Meet Kate!

Baby Kate!

Our newest family member has arrived and we are adjusting fairly well to being a family of four!

Kate Clara Collins was born at 7:15 pm on Tuesday, Feb. 22. She weighed 7 lbs, 11 oz (3.5 kg) and was 22" long (55.9 cm). Both Mick and my mom were present for Kate's birth; my mom was able to cut the cord which she was thrilled about. (Mick had no interest in doing anything but whispering words of encouragement to me which was fine with me as his support helped tremendously!)

(Quick notes to address questions we've been asked: 1. Her name is simply Kate; it is not short for Katherine or anything else. 2. No, she is not named after Kate Middleton. Kate is the name we were planning to use back in 2008 if Jack had been a girl; it's just a name we both love. 3. Her middle name is in honor of my grandma, with whom I was very close.)

As Mick and I climbed into bed around 11 pm on Monday night, I told Mick we really needed to install the car seat in the car the next day. I was one day past my due date and, although we sort of all expected Kate to be born one week late via scheduled c-section (given Jack's birth, my OB was skeptical Kate would come on her own), I figured we should at least feign preparation. (First major difference between first and second child: Jack's car seat was installed about 5 weeks prior to his due date; Kate's wasn't installed until after she was born.) In any case, about an hour and a half after I made the car seat comment, my water broke. There was absolutely no mistaking what was going on, so I first woke up Mick and told him to get ready to leave, then I woke my mom and told her to do the same. Luckily we had both my mom staying with us (because of the fact that Jack had been in the hospital three days prior) and Mick's mom as well. I then had a leisurely shower, packed up my remaining stuff, and typed up a list of instructions for Julie so she'd know things like how much medicine to give Jack & how to work the TV. My contractions were still about 10 minutes apart so not technically close enough to go the hospital. However, the doctor on call said we needed to come in since my water had spontaneously ruptured. We arrived at the hospital around 2:30 am on Tuesday.

I was in labor for 19 hours before Kate arrived. I was committed to trying for a VBAC and really wanted to see if I could go epidural free. Luckily though, I remembered what a friend had recommended regarding my birth plan. She said I should simply indicate that I wanted to be conscious and have Mick present for this baby's birth. Given how sad I've always been about Jack's birth (since I had general anesthesia and Mick couldn't be in the OR with me), I let this dictate my plans. The doctor (who was young, but whom I loved!) told me that the benefit to having an epidural was that, if things suddenly got dicey with labor and I needed a c-section, I'd already be numb and would likely be able to avoid general anesthesia. That sealed it for me. 11 hours into labor, I decided I'd go for the epidural.

I have been a huge proponent of natural labor and I really did want to see if I could do it without any medical intervention. In the pauses between contractions, I was SURE I could keep going drug-free. But in the middle of each contraction, I really just wanted to die. The pain was intense. After getting the epidural, I looked at my mom and said "frankly, they should require that women get epidurals!" There's little question in my mind that the epidural is what allowed me the stamina I needed to push for as long as I did. I had about five pain-free hours during which I was able to store up my energy, rest a bit, and prepare for birth. Without harping too much more on how much I loved these drugs, here's a picture showing how I looked and felt 13 hours into labor:

Post epidural & feeling good!

Despite having a migraine (which I got as soon as the epidural was placed), being completely unable to take "deep cleansing breaths" through my nose (due to ongoing cold), and sounding as if I were hacking up a lung every time I coughed, I made it until 5 pm when the doctor told me I could start pushing.

Again - I won't go into graphic details but I will say the following: I pushed for 2 1/4 hours. It was hard. Very hard. Kate was born face-up which made pushing uncomfortable and difficult, to say the least. Every time the doctor left the room, I felt crushed. I knew when she left that it meant I was still a long way from delivery. While I didn't scream any (or many?) obscenities, I did repeatedly say that I couldn't keep going. Part of my brain was really annoyed at me for saying this because I knew that a) I could do it, b) I would do it, and c) there was really no other option, but I couldn't stop myself from begging for help!

Finally, sometime around 7 pm, the doctor came in and suited up and I knew that meant she was going to stay. I heard the nurse call for additional nursing and neonatal staff and that further gave me what I needed to endure those last 15 minutes.

I don't remember crying when Kate was born, but my mom said I did. I do remember that when I commanded (really, I did) Mick to look at the baby and tell me what we had, I was shocked when he said we had a girl. We were all convinced Jack would have a baby brother so it was almost unreal when I learned we had a daughter!

Kate checked out well and a few hours later, we were settling into our room for the night. I had an eventful time that night (with only three hours of sleep) as I ended up with chest pain that resulted in numerous breathing treatments and chest x-rays at 3:30 am (diagnosis was that my respiratory infection had been aggravated by the two hours of pushing), but luckily Kate was very placid and easygoing - and a good eater! So that made things much easier!

On Friday, three days post birth, Kate's weight had dropped only 2 oz so she was down to 7 lbs, 9 oz. We had to take her back to the doctor on Monday and she was up to 8 lbs then! Somehow, she gained 7 oz over the weekend. So we no longer worry about setting our alarm and waking her at night to feed her (which I did the first few nights we were home because she was soooo lazy!)

Jack meets Kate for the first time

Helping to hold his sister

Ready to go home!

Jack has been adjusting very well. He keeps telling us he loves Kate and he is incredibly gentle with her. He does like to play his drum (loudly) for her, but this doesn't seem to be a problem for Kate, probably because she heard it so much in utero.

I have posted pictures of Kate's first few days in our photo album on Snapfish if you'd like to have a look.