Honey, I think it's time!

On Tuesday September 2 I woke up at 2am with a huge contraction, followed by another shortly after. I got up and started watch. After almost 4 hours of contractions and the final hour of them being 6 minutes apart we left for the hospital. Of course as soon as I got in the car, they started to slow down! We got to the hospital and I was not nearly as ready as we thought or hoped, but my kind doctor recognized that we were so ready that he decided to keep me in the hospital to monitor my progress and it was decided that if I didn't go on my own by the next morning (which he felt I would) that I would be induced. Here's where you can see just how ready we were to get things going!!

So by the end of the day I had not made too much progress (hard to believe after the day of walking and contractions!). They gave me Ambien to sleep (I want to by stock in that company, that stuff is great!) and planned to induce me in the morning. I woke up at 2:45am to use the bathroom and the nurse happened to come in to check on me. When I came out she was changing my sheets! She smiled at me and happily announced that my water had broken!

So at 5:30am I was at the point where I was able to get this wonderful invention called an EPIDURAL, which is one of the most wonderful things in the world! See how much I love it...



With the help of Potosin, I was ready to push at 10am. 3 HOURS LATER...(yes, you ready correctly, 3 hours of pushing) the doctor finally made his entrance to bring our daughter into the world. He had come in a little earlier to check on me because her head was not coming through as quickly as we had hoped, so he offered us the use of forceps if we wanted him to. After hearing the possible dangers, one being eye damage, I opted to just suck it up and keep pushing. Then an hour later the nurses were yelling out in the hall for him to be called and he came running in and began getting scrubbed up. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush of realizing this is finally it (after crying to Mike several times that I just couldn't do it anymore) but I told him that I had never been happier to see him! (he got a kick out of that!) So after another 15 minutes of pushing and the help of a vacuum (how ironic that Mike joked about bringing our Dyson to help out if we needed it!) the doctor said to me "Katrina, look!" I looked down and there she was in my doctor's hands! I laid back in exhaustion and he put her on my stomach. All I could do was cry and say "Oh my God! Oh my God!" Then when I finally gathered myself and said "Hello Lilly!" and put my hands on her she turned her head to me and smiled! Mike and I completely lost it at that point and realized that at that precise moment that our lives would never be the same and that we were so happy to finally have her here!

One quick parent-bragging moment...the labor nurse told us that she was an amazingly alert baby and that Lilly did something that amazed her. Lilly came out face down, and when just her head was out, she turned her head around and actually looked at the doctor, almost as if to say "Well? You gonna get the rest of me out or what?" The nurse said she and the doctor said that in their thousands of deliveries, they had NEVER seen that before! Plus during her APGAR testing the nurses said she was very aware of everything and that we have a very smart little girl.

And now as a proud wife, I'd like to offer the coaching services of my husband to any expectant mother who needs a good coach. We did not take any childbirth classes, but we were quite the team. Mike was amazing with putting ice chips on my neck and wiping my face with cold washcloths. (he had a whole system going) He was so helpful and encouraging both physically and mentally that I felt so lucky to have him. And considering everyone (including him) thought he would be too squeemish to see anything - he looked at her crowning, her head out and then cut the cord! Dr. Albini asked Mike to apply for a coaching position for the hospital and were told how impressed the nurses were that we worked so well together. We both kept our cool and didn't have any episodes like you see on tv where the wife and husband are yelling at each other! I couldn't imagine doing that...I was even thanking him in the middle of my labor because he was doing such a great job! I never could have done it without him

OK, now to the part I"m sure everyone wants me to get to...the pictures. Here they are, enjoy!


Yes, this shot this truly captures my labor experience!