I can't believe that Baby Rory is almost eleven weeks old! I wish I would have known about this website so that I could have blogged our entire journey, from pre-pregnancy to full-term pregnancy to labor to motherhood, but now's as good a time as ever to keep up.
So, it all starts sometime in Spring of 2008. I'd been dreaming of Baby Rory since Aaron and I were married in June of 2007, but I postponed the talk with Aaron until Spring of 2008 when I bought him an AR-15. The agreement was . . . "If I let you get this gun, you have to promise that we will try making a baby come December." So the agreement was made. That December happened to be the year that my entire family came in for Christmas. Joel, Mae, and Ella from Kuwait and Josh, Dena, Braden, Maddie, and Olivia from Kansas. I'd never met Mae, Ella, or Olivia. I'd not seen Josh for four years. And I'd not seen Joel for a year and a half. That Christmas was the best Christmas EVER!!! Even though we'd made plans to start trying then, we postponed for a little while more. We didn't take any precautions, but we didn't REALLY start trying.
We had a trip planned in March of 2009 to go to Disney World. Since the trip was planned, we decided that instead of trying in December, we'd make it our goal to begin trying on this vacation. Boy, oh, boy did we try then! The vacation was amazing!!! Disney World is a blast! It was romantic and exciting and fun. We drank margaritas while we walked around the parks. We ate amazing food. We played. We laughed. We took 100s of pictures. And we tried making our Baby Rory.
When we got back and I took a pregnancy test, I was saddened to know that our many attempts had failed us. It seemed to me that it was going to take forever!
Forever was short-lived, as it took only another six weeks before we discovered that we'd finally done the deed! LOL. When I peed on that pregnancy test stick and finally discovered a "pregnant" reading and not the typical "not pregnant" that I'd been used to seeing, I screamed, followed shortly after by bawled, follwed shortly after by ran into the bedroom to inform Aaron. He knew exactly what I was going to tell him before it even came out of my mouth! Stunned is how I would describe his reaction.
From then on, the idea of being pregnant never became less joyous! I LOVED being pregnant. EVERYONE commented on me and how I was growing. I don't believe I have ever felt so special. Nonetheless, pregnancy was hard on me! I didn't fret about how hard, but boy was it. I gained 100 pounds, and toward the end, I couldn't even lift my legs. I had 1000000+ pitting edema. LOL. But that belly of mine was sensational! I couldn't help but to smile every time I looked at my belly and every time I felt Rory's hiccoughs, startling movements, or kicks. It was absolutely amazing. I couldn't stand the wait for her arrival though.
I spent all my time waiting either talking about her or cleaning up the house in it's entirety for her or buying her things. I'd always said how much I wanted a boy, but when we found out (September 22) that she was a girl, to my amazement, I was ecstatic!!! Mommy Kate was going to have her own little girl. I'd always known her name was going to be Rory since I started dreaming of having my own little baby after June 23, 2007, when Aaron and I got married. Aaron was not fond of naming a boy Rory, but either way, this baby was destined to be named Rory. I also wanted her initials to be AK as are her father's and my initials, and I wanted her to have a family name, as all of the women in my family have been named after an elder. Thus, Aurora (for the A and the ability to shorten to Rory) Elizabeth (named after her great-great grandmother Elizabeth Muriel) Knotts became her name. We had decided on her name the day we found out that she was a girl.
Finally, Monday, February 1, 2010, I called the doctor for an appiontment because I was SO swollen. I'd planned to be delivered by Dr. Flowers, but Dr. Wheeler saw me this day. He asked if I'd considered induction before, and that was music to my ears. I'd told myself that I would never be induced early, as Rory would come out when she was ready, but the swelling was just TOO much for me to handle. I was becoming preeclamptic. (Actually, I had all the signs WAY before, but Dr. Flowers never did anything.) Dr. Wheeler told me to come in on Wednesday, February 3, to start my induction and said that labor would begin on Thursday. Aaron and his mom came with me on Wednesday and stayed with me. They went out to get me my last meal before becomming Mommy while the nurses put in the catheter to begin dilation. Wow was that uncomfortable! I can't stand a urinal catheter, and this was WAY worse. It always seemed that something was trying to yank on it. It was like sitting on pins and needles waiting for the moment this horrible contraption could come out. It had to stay in until I was 3 cm dilated, and after putting it in at 4:00 PM, it didn't come out until 7:00 AM Thursday morning. Horrible, horrible, horrible experience, but worth it, as it lead to the arrival of my sweet Baby Rory.
At 7:00 AM Thursday, February 4, Dr. Wheeler came in and broke my water. That was quite an interesting feeling. No pain followed by a gush of water. I bet I lost 10 pounds right then. I had absolutely NO pain for hours, only to find out that I'd not progressed any! I was stuck at 4 cm from the time he broke my water until probably noon. I started feeling a little bit from my contractions, but it still wasn't too bad. But before it got bad, I asked for some IV pain meds. My instincts were right on, because as soon as I got the pain meds and took a much needed nap, the monitor was picking up on my contractions, and they were there full speed! I still felt no pain! The contractions actually felt amazing! I knew where they were leading. It seemed then that things were progressing fast! The IV pain meds were to wear out in two hours, and by that time, I'd progressed another 3 cm. I called for an epidural, still not in any pain but knowing that the IV pain meds were about to run out and the show was about to start. Bad idea! As soon as the epidural was placed, my blood pressure starting crashing, and Rory's heart rate started dropping. I was too "out of it" to feel any fear, excitement, anything, meanwhile soon-to-be daddy, the nurses, my mom, and Aaron's mom were freaking out! I later found out that the nurse informed all of us to not be surprised if Rory ended up going straight to the NICU!!! I came to shortly thereafter and all was okay for the moment. I just had to really listen to what Rory was telling me and keep doing only what she responded well to.
Finally, at 5:00 PM, the nurse told me that I was at 9 cm!!! We called everyone we knew. "Katie's at 9 cm, the baby will be here anytime now, get here if you're coming." So everyone came, except my three oldest brothers. They wanted SO badly to be there, but one was at work, one lives in the Philippines, and one lives in Kansas. They kept calling to check on me though. At 6:00 PM, I was still at 9 cm. At 7:00 PM, still at 9 cm. At 8:00 PM, no change. At 8:30 PM, still no change, but I started pushing. I pushed and I pushed and I pushed and I pushed. I pushed for two hours. (And with all that pushing, I pooped and I pooped and I pooped! LOL.) The pain never hit me until she started coming. The epidural had ran out, and I felt everything! Glad I did too because, though painful and exhausting, it was amazing. It was kind of like I was in a dream. I saw nothing but gave everything I had. My face swelled so big! I had dried sweat crusted to my scalp. Finally, at 10:17 PM (a mere 13 minutes before C-section was to begin), Baby Rory arrived, healthy and screaming, in no need to be rushed to the NICU, with a full head of brownish blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and weighing in at 8 lbs 7 ounces. Once she'd pooped, they gave the official weight of 8 pounds 3 ounces with a 14.5 inch head circumference and was 20.5 inches long. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid my eyes on!!! I remember moaning after she'd finally delivered, "my baby, my baby, my baby!"
After all was said and done, I then was stitched up and cleaned up and rid of all the crazy contraptions I was hooked up to and was able to hold my sweet baby girl for the rest of the night. Since that wonderful night, I've had many, many more wonderful experiences with my baby girl. Tune in for more information at a later date.
This is Mommy Kate signing off. Until next time.
