Little Kate is here and we are beyond in love with her. It's insanely crazy how fast you fall instantly in love.
Here is her story.
Nothing went according to plan. And I mean not a thing. The whole thing was a true test of patience, understanding, and just going with the flow. The complete opposite of me and my personality...
The organized, perfect plan was to be induced on Tuesday the 26th at 5:30am. My mom was to fly in on Monday afternoon. We were going to have lunch, go play with the kids, and get all situated before Dan and I headed to the hospital the next day. It was a really good plan.
The Thursday before (The 21st) I woke up and went to the bathroom for the 100th time that morning. This time it was a bit different... I had lost my mucus plug (Super gross, I know. I hate the word, I hate how scared I was and it was just all super not what I wanted to see.)
So I called my doctor and talked to the nurse, she told me that could be a sign of labor or it means you could go into labor in three weeks. Doesn't really indicate a whole lot. So she said just keep calm and if I want to come to the doctors office to get checked out I could. I was just heading out to drop June off and go shopping for the kids and didn't want to drive all the way down there, so I told her I was ok. I dropped June off at school, and did my shopping. I got a call back from the doctor and it turns out that he did want to see me. So I finished my shopping, called Dan and we headed to the doctors office. Everything was looking fine. I had dilated to a two. Nothing crazy progressing, but he was pretty confident that I wouldn't make it to the following Tuesday, so we moved up my induce date TO THE NEXT DAY!! I went into super mode! I first had to call my mom to see if there was in anyway she could fly out THAT DAY! She too went into super mode and she and my dad were able to get her here that night at 10:00pm.
The day went into blur mode as I tried finishing the "Before baby comes" to-do list. I cleaned like a mad women, finished all the shopping I needed to get done and packed our hospital bags. I picked June up from school and we had a pretty regular afternoon. I had made dinner, but Dan and I decided to have one last "fun dinner" before baby came the next day. Our favorite thing to do is order wings and veg on the couch, catching up on favorite shows.
So we put the kids to bed around 8. I cried kissing them and trying to let them know how much our world is about to change. How Nana would be here in the morning to take care of them. It was really hard leaving their room. It was really hard leaving Owen for some reason. He's such a sensitive little soul and I worried so much about him and how he was going to take all this. After an emotional bedtime, Dan went to pick up wings. As he was walking out the door with shoes and coat on, I said "Hey, will you just pack your hospital bag real quick?!" He was kind of like "Are you kidding me?! Right now?!" but he amused me and packed his bag.
Meanwhile my mom was on her flight and on her way to Dallas! So amazing of her to do this. I mean it was such a last minute switch but they made it happen and I am so grateful. I was going to pick her up at 10pm, leaving the house at 9:30. Dan got home, we had dinner and we were content just snuggled on the couch finishing up "Top Chef."
Then it just all happened.
I felt a little "pop" and a little trickle of liquid in my pants. For reals, I thought I just peed my pants. I just got up and went to the bathroom. The liquid kept coming, but yet I wasn't peeing. (Too much detail?! Sorry people) It was weird and then it clicked that it was my water breaking. On its own. That was a whole new experience for me. I walk out to Dan slowly and calmly tell him "Um, I think my water just broke..."
I've never seen Dan go so quickly into action. He threw the bags in the car (Which I'm so glad he had packed!!) and I tried getting a hold of my friend Mary. We were seriously a half hour from picking up my mom. Of course my water had to break!!
We got a hold of her husband and he got in touch with her and she was over in five minutes! THANK YOU MARY!!
We left so quickly after Mary left that I don't think I even said Hi or anything to her. Hahaha I was panicked a little bit.
On the way to the hospital the contractions started. They weren't crazy strong but they were definitely contractions, which made the car ride even longer. We got in touch with my mom as she was boarding the plan. I explained what was going on and that she would end up having to get a taxi to our house. She was such a trooper and told us to not worry about a thing! It was amazing at how calm everyone was.
We finally arrived a the hospital and I think Dan and I were both feeling a bit better once we made it there.
The contractions slowly started getting stronger and closer together. Again terrifying. I have never gone into labor on my own, where the pain wasn't controlled. I was on my own. And I was awful at it. They kept telling me to breath and I would just hold my breath. They told me to sit down in the wheel chair and I kept standing. It felt better to stand!
It scared me to my core. It's funny because a lot of women, if not most go into labor on their own, so it's not even that traumatizing, but for someone like me, who has had her children's births completely planned out, going into labor on my own was terrifying!! I felt a huge relief once we made it to the room and everything was being watched and monitored.
The contractions were strong, but I knew I could get my epidural at anytime, so I waited it out until the contractions were just too much. The yellow gown really added to the pregnancy glow!
Monitoring the baby and me.
The contractions were getting so close together and SO painful, so I asked for my epidural and was expecting to go smooth sailing from there...
My body does something funky with epidurals and it only worked on my right side. People, it was awful. I was completely and I mean COMPLETELY numb on the right side and then my left was feeling EVERYTHING! Every movement, EVERY CONTRACTION!
