Madison arrives.

She's here! Our girl arrived fashionably late on October 23, 2012 weighing in at 7 pounds 8 ounces and 19-1/2 inches long with quite a bit of dark colored hair. We named her Madison Lee. Madison is a name Tim and I fell in love with even before we were married and Lee was my great-grandfather's name and is my middle name.

So if you're like me you would love to hear about her birth. Here goes . . .

(Reader discretion is advised)

October 23, 2012: (total labor time = 6 hours)

0500 - arrived at the hospital dilated to 4 cm and 75% effaced

0900 - Dr. Locke broke my water - here come contractions

1045 - dilated to 5 cm. Dr. Locke makes the decision to start Pitocin (boo) due to risk of infection with water already broken

Contractions with pit

1100 - decision made to get epidural due to Pit causing continuous contractions with no break in between (ow)

1130 - epidural (sighhh)

1200 - dilated to 10 cm . . . time to start pushing

1230 - pushing. Baby's heart rate began rapidly dropping during and after pushes despite wearing oxygen

1245 - found out baby was face up

1300 - still pushing. Heart rate continues to drop dramatically

1315 - throwing up. 

1325 - apparently throwing up helped baby turn face down

1345 - still pushing. Heart rate not improving. Began having to take breaks from pushing to allow heart rate to stabilize. 

1400 - throwing up again

1420 - began discussing options because baby was not being easily pushed out and heart rate was too concerning

1430 - Dr. Locke decides forceps are best first option. Emergency c-section if forceps do not work in the next few minutes

1457 - BABY 

So apparently the umbilical cord was wrapped once around her neck and once around her shoulder causing her to be sucked back in after pushes. The strain on the cord was also causing the drop in heart rate. Also, I seemed to be really sensitive to Pit because I dilated from 5-10 on the lowest, slowest dose and in only 30 minutes. I most likely was getting my epidural while already dilated to a 10. Thank God for epidurals is all I can say -- forceps are not easy on your body :-)

 

Hope you enjoyed that. I have more updating to do soon to bring you up to speed on our life at the moment. 

Katherine

Pregnancy. Part III.

This is the last post about pregnancy, I swear!  Know why? Because I went to the doctor on Friday (10/5) and am dilated to a 2 and 70% already. (Due date is 10/21).

Could be any day . . . or in 2 weeks . . . !!

34 weeks.

I started feeling a bit uncomfortable around 34 weeks. My sleeping also declined--a lot. I haven't slept more than 1-1/2 hours in a row since. I can easily roll over and go back to sleep but it makes you feel like you haven't slept all night. Needless to say, I'm a wee bit tired. It's also hard on my hips sleeping right on top of them all night. I usually wake up with a little limp that disappears after moving around a bit. Small price to pay for the gift we are getting!

36 weeks.

 

Nope, that's not a football up my shirt. So life is pretty sweet now that the nursery is finished. I've been cooking and freezing casseroles every week to give us some extra help after she's born. Homemade heat and eat!

There you go! Pregnancy in 3 parts. I was 38 weeks yesterday . . . didn't get a pic yet. I go to the doctor again tomorrow (10/10) so we'll see if there's been any more progress!

Can't wait to meet and hold this sweet girl!

Katherine 

Pregnancy. Part II.

14 weeks: Girl or boy? Yes, we want to know! One of the perks of working at the clinic was being able to do the sex-check sono at 14.4 weeks instead of the usual 18-20. Gender reveal party? Please. I can't even wait til Christmas to open my presents. We found out during the ultrasound: GIRL! What exciting news--I would have said that if it were a boy though. You don't really care what the gender is as long as he or she is healthy and growing. (God and I secretly know that I need a helper around this crazy house, so He is sending us a perfect little girl--not that boys can't help too, but, okay I'll stop there). We gathered the family for dinner that evening and announced the gender. Everyone was excited. The first thing I bought . . .

So now that the appetite is finally back and fully working I started being able to cook and eat again--something you don't miss until it's gone. I first felt her move around 18 weeks. It's not a movement where your like "oh, a kick!". It's more of a subtle "what was that?". Tim was able to feel her very shortly thereafter. Here comes a bit of a bump!

20 weeks

Here's the little girl around 22 weeks. She has some pretty long legs!

The second trimester was pretty easy. No real 'cravings' to speak of although I did find myself favoring pumpkin things. I still favor pumpkin things though . . . I think cravings are something a lazy pregnant person made up long ago to have an excuse for sending her husband to the store because she was hungry. Anyway . . . 

23-24 weeks.

28 weeks.

32 weeks.

That gets you up to 32 weeks. There's still a little bit to go but we are almost there! Time flies!

Katherine

Pregnancy. Part I.

Have I really been pregnant for 8 months?! That's 2/3 of a year. Holy cow. I shouldn't make cow jokes right now. 

