Katy Elizabeth joined our family at 12:04 CET May 23. She weighed in at 3640 grams (8.02 pounds) and was 51 centimeters (20 inches) long. We are all so thrilled she is finally here. We've been lovin' on her like crazy. Abby is so excited to be a big sister and has been such a good helper. So far no extreme signs of jealousy, hoping that lasts. We are settling into a semi routine and awaiting the arrival of Jake's parents on Monday. I have to say here how great my husband has been the last few days. He has taken such great care of all of us, including the dog (more on that to come). I know he has been so tired, but he continues to do such a great job!! I love you, Jakie!!!
So, for those of you interested in the entire sage, here goes. My due date was May 20, but nothing exciting happened on that day. However, Thursday morning I woke up with small contractions around 6am and these continued to grow in strength so I woke Jake up and told him that Katy might be coming that day. We got around and made a few last minute preps and Jake took Abby to Brian at the office. He came home and we timed contractions all morning long. Around noon everything slowed down, so we went for a long walk to try and rev things up again. It worked, but not for long. We timed contractions for a couple more hours, but they were lessening in intensity and growing further apart. I called the midwife and she thought the baby might come in the night, so we left Abby with the Hensals. I had a few more minor contractions in the evening, but we went to bed at normal time hoping I would wake in the night with more. No luck. I woke up Friday morning feeling "normal". So, Jake picked Abby up and brought her home and then went into the office to help get ready for our big Open House that the team had been planning for weeks.
Abby and I hang our at the house playing, watching TV and doing our own thing. Enter the dog saga....Daisy was acting very lethargic and not being her usual self. About mid afternoon she starts throwing up, lots of throwing up. We weren't too concerned at first because she has a history of eating foreign objects and this is one way she gets rid of them. Friday, though, she just kept getting sick even after she did get rid of part of rope toy we hadn't seen in weeks. Around 3:00 I call Jake and tell him I think we should try to get a vet appointment, because I'm afraid she is getting dehydrated. He makes the appointment for after the Open House, 6:15pm. He comes and gets her and takes her in with instructions to call when he knows something. Abby has gone over to our wonderful neighbor's apartment to play by this time. I go over to bring her home, and end up staying and talking for awhile. I am starting to have some minor contractions again by this time, but don't get excited about anything. Jake calls and says they are doing X-rays and giving Daisy an IV because she was dehydrated. He'll call when he knows more.
I go back to the neighbors to give them an update and bring Abby home. More contractions. Abby comes home I put her in the bath and get her ready for bed. Thankfully, she had eaten a little something at the neighbor's. I am putting Abby to bed and Jake calls and says they are going to do surgery on Daisy. He said it should take about 2 hours and then the vet would call with an update and Daisy could stay at the office over night. He's coming home and asks me to order a pizza for supper. I finish up with Abby and call in the pizza. It is close to 9:00pm by this time. Contractions growing in intensity and becoming closer together. Jake gets home and Abby is up waiting to have a piece of pizza, too. My contractions are quite strong and painful by this time. I tell Jake to start timing as soon as he walks in the door. 3.5 minutes apart. WHAT!!! Let's do that again. Same thing. I call the midwife and she says to head to the hospital. It is about 9:30pm at this point. Jake runs next door to tell the neighbors we are headed to the hospital. He calls Josh and meet us to drop off Abby, again. Pizza arrives and we rush to the car with pizza in hand. It is 9:55pm as we are pulling away from our apartment. We meet Josh, drop off Abby with a piece of pizza in her hand and head to the hospital. I should interject here that it takes us about 30 minutes to drive to the hospital when there is little traffic.
We make it to the hospital about 10:30 and go up to meet the midwife. She does a check and says I'm at a 5 and the baby will be coming that night. We walk down the hall where the delivery rooms are and since no one else was there I had my choice of rooms. We go on in and settle in for delivery. As we are entering the room the doctor who will administer the epidural is waiting and I say I think I can wait a bit longer before having it. The contractions continue to come, growing in strength. I just walk around and breath through them.
A little before midnight I had a very strong contractions and my water finally breaks. At this point I say I would like to have the epidural, if it's not too late. The midwife, who was awesome by the way, want to check and see where I'm at. She does and I was at an 8. She informs me with the next contraction I can start pushing. It was all happening so fast. The contractions keep coming and I start pushing. It doesn't take long before I see my sweet baby and am holding her!!! About mid point through the pushing Jake's phone starts buzzing in his pocket. I think he is trying to answer it and tell him to ignore it. He was only trying to turn it off though. So, once baby and I are a bit settled he checks his phone and it was the vet saying someone needed to come get Daisy because she would be too lonely to stay alone by herself. Jake calls our neighbors, after midnight, and they say they will go get the dog. What a crazy, wonderful day!!!! Now, we are all at home and doing well. Katy is nursing well and Daisy is on the mend.
Just after Katy was born.
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