Caitlin Nichole

Today is Saturday. The family woke up with the usually schedule on a Saturday. Matt and Sydney read the newspaper then we all made a run to Target. I felt like I needed to start getting ready for the baby, so I bought an overnight bag, some newborn diapers, and I even steamed the nursery curtains that afternoon. When Sydney woke up, I really wanted to walk outside so we all bundled up and went from a stroll in the neighborhood. I felt some pain thinking it was walking up a little hill, but I just dealt with it. After one lap (about 8 minutes) I told Matt I needed to lie down and let these cramps pass. That feeling started at 5:15pm. At 5:30 I asked Matt to call Jevin because the pains were getting stronger. At that time, I didn't think I was in labor, I just knew something was wrong. At 5:45 we were out the door and my pains were every 4 minutes. Jevin stayed with Sydney. I have never seen Matt drive so fast and getting so mad at other drivers and red lights. We walked into Baptist and asked to be admitted. They usually make you fill out paperwork, but we told them my pains were every 2 minutes now. They immediately took me to the floor where they check you to make sure you are in labor. After some miserable pain, they told me I was dilated to 5 and that I was paper thin so it was about time. They wheeled me to the labor and delivery floor and started the machines and IV on me. I was asking every minute for the epidural, but they had to set up the machines and then call her. What felt like an hour (but really 15 minutes), the lady came in to put in my epidural. I had to sit up and form a C so she could stick me. I couldn't sit up. I was sitting directly on the baby's head because was so close to coming out. It took about 15 min. to put the needle in because she had to work around the multiple contractions. As soon as she hooked me up, the nurse checked me to break my water and I was a 10. (What good was the epidural!) At that time, mom and Andrea walked in. Dr. Driver was already there rocking in the chair waiting for me. We started to push and then I couldn't feel anything. The epidural hit me so fast that I was numb. So they all went to dinner for an hour while we waited. At 9:00 they came back in and I pushed maybe 3 times and Caitlin Nichole came into our world. She was born at 9:13p, weighing 6lbs 11ounces, measuring 19 inches. She swallowed a lot coming out so it took a couple of minutes for them to clean her up. Charlie and Travis walked in and we started taking pictures. After one feeding, they moved me to the recovery floor and we called it a night. Lana stopped by for a minute, but I was so exhausted I had to close my eyes. Of course after everyone left and my heartbeat slowed down, I couldn't fall back asleep. I was up all night going over the process. I couldn't enjoy most of it because it went so fast. I am glad I got to experience the true pains of labor, but anyone is crazy if they WANT to do a natural delivery...meds good, epidural good, no pain good.