Soooo...Miss Kamryn is almost 3 months old!! This has seriously been the fastest three months of my life. Man, I thought the weeks of my pregnancy were going by quick but looking back, those weeks went by like turtle speed compared to now. Let me back up a bit :)
Kamryn Elizabeth Hunter was born on November 25, 2009 at 3:03 pm. She weighed 7lbs 5 oz. and was 20 inches long. Giving birth to this beautiful little angel is by far my greatest accomplishment and the best miracle I have ever encountered. I will never forget the sight of her tiny little body as she made her first appearance into this world and the feeling that this perfect, sweet little baby was ours. Here's how little Kamryn made her grand entrance...
It was two days before Thanksgiving and I just had finished my last final that afternoon. Luckily, I had made arrangements with my professors to have all of my finals completed before Thanksgiving just in case I had Kamryn earlier than my expected due date. Well, it's a good thing I did because I started having contractions as I was taking my last final!! Talk about pressure! The contractions were irregular and not the least bit painful compared to the ones I would experience several hours later. So, I finish up my final and decide to head home to lay down in hopes the contractions would cease. I took a rest and afterwords I noticed that I had felt no movement from the baby all day which I thought was odd because she always moved around the same times every day. I then called my OB because I was getting nervous that I hadn't felt her move and they told me to go to the ER because their office was closing due to Thanksgiving. Luckily, Jeff was already on his way home from work when I called him to let him know we needed to go to the hospital. When we got to the hospital, I was hooked up to a fetal monitor and was definitely having contractions about every 2-3 minutes. I was 100 % effaced and 1 cm dilated. Since I had decreased fetal movement, we had to wait until the baby made two big movements (this would be indicated on the monitor) within a period of 20 minutes to make sure everything was okay. They checked Kamryn's heartbeat and thankfully, it was normal. It took a long time for her to finally move...nurses kept bringing me apple juice in hopes that the sugar in the juice would facilitate movement, which after about 4 hours, she moved twice in 20 minutes and we were free to go because everything was fine. The nurse kept saying, "You won't be back for another week or two...this baby's not going to come tonight." Jeff and I were sent on our way with advice to go have a nice big dinner and go home and rest. So that is exactly what we did...but Kammy had other plans for us :)
On the way home from the hospital, Jeff and I decided to go to Outback for some dinner. I was still having contractions every 2-3 min or so, but they weren't painful at all. Dinner was good and I even got some ice cream for dessert. We went to sleep that night, not knowing we'd be back at the hospital early the next morning. I awoke around 2:30 AM with really strong contractions...I got out of bed and started walking around our apartment in hopes the contractions would go away. I started cleaning to keep my mind off the pain. I finished all of our laundry, cleaned the kitchen, both bathrooms, and re-organized Kamryn's changing station. I never in a million years thought I'd be one of the women you hear about going around nesting like crazy while they were preggers, but I was. After I had my little cleaning/nesting tirade, I laid on the couch timing my contractions. A minute and a half apart. Yikes. And dear God, they were painful. I was half crying, half whining on the couch with my watch and piece of paper when Jeff came out to see my laying on our couch with three towels under me because I was paranoid my water would break. He convinced me to call my OB to tell them I was in labor, which I was reluctant to do at first because I couldn't actually believe this was it!
We left for the hospital at 6:00 Wednesday morning (Nov. 25) and got there in record time! To get anywhere in Northern Virginia in 20 minutes is pretty amazing. I was right back where I was just a few hours before, although this time I was crying in pain because the contractions were seriously intense. I whole-heartedly admit that I am a HUGE wuss when it comes to pain and I just can't handle it. I got an epidural and let me tell you, without it I would have gotten up off the table and walked out of there with Kamryn still in my belly because I could NOT have given birth without one. I am not tough enough for that kind of pain and I wanted to hug the man who administered my epidural even though he stuck me 4 times in order to get the needle in because of my stupid compressed spine (aka big ass). Once the epidural kicked in, I was ready to have my little girl. I felt great and felt confident and ready to finally see her, hold her, kiss her and smell her.
I had two really great nurses: Nurse Betty and Jeff. Nurse Betty was fabulous!! She was very grandmotherly (she was a retired nurse who worked when she felt like it to help out the hospital on holidays when the staff is limited) and just an all around sweet woman who had so much experience under her belt that she had seen it all. She was comforting and kind...Jeff and I loved her. She even stayed 2 hours past her shift because she wanted to see Kamryn being born. My other nurse, my husband Jeff, was amazing. He was so helpful and calming...he really came out of the woodwork & surprised me how calm, excited, and attentive he was. He was right there the whole time and even helped deliver Kamryn!
I was finally 10 centimeters dilated and it was time to push. I'll never forget what was going through my head when my doctor told me, "Ok, Katie...you are going to be a mom here in a few short hours!" I was like, oh my god, THIS is IT!!! She's going to be here and it's my time to finally be a mother!! It was exhilarating!! It almost didn't seem real, but it was.
I pushed for two hours and finally at 3:03 PM, little Kammy was born. Seeing her for the first time was seriously incredible. I looked down at her and everything else in the room, my doctor, Nurse Betty, and several other nurses from pediatrics seemed to disappear...even the room I was in was nonexistent. The only people with me were Jeff standing next to me and Kamryn in my arms. That's it. It was such an intense and joyous feeling of love and family :)
