She's here!!!

Katelyn Nicole Richardson

September 8,2009 @5:15pm

8.15lbs

20.5 inches

Birth Story:

Sept 8 2009...
Paul and I went in for my doctor appointment at 10:30. Everything looked great! That is until they checked for her position, she switched from head down to breech... We went home pretty upset. We wanted to try everything we could to avoid a c section, my worst nightmare, so we went to the chiropractor to have the Webster technique done and drank a squishy trying to get her to flip with all the sugar. We then went home and waited to hear from the doctor's office. They called at 12:30 and said that we could go in to try the external cephalic version, an attempt to manually flip her. We went in very hopeful. When we got there they hooked me up to monitors to check her HR, contractions, and BP. My BP was very high from the stress, that was the first bad sign, they couldn't attempt the version unless my BP went down. For a second they thought I might be pre-eclamptic, but the blood work cleared that up. Next we went to get an ultrasound, they needed to confirm her position, the location of the placenta and the cords location. This is where the news got really bad for me. Everything looked good as far as the babies condition but looked very bad for the e version. My placenta was anterior and we had a nucal cord, basically this meant they could not attempt it due to the threat of placental abruption and the cord around the neck would tighten if they tried to turn her. At 3:45 the doctor walked in and said, "Well the good news is your having a baby today! The bad news is we can't attempt to turn her." My heart broke, all my prep and planning were out the door, I would not be having the birthing experience that I longed for, instead she would be delivered from me. I had to come to terms. As long as she and I are healthy that's all that matters. They started getting everything ready and within 30 minutes they started prepping me for surgery and 30 minutes from that she was born. She was so beautiful, and the sound of her cry was music to my ears! I couldn't wait to hold her. I was overcome with joy, I couldn't believe she was here, happy and healthy, her APGAR was 8/9 which is really good for a c-section baby.

Although I only had 1 hour to try and come to terms with the demise of my birthing wishes and although mentally I have accepted that this was the best choice for our daughter, emotionally it will be a very hard road. I know that many will not understand why this is so hard for me, but it is, its devastating to me. I love my daughter more than life itself, but it hurts that I didn't get to birth her, that she had to be delivered from me.

Love at first sight

First time daddy held her!

First family picture