Dread 'Pilot' Roberts Family: Katherine Ann Roberts

What better motivation to break the blogging silence than to announce the birth of our sweet new daughter:

Katherine Ann Roberts

Feb. 17, 2014

9:42 pm

20 1/2 inches

Katherine was due on Feb. 27, but she decided to join us 10 days early on my brother Brandon's birthday. I had been having contractions for weeks and really felt like she was ready to come. Lee got home that day and had the following two days off, so I knew it would be the perfect day for her to join us. I walked around until my contractions were regular enough to warrant a trip to the hospital, then Lee and I set off with the goal of convincing them that they needed to let me stay. (I figured the only hope I had of getting an epidural was if they would admit me before my contractions got too intense.) Here is me just before heading to the hospital:

When I arrived, I was 3 cm dilated. They monitored me for an hour to see if I was progressing. My contractions were regular and strong, but I knew they weren't full-on labor yet. (I had Morgan and Brynne without an epidural and knew the contractions would get a lot stronger.) Every contractions I would visualize progress and literally willed my cervix to dilate. This is how Lee spent that hour: :)

I was so worried they would send me home and that I'd end up going into labor that night and end up having a baby in the car on the way to the hospital with no epidural - not what I wanted! My body decided to be kind to me and I managed to progress just enough by the end of that hour for them to decide to admit me. Hallelujah!!! The doctor decided to get my IV and epidural going and then return to break my water. I called everyone who was planning to come to the birth to let them know what was happening.

I had previously talked to Morgan and Brynne about the possibility of them attending Katherine's birth. They both seemed interested, so we talked a lot about what to expect. We talked about what could go wrong for me and for the baby; we talked about what I might say if I didn't get an epidural (i.e. if I said I was going to die, it wouldn't be true and really everything would be ok); we talked about how the baby would look and how privacy is a bit different during a birth. Basically, I wanted to make sure there were no surprises and make sure they really did want to attend the birth. After weeks of these discussions, we realized Morgan would be okay not attending the birth, but Brynne was very excited to come. While she waited for Katherine to come, Brynne busied herself with games on my phone:

The nurse came to check my progress an hour after the doctor broke my water. I had progressed to 5 cm. (She actually called it 5 plus.) I should mention that by this point I was really, really hoping to have the baby on Brandon's birthday. It was about 9 pm, so time was running out. It had taken an hour to progress each of the last two centimeters, so I was thinking Katherine wasn't going to make it before midnight. Here I am enjoying my epidural. It looks like I'm holding on to a basketball under the blanket, but that really is Katherine still in my tummy! :)

Things got real interesting real quickly: I started to feel really strong contractions on my left side. I figured I could handle it if I was nearing the end of labor, but when the nurse said I was only at a 5+, I figured I wanted my money's worth out of my epidural. I asked the nurse to find the anesthesiologist to come take away my pain. He came in and did something to fix the epidural on my left side. Then the nurse thought she'd check me again, even though it had only been about 10 minutes. She said I was at 8 cm. As she checked, though, she lost the baby's heart rate. She was moving the heart rate monitor all around while simultaneously calling in extra help and the doctor. They gave me oxygen to help the baby and the doctor went to put an internal heart rate monitor on Katherine's head. When he did, he said, "Actually, she's at a 10!" The good news is that they were able to pick up Katherine's heart beat, but it was really low (120 bpm).

My previous experience with the pushing phase of labor is that my body does most of the work and I only have to push a couple times. Seeing as how the anesthesiologist had just freshly rendered my lower half numb and useless, I actually had to work this time. I was having a hard time focusing my effort where it needed to be, but then the nurse brought out a mirror for me. One look at the top of the baby's head and I was able to get her here right away! Look at this beautiful girl!!

It was a whirlwind delivery there at the end - going from a 5+ to delivery in 18 minutes! They think that is what caused Katherine's heart rate to drop - having things get too intense too quickly for her. I was just super, super glad I was at the hospital with an epidural!!

I LOVE that Brynne wanted to be at the birth. She opted to watch the Olympics on the TV for the actual birth, but she was right by Katherine's side the moment she was born. In this picture it's Brynne's hand on Katherine's back. Definitely a proud sister!

I hadn't had Katherine for more than a few minutes when she turned her head and tried to find food. She was way off the mark, but you can see we all got a laugh out of how cute she was. (And for the record - I did feed her soon after, and she has been a champ eater ever since!)

Lee, Brynne and me with Baby Katherine. :)

With my doctor: Reed Skinner. He always reminded me of someone, but I wasn't ever sure who. Denise took one look at him and knew immediately who it was - Matt Hoisington, a friend of ours from Seattle.

Katherine loved sucking on her fingers. She went right for them! It became apparent why her hand was always right by her face every time they did an ultrasound in the weeks before her birth. Although it's super cute to see them sucking on their fingers, I opted to give her a binky right away, because you can take binkies away eventually! I guess we'll see if she still loves her fingers when I stop swaddling her for bed.

My mom holding Katherine.

Lee and Katherine. Lee calls her Katya (sounds like Kot-ya or Kaw-cha), which is a Russian nickname for Katrina or Katherine. She has yet to pick up any other nicknames, but there is still plenty of time. :)

Everyone who attended the birth: My sister Ashley, my mom Ann Marie, my best friend Denise, Brynne, Lee, and Lee's sister Ruth. Ruth actually missed the birth by about 5 or 10 minutes, but it was really nice to have her there to enjoy our new baby with us!