Caroline Summer's Birth Story

Caroline Summer has made her appearance!!

Monday was a really cold day. I was really hoping that the cold would shock my body into labor - ha! 

Tuesday came and it was still cold. I had some plans with some girlfriends to get pedicures and dinner. I was hoping that the cold plus the pedicure would do the trick - ha!

 I was 39 weeks along. 

Wednesday came, and to work I went! I really thought I was going to make it to Friday, which was my last official day of work. I was ok with that though, I still had things I needed to do.

After work, I got the girls from Mimi's and school. We came home.  I was getting ready to do laundry and the dishes, because, let's face it. My house is always in need of cleaning.

I had to make a pit stop to the bathroom before actually getting the laundry completely started .... but then after the bathroom, I kept having to go to the bathroom...  Well after 3-4 changes of clothes, I finally realized what had happened.

My water broke.  But I had never had my water break before, so I didn't know what it was. And it wasn't a continuous gush, but enough for me to know that it wasn't me not getting to the bathroom in time...continuously.

I called my doctor, and he said head to the hospital.

Great.

My bag still was not packed.  NO ONE was answering their phone to watch the girls. And Ron was at work.

Perfect.

Ron actually answered his phone, which is a miracle in itself, but he was on a call - ha! Luckily, the call got cancelled, so he was headed back to the station.

My mom finally answered her phone and she met us at the hospital to get the girls.

So, they admitted me and discovered that my water had, in fact, broke.

BUT.

I did not have any contractions nor was I dilated. This was going on 4 hours later.



But my water was still gushing. I've never had my water break on its own before. It's really disgusting. Like the worst feeling ever.

So, because lack of water in the sac can lead to an infection, I wanted to get the party started, so around 10:30 or so, my doctor started me on Pitocin.  Within an hour I was already feeling some nice sized contractions...so much so that I was already telling them to keep the epidural "guy" handy.

Around 11:30 they gave me setatol, the pain meds through the IV. That made me fell totally weird.  I couldn't stay awake on it and it helped ease the pain a little bit, so I was feeling the contractions on a totally different level, half awake.

Around 1:00 or so (I don't really remember time around this point), they gave me the epidural.  It was such a nice relief!

I finally got some real sleep. I was so exhausted, I didn't know how I would have been able to handle actual pushing if I didn't get some sleep before she came, so for this, I am so thankful for the epidural.

Around 3:45 or so, I started to feel some serious pain and pressure, and the nurse checked me and said that it was because the head was right there and I was about 9cm dilated.  Time to call for the doctor!

4:00 he comes in and gets me all prepared.

4:10 he tells me to start pushing.

3 pushes later, out comes our beautiful, sweet Caroline Summer.

Caroline Summer

November 20, 2014

4:13 a.m.

7 pounds, 14 ounces

20 1/4 inches long

We had some visitors during our stay at the hospital.  It was really nice that I had some family around this time to come see us.

My girl Matteson came, bearing the BEST pizza - our "post beach" pizza. BEST hospital present ever!

She also came bearing our car-seat. She offered to redo the covers because this is the original carseat from when Autumn was born, 6 years ago! eek!  Doesn't she have some serious skills??  I'm in awe of her talent.

My cousin Lisha came to visit with her boys. I'm so glad she lives around here right now! I love that we get to see them.

Her boys were so excited to be able to hold Caroline.

AND she came with a birthday cake for Caroline! I love it! Happy Birth-day, sweet girl!

My brother and his wife came with their baby Jack, but Caroline wasn't in the room at the time. But Demi made a beautiful lei that I got to wear and feel like royalty for a little bit.

AND Jason and Noelle were in town from Hawaii! Perfect timing! So glad they got to come and visit.

We were finally ready to go home, got all the discharge papers and everything...all packed up....

Then BAM!  Ooops, they didn't do her hearing test! 

Ugh. Hopes were then just squashed!  

We got discharged at 4:00 and we didn't get to leave until AFTER 5:00. Talk about annoyed.

We finally got home around 6:00. And the girls were instantly enamored with Caroline.

I now have my ABCs... my 3 beautiful girls:

Autumn Rose

Brooklynn Wynter

Caroline Summer