Kit's Birth Story

If you don't wish to read through my epic post, here's the short version. Kit Amelia Anne made a very rapid appearance February 2nd at 3:34 AM weighing 7.2 pounds and measuring 19 3/4 inches.

As most of you know, Kit was one week overdue. We won't talk much of that other than I was probably a beast to live with (sorry again Andrew, Arlie, and Andi).

So moving on to good stuff. I had been having some strong Braxton-Hicks contractions in the weeks leading up to her birth but in the days leading up they started getting painful. And tricky. They'd be regular for a little bit, then go away completely. One day we were even packed up for the hospital and then realized that it really wasn't time yet. Boo. So when I woke up early on February 2nd with contractions it didn't really mean anything.  They still weren't regular but after a few more I just knew I needed to go to the hospital. I don't know what was different and I believed I would probably get turned away, but I woke Andrew up and told him to get the girls ready. I texted my mom to meet us at the hospital, feeling very guilty for waking everyone up for what was probably a false alarm.

And then the contractions started getting pretty intense. I could hear Andrew downstairs brushing his teeth and so help me, I became insane. I was on all fours on the stairs trying not to scream, wanting to go to the as quickly as possible hospital so I can BEG them to get this child out of me, and he's thinking about HYGIENE?! I wanted to slap the toothbrush out of his hands to convey the seriousness of the situation. Instead, all I could get out was a really whiny, garbled "Pleeeeaaaaase?" Luckily Andrew is fluent in Jenn and hustled us all to the car.

We got everyone buckled in the car and Andrew sped through our neighborhood and I realized it's been 10 minutes since the last contraction. Which stretches into 20. Crap. This WAS a false alarm. An extremely painful false alarm. Just as I'm about to sheepishly tell Andrew to turn around I get another humdinger. Only this one I start shaking. €%#@. I tell myself that I am not going through transition. There's no way I'm that far along, the contractions started only an hour before. Plus, I remember it being like, pass out painful with Andi and I don't think it's as bad? I try to picture the calm, medicated birth that I was planning on. Just get to the hospital. Get there.

Here we are, in the ER in Tacoma at 2 am on a Saturday night. It's . . . interesting. The guy in front of me has fallen out of a car? Got in a fight with a pro boxer? I'm just there with my irregular contractions waiting to get told to go back home and come back when they're 5 minutes apart for at least an hour. La di painful da. The front desk person is having a hard time finding someone to bring me to maternity because they have an incoming trauma. Finally someone comes and she sees me go through one of the shaky contractions and I can see she knows it's transition. But I'm still deep in denial and I insist on walking across the hospital because if I pretend that birth isn't imminent, I'll get my epidural, I'll get a nap, and then wake up and pain-free have a baby. Only now my contractions are regular. 1-2 minutes apart regular. We have to stop a lot on our trek and Andrew knows just what to do. And that's to BE. Stand strong and let me lean as hard as I need to.

We get to the maternity ward and get stopped by a receptionist who wants to explain a new policy regarding children 12 and under not being allowed in. Then she wants me to read a piece of paper stating the same thing. I could only stare at her dully while my brain chanted, "EPIDURAL. EPIDURAL. EPIDURAL. " Awesome.

They finally bring me to a triage room and the nurse does her exam and she turns to me and says with a big smile, "You just walked across the hospital 8 centimeters dilated!" I only can groan so she repeats it to Andrew. Someone must acknowledge this! Now that's out of the way I'm rushed to labor and delivery.

I'm going to skip a little bit here. I'm a little embarrassed of how whiny I got over not having the birth I envisioned. (I had flashbacks of Andi's birth - to date, the most painful thing I've ever experienced.) Plus, this story is already turning into an epic, we can skip the worst part.

So the midwife barely makes it on time. In fact I'm at the point where pushing is pretty much out of my control and she's still rushing around getting things together. She was telling me to puff out my cheeks to stop the process. It did not. The baby was on its way and did not care how much air I could store in my mouth.

After a push or two, the midwife told me to push really hard, the baby's heartbeat was slowing. I didn't really acknowledge it on a conscious level but I pushed. Then she wanted me to stop. I thought the baby was pretty much out so I was confused. Turns out Kit had the umbilical cord wrapped two times around her neck. After she was freed it was one more push and that was it. There was a blur of seeing my sweet girl for the first time and Andrew's happy face telling me he loved me. A very good moment.

And that's it. 2 hours and 15 minutes from beginning to end, 30 minutes in the hospital, and less than 5 minutes of pushing until she was born. Pretty glad I didn't get that epidural, it would have been a total waste of time and potential side effects!

32 Weeks

Good: Only 8 more weeks until we meet baby girl! I'm so grateful not to be working this pregnancy. Or I guess I should say not working at a 50-60 hour a week stressful job during this pregnancy. I look back and amazed that I was able to do that (with the help of a great husband and the best nanny)! Of course there were days when I wished that I could lay on the floor and refuse to go (heheh) but it's so much sweeter that our plans and hard work have come to fruition. I do still feel guilty that Andrew is working his tail off and I have the easy job of stay-at-home-mom. It is so awesome to have weekends together though!

