Welcome to the world, Katelyn!

There's nothing quite like the adrenalin and excitement of having a new baby come into the world.  Our sweet daughter, Katelyn Marie Emett, was born into this world July 31, 2015 at 10:22am.  She weighed 7lbs. 2 oz. and was 18.5 inches long.  For memory's sake, here is her full birth story.

Near the beginning of July, I started to have false labor.  My Braxton Hicks began around 18 weeks, but emerged into more painful contractions at this time.  Other signs of labor began shortly after.  By 35 weeks, I was dilated to 1cm and was 50% effaced and my bag was bulging.  The painful false labor got closer and closer together until it occurred nearly every day for several hours at a time.  These contractions would wake me up at night, but never emerged into real labor.  Every time these nights would occur, I was hopeful that my little girl's arrival was getting closer.  I would do anything I could think of to prepare just a little more (like going school clothes shopping, etc).  I had a lot of false labor with Jeffrey, so I tried not to get too optimistic, but I couldn't ignore the changes my body was making.  We were pretty convinced that labor was going to occur soon and got to the point where we were prepared to go at any time.

The worst of my false labor was at about 37 weeks.  I had had particularly painful and restless night.  I thought for sure it was going to change into real labor.  Nothing ever happened and I went back to sleep.  When I woke up, I noticed a large, bursted blood vessel on my stomach.  At 38 weeks, I had a really painful headache; the worst I had ever had.  I woke up with it, took some medicine and it was just lingering all day.  At about 3pm, my headache worsened to the point where I couldn't do anything.  I took more pain meds, got an ice pack and laid in bed in pain.  I thought that maybe there was a change of hormones that caused it.  After finding no relief, I messaged the nurse asking if there was anything else I could do.  She called and told me to go into the hospital because it could be a change in blood pressure which would be cause of concern.  John was on his way home when I told him and he called my dear friend Kristin, and arranged for the kids to be watched while we went in.  Thankfully there was nothing wrong and I was given some Percocet to help manage the pain and the headache eventually tapered off around 3am.  Looking back, I contribute the headache to several days of lack of sleep due to false labor.

In the midst of feeling completely done with being pregnant, there were many blessings that occurred that really made me feel loved and lifted my spirits.  Someone brought by a basket of sunshine filled with goodies and yellow items.  I had a friend lovingly drop by dinner for us.  On July 29, the lovely ladies I serve with and the beautiful young women threw me a surprise baby shower.  They went all out with beautiful decorations, yummy cake and desserts alongside super cute and useful baby gifts.  I was clueless about it and felt so loved.  There were so many well wishers who would check in on me and offer to help in any way they could.  I can't even begin to express my gratitude for all of the dear friends and family I have in my life.  I feel blessed beyond what I deserve.

On July 30, I went in for my regular doctor's appointment.  I was dilated to 3 cm and 80% effaced.  I was devastated; there was no change from the week before.  I had had a lot of frequent false labor, been in a lot of pain, and was certain I would hear of some kind of change.  I told the doctor of all of my false labor and how the contractions would get fairly regular, but was not the real deal.  I asked if it got to this point again if I could come in and get my water broken (this is what it took for Jeff).  The good doctor that he was, said that unless it was real labor, they would probably just send me home.  I asked other questions looking for relief, but he kept reassuring me that waiting for the baby to come naturally is best.  I knew he was right, and it's what I really wanted, but I felt extremely disappointed because I was miserable by this point and wanted relief.  He did schedule an induction for August 7 in case I didn't go into labor, which seemed like an eternity away.  John was at a conference and I texted him the news.  I felt so defeated.

The kids and I went to the park with some happy meals.  I called my mother in law to tell her what was going on.  While it felt so nice to talk about my feeling like the baby was never going to come, I still felt really depressed about it.  My contractions would come at virtually any time, so we had the kids' bags packed and it got to a point that I would bring my makeup bag and daily essentials with me just in case.  Once I got home from our picnic, I brought my bag upstairs and put my things away.  I gave up.

I cried to John and felt really depressed.  I was exhausted from being in so much pain all of the time, waking up several times a night from hip pain, heartburn, and contractions.  John is literally the best husband in the world and wanted to make me feel special.  We went to my favorite restaurant, Thai House (which ironically is the last restaurant we went to before Jeff was born), and then to Bed Bath and Beyond.  Our waffle iron broke several months prior, so I picked up a nice new waffle iron.  We went to Old Navy and other stores to get the kids some items they needed.  We went home and John put the kids to bed and really catered to me to help lighten my spirits.  I slept really peacefully that night.

