Caroline Paige York

I need to get this written down before I forget it all...it all happened so fast, I'm worried that I'll forget the details!

So...Thursday night (the 17th), nesting set in big time and the kids and I spent a good two hours scrubbing down the kitchen and living room. I seriously was down on my hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor with Clorox wipes. I finished cleaning all the floors in the house that night and wiped down every surface I could think of. Friday (the 18th), I freaked out big time...the kids and I got up like normal, ate breakfast like normal and as soon as I said it was time to leave to take Timothy to school, he started acting weird and continued the whole drive to the school. It ended in him going to the bathroom as soon as we got there to throw up. I think he was nervous about something and then maybe a little car sick because as soon as we got back home he was fine for the rest of the day. I spent most of that day laying around being depressed that I wasn't in labor. Saturday (the 19th), started normal...we didn't have much to do and I was still throwing myself a "I'm so sad I'm not in labor" pity party. That afternoon I decided to read up on the medicine the doctor was planning to use to induce me with and totally freaked myself out about it. I left to go to the store and had a very serious talk with God about how scared I was to be induced and could He please not let that happen...

I had a few contractions while I was out, but they weren't that bad so I didn't think much about it. We ate dinner like normal and went about our normal Saturday night routine. While the kids were taking their bath, I had the urge to iron all of the clothes in their closets that needed to be ironed. That's when I really started to notice the contractions. They weren't bad enough to make me stop walking around or talking though, so I kept on ironing. Brandon put the kids to bed and I noticed the contractions were getting a little more painful. I decided to keep myself busy and started working making new bow holders for Charlotte and Caroline. That's when they started getting bad...I noticed I had to stop working to get through them and decided I should probably send my mom a text and let her know that they were bad enough to start timing. They were coming about every six minutes or so and I finally consented to calling labor and delivery.

The girl on the phone suggested that I drink 32 oz. of water and wait an hour to see if they got better or worse...well, they got much worse. Closer to 3 minutes apart and I couldn't move or talk or anything. Meanwhile, I had been calling and calling every family member I had a phone number for and NO ONE was answering their phones. It got pretty funny after a while and I'm sure they all enjoyed hearing my voice mails asking them to please call me back because I was pretty sure we were headed to the hospital soon! Finally, Heather called me and her and Kevin and Tyler immediately hopped in their car to head down this way and stay at the house with the kids. Brandon decided we couldn't wait that long (it takes them about an hour and half to get here), so he called our good friend Cindy to come over and sit at the house until they all got here. Thankfully, she was still up and lives only a few minutes away and was here fast and we finally left for the hospital a little after 11pm.

The ride there was horrible and funny at the same time. The contractions were terrible and hurt so bad I could barely breathe. But, anyone that knows my husband knows how very carefully he follows the law and thankfully he could tell I was in a bit of pain so he turned on the flashers on the car and sped the whole way there...he even ran quite a few red lights and drove down the median for a while :) Love that man!! We got to the hospital a little before midnight and had to go in at the main entrance. The lady there that checked us in was nice but SLOW and I was in so much pain I wanted to scream at her...but she finally got us checked in and pushed me down to L&D. Thankfully they had a room left (we got the last one) and the nurse checked me and I was already dilated to a 4 and 80% effaced. I told her to hold off on the epidural because I still wasn't sure I wanted one...and she got to work getting my IV in...the first try didn't work and the second girl that came in couldn't find a vein so they called IV therapy and thankfully that girl was amazing and got it in quickly! The nurse pushed some pain killers through the IV and I was able to relax a bit...and then the contractions picked back up again and I gave in to the epidural. It seemed like it took forever for that girl to get in our room and even longer for her to get it all in and working and by the time I could make it through a contraction without screaming I had progressed to an 8 and she could feel Caroline's head already.

It's true what they say that the third time's a charm because with Timothy and Charlotte my epidurals didn't quite work right, but this one was perfect. I could feel tons of pressure, but it wasn't really painful, but I still knew when I was having a contraction so I knew when I was going to need to start pushing. Now, all of this happened in a little over an hour, so the doc came in and told me she was staying close because she thought I'd be ready to go at any minute. In the meantime, Brandon had gotten a hold of Brittany and she and Mike were on their way to my parent's house (from Seattle), so wake them up and get them to the hospital. I made it to a 10 and the nurse said I could wait to push if I wanted to, so Brandon texted Brittany to see how close they were and decided that I should go ahead and start pushing.

Our whole world changed with that first push. Immediately the nurse turned to the neonatal nurse and told her to call the NICU and get them in there. Apparently, Caroline had passed her first meconium already and they had to call NICU. I kept pushing when the doctor coached me to and after about 5 pushes she was out. They took her away immediately to clean her up and my heart almost stopped beating until Brandon told me she was moving and I heard her cry out. It turned out that her cord had a perfect knot in it that thankfully wasn't completely cinched and the remaining cord was wrapped around her neck twice. Brandon didn't get to cut the cord, but neither of us cared at all because she was here and alive and healthy.

I was sad that I didn't get to hold her right away, but one of the reasons I love Tacoma General is that your baby stays in the room with you from the beginning until you leave (unless there's a serious issue, obviously), so Caroline was able to stay close and I had her in my arms soon. All the nurses went on and on about how she's a miracle baby. Mom and dad and Britt and Mike got there right as they were finishing up cleaning everything up and were able to come in and see our new little girl. They were there when they weighed and measured her and got to love on her for a bit before heading back home. I got to spend lots of quality time nursing her and holding her and we were moved into our recovery room a little before 5 that morning.

It seemed like it all happened so fast and so slow all at the same time. Seriously, we got to L&D around midnight and she was born at 2:28am. I think because the pain was so intense it seemed like everything took forever and it still seems surreal that she's here and we're home and our family is now complete.

Since we've been home, life has been pretty good. Caroline is one well-loved little girl. From the first time they saw her in the hospital, Timothy and Charlotte have not stopped being sweet to her. Charlotte is hilarious with her, she gets so excited every time she sees her and especially loves seeing her eyes open and will tell anyone close by that "eyes are open"!! Timothy loves to hold her and hug her and is so sweet and gentle with her. It's such a crazy thing about babies, she's so new, but it seems like she's been here forever and I can't imagine life without her.

So here are her stats and a few pictures...

Caroline Paige York

born Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 2:28 am.

weight 6 pounds, 12 ounces

height 19.5 inches