Carah Cate’s Birth Story

Carah Cate 

November 12, 2012 @ 2:58 a.m.

6lbs 10 ozs, 18.5 inches long

Well, it sure has been a long couple of weeks!  I stayed pretty low key after it appeared that our little one might be trying to make an early appearance.  I usually have my babies between 37.5 and 38.5 weeks, so I knew if we could just make it to November 1st she would be alright.  I had hoped to go a few weeks longer just for her health despite being pretty physically miserable, and God mercifully let that happen.

On Tuesday, November 6th, I was one day shy of 38 weeks and had really been contracting.  We went in to the OB after timing them for a few hours, where they promptly stopped when I was hooked up to the monitors.  The Dr. said that I could be admitted if I really wanted to be because it was obvious that I was in the early stages of labor, and he really didn’t expect me to make it too much longer.  I declined because I knew that we weren’t quite there yet if they were still stopping and starting, no matter how painful and exhausting it was.  Over the course of the next few days, I kept doing pretty much the same thing.  My pattern seemed to be:  wake up feeling alright, get some things done (with my mother-in-law’s help because she graciously came up to stay with us on the Saturday before.  She was invaluable to me!), rest a little in the afternoon, and then que the contractions all night until I finally went to bed hoping they would actually wake me up so we could be done. 

On Saturday, the 10th, I woke up feeling so strangely good that I actually uttered the words “I think I may actually be alright with going all the way to Thanksgiving if I can just keep feeling like this!”.  I’m pretty sure Mark thought I had finally lost my ever-lovin mind entirely at that point.. haha!   I cleaned up the house, did up what little laundry I had, and tried a new recipe for Ginger Cookies (<— YUM!!) before watching football and relaxing with my family.  It was a GREAT day, truly!

On Sunday, the 11th,  not so much.  I woke up with a ton of pressure and my lower back ached in the worst way.  I contracted like crazy, and some of them were rather intense, but I didn’t bother with timing them because they were still just a little too short in duration to mess with.  So I got ready for church,  intent on not sitting at home thinking about labor all day long, and off we went.  As time went on, I had a sneaking suspicion that we might not make it too many more hours.  I came home and got back in my pajama pants… ok, MARK’S pajama pants because that was all that fit, and even those were getting snug, truth be told.  … and I fell asleep after lunch.  When I woke up,  we watched a movie and stayed pretty low-key, but things were starting to pick up just a little.

By early evening, I was very antsy.   I had the whole Crew put all hands on deck to clean this place up for the night, and it was then that I decided I needed to steam mop the entire house or I would surely die.  My poor mother-in-law had a slight look of panic on her face and asked me many times if I would like her to do it, but I said “Nope.  What’s the worst that could happen?  I go into labor?  Mission accomplished.”  Pregnant women are rational like that.

Finally, after the house was satisfactorily clean (no small feat), we popped in another movie around 7.  I had a few doozies that were definitely getting stronger and lasting longer, but still, I was trying to ignore them until they flat demanded my attention.  Well, by 9 p.m., that time came.  I told Mark that I was going to get into the shower, and if they didn’t subside soon, we could start timing.  They slowed somewhat right after I got my shower, but quickly picked the pace back up.  I sat in my chair in my room and they were coming at exactly 8 minutes apart for over an hour.  By around 11 p.m., I conceded that we probably needed to go get checked.

Mark loaded up all the bags (because he was sure we weren’t coming home) and we left.  I only had one good contraction in the car on the way and was dead positive it was a waste of time, but we only live 5 minutes from the hospital.  Once I got there though, I had another, and I was convinced that we were probably where we needed to be.   After going through admitting, they wheeled me up to Labor and Delivery and checked me.  I had already gotten to at least a 5 so they started prepping the room.  I have one nurse that I absolutely ADORE up there, and by the grace of God, she came in even though she wasn’t supposed to that night.  I started to be prepped for my epidural (because they told me to get it now or I might not have time… and look… homey don’t play that.   Hat’s off to ya’ll who do it naturally, but I felt it all with Isa, and that was enough)… anyway,  all of a sudden my favorite nurse popped up in front of me and we both just teared up and hugged!  She remembered me from when I had Isabella and we truly have a GREAT repoire.  It was just perfect!

After they placed my epi, I chilled out and thought “man, this is so super easy this time!”.  We chatted for just a little while and then WHAM, I felt that searing pain in my hip that is never affected by medication and enormous pressure.  I told Marguerite (the nurse), and she quickly checked me, said I was almost complete and wanted to do a super quick cath to drain my bladder so I wasn’t pushing with a full one.  She did, and in less than 5 minutes, I was complete and it was time to push.  After 4 really good pushes, our little Carah came right on out.  She pinked up right away and started to cry.

Her little lungs were still a little bit wet when she arrived because she decended so fast, so they ended up taking her to the nursery shortly after she arrived, but I had her back very soon so that we could nurse.  She  has an incredible latch and took to nursing like a pro.  We did deal with her getting rid of all that fluid for the first 24 hours which was kind of scary because she appeared to choke a few times when she’d spit it up, but by the second day, she had mostly gotten rid of it.  All of her newborn screenings and everything else look fantastic, too.

We finally came home last night around 6 p.m.  I’m pretty sure every pregnant woman in Mississippi had their babies this week because L&D was to capacity when we left!  We are so happy to be here enjoying ALL of our crew.  We feel sooo blessed.

And just to make this as long as possible, one very interesting “God-thing” that will always be so special to Mark and I is this:  2 years ago to the exact date of our Carah’s birth, my precious hubby and I traveled to Oklahoma for him to get a reversal from the vasectomy that he had right after our Andrew was born.  There was so much prayer and conviction over that decision, but God has blessed us immeasurably ever since.  I meant to tell that story as “part 2″ waaaaaay back there right before I had Isa, but never got around to it.  I can’t let it go unsaid again even if it *is* the Reader’s Digest version.  I will have to come back and tell all of it in detail because it is such a pivotal part of our testimonies, but I am about out of time right now.

Suffice it to say, being given not only ONE precious new addition last November had us humble and grateful to our merciful God, but doing it again, and right down to the day that started this journey, was so significant and worshipful, that I could never put it to words.  What precious, precious blessings he has given to us who don’t deserve it.  Words fail at how very blessed we feel.  Thank you, my Jesus.

Related Posts

• Moving! Again!
• The Naked Truth
• Sharing the Love
• Babies, Babies Everywhere!
• Outside With Isabella