Trick or Treat- Here I Come!

Well, Miss Catie Grace made her surprise appearance on November 1, 2010! We are so excited that she is here- even though she definitely took us by surprise. I will warn you- this post is about her birth and it is graphic. Just remember- you were warned!

Catie Grace started her big arrival on Halloween night. Gerry and I are very big into holidays, so we had joked for weeks about how Catie Grace was bound to come on Halloween because we did not want her to! Nothing against Halloween (or our Catie Grace) but we didn't want her to be born on one of our favorite holidays. I didn't actually think she would come on Halloween since that was almost 3 weeks before her due date, but nevertheless....

On the Friday before Halloween, I had my 37 week appointment with my doctor. As of that day, we looked like we are on schedule for about November 16th and we had decided to induce if she was not here before the 16th. A baby is considered full term (not a preemie) if they are born after the 37 week mark. Catie Grace made it to 37 weeks and 2 days. I am thankful she made it that long and didn't have to spend time in the NICU!

On Halloween, Gerry and I tried to take it easy. I was having horrible back pains all day (which was probably back labor) and spent most of the day in bed trying to get comfortable. On Halloween night, Gerry and I went up to Signal Mountain to trick or treat with some friends. They have 3 of the sweetest kids and we had a lot of fun. While we were trick or treating, my back continued to hurt and I was sweating while everyone else had jackets on. Of course, I attributed this to the many joys of being pregnant. We didn't walk too far, but I was absolutely exhausted after trick or treating.

Gerry and I got home and were just laying down to go to bed at about 10 o'clock when I decided to try to go to the bathroom one last time (because as a pregnant person, I had to get up 4-5 times a night to go to the bathroom). When I laid back down in bed to go to sleep, my water broke. Since it was 3 weeks before we were expecting it, Gerry and I both completely freaked out! I just wasn't mentally prepared for this! As much as I was looking forward to this moment, I really didn't think it would happen so soon!

I tried to stay calm, took a shower, finished packing our bag and headed to the hospital. We checked in around 10:30 and got settled in.

At this point, I was already very tired from being up since about 9 o'clock that morning. After my water broke my back pains got worse and worse. The nurse told me that I was having back labor and since I was already 3 cm dilated, I could have the epidural at any time. Because the pain in my back was so bad and I wanted to rest, I went ahead and ordered the epidural at around midnight. About thirty minutes after I ordered the epidural (it takes a while to get it) I got up to go to the bathroom and my back pain was totally gone. The nurse said back labor is from the baby being turned around, so I guess Catie Grace decided to flip around the right way and get ready for her arrival. Since my back pain was gone, I decided to wait on the epidural.

My mom came to the hospital at around midnight. She had been out of town and drove back as soon as Gerry called her with the news that my water had broken. Gerry and I were too excited/nervous to sleep, so we watched a few of the Harry Potter movies. Eventually Gerry fell asleep and I got a little sleep here and there. I knew I needed to rest because the nurse had told me that they expected me to deliver at about 6 o'clock the next afternoon, but I was very uncomfortable so I didn't get much sleep.

The next morning the nurse came in and told me they would be starting the Pitocin to speed along my labor. Because of a risk of infection, most doctors will not let you stay in labor for longer than 18-24 hours after your water breaks, so we were on a time crunch. Once they started the pitocin I ordered the epidural. The epidural was not a fun experience, but I figure it hurt a lot less than having a baby naturally!

After the epidural I was more relaxed and I was able to sleep for a little bit. Once I woke up, my nurse and I discussed the fact that my monitor was not showing that I was having any contractions. Almost all day the monitor showed no contractions, which made the nurse (and me) think that I wasn't progressing at all. As the day went on, the idea of a C-section kept coming up since they didn't feel like I was progressing. The nurse changed the monitor for contractions three times, but it still wasn't picking up my contractions. Late in the afternoon the nurse checked me and I was 7 cm dilated, so they concluded that it was the monitor that wasn't working and I was having contractions. At about 7 o'clock, the nurse checked me again and I was 9.5 cm dilated. Finally- we were just about ready to push!

At 8 o'clock just Gerry, the nurse, and I were in the room and I started pushing. Because the monitor wasn't showing my contractions and I couldn't feel them, it wasn't the most efficient process because we had to guess when I was having a contraction. Once we were pretty far along with the pushing, my doctor showed up to actually deliver the baby. After a few minutes of pushing with her, she looked up at me and said " I am afraid she is a lot bigger than we thought she would be." As a woman trying to push a baby out of her, that is EXACTLY what I wanted to hear at that point. We were expecting Catie Grace to be about 6 to 7 pounds at her due date, and she was 3 weeks before that! After 2.5 hours of pushing, Miss Catie Grace arrived at 10:22 p.m. on November 1, 2010. She was 8lbs 3 oz! Much bigger than we expected!

One of Miss Catie Grace's first pictures.

I have to say- I have never been more exhausted in my entire life. I had been in labor for over 24 hours, been awake since Sunday morning at 9 o'clock (it was Monday at 10:22 p.m. by the time she got here) and I hadn't eaten anything except popsicles (which I threw up during labor) since Sunday night at 5:30 p.m. The nurses took Catie Grace to clean her up and measure her. I had read that after the baby is born, you give a few quick pushed to deliver the placenta and then you are all done! Well, I wasn't paying attention to what my doctor was doing but after a little while, I felt that she should be done down there. My doctor told me that the placenta was not coming out and that she would have to "scrape it out." OH MY GOSH. I can't even tell you how sick that was. Thank God I couldn't feel anything!

The doctor took care of the placenta issue, but I had lost a lot of blood at that point. The doctor and other nurses had left the room and Gerry brought Catie Grace over to see me. At that point (and of course this is from Gerry since I don't remember) I passed out and started seizing. The nurse called the nurse's station and 6 nurses and my doctor ran back to my room. I woke up to a nurse screaming my name and asking me to speak. It really wasn't scary to me, but when I woke up and saw Gerry's face... well, I will never forget his face. I knew from that look that he thought I was going to die. Thankfully after that I was ok, just very very tired. Gerry had to literally hold my head up so I could try to nurse the baby!

Once all of that had happened, there were still about 15 people in the waiting room waiting to meet Catie Grace. Many of them had been there since right after work and it was now 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday! We let everyone come back for just a minute to see her, and then we asked everyone to leave so I could rest. I slept for about 4 hours and felt much better once I woke up! We were in the hospital until about 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday. It was very cold when we left the hospital so we bundled up our little babe for the journey home.

Miss Catie Grace all bundled up to go home. She was ready to meet her big brother and sister (the puppies).

Catie Grace on her way home. The GPS blanket is from Gerry's youngest sister Haley. She was very excited to give Catie Grace a GPS blanket and it was the warmest blanket we had for her!

Although it wasn't the easiest labor, I am just so glad that Catie Grace is here! I told Gerry that even though it has only been 2 weeks since all this happened, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I have always loved children and have looked forward to being a mom more than anything I have ever done in my life! We are so blessed that everyone is ok and our little one is finally here.