I literally have never felt so much pain in my entire life. The contractions were SO SO SO SO painful to the point where I kind of started yelling at everyone. I was yelling at the anesthesiologist that it wasn't working and what did she do wrong and so on and so forth. I was yelling at the nurse to stop telling me to calm down. I was yelling at Dan, for no reason. It was just so painful that I needed an outlet. Everyone was so beyond calm with me. Even while I was yelling at them. They rubbed my back and were giving me breathing techniques. It really helped. Once the contractions passed I was apologizing like crazy and they were so nice about it. I did feel really bad because it was no ones fault that my body was having a reaction to the epidural in a weird way.
At one point I was curled up in a ball with my head pressed up against the rails on the bed with my arms wrapped around the rails and Dan. Once again, the most pain I have ever been in. My head was so sensitive the next day from pushing me head so hard against the bar. They up'ed my dose and rolled me to my left side. I finally was having some relief. I think I then spent the next hour apologizing over and over again.
My doctor wasn't on call, so I ended up having a midwife. At first I wasn't super thrilled about it, but really didn't have a choice. She ended up being super calm, nice and reassuring she knew what she was doing.
She came in to check on me, and let me know that baby was pretty much coming and to NOT PUSH! I really couldn't feel anything at this point, so I just laid as still as I possibly could. The midwife and nurses got ready super quick! Within five minutes and only one contraction and push, Kate Alma Lancaster made her arrival.
I instantly started crying. I LOVED how I got to hold her right after she was born. With my other two, they cleaned her up first, did all the measurements and then I was able to hold them, but Kate instantly was placed in my arms and she stayed there. It was heavenly.
She is here! Kate Alma Lancaster.
We liked the name Kate mostly because it's short, four letters and goes well with June and Owen. Alma comes from Dan's side of the family. Alma was Dan's Grandma's name. Dan's Dad's mom. We love it. Alma is a bit of a complicated name just due to the fact that in our church we had a pretty popular prophet named Alma, but we really wanted to have her carry on the name from the Lancaster side of the family. Dan's Dad is an only child, so we really loved giving her Alma as her middle name.
We were wheeled into our room and the next 24 hours were a blur. Having her at 2:30 in the morning really threw us off. It made for a long stay in the hospital. And we were really tired!
So we posted up in our room and just started the healing process and let the visitors roll in.
We were first greeted by June, Owen and my mom. My mom made is safetly and the kids were so excited to have her here.
June is in love with baby Kate. She couldn't get enough of her!
And neither could Nana!
Owen wanted really nothing to do with her. Just wanted to play with his trains. What a kid.
Our family of five!
Hello
Friends came and said hello, we chatted for a bit and then slowly night came and we realized we have been awake for almost 24 hours. Dan came into bed with me and we reminiced about what it was like just as a family of three. And now look at us!!
That night was the super awesome cluster feeding, where all Kate wanted to do was eat every 10 minutes. No literally every 10 minutes. It's what babies do and I remember doing the exact same thing with June and Owen.
This was a 3:45am. I was so tired but beyond happy.
The next morning was Saturday, A nurse came in super early in the morning. I wasn't too keen on this nurse to begin with, but she came in and said that Kate was only weighing in at 7lbs 13oz. That she had lost 16% of her body weight in less than 24 hours. So she tells us this, but then is just standing there like we are supposed to give her a reason why?!? She was expecting us to have an answer?!? I was SUPER annoyed, it was so early and I was so tired. I started to get upset with her telling her that we aren't the doctors, we aren't the nurses, we don't have the answers... Dan calmly stepped in and asked what needed to be done. The nurse came in to weigh Kate again and then said we just needed to talk to the pediatrician when she came in. I hated this nurse at this point. Making us wait and panic over her weight! Lame nurse!
We finally got some answers and Kate was perfectly healthy and fine. Eating plenty. It turns out there was some discrepancy when she was born and 8lbs 7oz was wrong. Sadly we do not know what she officially weighed when she was born, but they are estimating around 7lbs 14oz. We aren't sure where the mix up happened but it did. We are just happy nothing was wrong with her and that she was eating well. I was also very happy when my OB said we could go home a day early! He said we knew what we were doing and would get more rest at home ( that's an understatement!)
It was super awesome to spend less than 48 hours in the hospital! We got Kate dressed in her going home outfit, filled out all proper paperwork and then headed home! It's funny how much more careful you drive with a newborn in the car! 
Being home has been a whirlwind. It took my breath away the first couple of days getting used to knowing I now have three children! We are beyond blessed with a healthy little girl who eats and sleeps like a champ! We have never had such a calm baby! (Knock on wood) she is officially a week old and we are completely infatuated with her and loving being a family of five!!
2 comments:
I loved reading this!! I'm so in love with Kate already! Can't wait to meet her :)
I'm not going to lie I totally cried reading this. I can't wait to meet this little one. I sure do love you. You are such an amazing mom. Love you.
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