December Adventures!

Dec 3 ~ Amana held their Prelude to Christmas event this weekend. Craig, Nat and I went out there to check it out. Had breakfast at the Brickhaus. Then went over to this big barn to see the Tannenbaum Forest...lots of lighted trees, storybook characters, Santa Claus, and really pretty nativity set-up. Natalie wanted nothing to do with Santa. As she says "I don't want to hug Santa!". After the forest we toured the old schoolhouse.

We are still waiting for the arrival of the baby. Our due date is this Sunday the 10th. We had another appointment the other day and still no dilation. Craig and I have decided that we are not willing to induce any earlier than we have to - we figure that if the baby is not here yet there is a reason and we are not going to force her to be born. The doctor has informed us that they will let us go anywhere from one week to two weeks past the due date depending on the health of the baby and how fast/not fast we seem to be progressing. I am hoping it's sooner than later so we can still make it back to our hometown for Christmas. But if we end up having to go two weeks past the due date there will be no chance we'll be traveling anywhere.

Saturday December 9th Craig, Natalie and I spent many hours at the mall walking around, having lunch, and playing in the play area. It was a great family day! We think all the walking around finally pushed me over the edge into labor. We went home - Craig worked on the basement and I wrapped the remainder of our Christmas gifts to place under the tree. All the while my contractions were getting stronger and more regular. Around 2:00am (December 10th) I yelled down at Craig and told him that we'd probably need to go to the hospital soon. I called over to the hospital telling them my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. They suggested I run a bath and sit in there for another hour to make sure the contractions were real and not going away. So I sat in the bathtub but only for half an hour before I truly knew the contractions were real and beginning to hurt a lot! I told Craig that we needed to go. So much for "Carpet Tuesday"! - Craig was almost done with the basement...carpet was to be installed on Tuesday and he was hoping we wouldn't go into labor until after then :) Oops! Anyway...

So around 3:00am we dropped Natalie off at her friend, Jake Williamson's, house. We were surprised she wasn't upset. She was very calm and seemed to kind of understand what was going on. Like before we left our house she asked why I was breathing heavily. I explained that it was time for the baby to come. She asked if it hurt and I said "Yes, a little bit - but it will go away soon." She enjoys watching those baby shows on TV, so she kind of already knew what I was talking about.

After dropping Natalie off we got to Mercy Hospital around 3:30am. The contractions hurt so much that it was already hard to walk. After getting to my room I started to find out that having a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) is not equal to having a first time vaginal delivery. So I was a little upset to be finding out that I would have restrictions. For one, I had to be hooked up to an IV the moment I got there. It only took three sticks of the needle this time, with only one blown out vein so it wasn't too bad :) Secondly, I was not allowed to use the jetted bathtub, which was too bad because I think it would've helped tremendously during the first four centimeters of labor. Finally, I was not even allowed to leave my room during labor to walk the halls, which was probably fine since I could barely walk into the hospital to begin with.

So the first four centimeters were painful! Soon they allowed me the epidural after moaning and repeating "Oh God" and "Oh Lord" over and over again. I also about broke all the bones in Craig's hand from bearing down so hard. I seriously don't know how I could have given birth without the epidural! The needle itself really didn't hurt much, it was more just having contractions during the procedure while not being able to move. It took awhile for the epidural to kick in, but once it did I was so grateful. I believe I received the epidural about 8:00am. You lose all track of time during labor! Before we knew it I was dilating a lot quicker - to 5 centimeters - to 7 centimeters - to 10 centimeters. Oh, and at one point they broke my water and there was meconium (baby feces) present. I was kind of troubled by hearing that, but figured it happened frequently and would be okay.

So....before we knew it I was at 10 centimeters! They broke the end of the bed down and had me start pushing. Craig held one leg and a more elderly nurse held the other. Dr. Margaret Smollen delivered Katelyn as she was the one on shift at the time. With Dr. Smollen, Craig, and the elderly nurse - I had some great coaches and support! They ended up using the vacuum and forceps to get the baby out, but with the epidural I couldn't feel a thing. All I could feel was a little bit of the contractions and a little pressure. I was nervous for Katelyn though...I believe I was pushing pretty well, but maybe the doctor knew that baby wasn't going to come out without some serious help! We video taped some of the birth and you can see just how hard the doctor was trying to pull her out with these instruments...I am just happy that Katelyn was okay! I had started pushing around noon and 27 minutes later they had placed our new baby daughter on my chest! I got to touch her which was so awesome and I was so overcome with emotion that I bawled like a baby. And to hear her cry made me cry even more. So, so different from having a c-section. I almost wish I could have had that experience with Natalie's birth. But I'm also kind of happy that I've experienced both a c-section and a vaginal delivery the way I did.

So I didn't get to touch Katelyn for long. They said she was just so covered in the meconium that it looked like she had just bathed in it. So they took her to the little baby table to check her out. Her APGAR scores were 8 and 9. Her color was a little pale and they also had to stick a tube all in and out of her nose and throat to suction the meconium out. They wanted to bathe her right away (again, because of the meconium) so they took her to the nursery for a bit. Craig watched most of the birth and it sounds like he was just amazed by what he saw. I did end up tearing a little bit, but was told it was a small and very superficial wound. (sure didn't feel that small during recovery!!...ow!!) I was told that for a first time vaginal birth and a baby that size that I was lucky not to have torn more than I did!

