Caitlyn's ride home. First time in her car seat! She fits so much better now!
In the hospital wearing her adorable beanie that my friend Melody made.
Caitlyn Rose Ross was born Friday April, 16th 2010 at 8:18 pm. That bright beautiful morning I woke up early, around 7:30. I woke up to light cramps and some wet pj's. I said to Sean could this be it? Did my water break. Then a couple minutes later I noticed I was leaking some more water, after changing my pj's. Sean said okay let's start timing the cramps your feeling because they were coming and going. Sure enough as we were timing them they were coming every 3 to 5 minutes and getting a little stronger. I decided okay I better jump in the shower and get cleaned up because it looks like I am going into labor. We texted my friend Andrea who is an expert; having two wonderful kiddos and all :0) She said yes Chloe that sounds like contractions, you better get to the hospital! In the shower the cramps starting getting stronger. But I remember our lamaze teacher; (which by the way we finished our class and got our certificate the day before!) saying try and relax at home and wait tell you are sure so you do not get sent home from the hospital. We knew for sure once I got out of the shower and I was bending over our sofa that it was time to kick it into gear and get to Kaiser! We arrived about 10:45 and I was doing my breathing the whole way to the hospital! I tell ya the breathing was not working too well! It hurt!!!! But I stuck it out and did it the "all natural."
Once we got checked in they assessed me and said I was dilated to 4 cm already so that was good, I got admitted! Then the fun began. I wanted to be able to walk around the room because that helps, but I needed to be monitored and hooked up to an IV. Well about 10 tries later the nurses finally got a vein and I was hooked up! That was so hard because they are saying try and stay still, but you are having contractions and you have to breathe!!! The nurses always have a tough time with my veins because they move and do not want to be poked! My loving husband was with me the whole time though and supported me as we went along. I progressed very well to 10 cm by 4:30. But Caitlyn still did not want to come out after I was 10 cm! She was positioned with her face up, so it made it very difficult for her to descend into the birth canal. I pushed for about 3 hours! Wow what a work out!!!
The nurse mid-wife, kept on checking on me and after trying every position in the book, she decided I needed to have a episiotomy to help move Caitlyn along. This was performed at about 7:45 and then at 8:18 pm. Caitlyn Rose Ross came into the world! 8 hours altogether, not bad for my first one!
Caitlyn is such a special gift from God and we love her to pieces. Everyday is a new experience and journey. She is smiling and cooing all the time now. Caitlyn loves her baths and she loves to stretch out in her crib and play! I look forward to sharing more stories with you all about our beautiful daughter!
