she has arrived: khloe colleen heinrich!

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning .... the very next night after our false alarm, I was awakened with more contractions. This time I was even more wary of the possibility that this might be another false alarm. Before I went to bed (near midnight) that night, I had a few contractions that were stronger than usual, but I didn't think much of them. I woke up just before 2:00 a.m. to feel pretty deep contractions. I, of course, wasn't sure what it was all about ... so I just laid there like the nurse had told me to, relaxed, and counted my contractions with my iPhone app. I did this for an hour ... soon the contractions were getting too painful for me to keep quiet and still while laying next to Billy--who I didn't want to wake up to another false alarm, since he would have to go to work the next day. So, I moved out to the sofa knowing that the nurse said, "Real contractions continue, can be timed, and deepen even when you're relaxing with your feet up."

Let me take a break here to give you some back-up information about the evening before all of this mess! After feeling defeated by a 3-hour drive to and from Orlando for a false alarm, I was ready to try anything to get this labor going. I was having contractions all day ... but mostly 20-30 minutes a part. I had gone for several long walks, bounced on the yoga ball, exercised, squatted, did jumping jacks, and ran in place. I decided it was time to bring on the big guns: castor oil. I knew the risky alternative to drinking castor oil was just plain, old diarrhea. But I had heard that the effort your muscles go into to empty out your bowls can cause you to go into labor. I was ready for anything! I went with my Mom to the store, and we bought pop that I wouldn't ever want to drink again--because odds are that after drinking it with castor oil, I may never want to taste that flavor for the rest of my life. So, I got Pineapple Fanta and a Peach-Mango juice to mix with it ... just so I could force down the Fanta. I dumped about 1/4 of the bottle (or approx. 2 to 3 tablespoons) into the Pineapple Fanta/Peach-Mango concoction. The glass was a big one--probably about 30 oz. I drank it all down ... and the castor oil made it thick and slippery. It was gross! It took a while to kick in ... but in the midst of strong contractions, you do not want diarrhea cramps and explosive diarrhea (please excuse my openness and T.M.I.). It was awful! I didn't even know I had enough bowl space for all of that mess. I felt like every single time I used the bathroom between midnight and 4:00 a.m., it involved the castor oil project results. I can't say for sure if that had anything to do with me getting real contractions, but it had everything to do with me cleaning out my bowls (over and over and over again)--not to mention, the fear that I wouldn't make it an hour and a half up to Orlando without needing to use the restroom for my extended, castor oil-induced bathroom issues was so scary in and of itself. I just knew I was going to go in my pants ... I was in fear the entire drive that I would arrive at the hospital (Lord willing we even made it that far) covered in castor oil results. In the end, not sure castor oil was the way to go for me and my situation--maybe if I lived 10 minutes from the hospital ... then again ... maybe not!

Back to Tuesday night/Wednesday early morning ... so I went to lay on the couch. After almost another hour of timing regularly (and getting pretty intense pain), I decided I had to go to the hospital. Billy was so nice after our false alarm. He wasn't annoyed or mad that we drove all of that way for nothing only to come home and still go to work on Tuesday. He said that we would drive up to Orlando as many times as it takes to figure it out--no problem. I still felt badly, because I knew with as many false alarms I might have, he would still go into work that day as much as he could. But the pain was getting to be so bad that I felt like even if it was false labor again, I would just have a c-section, because I couldn't take another night or even day filled with more of these contractions. Looking back, I see that this should have been my "tip-off"--such intense contractions meant labor--but you have to understand, I didn't get contractions like this with Colton, because I was induced. So even though this was my second kid, I didn't have anything to really compare contractions with ... plus, we live forever away from the hospital ... so there's no "let's just run up there to see"--it's a three-hour tour. Anyway, I woke up Billy and told him that if this wasn't real labor, I was getting a c-section! We told my Mom that we were headed out, again, and we drove up to Orlando just after 4:00 a.m. (two hours after my intense, timed contractions really began)

The drive to Orlando was AWFUL. Okay, I'm pretty wimpy when it comes to pain, but I have never felt such intense pain with nothing that I could do. It eats your whole body ... you think it will never stop ... everything tenses up and curls up and you wonder if you will ever feel relief again. Then ... slowly it dissipates ... your muscles calm down, and you feel this warm feeling of comfort and strong sense of fear knowing that in just a couple of short minutes, it's all going to happen again! And in my situation, I knew it was going to happen with no sign of relief for at least another 2 hours! I have never yelled that much before--it was truly a movie birth experience. You know when you watch a movie with ladies who have had children, and there's a woman in labor ... she's screaming, yelling, crying all in agony. Those real-life mothers say, "It doesn't really happen that way." Well, when you have to drive a very long way to the hospital, and you have waited potentially too long until the deep, strong contractions have gone well past the beginning ... it does happen that way! I felt like I was in a movie. I have never yelled, screamed, pounded on things, and tensed up like I did on that ride--that has never felt longer--in my life! Looking back, it was embarrassing, but luckily (and sadly for him) only Billy had to experience that. I yelled only a couple of times at him, and I didn't even mean to really yell at him. I just wanted him to hurry! I didn't care if we drove 100 miles an hour, I was ready to be at the hospital. Also, a few times I told him to go around a certain car or speed up, but he was very, very patient with me. He was calm and just let me be ridiculous. I love him for that! He kept letting me squeeze his arm or hand, or he just held my leg while I freaked out. He's the best husband, and I am truly lucky.

