(Our first family picture)
(All cleaned up and ready to officially meet us)
Caitlin's Birth Story
I decided to document Caitlin's birth story mainly for our purposes since this blog is going to essentially serve as a scrapbook of memories for us. If you don't want to read about it, feel free to skip it. A week before she was born, I woke up around 1 am and thought that my water had broken. I debated whether or not it had actually happened for about 30-45 minutes before I went into the guest room to wake Ryan up. (He was sleeping in there because he wasn't feeling great, and he didn't want to get me sick.) I finally got up and told him what happened, and we called the doctor. She told me to come into the hospital to get checked but also stressed that it wasn't an emergency and that we could take showers and get ready before coming in, so that's what we did. We arrived at the emergency room around 4 am, and they sent us up to Labor & Delivery. Turns out my water hadn't actually broken, but my blood pressure was pretty high. At first, we attributed it to the fact that I was incredibly anxious/nervous that BGL could be on her way shortly, but even after a few blood pressure checks, my blood pressure remained elevated. So, they decided to run a few tests and also put me on the fetal monitor to make sure that Caitlin was ok. Caitlin was fine - her heartbeat was great and she was moving all around. After checking the readings on the monitor, the nurses and midwife all kept telling us what a beautiful baby we had. My labwork ended up coming back ok around 6 am and after laying on my side, my blood pressure went down a little bit, but the on-call doctor from my practice wanted us to wait for the next on-call doctor to come on to check me before we could go home. So, we waited... until about 9 am. The doctor finally arrived and told me to take it easy (but did not put me on bedrest) and said that we could go home (Finally!). It was an exhausting night, but Ryan and I considered it our "trial run" for the real thing.
I had a regularly scheduled doctors appointment on May 25th, and I kept telling Ryan that he didn't have to go with me. I figured it'd be a pretty routine appt - they'd test my urine, check my blood pressure, weigh me, measure my stomach and listen to Caitlin's heartbeat. He thought otherwise and decided to come with me anyway. He also made sure that we had all of our packed hospital bags in the car and that we remembered to bring the camera bag (just in case). My appt was pretty standard - they weighed me (I lost 4 lbs, putting me at a total weight gain of 18.5 lbs), checked my blood pressure (130/90), measured my stomach and listened to her heartbeat. My blood pressure was still elevated and they found protein in my urine. These are both warning signs for pre-eclampsia, so because of this, my doctor decided that I needed to take a trip over to Labor & Delivery with the expectation that I could potentially be admitted and induced. This was when I officially started freaking out a little bit. It was still 2 weeks before my due date and although Caitlin would be considered full-term and would not have to go to the NICU, it was still pretty scary.
Off to Labor & Delivery we went (around 10:00am), expecting to start out in the Triage area like we had the last week. We were in for a shock. They took us straight to a real room and got me all set up like I was being admitted to have the baby. They started an IV, put on the fetal monitor and took some blood for labwork. The on-call doctor took a look at all of the results and made the decision to induce my labor. So, we started calling/texting our friends and family to let them know that this was it, but not to rush to the hospital because my labor could easily last anywhere from 12-18 hours. The craziest thing is that Ryan's parents were on their way back from an amazing European cruise vacation, so we had to wait for them to land in Philadelphia that afternoon to tell them that they were going to be grandparents sooner than expected. I was so very lucky to have an amazing nurse (Terry) who basically spent most of the day with us and was my advocate when it came time for me to get the epidural. The funny thing was that while I was on the phone calling everyone, I kept telling them I was being induced but that they hadn't actually started the pitocin yet. All of a sudden, I started feeling cramps and made a comment about how I was starting to have contractions. Terry just laughed at me and told me she had tried to tell me that the pitocin had been started but that I was too busy talking on the phone to hear her. In addition to getting the pitocin to induce labor, I was also put on Magnesium Sulfate which helps prevent seizures that can be caused by high blood pressure. The magnesium was not all that much fun - it makes you feel pretty hot (like a hot flash) and also very sleepy. In addition to that, I hadn't eaten anything since 10pm the night before and wouldn't be allowed to eat until after I delivered (or so I thought). As it turned out, I had to stay on the magnesium until early Thursday morning, and I wasn't allowed to eat real food while I was getting the magnesium. I ate a lot of popsicles! When my doctor told me that they were inducing me, she also told me that whenever I decided that I wanted the epidural, it wouldn't be a problem to get it, I just had to let them know. Not only would the epidural help with the pain, it should also help to bring my blood pressure down a little bit. When the time came that I wanted the epidural, my doctor told Terry that I really needed to be miserable with pain in order to get it (quite a change from what she had told me earlier with Terry in the room!). So, Terry made sure that she knew I was quite miserable and made sure that the anesthesiologist knew that I needed that epidural. My pitocin had been started around noon and I labored (without the epidural) for about 4 hours. That's as much as I could handle, and I was ok with that. Once I got the epidural, everything was great. I was having pretty intense contractions and did not even know it. I even managed to take about an hour and a half nap. Once I woke up from my nap, my doctor came in to check me and I was 4-5 cm dialated so she decided to break my water. After that happened, she said I'd probably progress about 1 cm per hour and could be pushing either late that night or early the next morning. My dad and Crystal arrived shortly after that with Linda arriving an hour or so later, so I spent some time visiting with them. Dad and Ryan decided to run downstairs to the cafeteria and grab some dinner, so Crystal stayed to keep me company. Unfortunately, while they were gone, I got sick and Crystal was left to hold my hair back. My new nurse (Kara) brought me some Zofran to control the nausea and everything was fine after that. Around 11 pm, I was checked again and I was at 9 cm - they told me that within the next hour, I'd get to start pushing. That was undoubtedly the worst hour of my labor. My epidural was wearing off, and I was feeling the most intense pressure. Granted, I have no idea what it would have felt like without the epidural at all, but it was awful. I was so thankful that Ryan and Crystal were there to coach me through it - I definitely could not have done it without them! At 12:15 am, they told me I could start pushing so we kicked Dad, Linda and Crystal out of the room. I was a little bit scared about the pushing part and had a little crying session, but Ryan was able to calm me down and I quickly realized that I didn't have a choice in this anyway. Caitlin was coming whether I was ready or not. After about an hour and 45 minutes, Caitlin arrived! They laid her on my chest and I think my first comment was "Oh my gosh, she has a conehead!" After that, I think Ryan and I were both in awe of the fact that she was ours and finally here. They quickly took her after that to have the pediatrician and baby nurse check her to make sure that she was ok (she was perfect - scoring an 8, almost 9 on the Apgar). When they finally gave her back to us, we spent a little time together as a new family of three, and Ryan and I finally decided that her name should be Caitlin Ann. Pretty amazing.
(She already has daddy wrapped around her finger)
(I was so in awe of this beautiful little girl)
And, for fun, I thought I'd include my last weekly prego picture. Ryan had taken it on Monday when I was 38 weeks, and I was waiting to post on the blog until after I had gone to my doctors appt. Clearly, things didn't work out as I had planned! Looking back on this picture, I can't believe how big I was, but at the same time, I can't even remember what it felt like being pregnant. It kind of sounds cliche, but I really can't remember what our lives were like without Caitlin. Today is my actual due date - Kind of crazy to think that I could still be pregnant and waiting for Caitlin's arrival!
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