Kaitlyn's Comings

Friday September 17, 2010

My Deer in the headlights look!

So, as I said before we were aware for an entire week that this would be THE day. I had mixed feelings about that. I felt very prepared... we'd spent all week getting the house, meals, laundry, care for the kids all arranged and ready.

My induction time was set for 10:00 am. Perfect! Enough time to get Gage off to school... have a nice breakfast... Enough time for Mom & Dad to drive up from home... for Dave & Judy to drive from Manti... Maybe I really like this pre-delivery planning!

Well, Thursday night just after dinner I got a call from the hospital saying that instead of me coming in at 7am they would like me to call at 7 to get a time estimate... apparently they had a ton of inductions scheduled and a few women that were laboring on their own. Nice. I didn't worry to much about that until I went to bed and couldn't sleep in a panic that if I called at seven and they said to come right in what would we do with the kids? My fall back, Beth, has crazy mornings on Fridays and wouldn't be able to grab them until 9... so what would we do before then? Gage would be late for school and I didn't really want to bring the kids into the hospital before then... There are a few people in the ward that I know would help but would calling them at 7 in the morning be too late for them to get their families out the door and ready for mine?

To say the least I didn't sleep AT ALL that night and woke up a worried, teary mess. To top it all off I got a bloody nose... that wouldn't go away!

I said a prayer... and asked that I wouldn't get in until after 10 so that all the grandparents would be here and we could stick to the original plans. Grandpa & Papa would stay with Payton & Grandpa would pick up Gage from school.

I called the hospital at 6:50 ( I couldn't wait ANY longer!)

They told me that they had no available nurses, that it would be a couple hours... Okay, at least we could get Gage to school, and Payton could join Beth at 9:00.

9:00 came and went

Mom & Dad got here.

10:00 came and went

Dave & Judy got here.

Called the hospital again under Nathan's urgings... he sure was getting upset! All the while I'm just thankful my prayer was answered!

Still no openings but they were calling in more nurses so it shouldn't be much longer.

Nathan leaves with Grandpa to go get Gage.

Mom, Judy & I sat at the kitchen table putting together birth announcements. I've calmed down and feel great!

Nathan is still getting ancy... he's seriously pacing around not quite sure what to do with himself.

The grandpa's are both asleep in the living room ;0)
We had lunch and Nathan, Dad & Dave give me a blessing.

The hospital calls and asks for us to come in at 1:30.
This is it! We start loading bags, and give hugs and kisses to the boys. Nathan drives Mom & Dad's car with me and mom, Dave & Judy follow us so that when it comes time Dave knows how to get Dad & the boys to the hospital. We make a quick stop at a Maverick for Nathan to get a Mt. Dew (he gave it up a few months ago, but allows himself some on special occasions... I guess this qualifies ;0)

We get into the hospital and they take me back to the room and have Nathan & Grandma's stay in the waiting room for a minute... I find out later that they are required to ask if I feel safe in my home or if I'm being abused and if I'd like my tubes tied before they allow the spouse into the room... how sad is that?

Room 513 it is... It's got a really nice view of a grassy courtyard and trees. My nurse tells me that I look really familiar but I don't recognize her. They've called her in from another hospital to help out for the day so she has to look around for everything. Nathan's not so confident in her skills.. but after she hooks up my penicillin and it doesn't burn my arm off I'm impressed.

She leaves the room and Mom makes a comment that she looks really familiar, when she came back in she asked when I had delivered my last child. May of 2007 I tell her and she tells me that she was working at St. Marks then. That's where I had Payton. So, we figure she was one of the nurses there for Payton's delivery. Mom really did recognize her. Brad Pitt could have been in that delivery room and I wouldn't be able to tell you... there were like 25 people in there! Mom & Judy were huddled in the corner when Payton was born... seriously... they were told to stay back or get out.

Okay, didn't want to let my mind wander to Payton's birth because then I'll start panicking!

I spent all my laboring time watching some HGTV and the Gidget trilogy... courtesy of Trisha!

Happier note Thursday night one of my sweet YW leaders came over to my house and gave me a pedicure... because heaven forbid I deliver with 'Naked toes'... I call them my pretty labor toes. A nurse even made a comment. You were right Jodi! I felt really great going in with pretty toes ;) maybe I should say pretty toe nails ;)

My being impressed with my nurse's penicillin skills dies after I move my arm and my tube falls to the ground... No wonder it didn't burn... it wasn't even on! I page for someone to come in to re-attach it and find out it was the pitocin that hadn't been hooked up. Nice.

I wish I would have kept a better time-line of events but somewhere in between first being hooked up and delivery the Anesthesiologist stops in to introduce himself. His name is Rock... seriously... Rock and after leaving Mom makes a comment about how he looks like he's 18 and Judy thinks he's handsome. My doctor stops by and asks if I ever thought I would get in here! They break my water and I remember thinking it was a LOT more painful than it ever was with the other two... and they tried to break my water with Gage like 20 times! That resident wasn't the sharpest pencil in the drawer.

I find out that my fluid really was low! What was a gushing withe the boys was a small little trickle with Kaitlyn. My Dr. Makes the comment "yeah, I'm glad we got you in here today, that really was low." Great. I'm glad too then!