When we got to the hospital, we parked up front, and we walked in heading straight to OB triage (and skipping walking through the labor and delivery unit ... which was out of the way). I had a few contractions on the walk from the car to triage, but we were in such a hurry, that I didn't get a wheel chair. The triage nurse was SUPER nice. I really liked her a lot--which is great when you are in copious amounts of pain--you need a good, kind nurse who knows exactly what to say. She got me hooked up to the monitor (and I knew that now that I was around more people than just Billy, I would have to be careful how I reacted to the contractions). I tried to listen to the nurses' advice: don't tense up, relax, take deep breaths--it won't hurt as much if I follow these rules. That's a bunch of hooey, but I tried them to avoid acting the way I had in the car. Sometimes, it worked, and sometimes, I just gave out a long yell. The nurse said that was perfectly okay ... I could do anything I needed to get through the contraction. As soon as she hooked me up to the monitor and felt my tummy, she said I was having very strong contractions--which I thought she might be able to tell by my reaction to them. She checked my dilation, and in 24 hours, I had gone from nothing to a 3! Quite a jump in one day. She immediately called my doctor, and they had me checked into a labor and delivery room. Meanwhile, I am begging for the CRNA (nurse anesthetist) to come in and give me the epidural right away! They were as quick as they could be ... but the CRNA didn't start the process until just after 7:00 a.m. (so this is 5 hours after my deep, terrible contractions had steadily begun). Now, with my contracting every 2 minutes or so, hunching over like an "angry cat" (as she said) and keeping perfectly still and relaxed is probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. My stomach is full-term pregnant, I don't roll up into a ball with a tummy like that on any normal day, but I tried as hard as I could--because I could see relief around the corner. I lowered my shoulders, hunched over, pushed my tummy into my back, stretched my spine, and slowly breathed in and out during each contraction (without tensing up my muscles) through 5 contractions, before she finally had the epidural catheter in place and a shot of medicine on it's way to numb the pain. It took about 10 to 15 minutes before I felt no pain ... then she told me it was more toward the left side, so I would have to let her know if the right side didn't take effect. I was worried, but I was also in that epidural trance ... so I didn't really focus on the fact that the pain could come back. By this time, I was texting everyone ... enjoying that warm, numbing feeling that took over my body.This is me ... in an epidural trance-like state. Feeling great, and SO very thankful for modern medicine!

After about an hour or so, I started to feel the contractions again. I told my nurse that I could feel them. She said to keep an eye on it and asked me what my pain level was. It wasn't enough to bother the CRNA. After some more time, the pain intensified, and I had dilated to a 4. But, I was feeling like the epidural may not be working--I wasn't going to have that! Not too long later, I was dilated to a 6, and I was progressing well ... the doctor had broken my water just after I was given my epidural. My nurse called the CRNA, and she said that she would give me some more intense medicine through my catheter ... and if that didn't work, then she would try to reposition it.

Which makes me stop to bring up something that happened just before the CRNA gave me my epidural. I was in a lot of pain, and I said to her ... "I'll sign anything. Let's just get this epidural going!" She says to me, "Don't rush it. This is my first time." Now, I don't know if she was making a joke or being real, but either way ... don't say that to me! If it was a joke--it was very ill-timed, and she didn't laugh it off. If it was really her first epidural without someone else there to watch her ... you don't tell your patient that! Crazy woman!

Anyway, just after she gave me my stronger dose of medicine, the baby's heartbeat started to drop. It fell into the 80s (and it should be in the 130s to 150s) for 3 minutes. They had to roll me all over the bed ... which proved the epidural had really worked this time, because I couldn't do anything to help them roll me around. My legs were heavy as rocks, and I had no control over them. They put an oxygen mask on me, and they told me to breathe slowly and deeply. The heartbeat finally recovered, but they had to call the doctor in. Dr. Sweet checked me, and I was still dilated to a 6 ... but the baby had done some twisting herself ... and she was now posterior (which means she was head down but face up). He said that if I was dilated to a 9, he would've let me continue with the VBAC and tried to get her to flip back over. But because I was only at a 6, and her heart rate had dropped for so long ... he didn't want to risk the wait. It was time for a c-section.

