Katie's Birth Day

Look at how my belly grew!  And now I have my adorable baby girl to show for it! 

The day Katie was born was a wonderful day.  On May 26th, I went in for my 38 week appointment.  (On that day, I was just 2 days shy of 38 weeks.)  Everything at the appointment was looking normal until the doctor checked me.  I was 90% effaced and 4cm dilated!  (At my previous appointment, he checked me and I was 50% effaced but not dilated at all.)  The doctor seemed surprised, but not as surprised as me.  The doctor and I discussed our options and decided it would be best to schedule my c-section for 5:30pm that evening.  (My boys were both born via c-section.  My c-section for Katie was originally scheduled for June 4th.)  Anyway, I was instructed that I needed to fast for the rest of the day and to arrive at the hospital at 3:30pm.  I called Sam at work and told him the news.  I couldn't stop smiling on my drive home.  Brian and Tyler were at our neighborhood's play group.  So when I went to pick them up, I told all the mommies there that I was going to have my baby that very day.  I fed the boys lunch and got Brian on the bus for preschool.  Then I called my Grandma Hallstrom (who lives a couple miles from me) to see if she could watch my boys.  I'm so glad she was home and was willing to help us out.  After that, I called my parents, Sam's parents, and all of my siblings to tell them the news.  I did some last minute cleaning around the house and packed my bags for the hospital.  I got Tyler down for a nap around 2pm and Grandma arrived at 3pm.  I gave Grandma a big hug and told her that the next time she saw me that I'd be holding her great granddaughter.

I threw my hospital bag in the trunk and hopped in my car.  I drove the 10 minute drive to the hospital and walked myself and my heavy suitcase up to labor and delivery.  People who saw me looked at me kind of funny as I checked into the hospital.  (I bet they all thought that I was an young unwed mother.)  For the next hour and a half my nurse, Trish prepped me for surgery.  She hooked me up to monitor the baby.  By the time Sam rode his bike over from work, just before 5pm, I was having big contractions every 2-3 minutes.  What was strange about the contractions though was that they didn't hurt.  I was talking normally through the contractions and didn't need any help getting through them.  In fact, I gave the camera a big grin and two thumbs up!  Sam even took a video to prove it.  (I'll post the video from our camcorder if I ever figure out how to post it.)  Sam got himself a big sub sandwich from work to scarf down in my face.  (I was starving, but I had to wait long after surgery before I could eat.)  We waited and waited for the anesthesiologist.  My scheduled surgery time of 5:30pm came and went.  (We found out that the anethesiologist was having a hard time getting another lady's epidural to work.  That made me kind of nervous to get my spinal.)  Finally at 6:45pm, I walked myself down to the operating room and layed myself down on the operating table.  (I felt kind of strange walking myself to the O.R. and laying myself down on the table.  Poor Sam had to wait outside the O.R. while they gave me my spinal and did the other final preparations for surgery.)  Sam sat right by my head during the surgery.  I was so happy when I saw Katie and heard her cry.  When I got my first quick glance of Katie, I thought she looked so much like Tyler when he was born.  Katie has much more dark hair though.   

Welcome to the World, Katie Jane Ward!  We love you so much! 

Katie Jane Ward

May 26, 2010

7:12pm

6 lbs. 10 oz.

19 1/2 in.