Our sweet Kylie doll was born Sunday, July 13, 2014. Here is her birth story. Lots of details here.
For two months prior to her delivery I had hard contractions. Never consistent, and never lasting longer than 2 hours at a time. They were definitely frustrating and tiring, but the hope was always that they were at least preparing my body for baby's birth. We were hoping that baby #2 would come sooner than 40 weeks, but this little one was comfy and cozy and loving being in mommy's tummy.
Her due date was Friday, 7/11 - free slurpee day - and it was hot hot hot on that day, so we celebrated the due date with a much needed free slurpee for this big old prego. The day was spent swimming and relaxing at my grandpa's house. Jamison was off work so we decided to take advantage of the day and have some fun. We ended the night with movies and cuddles with our Emma girl. Our hopes to have baby by her due date were long gone, now our goal was to have her come on her own before my dr. was going to try to force induction at 41 weeks.
Saturday, the next day, I was having contractions again, just like every other day, but I didn't think anything of it since I had had them for a while. So, Jamison and I took Emma swimming again and tried to just enjoy the day.
Sunday, the 13th, Jamison had to work. Emma got up at 5:30 and I was still pretty tired so I brought her into my bed with me and we cuddled until she fell asleep. I could've slept but just couldn't help staring at her, wondering if that would be my last time cuddling with her as our only baby. I had no idea just how right I was. By about 7am I was starting some hard contractions, but again I didn't think anything of it. At 8:00 they were so strong that I didn't even consider showering, and instead decided to pace and walk around the house. They were so painful and I was so ready to have this baby that I was going to try everything I could to keep the contractions coming. At this point they were about 7 minutes apart, pretty consistently. By 8:30 they were 4-5 minutes apart, so I called my parents and asked them to come over before church to help me time them better and determine whether I should go into the hospital or not. The last thing I wanted was to go into the hospital and be sent home.
I couldn't get a hold of my parents for a good hour, so I just kept pacing, and cleaning up the house so it'd be ready for Jamison's mom to come over and watch Emma for the time we were in the hospital. Poor Emma knew something was up and would not leave my side. It was the cutest thing! If I left the room and took too long coming back she'd run after me to see if I was ok. She was the most obedient girl, doing exactly what i was asking her to do while I paced and paced.
My parents finally came to the house with Benjamin at 9:30, and within 20 minutes we decided we'd better get to the hospital. Benjamin was going to stay with Emma at home, but poor little thing was so worried about me that she cried begging to come with me. We decided not to try to fight it and just take them both with us. My dad dropped my mom and I off at Summerlin Hospital, and I got in touch with Jamison, who was working in the ER, and had him on standby. We didn't want him getting off work until we found out if we'd be admitted or not. Mom and I went straight to Labor and Delivery at 10am and I was put in triage to be monitored. By the time I was getting in my gown my contractions had almost completely stopped. I was SO scared they'd send me home but just kept praying that they'd come back so we could finally meet our sweet babe.
Once they hooked me up and took my vitals and all my information, the nurse discovered that I was having contractions every 2 minutes and according to her charts they were intense. I'd say so! And, I was dilated to a 3 already, and 60% effaced...yay! My dr. was out of town so the nurse went to talk to the on-call dr., Dr. Romero, to see if he'd wanted me admitted or not. We waited for a good hour and then heard back from him. He said he wanted me to walk the halls for a good hour, and then they'd check me and if I'd made any progress. If I had, then they'd admit me...if not, they'd send me home. Seriously? Contractions every 2 minutes apart and he was talking about sending me home! I walked those halls like I've never walked any hall before. I was determined to have her that day. There had been too much pain involved, and by this point Jamison was off work and had come upstairs to walk the halls with me, so we were as ready as could be.
After the hour was up, and tons of ice had been consumed, the nurse checked me again. She said I hadn't progressed at all, but would check with the dr. Her opinion was that I should be admitted, so I knew that at least she was rooting for me. It took an hour for the dr. to come in to check me! The only consolation with him taking a long time was the hope that in that time period maybe my body had progressed. He finally came in at 1:00 and said I was at a 4-5 and 75% effaced. yay!!! It still took another hour to get blood work from me and to wait for my room to get all set up, but by 2:00 I was admitted into my hospital room and getting the IVs put in. I had hoped to do without an epidural for this delivery since it didn't work last time, but we decided to go ahead and get it since by this time I was in quite a bit of pain and getting tired fast. By 3:00 the epidural was in and mostly working (hallelujah!), it never worked all the way, but only a portion of the pain is better than all of it. The dr. came in and broke my water, and by 3:30 I was dilated to a 6!
At 4:00 I was feeling pressure but the nurse said I was still at a 6 so they were going to give me just a little pitocin to try to help things along. Within 10 minutes after getting the pitocin, at 5:00, the nurse checked me and I was at an 8 when I wasn't having a contraction, and a 9 1/2 when I was contracting. The dr. was already heading home for the day so the nurse called him back because baby was on her way! I was feeling lots of pressure by this point so the nurse had me pushing through 4 contractions and then told me to stop after that because baby's head was right there and ready for Dr. Romero!
He got to our room by 5:45, and by 5:50 we were pushing. 3-4 contractions later, with 3 pushes with each contraction, and then at 6:02pm I heard the Dr. say, "open your eyes!" I opened my eyes and saw the most beautiful new baby. I was in heaven when they immediately placed her on me to hold and kiss and cuddle...all 8 pounds 10 ounces of her! I didn't get to hold Emma for 4 hours after delivery because of all the complications we had...so to be able to hold my sweet angel right away was amazing. They left her with me for a good 15 minutes before taking her to clean her and weigh her. My family grew from 3 to 4, and Jamison and I were as happy as could be. So thrilled to have our newest daughter join our little family. I can't believe I'm a mother of 2. I still wake up every day in complete awe at how blessed we are to have two beautiful girls. I can't wait for all the joy that this new sweet babe will bring.
