~Kayla's Birthday~

We'll since Kayla is 6 months old now I'll just take you back to a few precious moments when her life first began...

Kayla was born on January 15, 2008.  It all started on January 14th at 8:45 p.m., just 45 minutes into the season finale of Prison Break.  I was thinking about getting up to go to the bathroom during a commercial but I didn't want to miss any part of this show.  We'll Kayla made sure I did.  My water broke and went everywhere.  I had no choice but to go into the bathroom.  Prison Break would have to wait until Kayla was born.  I of course made sure to press record and we shut the TV off and called the hospital.  They told me to come in right away but to take our time if my contractions weren't that close yet, which they weren't.  My BFF Jill was my partner for Kayla's birth since I wasn't sure Jason would want to do it all by himself and we had practiced hyponobirthing...and I just didn't feel comfortable with anyone else except my mom.  So by the time I got to the hospital I was 2cm and 100% effaced but there was barely any progress after a few hours in the holding room.  Everyone thought that it was going to happen that night so my mom had gotten up at about 2am because she couldn't sleep anticipating the birth of her first grandchild, and drove the 30 minute ride to the hospital.  My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, niece and brother-in-law all came to the hospital the next afternoon expecting Kayla to have been born already.  They all ended up waiting in the waiting room for quite a long time.

They had decided to give me pitocin which I really didn't want but had no choice since my water had broke.  I started to get very INTENSE contractions and decided that I'd go with the epidoral afterall which I also planned on not doing.  Everything just kept changing from there.  I originally wanted Hypnobirthing with no drugs AT ALL and then it turned into the complete opposite.  My mom ended up coming into the room during labor which turned out to be a great relief (now I had 3 people to yell at...it's always easiest to yell at mom in situations like this).  She did great, as well as Jason and Jill.  It was a very scary, amazing, intense, painful 18 hours of labor before the nurses finally told me to start pushing.  I pushed for 3 1/2 hours with the help of Jill, my mom, Jason, two nurses and the doctor, until the doctors decided that Kayla was stuck.  They said there was absolutely no way she would make it out unless it was via c-section.  I was horrified.  "Not even the vacuum will get her out" the doctor had said.  I knew who these doctors were because they all worked with my mother (she was the secretary in OBGYN) but I had no idea how good they were and they didn't know my history.  I was beyond horrified just thinking about one of them cutting me open.  What if they messed up.  What if they didn't know what medications I was on and they gave me something I shouldn't have.  What if they forget something inside and sew me up with it still there.  (We've all heard those stories).  I wished my doctor could have been there because she was the absolute best doctor I've ever had.  

So they got me prepped and started to roll me down to the OR.  My entire body became frozen with anxiety.  Then out of nowhere I hear "I'm coming, I'm coming.  I just saw your mom downstairs.  We're ready to go."  It was my doctor!!!!  Dr. Kolp!!!  Somehow seeing her face and her running around the corner just made me completely relax.  I knew I would be fine now.  It turns out that one of the doctors on that night had asked Dr. Kolp to come in early to cover a few hours of her shift so she could go to a party.  Thank god for whoever threw that party.  

So I'll spare you the gory details of the c-section and just tell you that Kayla was born at 5:27 p.m. on January 15, 2008 via c-section by Dr. Kolp (aka; the best doctor ever!!!).  I made it through perfectly, even knodding off to sleep a few times but kept getting woken up by Dr. Kolp and her team making jokes and keeping everyone so calm.  My husband was the first to hold Kayla and I've never seen a bigger smile on his face than I did that day.  He looked so proud.  He was able to cut the cord which he thought he wouldn't be able to do with a c-section but they let him and he was so happy.  

Thanks to Jill, my mom, and especially my husband, Jason for helping me through such a difficult labor.  I never would have made it without them.  

P.S. When I got home from the hospital I was able to see the final 15 minutes of Prison Break.  Now I can't wait for the next season to begin in September!!!