The next morning I woke up about 7am feeling just a little off.  Nothing out of my new ordinary, but definitely not normal.  I thought I may be hungry or something so I went down and had some breakfast.  Not too much longer, I started getting sharp pains.  I hesitated to tell John because I felt like it was more false labor and would eventually taper off.  I went and took a shower thinking it may help.  I remember grabbing on the side of the shower, bent over in pain.  John woke up and asked if I was okay.  I said I was and that the pain will probably go away.  He insisted that I was in labor and began to go get the kids up and going.  I tried to assure him that I was fine and that we should wait to see if the pain goes away.  The pain was different, but strange.  I would get really sharp labor type pain that would only stay for a few seconds and then come back a few minutes later.  It wasn't your typical 30 second contraction every 10 minute sort of thing.  John lovingly ignored my request to wait it out and began making phone calls.  He called my mom and Brionna McCumber and arranged for Brionna to come watch the kids until my mom could come.  I was in more pain as we were leaving, but still had the mentality that we could wait it out.  John felt such an urge to get to the hospital quickly.  My contractions were getting more labor like and consistent, but I was convinced we had time.  John had not eaten anything and I convinced him (which wasn't easy) to stop at Burger King to grab something.  I said I was fine and was thinking about walking around the hospital once we got there just to be sure the contractions weren't going to go away.

By the time we got to the hospital I was in full on labor.  We checked into labor and delivery and got all hooked up to the monitors.  When the nurse checked me, I was dilated to a 5 and completely effaced.  My labor was progressing so quickly.  She began to be more in a rush and they transferred me to a room and quickly brought the anesthesiologist in for an epidural.  My pain was so strong and they quickly administered the epidural.  They let me know that the epidural may not have enough time to work.  I was willing to try.  The nurse checked me again (I was at 8cm) and said that as she was checking me things were changing and my amniotic sac was really bulging.  She said it was going to be a fast delivery and the baby was going to slide right out once my water broke.  We waited for about 15 minutes and the epidural only worked on one side.  I was still feeling quite a bit of pain on my left side.  She asked if I wanted to wait a little longer or if she should just call the doctor to break my water and deliver the baby.  I said to wait a little longer.  My contractions were right on top of each other.  At one point, I had three contractions in a row with no break.  The nurse said she's been working in labor and delivery for nine years and hadn't seen a triple contraction before.  Worried that there wasn't much time, she called the anesthesiologist in and asked if there was something else he could try.  He gave me another medicine which helped almost immediately.

Right then, we heard a pop and my water broke.  There was meconium present (which is a sign of fetal distress).  The nurse called the doctor who rushed right over and arranged for a respiratory specialist group to come to aid with the baby.  In no time flat we had a room full of medical professionals.  Two contractions and six pushes later, our sweet Katelyn Marie Emett was born.  She had the cord wrapped all around her body and neck, but thankfully was healthy.  The doctor said she must have gotten all tangled up in the past 6-12 hours so it's good that I went into labor when I did.

After I delivered the epidural was in full effect and I had to wait in the delivery room for several hours to wait for the numbness to ease.  I felt so wonderful (and exhausted!) and couldn't believe it was all over.  I had given up not even 24 hours before; yet in less than 3 hours of labor I had my sweet little girl sleeping angelically next to my side.  What a whirlwind!

Later that night, I suddenly started feeling really strange.  I was almost due for my pain meds, started feeling a little cold, and felt a very strong contraction like pain take over my body.  I needed to use the restroom, so I tried to get up.  As soon as my legs were exposed to the cold air, I started shaking uncontrollably.  I thought I could wait it out, but the shaking got worse.  John called the nurse in, who called another nurse in.  They wrapped me in several blankets and questioned how I was feeling.  Once the shaking subsided, the head nurse explained that my body just went into shock.  It was the strangest feeling ever and really it occurred because it was a perfect storm of my pain meds wearing off and the intense contraction.  She said when the uterus contracts to get back into shape often times  the contractions get more painful with subsequent births.  She said that the pain can be more intense than a laboring contraction (yep!).  Luckily that was the end of that and I went on to heal well.

My parents were so kind to take our kids while we were in the hospital.  The kids loved spending time with their grandparents and couldn't stop talking about all of the fun times they had.  My mom brought them home happy, all of their clothes washed, and food for us to snack on.  We had several family members and friends drop by to meet our sweet baby and share in our moment.  We feel so grateful for all of the well wishers we've had and all of the people in our lives that have been such a wonderful support to us.

We left the hospital on Saturday night, completely exhausted, hoping that home would provide more rest than the interruptions of the hospital.  It was so peaceful coming to our wonderful home with our precious new daughter.  Since then, we've been enjoying our time together as a full family.  We've been getting in all the rest we can and the transition is going well.  I'm healing well and the kids are absolutely in love with their new sibling.  I couldn't be more grateful to have John to share all of life's precious moments with.  He is such a great support to me and I love him more and more everyday.  Life can't get any sweeter!