Bad: Just regular pregnancy ughs. Sciatica, tiredness, heartburn, and joint pain. Still keeping up with yoga which both girls like to do with me now. Although Arlie likes to correct my form (I have to do modified poses this late in pregnancy and she's not really into that) and then does a bunch of upward facing dogs and cobras just to rub it in. Funny girl.

Oh, and I did this to my foot:

You know how loosened joints make you a little unstable? Yeah, I slipped down the stairs. In trying to protect the baby I landed weirdly - rolling onto the top of my foot - spraining the whole thing. Now on top of waddling I'm also limping. It's great.

Baby: 4 pounds. And she will be doubling her weight in the next 8 weeks, can you believe it? I think she already feels cramped in there! She can't kick as much anymore - it's mostly stretching my stomach into weird shapes. It's getting possible to figure out what body part is poking out which Arlie thinks is pretty cool. We still haven't decided on a name. We're not sure if we should continue the A names (which only happened by accident to begin with) or branch out. We've found an A name that Andrew really likes but I'm on the fence about. He's got 8 more weeks to convince me. . . :) Arlie thinks we should name her "Sister" and Andi suggested "Rabbit". Uh, I'll think about it girls.

Currently Wearing - 27 Weeks

Good: Baby has hiccups! I love that part. Also, the look on Arlie's face when she feels the baby moving. She thinks it's pretty cool and so do I. And only 13 weeks to go until we meet her. I'm getting pretty excited for that part.

Bad: I'm anemic. So, so, so tired. Like moving through molasses tired. But now that we've identified that problem I'm enjoying the challenge of coming up with healthy meals loaded with iron. It seems to be helping already. And I'm outgrowing maternity clothing already! At my last appointment the midwife asked me to stop gaining weight so quickly. Whoops. At my first appointment for this pregnancy, a different midwife asked me to gain more weight this time around - I guess I was succeeding a little too well! Heheh.

Baby: She weighs about 2.2 pounds this week, about the size of a head of cauliflower. She still has lots of room in there. Her movements are more like Arlie's pregnancy. She has a favorite position and then kicks a lot. Sometimes I poke her back to try and get her to move because that one spot is getting tender. Still, pretty calm.

Currently Wearing - 20 Weeks

Halfway through! I can't believe how fast time is going.

Size of baby: A . . . banana?

Good:

• We found out what we're having (see below post) and are starting to discuss names a little more seriously now. That's always really fun! 
• At a point where most women are just starting to feel their babies kick, Andrew can actually feel the movement from outside my belly. It's been early in all three pregnancies now - my theory is that the fat on my stomach is just the right amount for transmitting kicks and punches. Heh.
• And after some pretty intensive yoga the carpal tunnel and sciactica have almost gone away.
• Arlie loves to touch the belly. It's very sweet.

Bad:

• Nausea. Combined with heartburn. They both show up in force at about the time I'd like to be sleeping. So I am grateful that I get to go through most of my day with lower levels of both, but the sleep thing isn't happening as well as I usually like.

Boy Oh Boy

It's a girl!

Sorry for the terrible photo. Our scanner quit and the ultrasound photos were so shiny. I think these ultrasounds are a little easier to interpret but it's baby's head and she's resting her hands on her nose.

And because we've started some terrible tradition that ends with me telling Andrew, "You'd better tell your mother this is your idea, and your idea alone!" here's Andrew's interpretation of the ultrasound:

Geez, if someone randomly stumbles on this blog they're going to think we're the worst.

P.S. Don't we make babies with the cutest shaped heads?

Long Walk

I didn't realize my camera was still set to "retro" so that's why these pictures kind of have that feel.

I had been feeling strong contractions but they weren't in any rhyme or reason so I took Arlie to Penrose and we walked aaaall the way out onto the spit. I had heard long walks would help things progress. Well, "placenta-brain" kept me from remembering to put on sunscreen (which I do religiously usually) so I ended up fried - and with NO MORE CONTRACTIONS.

Little did I know that 18 hours later I would have added our second daughter to the family!

Baby Bellah

I look like I'm wearing one of the "empathy" bellies they make dads-to-be wear in prenatal classes.

Wee Baby Heater II

We didn't get any pictures of the baby's face. We did get to see him/her sticking their tongue out at us though during the ultrasound. Really. Baby was being extremely shy, to the point where we don't even know the sex for sure. The technician thought she saw a teeny weenie but isn't 100%. She was able to capture this adorable little foot on film for us though.

Wee Baby Heater II

I had my first ultrasound today and got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! I didn't know that it was kind of that appointment so Andrew's pretty bummed he missed out.
So I feel sorta bad about defacing the first picture of our second child, but if you're anything like me these things look more like Rorschach tests than actual photos of human beings. So I thought I'd be helpful and draw in some of the important body parts.And here it is untouched. If the Intelligender test is right (and they are 80% of the time) you are looking at wee baby boy Heater!