So what's it been like? Let me tell you. Caution: i'm not shy, you may not want all the details I might give you.

I actually found out I was pregnant in February at 3-1/2 weeks. The first thing that tipped me off was my nose. I could smell everything. I remember washing a white bra in bleach with the other whites, wearing it to work the next day, and being able to smell the bleach . . . ?! Yup. I also had a little spotting, which never happens. So one night while family was over eating, I got a call from my grandmother, excused myself from the table and went to my bedroom to talk to her. With nothing better to do I thought "well, let's just pee on this thing for fun". Yes, I peed on a stick while on the phone with my Grandmother. This is what I saw:

Yippee. Nothing really explains the thoughts or emotions that go on when you see that second little line. I went back to dinner with the fam like nothing was new (holy crap!). After everyone left and the kitchen was cleaned I went to my bedroom and wrote a little diddy for Tim. A few minutes later I called him into the bedroom and told him I had someone to introduce him to.

He was speechless for a few seconds, looked a bit confused, then it registered and we laughed and jumped for a few minutes. That was fun. The next day I went to work and told my designated doctor's nurse that I thought I was pregnant but had had some spotting and wanted to do blood work to make sure all was good. My progesterone level was a tad low so they recommended I take a synthetic progesterone pill every night for the first trimester especially due to the spotting. 

Tim and I decided that we wanted to keep this a secret until at least 8-10 weeks along in case of anything happening. I have to admit, it's kind of fun having a secret with only your husband--makes you feel a sort of distinction among your peers. 

Look! A squiggly shape . . . 

Week 6-14----THAT'S 8 WEEKS-----welcome morning sickness! Which is not really morning sickness. It's just all-day nausea. I was one sick girl. I remember telling my boss that I thought I had a stomach bug. He said "Katherine, you're pregnant". I remember thinking wait, I thought morning sickness was a bit of nausea with certain smells and foods. Nope, this was the type of nausea where I scouted every trash can in every room I entered, kept a plastic bag in my purse and car and basically felt miserable. I tried everything anyone told me. The only thing that made eating possible was Zofran, every 8 hours. I only actually threw up a dozen or so times but felt awful enough that I lost about 5 pounds from not eating. People said to eat crackers and then I would feel better--didn't work. It was better to just not eat and pray the Zofran kicked in soon so I could try to eat something. It's bad when you take a deep breath just to feel normal for 0.5 seconds. Needless to say, I spent many moments with the Lord begging for patience and help. 

We decided it was time to tell my parents because we had family coming in town and my mom would probably notice that I never ate. So late one night after a hockey game in early March, around 7 weeks, we told my dad we had a birthday present for him (his birthday is in October). We told him we'd planned a trip for him--a trip to the hospital to see his grandbaby! Her due date is actually on his birthday, 10-21-12. My mom immediately said "I knew it!". How do they know these things? My dad looked confused for a minute so I said "I'm pregnant", then he got it. It was a fun night--until I started feeling like throwing up again. We swore my parents to secrecy until later in March when Tim's entire family came to Midland for his sister's wedding. We told them after the wedding. This will be grandbaby #1 for both sides of the families.

Here's 11 weeks. It's in 4d so some parts (like the neck) look see-through . . . 

 So that gets you to 14 weeks. The rest is coming.

Before you judge and think I'm weird for doing this, just know it's mostly so I can remember my pregnancy and print this off for the baby book or just to have. 

Katherine 

Summertime

So, I made it to June. This means I finally graduated and actually have a little more time on my hands. How about a quick update? Here you go . . .

I'm pregnant . . . Oh did I forget to mention that to my blog friends? This is a fairly old sono pic at about 11 weeks. I'm 22 weeks now.

Here we are at 20 weeks. No comments please about how I don't look pregnant . . . you might have missed my flat stomach pre-pregnancy, so to me, it's something.

I graduated from Texas Tech University with my bachelor of science in nursing . . . Summa Cum Laude thank you very much. I worked hard for my 4.0

 

Awkward wave to my camera happy mother.

  

  

Major has had a fun summer in pool. He really loves swimming . . . especially when there's a ball to jump in after.

Major and uncle Joe like to play tug-of-war. I'll let you guess who won.

Can't forget about little Jinx. I owe her for helping me stay on task while doing homework. She's a strict tutor--no slacking with her around.

Big thanks to my parents and husband for buying me an awesome new camera. (Nikon D3200 for my camera savvy friends) It took the 4 of Major--see the difference a good camera can make?

So, due to being pregnant, with a girl, I forgot to say, I am quitting my nursing job in approximately 2 weeks to prepare to stay at home. I can't wait to jump in to that role. Hopefully it will give me more time to blog and update you!

As always, I thank my upstairs Daddy for his amazing gift of life in the form of currently 1 pound little being in my belly. May she learn to love and bring Glory to You.

Yours,
Katherine and fam -- including the furry ones.