Welcome Kiara Elisabeth!

Our little bundle of joy has arrived! Kiara Elisabeth was born on October 9th at 9:15 pm. She weighed in at 4 lb 8 oz and she was 16 1/2 in long.

In my 33rd week of pregnancy, I went to a Doctor's appointment regarding my blood pressure. I had been having complications with it and it was getting worse. I had already been on medication for a few weeks because of it. At my appointment, my Doctor decided that I officially had preeclampsia and he was not letting me go home. I was admitted to the hospital from his office. I spent the next two weeks in the hospital being continuously monitored and tested. My family and friends were amazing! They continuously called, visited and brought me little things to occupy my time and keep my mind off of what was happening. We knew that our goal was to make it to 35 weeks, even better if we could make it to 37 weeks, but 40 weeks (my due date) was out of the question. I was given steroid shots to increase the probability that Kiara would be able to breath on her own and I was only allowed out of bed to do the basics like brush my teeth and take a shower. We were doing everything in our power to keep Kiara in for as long as possible and to keep my blood pressure as stable as possible.

At 1am on October 9th, we decided we had made it as far as we were going to. I was officially 35 weeks and two days. My blood pressure had reached a critical point and they were unable to lower it. I was induced. They told me that I could be in labor for the next two to three days since I was so early and they didn't think my body was ready to have this baby. Immediately I began having contractions. They were a little sporadic at first, but within about an hour they were very regular and I was having them about every five minutes. I continued to practice my breathing while I waited for Zach and mom to arrive at the hospital. I had told them to take their time since we thought things were going to take so long. They both arrived at about 1pm. By that time, the contractions were much worse. I was really having to focus to get through them and I was having a lot of pain in my back, not back labor, just pain. Thank Heaven for the tennis balls that Zach had brought to the hospital. Mom and Zach took turns rubbing my back with them during every contraction. By that time, my contractions were only about two minutes apart and lasting for over a minute. Which meant that I was having maybe 45 seconds to rest in between contractions. It was very hard work! I knew it would be difficult and I had said from the beginning that I did not want any drugs. I refused to have an epidural due to my fear of needles. I wanted to remember Kiara's labor and delivery and I didn't want to risk passing out due to the needle!

At about 2:30, I was only at 1cm. But at least I had made it to that! At about 5pm they had to give me oxygen to make Kiara "happier". That also helped me get through the contraction better and I actually slept for about 30 minutes, even through the contractions! At 6pm, my doctor arrived and I was at 2.5cm and 3/4 effaced. They decided to break my water! This increased my contractions even more! At about 7:30, I decided to have them give me Fentenal thru my IV to try and take the edge off of the pain. This allowed me to have a little time to breath in between the contractions. I still felt the worst of the contraction but I didn't feel the beginning of them and I didn't feel the end. Even though I needed to have some drugs, I am still proud of myself for not succumbing to the epidural.

At 9pm, I was in the middle of a contraction when I suddenly had the urge to push. My mom pushed the call button for the nurse and within about two minutes, 10 nurses and my Doctor were in the room and setting up. They did a quick check and said that I was "complete" (10 cm). I pushed through the next two contractions and Kiara was born! They immediately began checking her, the NICU nurse had to make sure that everything looked good. She was breathing on her own, she had apgar scores of 8 and 9! She was perfect!

We had to be very careful about keeping her body temperature up and making sure that she was nursing well, she did great, and making sure that her blood sugar didn't get too low. She did great with all of those things and she never had to spend any time in the NICU! Praise the Lord!!! On the night of the 10th, she had her carseat test and she passed with flying colors! All babies under 5 lbs have to pass the carseat test to make sure that they don't stress out while in the carseat for long periods of time.

We were both discharged on Monday the 11th in the morning. We went through the routine paperwork and packed up our things. We arrived at home with our little one by about 1pm on the 11th!