I told Dr. Sweet from the beginning that I completely trusted him. I wanted a chance at a successful VBAC, and he gave that to me throughout my pregnancy. I did learn something about myself. I have a small, narrow pelvis ... not perfect for birthing large babies (like the ones I tend to grow). They set me up immediately for a c-section ... and I warned them ... "If you give me stronger medicine for the c-section through my epidural catheter, I will throw up." They gave me Zofran right away, and miraculously, it worked! I was shaking violently, of course, because that's what the medicine makes you do. The nurses kept asking me if I wanted a blanket or if I was cold ... but no, I just looked like I was freezing ... the medicine just made me shake and shake and shake--teeth all a chattering. Billy was there by my side telling me how great I was doing and how brave I was being. I didn't even know they had started cutting (thank goodness the epidural worked VERY well). Then at 12:37 p.m., I heard her! She didn't sound anything like Colton. Colton sounded like a duck quacking ... in a low, deep quack voice. Khloe sounded like a crying baby ... higher than Colton's voice, but not so quacky-like. More like a whimpering cry. I started to cry when I heard her ... that was my baby girl. I had wondered how I could love any other child. I love Colton SO MUCH that I didn't know if I had anything left inside for someone else. I couldn't imagine throughout my whole pregnancy where this love was going to come from ... and then ... there it was--pouring out of me. I heard her and saw her ... and I was so proud that I had a little girl.

The first thing that was said when she was pulled out was, "Wow! That's a big head!" Then another nurse said, "You never would've pushed her out." Someone else said, "That is a big baby!" They measured her length at 21 1/2 inches (1/2 an inch longer than Colton), and they weighed her at 9 lbs. 4 oz.! We were expecting an "average sized" baby ... even the doctor was expecting a 7 to 7 1/2 pounder. Needless to say, I grow them big! I'm sure Colton would've been longer and heavier had we waited until he was full-term and came on his own. But Khloe is a chunk already ... and even after 1 day has only dropped to the size of Colton at birth. She had an apgar score of 9-9, so she checked out beautifully! Billy took care of her right away, as they stitched me up and I recovered from my shaking hazard. In the recover room, I held her skin to skin. It was so exciting to have our little girl here ... finally!These pictures are from my phone. I have better photos on my camera, but low and behold, I forgot the camera hook up to the computer at home. So, until we get a camera hook-up ... my phone pictures will have to do!

We spent the rest of the day (until 7:30 p.m.) in the recovery room. We had a birth day suite coming to us, but the lady who had been in there prior to us was still in the midst of checking out until evening. So, we opted to stay in the recovery room for the afternoon. We moved into our room (the same mother and baby room we had when Colton was born), and we prepared for some sleep! I had some trouble feeding her ... not because she wouldn't eat or didn't know how! That baby came out ready to breastfeed! She's a pro. One nurse said that she could teach the class on breastfeeding! But she's so heavy that when I feed her, she sits on my tummy and pushes weight down on my abdomen. It hurts pretty badly! I have to kind of hold her in suspension when she eats to avoid the pain of her pressing down on me. Needless to say, my arms will be sculpted by the time this is all over! She slept really well last night. She was so awake when she was born--eyes wide open and looking around at everything ... she either ate or looked around all day. She slept two 4-hour shifts through the night. That was really great! I got some decent sleep. Today, she has been as hungry as ever. Eating, eating, and more eating, but she has taken a great afternoon nap. Preparing for visitors, I assume! I took some more pictures of her this morning. It was been wonderful getting to know my baby girl.I just love her! She looks an awful lot like newborn Colton, but I know in time, she'll grow into her own. I think she's super, duper adorable, but she is my own kid! Good genes, I guess. Ha, ha!

I got up this morning and used the bathroom, walked around, etc. It was time for my cords to be taken off and for me to try to start recovering. The more I walk around and get up, the more quickly I start to heal, they say. So, I have been comfortably in a chair most of the day ... the bed was making my rear-end hurt! The first stand up was horrendous (as I thought it would be), but the first sit down was worse ... after that ... it's been easier and easier. I had a great Tech here this time ... she showed me what I needed to do and how to do it ... she was very patient with me and so encouraging. The walking was even easier this time around. I have narrowed that down to petocin. I didn't have petocin this time around, and I think that's what gave me more swelling in my legs, and therefore, a more difficult time moving my legs--which felt like big, dead, heavy rocks. Today, I walked pretty easily, and it didn't really hurt that badly to walk. My first bathroom adventure was a success! And I did it all by myself. All in all, it has been a great day! I am on my way to recovering from my c-section; my beautiful baby girl is sleeping soundly all snuggled in her swaddle, and Billy is resting on the couch. He brought me a dozen roses and a card when he got back from running errands today. I am a lucky Mom and wife. I can't wait for Colton to meet his baby sister ... he will when we get to Tampa. A three-hour drive is a bit much for him just to see the baby who will live with him for the next 18 years!

When I get more pictures from my camera, I'll post a new blog with them. Until then ... enjoy the phone photos!Me ... post getting up out of bed ... having all of my chords and catheters and tubes taken out. Finally got to walk around a while. It feels great!