Our New Arrival

Warning: This is a long one and might contain more details than you really want to know :)

I know, I'm a little behind on posting this. But give me a break, I have a newborn :) Our new little one, Kacey Jane, arrived on April 4. She is a very healthy, perfect little girl. At birth she weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce and measured 21" long. So, here's the rundown on her arrival...

On April 1, I went in for my appointment and the doctor said that if I wanted we could induce on Friday morning. I, of course, jumped at the chance. It had gotten to the point that I couldn't sleep for more than an hour or two at a time. I could not eat a cracker without getting severe heartburn, so I had gone through a huge bottle of rolaids in two weeks. My swelling was to the point that it just hurt all the time. Basically, I was miserable! Add to that the fact that the doctor felt like Kacey would hang in there for at least another two weeks if we didn't induce and I felt like inducement was the right decision for me. It was something that I had actually done a lot of research on before the doctor ever brought it up, so I knew the pros and cons.

So, Martin and I showed up at 9 on Friday morning as instructed, only to be told that the doctor was doing a C-section and wanted me to come back at 11. We wasted a couple of hours and arrived back at 11. The doctor got me admitted and the nurses got me all settled into my L&D room. After the nurse started my IV (which hurt like hell and bled all over the place), I got to order lunch before starting the inducement process. And let me tell you, Ireland Army Community Hospital has some kick-ass food! They have this system that is like ordering from hotel room service. Anyhoo, I got my lunch and then waited for the doctor to come back. He said he'd be back at 2 but it was 3 before he showed up. (This lateness turned out to be a chronic problem with the doc, but he got the job done so I'm not complaining at all.) So, at 3 pm, they inserted cytotec and we were on our way to baby. I had been having some contractions on my own, so that was a promising sign. At 5, the nurse told me to order some dinner because they were going to start pitocin around 6 and I wouldn't be able to eat after that. I ate, then they started the pit which helped my contractions to get stronger and eventually more regular. By 11 pm, the contractions were killer but I was still only dilated 2-3 cm so I couldn't have an epidural at that point. The nurse got me some IV meds and, let me tell you, they were almost as great as an epidural. I managed to sleep during the night. The first 6 cm went so slow! But finally, around 10 am, I was dilated around 6 cm and I got my epidural, YAY! Right before that, my water broke on its own. Once my water broke, things moved pretty quick and Kacey was born at 1:15 pm on Saturday. Despite how long the labor was (22 hours, if you start the clock when they inserted the cytotec), it was so easy. I didn't have any complications and no tears, woo hoo! I feel very blessed to have had such a wonderful labor and delivery, and a healthy little girl! Despite what you might have heard about military medical care, I had a great doctor, fabulous nurses and an overall wonderful experience at the hospital here on post. (Honestly, I've had two kids in military hospitals and one in a civilian hospital, and I have to say that my military experiences were way better than the civilian one.)

Life since Kacey's arrival has been incredibly hectic! But I wouldn't change it for anything. The boys adore their little sister. Martin has been fantastic. He had to go back to work today, so things are starting to fall back into a routine. I did nurse Kacey while we were in the hospital and we supplemented a little with formula until my milk came in. Now that we are home, I pump and she gets the milk in a bottle. It works really well for us, but it is a lot of work. However, I feel really good that she's getting the benefits of breastmilk. It's great to know that I can nurse her if I need to, but I love that Martin gets to be in on feeding her too.

So, there's my story of little miss Kacey Jane's arrival. Like always, I did things my way. I trusted my gut feelings and things turned out very well. My advice to any woman expecting a baby is to do the same. Take it all in and trust your gut. Really, that's good advice for life in general! I'm going to go look at my beautiful little girl now. Here's a picture so you can do the same :)