All Things Belvin: March 2011

Our little girl is finally here! And she surprised us all! If she is trying to teach us anything about her little personality, it is that when she's ready to do something, she's going to do it... and fast!

Here is a little background info: Tuesday morning, I had my 36 week check-up / sonogram with Dr. Umholtz. Before my appointment, I went into work for a few minutes to check my email and voice mails. I left around 8:30 expecting to be back before lunch. Michael and I were extra excited/anxious about the sonogram because I was hospitalized for pre-term labor in February, and I had been having small irregular contractions for several weeks. On top of that, my blood pressure had been getting higher and higher over the past few weeks, and I had been trying to take it easy. Dr. Umholtz let us know that we would probably be a couple of weeks early, so we wanted to see that Charlotte's lungs were well developed, and her weight was looking good.

Michael met me for the sono, and everything looked great! That was such a relief! Michael left, and I waited for my doctor feeling SO relaxed! My nurse took my blood pressure, and I was just sure it had gone back to normal levels. Well... not so much! It was 148/110. Dr. Umholtz came in, took my blood pressure again, and told me to go straight over to the hospital to be admitted. She wanted me on full bed rest at the hospital until I delivered. Hmmm... I guess I wasn't going back to the office... ever. I was so upset! Poor Michael... I called him immediately and asked him to come back to the hospital. He cancelled his entire day, went to the house to pack our bags, and came to take care of me. He is the greatest!

They monitored my blood pressure all Tuesday and Wednesday morning, and decided I could go home for bed rest. We came home Wednesday night, and I spent Thursday relaxing! The only thing I had planned for the day was our final pediatrician interview. I'm glad we liked her because...

I went into labor Friday morning! Right around 7:45am, Michael kissed me goodbye for the day, and walked out of our bedroom door just like he days every other day. As soon as the door closed, my water broke! Our conversation went like this:

Katie: "MICHAEL!!! MY WATER JUST BROKE!!!"
Michael: "Are you sure you didn't wet the bed???"

Wow... how romantic!!! I assured him that my water had actually broken, and we went into panic mode. I'm sure you are thinking that we must have been prepared since a) if you are 36.5 weeks pregnant, you should have your hospital bags packed and b) we were in the hospital 2 days before so we should still be fully packed. Sadly, that was not the case! As soon as we came home from the hospital on Wednesday, I unpacked all of our things. Who does that!?!?!? ME! We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

Michael had an appointment close to the house, so I begged him to go. After all, labor with your first child is supposed to last forever! After I convinced him to leave, my contractions came on full force. Why did I ask him to go? I must have been crazy! Luckily, he turned around and came home... he said he couldn't concentrate. While he was gone, I called my doctor, and she said she wouldn't be able to come in because she was hosting a dinner party at her home that night. Really??? Yes! She said her partner would meet us there.

Michael waked in the door, changed, and finished packing our things. I was REALLY uncomfortable by this point!

Leaving for the hospital!

As we were driving to the hospital, I was crying with each teeny tiny bump we drove over. I've always thought I had a pretty high pain tolerance, but I was starting to think that labor pains were just too much for me. I knew they couldn't give me an epidural until I hit 4cm, and I was terrified I would have to wait. Thank goodness that was not the case! As soon as we arrived, the nurse checked me, called for the anesthesiologist, and a whirl of people came into the room getting my IV going, preliminary pain meds going, etc. Michael asked how far along I was, and she said she didn't want to scare us, so she would tell us as soon as my epidural was in. Of course, that scared us! Dr. Larry, my new best friend, came in to put my epidural in. The nurse told him not to put too much in, because I wouldn't need it for very long. That wasn't what I was expecting! Everyone I've talked to tells you about getting their epidural, taking a nap, watching movies, etc. We asked again how far along we were, and our nurse said that when we arrived, I was 8cm dilated, but now I was at 10cm. It was time to push! It was about 10:00am, so things were moving quickly. We didn't really have time to get nervous/anxious/scared. It all happened so fast! I pushed much longer than they expected... we later found out that she was sunny side up, and was stuck. That's okay! She's finally here!!!

We are in love!

Charlotte Ann Belvin
Born Friday 3/25/2011 at 12:51pm
6lbs, 9oz & 19.75" long