The Fletchers: Our New Arrival

*Birth story ahead. It is long and semi-detailed; mostly for my remembering. Skip to the pictures if you'd like.*

Alright, let's see if I can relay the birth story of Kylie. It started Saturday night around 11:00pm when I went upstairs to go to bed. Scott was going to stay up a little longer and watch something on the T.V. I tried to go to sleep, but the contractions were coming. It was enough that I couldn't sleep and an hour and a half later, went downstairs to hang out with Scott. We put on the movie Stardust to watch and during the whole movie, I was having contractions. We started timing them and it was around 3am when the contractions were becoming more regular.

We made sure we had everything and left. I was worried that it was false labor because it seemed that the contractions were very short and I remembered reading that they should be about 1 minute long for it to be real labor. Despite the duration of the contractions, they were very consistent in how far apart they were--4 minutes. I had been told that once you arrive at the hospital they don't let you eat or drink, so be sure to eat something before you head in. I had actually thrown up dinner right before we left the house, but I didn't want to go in on an empty stomach. We found a McDonald's (one of the few 24 hour restaurants) and just got drinks because I really couldn't stomach any food.

We arrived at the hospital around 4:00am and checked in. When the nurse checked me, she said I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced, so I was staying. I expressed wanting an epidural and within an hour of checking into the room, I received it. I was surprised at how quickly I got it, but I guess the anesthesiologist wanted to do it before his shift was over that morning (so he could also check on me during his shift instead of after). Getting the epidural really wasn't that bad, but I became so numb! I really had a hard time feeling the lower half of my body. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for it since I couldn't feel the contractions at all, but it was weird not really being able to move my legs.

I was able to get a good solid hour of sleep before I woke up and started feeling contractions again. The nurse checked me and I had dilated to a 6 now and still 90+% effaced. Because I was so numb from the epidural, I needed to rotate every 30 or so minutes so one side doesn't get worse. At one point, I needed to turn over and had Scott help me. As I turned over, I started to feel really nauseous and threw up the drink I got from McDonald's. However, when I sat up to throw up, my water broke! We called the nurse, she came in, checked me and I was now dilated to a 9!

She quickly called my doctor to let him know what was going on. I swear Kylie knew that this was supposed to be the day she was born. At my last doctor's appointment, I was informed that he would be going out of town the next week, so to try to have the baby by then. Also, he would be on-call Friday and Sunday, but not Saturday. Kylie came the day before he headed off on vacation and a day he was on-call. Crazy how things work out. I sure was praying hard that it would.

Pushing lasted about 30 minutes and Kylie was born at 9:45am and 7 lbs, 13 oz., 19 inches long!! While the nurse was washing her off, she noticed that Kylie wasn't getting enough oxygen. They took Kylie to the nursery and pulled out a total of 15 milligrams of fluid from her stomach! She was only in the nursery for about 2 1/2 hours though, so she did great in coming back. Recovery for me went pretty well, actually. I had some shakes after delivery and was super exhausted, so I was able to rest up while Kylie was in the nursery (Scott was there with her). The only thing that I didn't enjoy was that I was numb in my right leg (from the epidural) until about 10:00 that night. I couldn't stand on it at all, so I had to have a lot of help to go to the bathroom. I was stuck in bed until the numbness went away.

Altogether, labor, delivery and recovery went quite well!! Scott & I love our sweet girl and are so excited that she is a part of our family! I know there will be a point where we won't be able to imagine life without her...and I am okay with that.

Now, pictures for your viewing pleasure. :)