If you have read my three recent blogs “IT’S A GIRL!”, “BROKEN HEART” and “GROWING PAINS” then you know where I left off. If not, let me fill you in real quick! My boyfriend and I are expecting a baby girl who we will be naming Karlie Kate. When I was twenty-weeks pregnant, we found out that Karlie has a heart defect that we have been monitoring closely throughout the pregnancy. My OBGYN just informed me I could go into labor any day now and my boyfriend is still out of town working for two more weeks.
Today I am forty-weeks pregnant and I was supposed to wake up early to go have breakfast with my boyfriend’s family. Remembering this, I pried my swollen eyes open to get a glimpse of my fuzzy alarm clock. As the numbers began to come into focus, I realized it read 8:30am and I was running a little behind. I pulled my sheets off and rolled out of bed. Standing in front of my closet, I grabbed the closest dress I could find and threw it on. After adjusting my dress over my pregnant belly I made my way to the bathroom as I put my hair up in a messy topknot. When I had all my hair collected into my thin ponytail holder, I looked in the bathroom mirror to see my pale face staring right back at me. I reached for my newly acquired foundation from Urban Decay and blotted it on with my Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush. They had just came out with the Naked Skin – Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup which never failed to leave my face feeling flawless without the added weight most foundations left. Another glance at the mirror, I realized my eyelashes needed a few strokes of my favorite mascara from Benefit Cosmetics – they’re Real! One last scan in the mirror, I nodded at my reflection in approval and headed straight for my front door.
As soon as I was opening the door, a gust of mist hit my face and I immediately turned around to grab a sweater realizing how bad the weather was. I got in my car and drove down the street while fidgeting in the driver’s seat trying to get comfortable. Reluctant to pull into the Mexican restaurant’s parking lot, I got out of my car and headed straight to the entrance of the restaurant. Immediately I spotted the table of 8 with an empty chair on the end waiting for me. As I sat down my usual taco (potato, eggs, beans and cheese) was already waiting for me. As the aroma of my food wafted towards my nose, I instantly felt full. Not wanting to be rude or draw attention to my lack of appetite, I took two bites before I decided that I just couldn’t fit any more food in my stomach. The waitress had already cleared the table when I couldn’t bare the pressure of sitting for a second longer. I said my goodbyes and headed to Target, then the mall, then Walmart to distract myself from this weird twinge of pain that was constantly coursing through my lower back.
As I was wandering through each shop, I was texting my mom about how weird I felt today and she had spent most of the morning trying to convince me that I was going into labor. I eventually panicked when she gave me different scenarios of my water breaking in the middle of the store. I stuffed my giant belly behind the steering wheel of my orange car and headed home. Unloading my car with all the goodies I just purchased, I was trying to multi-task and text my boyfriend at the same time. My lack of multi-tasking skills left my hair damp with the misty overcast weather. He didn’t take me too seriously when I told him I was going into labor, but I packed a hospital bag anyways.
I know this is something you are supposed to always have prepared when you near the end of your pregnancy, but of course I was slacking. As I franticly try to toss things into my bag that I ‘think’ I might need as I munch on a Nature Valley Peanut Sweet & Salty Bar in case I don’t get another chance to eat before going into labor.
Packed and ready to go, I was bound and determined to drive myself to the hospital without warning anyone just in case it was a false alarm. As I was walking into the doors that read ‘Emergency Room’ they immediately put me in a wheelchair when I told the receptionist behind the glass, “I think I’m in labor”. They didn’t waste any time and took me back to a room immediately. The lady pushing me gave me a little run down as she handed me a hospital gown to change into and told me that she was just going to see how dilated I was. Freshly changed in my hospital gown, I struggled getting onto the bed where the nurse was standing, already putting gloves on. She pulled up my gown and said “WOAH! You are already 4cm dilated and in active labor!” It just all hit me at once, I was alone in the delivery room and I was in labor. This was all becoming so real but at the same time I felt like I was in a really vivid dream as I watched them get the room ready for Karlie’s arrival. Phone in hand, I started sending ‘selfies’ to my mom to prove just how fast this was happening and to distract me from having a panic attack. It wasn’t even ten minutes that had passed when I started reaching 7cm dilation. I started freaking out and called for an epidural because the pain was getting so bad so fast.
Waiting for them to bring in the epidural seemed like an eternity when contraction after contraction hit. I felt like I was in the movies as I clutched the side of my hospital bed, chewed on some ice chips and tried not to vomit all over myself. Finally! They enter my room with the magic cart. I am instructed to sit up in the bed with my feet hanging off and not to move an inch. It was then that I was reminded of my fear of needles, making me shake vigorously. My sweet nurse stands in front of my dangling legs and offers her assistance. As I lay my head on the nurse’s chest, she wraps her arms around me and the guy behind me sticks a 7-inch needle in my spine to pump me up with drugs. And let me tell you, those drugs work almost instantly! My mouth went completely numb, I could barley talk and I couldn’t feel a thing!
Shortly after all of the epidural, I just see my boyfriend’s aunt’s head pop in my room dressed extremely nice. She informed me she came straight from her friends Christmas Party. She was standing next to me like ‘Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City’ in her black dress and high-heels ready to help me deliver my baby.
We ended up being the hospital staffs’ entertainment that evening. It turns out my boyfriends aunt actually took her friends car to the emergency room, leaving her friend at the party. Sure enough, her friend strolls in about 30 minutes later with her black dress, high heels and full-blown makeup! Everyone joked that they were my escorts and supplied them with hospital socks.
With these two girls by my side, I felt invincible, probably because I was drugged up, but nonetheless, I was about to be a mom! My boyfriend’s aunt stood by my vital machine telling me when I was having contractions making me laugh because I still couldn’t feel a thing. As her best-friend was at my head filming, my boyfriend’s aunt held my leg the entire delivery until my precious baby girl sat on my chest.
Here is a video of Karlie Kate entering the world:
Coming next – “Meet Karlie Kate” at www.karliekateandme.com
karliekateandme.com 