After that the contractions really begin. I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job. I keep saying 'one more then I'll page for the Rock.' Nathan tells me that I said that 5 contractions ago. I decide that I wanted them to be good and painful so that the epidural feels that much better... Okay I need them to be good and painful so that the idea of a giant needle poking into my back sounds a little less crazy!

One more and I push the nurse button. I'm ready for the epi!

My new nurse comes in and lets me know that Rock is the best. All the nurses page for him with their own deliveries she assures me... apparently he was on vacation for her last delivery and she's still holding a grudge... how dare he be in Hawaii!

They ask Mom & Judy to step out and Rock starts his thing. He asks Nathan if he wants to do it.

I tell him that I love and trust him... but not that much. He seriously tells me that this will be the best epidural I've ever had. I told him he had some pretty tight competition because I didn't feel a thing with Gage's. After he talks me through the whole thing, you know:

pinch

light pressure

cold zing down my legs

warm surge

all that jazz

I ask if they gave each other epidurals in school so that they would know how to describe what each thing felt like.

He tells us that while they were definitely pin cushions in medical school they were never allowed to do epidurals... to much liability issues. Just never let your first person know they're your first! Actually we practice on Styrofoam boxes. There's nothing that feels more like entering the epidural opening than a Styrofoam box.

Excellent.

He did do a pretty good job. A lot better than Payton's but I'm not sure if it was better than Gages. The tube came out so he had to insert it twice. He definitely lost points with that.

I did however like that he checked back a couple times before I delivered. They've never done that before.

After that I felt GREAT! It was a really light dose, so I could still feel pressure from the contractions but not the pain. I could even wiggle my toes and lift my feet. Perfect!

I'm not quite sure why but after that I have a huge drop in blood pressure. Nathan said he was really worried because apparently I was talking one second and then completely asleep the next. I don't remember feeling bad at all, just really tired. He made me stay awake talking after that for an hour to make sure I was fine.

After that things progressed nicely. I was pretty excited when they told me I was a 7 and it was just past 8:00 I really wanted to have her on September 17th... it just has a nice ring to it with the double S's and of course I love Sevens ;0)

The nurse started getting things ready. She paged Dr Johansson (who was out to dinner with her husband... and said she would skip dessert) who said she would be here in about 10 minutes... and all the sudden it wasn't just pressure anymore it was straight on PAIN! My nurse checked me again, and I had gone from a 7 to a 10 in about 5 minutes.

She kept telling me not to push but with each contraction that became harder and harder not to do!

They asked if I wanted Rock to come back? Uh... YEAH! He was there in a second and was pushing more pain killers into my tube. He said that it should take effect in 2 to 3 minutes and "if this doesn't work then nothing will."

I took comfort in that, but I shouldn't have because apparently at that point NOTHING would work. People told me after it's because Kaitlyn was in what they call the "Ring of Fire". Which is usually not a big deal because during delivery that stage doesn't last very long... only I was purposefully holding her there for what I thought was the longest 10 minutes of my life! I found out later from Nate that it actually took my Dr 30 minutes to get there.

Oh, that makes more sense than a ten minutes that was an eternity!

I remember telling my nurse that I had to push... I just HAD too. She didn't want to ruin her 'never actually delivered a baby' record... at least we didn't ruin that.

In came Dr Johansson in a denim skirt and a purple shirt with fluorescent 'peace' emblems and chains on it. Her sunglasses were pushed back on her head like always.

Two pushes and Kaitlyn was here.

(I used a little paint-shop to fix this photo... no worries I'm not covering anything you wouldn't see if I was in a bathing suit... but still, let's make this as G rated as possible ;0)

The poor thing took a big gulp of fluid... they pulled 14 ml out of her tummy and she continued to spit it up for a few hours... okay choke it up might be a better term.

Oh, boy! The boys were soooo excited to see "their baby"

Payton showing off his shirt... I think he was more excited about the root-beer on tap than his little sister at first.

Now, I wonder if she'll have Payton's baby-blue sparklers or Gage's yummy chocolate brown eyes!

Her little blond curls...

Apparently all night long Friday Gage kept asking when he could go see his sister again. They came early Saturday morning as well as a bunch of other visitors.

They wouldn't allow anyone under 15 (except siblings) up... I guess it is the season to be careful... so a few little people I would have liked to see had to wait downstairs ;(

Grandma Wells & Grammie Sanderson

Grandpa Wells & Papa Sanderson

Jason & Yoshiko... Poor Ren, Aila, and Lina had to stay away.

Uncle Sethy & Cousin Trisha

Chris & Alyssa, Brian & Beth stopped by and Jeff & Heather & Carter came by on Sunday.

The boys really loved the cabinet in my room...

So, had to share this one... Friday night Nathan pulled out the sofa-bed in my room and when he laid down we heard this ping clink clink clink clink. It popped some springs so the top was literally hanging by a thread! He slept on it as a couch but his legs were hanging over the arm all night long. Because there were no open rooms to steal another one from Saturday he finally just pulled the mattress out and put it on the floor.

When the Dr. came in Sunday morning we had the window open for some fresh air and Nathan was on the floor asleep.

" Window open, sleeping on the ground... it's just like camping isn't it?"

Not quite.

Getting ready to go home!

They always seem so impossibly tiny when it comes time to put them in the car-seat!

Welcome Home Kaitlyn!!