Kaitlyn Nicole Aitken

Kaitlyn Nicole Aitken was brought into this world on Friday, November 6 at 7:55 p.m. via C-Section. But let me start from the beginning of the day...

Eric and I left the house for our induction at 4:40 am. There was a lot of nervous and excited energy in that car! But we were both sleepy too. When we got to the hospital, we heard they had a busy night, so it would be "awhile" before the nurse came in to start the process going. But by 5:40 am, they came in to start me on the Pitocin drip. Our first fun started when they were done getting all the information from me and put the bracelet on my name that said "Kerry Aiken." They were not too happy to realize at the end of their long shift, that they would have to redo all of my things to spell the name right :)

The morning went by and contractions got stronger and tougher. We never were timing them on our own, so we didn't have a good handle on how quickly they were coming. I wasn't very dilated, which was frustrating. By noon, I was in a lot of pain. I thought I could still handle it, but considering I was only 3 cm dilated (maybe 4, it's all a haze right now) I didn't know if I could make it all the way to 10 cm. So the nurse and my doctor convinced me to go ahead with the epidural.

The anesthesiologist who administered the epidural was quite a character. That was good because let me tell you, I was terrified of getting that epidural. It was not really something I wanted to have to do and was the start of things that didn't exactly go as planned. I had some difficulty getting it. Mainly because I could feel something while he was doing it and I would freak out. It would get worse when he would quickly ask where I could feel it which would only panic me more. He told me I have the back of a 20 year old (oh, flattery!) and asked if I had played soccer. How did he know?

After that, I felt nothing (which I did not like). It was really strange to not feel your legs or the contractions. I kept setting off the monitors because my pulse was too high and I was just laying there. That's how we knew the contraction was going on. The anesthesiologist turned down the epidural drip to the lowest amount and just allowed me to push the button if I wanted more. That worked out a little better.

The afternoon went on. We watched tv - Dr. Oz, then Ellen, then Oprah. All the while, we were kept company by our labor nurse, Natalie. We really liked her. She had the right mix of wit and sarcasm that kept things light and relaxed. She was even there to hold the puke bucket for me. OK, not a fan! I read that I might get nauseous during labor but didn't expect actual vomiting. Yuck!

I believe I started pushing around 5 pm. The doctor was there and said I was 9+ cm dilated and that if I started pushing, I would quickly become 10 cm. I later found that my nurse was not a fan of this approach (and figured it was because my doctor wanted to go home) since it required me to push sooner than I had to and was tiring me out.

They told me I was a good pusher (hmm, I bet they say that to everyone) but it was weird since I didn't have a lot of feeling to know what I was doing. I struggled the most with getting a good, deep breath to push. By the 3rd push each contraction, I almost wanted to "pretend" to push so they would hurry up and let me rest.

Around 7 pm, my doctor came back and was trying to turn the baby while I was pushing. She would get her turned but then Kaitlyn would turn back again. She was hoping to help guide her though the birth canal. That girl did not want to come out! So at this point she told me that she didn't think we were going to get her out - that the baby was too big. She said she would let me push for awhile longer if I wanted to (seriously???) but that we were going to have to do a C-section.

At this point let me pause to reflect on a comment I made during the pregnancy - which was, "man, the worst thing in the world would be to labor all day and then still end up with a C-section."

So there I was, getting ready for surgery and terrified. I was not looking forward to being awake through the procedure. I would have definitely preferred to be out! I heard many a conversation from my doctors on the other side of the screen that I would have liked to have slept through. The comments like, "hmm, what is that?" And the idle chit-chat. I wanted to yell out - can you concentrate please?? So I just kept my eyes closed and tried not to shake too much. That was a lovely side effect from the epidural that I could have skipped. I looked like Michael J. Fox (no disrespect to him) because I was shaking uncontrollably (not because I was cold). They kept telling me that was the reaction of my central nervous system. Oh joy!

Kaitlyn was born at 7:55, weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz! So she was bigger than we thought she would be based on the size of my belly. She actually had some cord wrapped around her neck, but was not in distress. Eric and I think that it might have ended up an emergency C-section regardless, due to that cord.

She swallowed some amniotic fluid, which caused them to keep her in the nursery for a little longer than normal, but I met her in our room after 1 am. We were not too happy with the hospital because they were out of the nice fancy post-partum rooms and we were placed in the overflow area (otherwise known as the old wing). Boo! But I digress...

The nurse helped me breastfeed for the first time and Kaitlyn was champ. She knew just want to do. She ended up sleeping that night in the nursery and was brought to us when she was hungry due to the fluid she swallowed during birth. They wanted her to be watched to be sure her color stayed good. We decided that we couldn't sleep and watch her color (and boy did we need some sleep). It was a long birth day!!