When we saw MFM, I was just shy of 35 weeks along. The baby was measuring about 3 weeks behind, weighing in at approximately 3 pounds 15 ounces. They couldn't see anything that would be causing the growth restriction. The doctor explained to us that babies with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) have an increased risk of stillbirth. Therefore, I would need to have non-stress tests twice a week and an ultrasound once a week until delivery, which would be no later than 38 weeks. He estimated that the baby would be around 4 1/2 pounds at delivery. At that size, he thought we could still deliver at our little hospital in Ontario.
After that appointment, we started with lots of doctors appointments, and baby kept looking great. We got lots of cute ultrasound pictures and she passed her non-stress tests with flying colors. I had a few high blood pressures, but the doctors weren't concerned.
Monday, November 5th, I got up and made a special breakfast for Sarah to celebrate her 5th birthday. Then I dropped the kids off at a friend's house and went to Nampa for my MFM appointment. My blood pressure was rather high again. On the ultrasound, there was very little fluid surrounding the baby, which was new. My doctor was concerned that the baby would be stressed by the decreased fluid and also that I may have early pre-eclampsia. Because of those two things, it was no longer worth the risk to leave the baby inside. As long as baby and I stayed stable, he wanted to wait two days for delivery so that they could give me steroid shots to help her lungs mature faster. This was not what I had in mind when I left my house that morning.
I spent some time on monitoring at the hospital in Nampa, got my steroid shot, had some lunch, and then drove myself to the hospital in downtown Boise to check in until it was time for baby to come. Thank goodness for good friends who took care of Sarah and Chris and helped make Sarah's birthday special until my mom could get there to pick them up.
I met Kelson downtown, and we checked into the labor and delivery unit at St. Luke's. After meeting with the doctors there, we decided that the benefits of waiting another day for another steroid shot did not outweigh the risks posed by the low fluid and possible pre-eclampsia, so the plan was to spend the night there on monitoring and then induce labor on Tuesday. An induction is one thing I really didn't want, but it was better than a c-section, so I was grateful.
I settled in for a boring, uncomfortable night hooked up for continuous monitoring in the antepartum unit. Kelson went to a good restaurant down the road and got us some yummy dinner to enjoy on our last night before baby. Kelson had steak, and I had some amazing salmon and shrimp.
I sent Kelson home to pack our bags since I hadn't heeded that feeling and packed the night before. He made it back to the hospital around midnight, and I was still trying to fall asleep. It is hard enough to sleep when you are super pregnant. Add fetal monitors and it is just about impossible. On top of being uncomfortable, I didn't feel great. I had been having contractions for weeks, but they were starting to feel less like Braxton Hicks and were more consistent. About 2:30, I decided to get up and walk around to see if I could get more comfortable. As I stood up, I had a gush of fluid that looked like mostly blood. I may have been freaking out a little bit as I woke up Kelson and had him call the nurse. I was continuing to bleed, and my contractions were suddenly much more intense. The nurse tested the fluid to see if it was amniotic fluid or just blood, but the test was inconclusive because of all of the blood cells. She checked me, and I had gone from 2 cm earlier that day to 4 cm. I was in labor, and the nurse told me I probably had a small placental abruption. Cue more freaking out. I have not generally heard the word "small" associated with placental abruptions. I figured we were headed for a c-section at this point. The nurse got us ready to head over to the labor and delivery side of the floor, and told us that as long as baby remained stable, we could still deliver naturally. That was a big relief.
We got settled in our new room on labor and delivery, and it seemed like half of the staff on the floor was in our room at one point or another. Since they knew I have fast labors and that baby was premature and small, we had all kinds of extra help. There were two resident MD's as well as the attending physician plus several nurses. When it was time for delivery, we also had a team from the NICU there.
Since my experience delivering Chris naturally was so much better than Sarah's birth with an epidural, I really wanted to go natural again with this labor. The fact that my labors are short was the only thing that really gave me the courage to do it again. We watched a Hallmark Christmas movie to help distract me while I was in labor. I labored for about an hour and half before I was ready to push. I feel like I pushed for about an hour, but Kelson promises it was less than 10 minutes. Kathryn Diane was born at 4:29 AM on November 6th, and she came out crying and perfect.
So happy to finally meet her!
The threshold for them to have to take her to the NICU for evaluation was 2 kg. The nurses were crossing their fingers that she would meet the cutoff, but she was only 1.93 kg (4 pounds 3 ounces and 18 1/2 inches long), so she had to go to the NICU. We did get to hold her for a few minutes before they took her away.
The best moment that morning (other than meeting our beautiful, healthy baby girl, of course), was when the doctor told me that I didn't need any stitches. So happy! This turned out to be an extremely easy recovery for me, which was a huge blessing as we were in and out of the NICU for the next week.
After 2 hours of recovery in labor and delivery, we got to go down to the NICU to see our beautiful girl. She was doing great. She didn't need any supplemental oxygen, and she was maintaining her temperature on her own. Her only struggle was keeping her blood sugar up. For little babies like this, they can have a hard time getting enough sugar from their food to make up for the sugar they are using up. They hoped that she would balance out in a couple of hours and be able to come upstairs with us. I got to try nursing her, and she latched right on and ate for 15 minutes. Good job, Kate!
Look at those cute little baby feet! She has long fingers and toes, just like her sister. Those poor little heels got a lot of pokes over the next several days.
After a couple of hours, her blood sugar was still too low, so they had to start an IV to give her supplemental sugar and IV nutrition. They tried in her hand, but it didn't work, so she ended up with an IV in her scalp. It looked so sad! At this point, it became clear that Kate would need to spend at least a couple of days in the NICU.
A couple of hours later, Kate received her first visitors. Grandma and Grandpa Hindman and Aunt Katy (who Kate is named for) got to come visit in the NICU for a little while. Aunt Katy and Grandma had been planning on being there for the birth, but when I went into labor in the middle of the night we decided it would be better to let them sleep and call them when Kate was safely here. They got woken up by a surprise text message with a picture of Kate that morning.
We decided that Kelson would stay in Boise with Kate and I until she was ready to come home from the hospital, and Chris and Sarah would stay at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Baker. Sarah was very excited to meet baby sister, and she was not pleased to have to wait. She drew this nice picture of Kate and I at the hospital to help Kate feel better soon.
On day 2, Kate finally got to have her first bath (except for her hair) and get dressed.
Kate's job during her time in the NICU was learning to eat. After her first successful nursing session, she lost the hang of nursing, and we couldn't get her to really latch on again for several days. As it turned out, the dietician wanted her to have formula anyway so that she could get more calories and gain more weight. Every three hours, we went from my room on the 8th floor to the NICU on the 2nd floor to feed her a bottle and give her snuggles. We counted successes in number of milliliters she drank each time. In between feedings, we went back upstairs to pump milk for her to drink later and catch a little sleep.
Kate's first week in the world was quite the adventure. After she was born, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for how we were blessed leading up to her arrival. We were blessed to have the right doctors and the right monitoring to know that Kate wasn't growing properly. It was such a blessing that the doctor had already sent me to the hospital before I went into labor. I didn't have to have an induction, and I was able to labor naturally like I wanted. Kate was born at a hospital with a NICU, so we didn't have to worry about being separated after birth. I had the easiest recovery ever, which made it much easier on me to be up and down to the NICU all the time. While small, Kate had only minor difficulties at birth, and we were never concerned that she would have a hard time recovering. My family was able to take care of our other kids, and we never had to worry about them. The blessings just kept coming. I have no doubt that our Heavenly Father was watching over all of us through this whole experience. We love our little Kate so much, and we are thrilled to have her home with us.
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