My last post was at 34 weeks pregnant.
Well, fast forward several weeks...
past bedrest,
past a long labor & recovery,
and our baby girl is 2.5 weeks old!
I'm totally, completely in love with this face!
Kathryn Josie Mathes
I'm not going to give the long, drawn out version of my 27+ hour labor and delivery.
Trust me, you don't want it.
Cliff notes version...which is still long. Sorry.
In my 38th week, I was put on bedrest after a trip to the doctor with an atrocious, splitting headache/vomiting. Combine that with high blood pressure, and I was being tested for pre-eclampsia. I don't know if I actually had it or not...I barely had my 24-hour urine catch at the lab and hadn't had my follow-up appointment yet when my water broke.
38 weeks & 5 days pregnant, Friday, June 7, 2013...
I'm on the phone with my friend Lauren when I feel my shorts get wet.
I immediately knew what it was...MY WATER HAD BROKEN!
I made a phone call to Brian, and he was home very quickly.
Feeling pretty calm, I showered...put make-up on...and took my time getting to the hospital. After all, I was still having pretty painless contractions. I'd only consider them Braxton Hicks.
Fast forward...
I'm admitted to the hospital. My water had broken well before the rest of my body was ready for labor.
Once again, CLIFF NOTES...this meant a very lengthy induction.
After 20+ hours on the maximum dose of pitocin with no epidural, they were finally able to put one in.
(Don't even ASK why they weren't able to put it in before...it's not a pretty story.)
After the epidural, (which didn't get rid of much pain for me...just made my legs super numb) things progressed VERY quickly.
Before I knew it, I was begging the nurse to push and she was here!
Saturday, June 8, 2013 at 3:37 p.m.,
Kate was born weighing 6 lbs. 14 oz. and measuring 20 inches long.
Praise the Lord!!
After the doctor delivered her placenta, we realized that my waters breaking early was a huge blessing, and God was definitely looking out for our sweet baby.
The doctor made Brian take pictures of her placenta. Her cord was only attached to the very side of her placenta as opposed to the meaty middle where it should have been.
He told us that had I gone into labor first and had to have my water broken, they most likely would have ruptured her cord because of its placement.
His exact words: "Things would have gotten really scare, really fast."
I have thanked the Lord every single day since she was born for protecting her thought that!
From the day she was born, she hasn't had it easy...and neither have her parents' nerves!
She had to have many, many tests run on her because they believed she was fighting an infection because her white blood count was elevated and even went up after she was born. That happens sometimes when your waters are broken for a long time before birth.
Her count finally went down...and then they found a heart murmur.
Monday we should have been preparing to go home with our sweet girl.
Instead, we were preparing to head straight to Shands Hospital/University of Florida in Gainesville for her to see one of the nation's top pediatric cardiologists.
Needless to say, we were worried sick, and I cried the whole time my baby had an ultrasound on her heart, an EKG, and even right through the doctors speaking to us.
Once again, the Lord had a watch over her.
Kate does have two holes in her heart. One is teeny tiny and is very common. In fact, the doctor said half of the population is walking around with the same type hole right now.
The other is bigger, but they believe it will close up on it's on, or won't cause much trouble.
In other words, she shouldn't need corrective surgery.
I can honestly say the first few days of her life were hard for me to enjoy.
Besides trying to recover from childbirth, I have never been so scared and worried in my life.
It's hard when you realize the thing you love most in life is incredibly fragile and her well-being is completely out of your hands.
If it weren't for our faith, we may have had a mental breakdown.
But on a much lighter note...she is a happy and healthy baby!
Despite all the tests and scares (some I didn't even bother to mention), she's absolutely perfect.
She looks like her daddy...and it seriously melts my heart.
The next few posts will be about our new life with her. I may even back track some.
Heck, I never blogged about the three beautiful showers our loved ones threw for us!
I have never been more proud of anything in my life.
When I look at her, I am so filled with love and thankfulness.
What did we do to deserve such a sweet little soul?
We totally don't deserve her, but I'm glad the Lord doesn't give us what we deserve.
She's the biggest blessing!
I'll leave you with a few pictures of her birthday and the first few weeks of her life!
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