Welcome baby Kara!

Kara Juliette

7/15/10 at 11:03pm

6 lb 7 oz

20 inches long

(9 days early)

Her name was somewhat inspired by Kara Goucher :)

The short - simplest delivery ever. 2 -3 pushes, maybe 2-5 minutes of pushing?  And I felt nothing. As soon as I got the epidural I had no pain and was in heaven. Before that, I wanted to DIE.  

The longer version:

Contractions started 9pm Wednesday night. Slept 2 hours tops on Wednesday night, they were strong but not intense enough that I couldn't talk through them. They were 15 minutes apart.  Since it's the second time, I'm thinking definitely by Thursday morning/noon there will be a baby.  We watched the childbirth video to make sure we knew when to go to the hospital, I ended up calling the doctor to make sure (5 minutes apart - intense contractions).  Thursday morning - took a bath, was pounding food in the middle of the night: 2 Clif Z bars, toast. Ate 2 slices of pizza for breakfast - I'm exhausted and mostly sitting around. Contractions are 10 minutes apart, still not completely strong.We took Nick to the park to get out for a bit but it was really hot out.  Bill and I went to the doctor at 2:30 for my weekly appointment.  We were both kind of hoping they would say I was ready to go to the hospital, but I knew I wasn't in enough pain. The contractions were 5 minutes apart but only 30 seconds long and totally manageable.  I was 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced. Pelvic station +1/+2 - the highest ones.  My doctor is on vacation this week so the doctor said it could be that day, or not. It could also stop. I'm feeling deflated.

Got home - am not a happy camper. Can't sleep because am getting contractions. I took suggestions  for how to speed up labor: walk around, be active, so I took it to the next level and started re-cleaning the floors, vacuuming upstairs again, picking up Nick, and then we went to the pool. The contractions were intensifying for sure, by around 4:30. We basically took a dip and cooled off at the pool, then left and went to my parents. I was miserable there! My sister had come home and brought me ice cream from one of my favorite places on her way home.  We left Nick there and went home, and ended up leaving for the hospital shortly after.  We got into a room around 7:45 and I was having brutal contractions 2-5 minutes apart.  I was grasping the bed rail, Bill was massaging my lower back - the back pain was the worst thing EVER. I wanted to really die. I hated the part where they ask you tons of questions in the beginning and keep the monitor on you and you can't move that much.  Finally around 9:30 the anesthesiologist came and I got the epidural. From then on, I was in heaven. I could have danced around the room if I was allowed. I had to lie flat but I felt nothing.  They broke my water around 10pm, and I progressed super quickly. They checked me and I was at 5 and soon after, I was 9 cm dilated.  Just before 10, the doctor said I would probably have the baby by 11, and I was shocked (and nervous as hell)!

I was just laying there in no pain and feeling NOTHING and they said it might be time. I did one push and they had to get the doctor in because the baby was ready to come out!  It was unbelievable and so easy, maybe 2-5 minutes long. I think they had me to about 2 more major pushes and some 'baby' pushes and she was out.  When her head first came out, the cord was right around her neck. I could see in Bill's face something was wrong, but he said nothing was wrong.  That's when I had to do the baby pushes and the doctor looped it around and she was fine.  I can't believe I couldn't feel any pain whatsoever. I had no tearing at all (had minor w/ Nick) and seriously would have never known she was coming out unless they were telling me. I love you epidural! The doctor said I was made to have babies. Ha.

The difference between this and Nick was that I probably got the epidural too late or it wasn't as good (didn't hit the spot right on) - I don't know but it was a totally different experience.  The good - I felt nothing. The bad - I couldn't get up for a couple of hours - my legs were tingling. With Nick, I had 30 minutes of no pain then the contractions came back. But 1/2 hour after I had him, I was ready to roll. I also could feel my legs the whole time.  I would do it this way again and again.  I think it also helps that the 2 of them have been little babies. I think that I can thank my mom for that? Is that how it works - all of us were pretty small in the 6s also.

Right after that, I thought someone said it was a boy. So I was thrilled asking "It's a boy?" then they showed me the baby and it was a GIRL! I was in semi-shock and I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed.  Going in, we felt much better about the boy name and then we had to sleep on it how we would spell Kara - C or K. I wanted the K all along and then in the last week or 2, I kind of started liking the C. Bill was all for the K, so in the morning we decided to go with the K.

My sister and mom came with balloons and flowers and hung out for a little bit then left. It was around midnight.  Nick came this morning for the first time -he seemed super quiet and confused and wanted nothing to do with the baby. This afternoon he went near her to try to give her the bottle, but whenever we try to put him close to the baby, he wants to get away. I think he'll warm up to her. :)

Welcome to the family Kara!

Final pregnancy stats:
Same heart rates as Nick
Cravings were the same except new one: coffee
Felt like I was carrying higher than w/ Nick all along, and all over the place
Tons of heartburn all throughout up to yesterday (way more than with Nick)
Very similar pregnancies - had to stop running around 34 weeks exc 2 miles on this past Tues & Sun
Swam all throughout up until the day before (3000 yds/1 hour 3x/week)
23 lbs gained (22 w/ Nick)
Baby born at 38 weeks and 5 days (9 days early)
pre-race (delivery) fuel - Z bars, toast, pizza (w/Nick too!!), grilled cheese, peanut butter & agave w/ amazing grass, these cookies on HEAB's blog (ridiculous), milk