She has arrived! (a while ago)

Well, K is here. My water broke at 11:22 on Saturday night, June 11. We had just gone to bed at 11 (way past Ian's bedtime). I had been having some contractions, though they were about 10 minutes apart and didn't really hurt too much, but since the same thing had been going on for weeks. Then, of course, right as I fell asleep, there was a gush. I woke Ian up and his response was "Seriously?" in a not very happy voice. He would have much preferred that she wait until morning. (Really, I think I would've too.) Anyway, we went off to the hospital (American Fork, even though Utah Valley is 2 blocks away). It takes about 20 minutes to get there, so by the time we made it, I had soaked through and had stuff running down my leg. So fun.

When we got to the Labor and Delivery floor the nurse checked me and verified my water was indeed broken (though what else would it be?). At that point I was still dilated 2 cm and 80% effaced, even with the contractions that were getting steadily closer together and more painful. So we got all checked in and everything, and they found out that I had high blood pressure. Because of that they had to draw some blood and do some extra tests. When the results came back, it turned out that I had HELLP syndrome, which is a form of preeclampsia. So because of that, and the fact that by 5 o'clock I was still dilated 2 cm, and throwing up, the midwife decided to help things along with pitocin. Then I decided to get an epidural. I had been planning on going natural, but all along I pretty much knew that if I needed pitocin, I was basically going to get an epidural. I am very glad I did. By the time I got it, Ian and I had both been awake for close to 24 hours and I had been in labor for around 6 hours, so we were exhausted. After the epidural we were able to sleep, which made things a lot better. It also helped to bring my blood pressure down, so I didn't need to take magnesium sulfate yet. (This is used with preeclampsia to prevent seizures).

The fun wasn't quite over yet though--As they increased the pitocin, the baby's heart rate started to do bad things, which is a sign that she wasn't handling it well. Because of that they had to drop the dose and then go up slower. They also had to start monitoring her heart rate internally, which means they put an electrode on her head. (She still has a little scab where it was.) I also had to have oxygen to help her do better.

They hooked me up to pretty much everything they could.

Anyway, after all of that, they let us rest for a while, and the next time they checked me (around 8) I was dilated to 7 cm. We were all very pleasantly surprised at that, especially since they had to do a lower dose of pitocin. They were going to recheck in two hours, but after an hour, the midwife decided to check again, and I was all the way dilated. They weren't expecting that, so they had to get all the stuff ready, and I started pushing a little after 10. Then, at 10:56 am on Sunday, June 12, baby girl K was born. She was really little, only 5 lbs 6 oz and 17 inches long. I still had 2nd degree tears though. Even though she was so little (they think from the HELLP syndrome), she was and is perfectly healthy.

 These are all right after she was born.

This a a while later, after they took her down to the nursery and gave her a bath. The shirt was huge on her.

I did end up having to be on the magnesium sulfate for an hour or two before she was born and for 24 hours afterward. It was terrible. I had a horrible headache, double vision, and just felt generally nasty. But it all ended up okay.

 Ian's parents drove down Sunday night to see K.

Clothes aren't the only thing she looks drowned in.