The most beautiful baby I had ever seen

In December of 2005 Michael & I got married. Our first was 4 ½ months old & we moved into our first apartment. It was great! We had our perfect little family, and after the craziness of the past year, we had no desire to add anything extra to our plates! Well, we were only beginning to know the irony of that. It seems every time we start to get comfortable, another detour gets thrown our way… but we were also starting to learn that detours from OUR plans aren’t always a bad thing if they are detours TO God’s plans.

On Valentine’s Day I had planned a special day with our little guy. Michael was working until the afternoon, then we would all three spend the evening together. I woke up early when Michael left for work. As I lay in bed I had the thought… I don’t think I’ve had a period this month… it usually was right on time.

Sure enough, I took a pregnancy test & it was positive! I wasn’t sure what to think or feel. I had never found out about a pregnancy this early! Not to mention, I had a 6 month old! So, I called Michael at work. I was too excited and nervous to wait. He was thrilled! I called our moms too. I hadn’t yet learned the art of waiting for the right moment, so my new mother in law was pretty shocked. We had a slightly tense conversation, but nothing too dramatic. Mostly, we were all really surprised, but really excited. After the last pregnancy announcement, nothing really seemed quite so crazy… even the thought of babies 14 months apart! We went to the doctor. We confirmed my pregnancy tests. We were having another baby!

It was a really uneventful pregnancy! Everything went well. I was learning to really enjoy every moment of it. Last time felt cut short since I really didn’t start to figure things out until 20 weeks. I loved my growing belly & took pictures every chance I got! Our son was growing, and we would talk to our baby every day. He would kiss my belly & drool all over it. I just remember those days with him being so sweet!

We had an ultrasound in May. It was a little early, but I had been measuring on the small side, so our doctor just wanted to be sure everything was growing ok. During the ultrasound, they told us that we were having a BOY! I didn’t think they could tell at 17 weeks… However, baby was measuring small, so they wanted to track growth at another ultrasound in 4 weeks.

I was having another boy! I began to get excited about matching boy outfits & we started looking for E names. Michael & his siblings have all M’s. My bother’s and I are all K’s. So, we wanted to continue that tradition. We figured it shouldn’t be so hard since we will probably only have 2 or 3 kids anyway… again, I would learn…

4 weeks later, we went in for our ultrasound to find out that growth was right on track! Then the technician said “I’m sorry… did you say you had found out the sex of baby? Did you say it was a boy?” We nodded. She then informed us that at 17 weeks it was really too early and that our previous ultrasound was probably showing an umbilical cord between the baby’s legs and not an actual body part… BECAUSE THIS WAS NOT A BOY! We were having a GIRL! We asked to see from every angle, just to be sure. She was 100% positive. It was a girl!

What a surprise! We promptly returned our matching boy outfits & started planning for a little girl. We had a baby shower full of pink. We chose an E name that we loved.

At my 37-week appointment, my doctor announced, “Everything pretty much looks the same as last time” and offered that we could induce in a week. However, he said it more like “we will go ahead and induce on Wednesday”. That was pretty much it! We were inducing on Wednesday. I didn’t ask questions, because I didn’t know I could. I assumed he was the boss!

On October 12, we arrived at the hospital, just like last time, at midnight. Since I was not thinning or dilating, they would start me on Cervadyl. It took them a little while to get everything set up, so we did not insert the medication until 1:30. The rule is it stays in for 12 hours while you lay on your back. Well, I slept through the first part, but at 11:30 I called the nurse in & told her to take it out… I had progressed. She told me she thought I should wait, but I couldn’t. I was in active labor & just knew it. Sure enough, I was having steady contractions & was dilated to 3cm. I was only 3 cm, but I remember them feeling so much more intense than that. They attempted putting some Pitocin in my IV to help keep things going. They were certain that since I was “only” 3 cm that this was going to be a long ordeal and I would certainly need the Pit. Well, my heart rate & baby’s shot up drastically. I was having a hard time catching my breath. So, after only 30 minutes, they shut the Pit off.

At this point, it was about 1:00. I was feeling intense pressure with each contraction. I knew I did NOT want to deal with the whole “45 minutes on the side of the bed while baby is crowning” thing again. That was hell. So, my goal was to anticipate the pain & ask for my epidural early. At 2:00 the anesthesiologist arrived. They also checked me & told me I was still only 3cm, but that I could get the epidural if I really needed it. I took it. They also broke my water.

20 minutes later, at 2:20, the nurses had switched shifts, so the new nurse wanted to check me… again. However I was pleased to hear that I was now at 4cm. I instantly had back-to-back contractions that were double and triple peaking on the monitors. There was no break! I asked someone to check me immediately.  At 2:30 she checked & I was FULLY DILATED to 10 cm. In ten minutes I had gone from 4 to 10! I didn’t have much of an urge to push, and the epidural wasn’t up very high so I had slight feeling in my legs.

The nurses scurried around. My doctor was luckily already in the building. He came in, again, looking like an astronaut. He had them turn the epidural up for some reason, although I didn’t request it. Then, as I began to push, my most horrible fear came true. I was slightly anemic having had back-to-back pregnancies and nursing full-time in between. So, I had been taking iron supplements, which made me have tummy issues. Well, our bodies were made to clear things out as baby moves down & my baby had moved fast. To be totally blunt, I hadn’t gone to the bathroom in a couple of days… Well, that was now over. The room suddenly went from counting out loud to silence. I was pooping in childbirth & officially mortified! My husband gets nervous in awkward situations and tends to blurt things out. He may have mentioned the corn we had for dinner a few nights ago… yep. He did! It was a shining moment for us both.

Despite the humiliation I felt, it was very brief. I gave 2 good pushes & heard the most beautiful, girly cry. My baby girl was here! She arrived at 2:51 p.m. All I remember thinking was “THIS is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen”. She was exactly 7 lbs. and 19 inches long. I had never seen anything so petite & perfect! She nursed well, slept well & fit right in with our family… and there has never been a baby more loved by her big brother! They don’t even remember life without each other!