push her shoulders out and she had her hand by her cheek. LOL The dr. moved that and out she came. She was so floppy it was hysterical! Both her legs just flopped right up next to her ears. Anyway, they took her over to the table to give her oxygen blow-bys since she was struggling a bit from the cord being around her neck. her 1 min apgar was only a 4. But she pinked up good and showed she had a nice set of lungs and then her 5 min apgar was 8. The dr. finished up and turns out I didn't even tear! No stitches this time!
Katrianna Sherie weighed in at 7 lbs. 8 ozs., 19 1/2 ins, 13 1/2 in. head cercumfrance. Born at 4:02 pm! Her name comes from several sources. I wanted to call the baby "Kat" for her nickname, so I played around with different names till I came up with Katrianna. The "anna" part is after my mom whose middle name is "Anne". Sherie is after Stuart's mom whose name is "Sharon" and everyone calls her "Shari". Sherie is pronounced like the french term for affection "mon chere" and means dear or darling. Since I made up her first name, I can find nothing to tell it's meaning.
She sarted nursing by the time she was 1/2 hour old. What a champion nurser! She knew just what to do and nursed for the next 45 mins!! She did very well and continues to be a healthy little sweatheart, who loves to eat!! We stayed in the hospital exactly 24 hours and walked out the doors at 4:00 the next day. I've had alot of pain the first few days, mostly afterbirth pains. I can't believe the difference not having stitches has made, though. I've been able to do just about everything and feel really good physically. I'm very tired though as she doesn't sleep for very long and is up to eat every two hours at night, being up for a half hour each time. Everything else is good. She didn't even lose a single ounce, very rare. We went out to Stuart's brother's house for Thanksgiving dinner and no one could believe how well I was doing 4 days postpartum. I feel ready to go out Christmas shopping, but Kat isn't ready yet, LOL. This was by far my easiest delivery and was even almost enjoyable. Since this is our last, I'm glad it was so good.
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