Not too long after the birth, Mom and Dad Essington showed up with Natalie. She was excited to see her new baby sister. Over the next two days in the hospital, Natalie was able to hold her sister and she also received a gift "from Katelyn" - a stuffed elephant weaing a ballerina costume. My dad also made it into town for a few hours so that was really nice.

Katelyn pretty much took to the breast right away which was a relief and so neat considering the problems we had breast feeding Natalie. Though it didn't take Kate long to realize that Mommy's breast is far better than a pacifier - so that became a problem since she never wanted to leave my breast. I was surprised at how sore I was in my abdominal and pelvic area after giving birth. It was hard just getting out of the bed. Twice I passed two very large blood clots and had to call a nurse in to help me. We were visited in the hospital by Ashley Williamson, Steffany Kroeger, and Kim Anderson. We brought Katelyn home on my 31st birthday - December 12th.

Dec 12-16 ~ Craig's parents stayed with us to help out during this time. The visiting nurse came by the house on December 15th. Found out that Katelyn was growing like a weed and doing well. Her forcep marks on the side of her face were gone, but she still had this huge spongey area on the back of her head - I think they called it a hematoma? They think it was from her head hitting my pelvic wall during labor. It probably won't disappear for 6-10 weeks.

I am doing okay mentally, but hurting physically. Still a lot of uterus pain and pain where my tear has been stitched. I am really surprised...at times it is even more painful than when I had the c-section with Natalie. I am using a donut pillow a lot. I also feel very drained of energy having Katelyn want to nurse constantly. We are also supplementing once or twice a day with formula since she wants to eat so frequently and doesn't seem to get full.

Dec 24 ~ Had the traditional dinner at Monicals Pizza with Mom and Dad Essington and Michael. It was hard getting everyone dressed for church! But we made it there and the girls pretty much made it through the entire service. Afterwards we went over to the Shepherds' house for gift exchange. Katelyn was oohed and aahed over once again. Natalie had a blast eating tons of M&M's (oh, forgot to mention the half dozen cookies she ate at Cheri's the night prior!). Nat opened a gift which was a Little Mermaid doll - should have had a video camera rolling to catch the excitement on her face!

Dec 25 ~ Went to my dad's house in the morning to open gifts with him and Jason. It was really nice and simple and quiet. Dad did a really good job picking gifts and not going too overboard. We had dinner at Craig's parents' house which was really yummy. Then we opened gifts there. Natalie got a big dollhouse this year from Grandma and Grandpa! Of course, Natalie wanted to open all the packaging and play with her new things right away - so we did open a few things that night.

Dec 26 ~ I met up with Sara Emberton, Kara Dennis, and Jen Kinder for dinner at Biaggi's. I ended up bringing Katelyn with me. She had been having some trouble feeding and I wanted to be there for her should she need to feed. She was asleep most of the night. Craig was going to go on a "date" with Nat to the movies, but she just wasn't in the mood.

Dec 27 ~ Craig, Mike and I were still up really early in the morning watching TV when Dad Essington came in to tell us that Natalie had woken up not sounding well. Went into her room and she was having trouble breathing and had a bad barking cough. She had just had croup last winter but it didn't get bad enough for the hospital. This time with the difficulty breathing and temp of 103, we decided the emergency room would be best. So Craig and I brought her over to St. Joseph Hospital. The staff were really great. They gave her a steroid shot and a breathing treatment. It helped her breathing so we were able to leave after an hour of observation. Nat did really well during the shot. She barely cried at all. I ended up sleeping on the couch with her the rest of the night (morning).

With a croupy daughter and another daughter having feeding issues, I felt a little guilty going out to eat with Craig for our anniversary. But we went anyway - to Ned Kelly's. We had some wonderful time alone - can't believe we've been married nine years already! We didn't really buy much for each other this year, but Craig had just given me a new charm for my bracelet - Katelyn's birthstone which is blue topaz.

Dec 29 ~ Katelyn had her first check-up with Dr. Miller today. At 19 days old she now weighs a whopping 9 pounds 12 ounces, is 22 inches long, and head is 14-3/4 inches around. So her weight is at 90%, height at 95%, and head at 80% which is excellent! She gained something like 2 ounces per day! Dr. Miller said the hematoma was looking fine as well. We talked with her about the feeding problems. She said that she may just have to cry it out a little so that I'm not being used as a pacifier (the other night she wanted to be on my breast for two hours straight!). She also said that with Kate being a big baby she may get hungry more often. She said it was perfectly fine to keep supplementing to give myself a break from time to time. We are using Good Start formula and found that Katelyn does well with Avent brand bottles. Natalie also received a check-up to follow up on her croup. Dr. Miller said it was right that we took her to the hospital that night...she said the cough may linger awhile, but that her ears, nose and throat looked good.

Dec 31 ~ Tonight we opened our family gifts. We've done this on New Year's Eve for a few Christmases now and it seems to work out nicely. Natalie's eyes were wide when she saw her new princess play tent! She also got a pretend camera which she loves. The highlight for Katelyn was her big stuffed teddy bear from Daddy!