It’s not much of a surprise but Kathryn deciding to grace us with her presence today certainly was! The last checkup on Wednesday indicated no appreciable changes in status. Dr Smith didn’t exactly say that Dr Bass was smoking some serious weed but he did suggest that Dr Bass has a habit of making up the numbers as he goes along!
So, of course the calls yesterday were condition green, all is well. You’d think we’d know better but hope springs eternal in the optimist and all that.
The contractions started for real at 0300 to 0500 (as opposed to the couple of contractions a couple of days ago and the Braxton-Hicks contractions before them). If you want to know the difference between Braxton-Hicks and the real thing because you’re not exactly medically inclined…Braxton-Hicks actually stop!
By 0630, we were calling her doctors who, with their advanced degrees, figured out we were on the up and up and it was time to come to the office for a check. At 0900 at said office, Mommy was at 3cm and everyone was then heading off for the hospital to go have a baby.
We arrived at WakeMed at 0940 and up to the room we went (guess that’s one nice thing about stopping at the office first, no sitting round in patient registration having contractions!).
We were definitely committed at 1010 when the internal heartrate monitor went onto Kathryn’s head and the membranes were ruptured. One way or another, she’s definitely going to be born on the 11th.
At 1220, we were only at 4cm and -1 station so Dr Smith is reaching for the pitocin which is the pogo stick. That should help move things along right quickly because there is no point in doing it the hard way. Well, it’s either the pitocin or a F-150 with not the best suspension in the world but I think they’d take a dim view of us leaving for a bit of a ride in the country. And we’d have to go get the truck and we don’t exactly want to miss this… 🙂
It didn’t take long for the pitocin to push Mommy over the edge because within an hour we were at 7cm and were at 9cm about ten minutes later.
Kathryn Erin joined us at 1335 local time after a very quick pushing phase (to the tune of about five minutes…that’s got to be some sort of record!). She weighed 7 pounds 11½ ounces at birth and had first and five minute APGARs of 9/9. Mommy also had the dubious distinction of getting the first golden shower from Kathryn (Katie… you are supposed to do that to the delivery staff!).
When you look at her pictures, particularly the early ones, you might well wonder if you’ve suddenly crossed signals with a broadcast of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory…or at least that bit of the movie devoted to Violet Beauregard. You know the one I’m talking about…she chews the gum that is like a three-course meal only to turn into a big blueberry because the formula wasn’t quite right. Kathryn was a quite blue from bruising in the face but that was already starting to resolve within a couple of minutes and should be gone within a day. Trust us, it had nothing to do with lack of oxygen because the girl was singing at the top of her lungs!
But other than that, she’s absolutely gorgeous (easily the most beautiful baby on the floor and they’re having a lot of them today!). Dr Smith did a good job catching and that’s two of the children he’s delivered (both on the 11th of the month).
Her first bath was at 1530 hours but prior to that she was more than happy to tell them how to run the nursery…at the top of her lungs. Self-expression doesn’t seem to be one of her problems! Two hours old and already she thinks she’s chief of this here boat. She’s probably right…
After her bath (and a bout of the pouty bottom lip that she’s already done to perfection), we got the other two numbers we were interested in: length of 19½ inches, head circumference of 13¼ in (34 cm). They put the stuff in her eyes to ward of germs and a jab (Vitamin K?) and she was ready to start settling in. Our little diva certainly rules the nursery but now it was time to make some calls while Mommy slept off the effects of the drugs.
That meant it was time to make some calls and make Cingular awfully happy. Good thing we had all of those rollover minutes… 🙂
The rest of the evening consisted of cuddling and occasional feeding (she was reluctant at first but toward dinner time she seemed to get the hang of it…hopefully she’s easier to feed than her brothers were!).
Good night, Kathryn! We’ve waited SO long for you… 🙂
