* CLAUDIA CATE SCHULTZ *
AKA: Canty, CC, or Dia Cate *
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| Our first family photo: Daddy, Mommy and Baby Dia Cate |
Paul's Dad and Lauren - Sept 5
Paul - Sept 8
Paul's Mom - Sept 3 or 4th (I can't remember)
Me - Sept 2
I was the winner! My choice of Sept 2 was purely a choice of my work contract already starting so I'd be eligible for three "free birth of baby days" toward my leave of absence. It worked to my advantage and since I was admitted on August 31 my short-term disability 14 day waiting period began that day!
CAUTION! I'm putting some details of the labor in here,feel free to skip this part if A) you are not interested or B) you are grossed out or C) you already have the deets, I'm sure there is a D) out there too.
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| Here we are at the hospital Wednesday afternoon, waiting for the labor nurse to direct us to our room. I believe we are both nervously smiling... when we leave here, we will be parents! |
As soon as I was gowned up and monitored I had started contracting on my own. Needless to say I'm certain I'd been contracting for a few days now that I knew what the contractions felt like. I had been dilated a 1- for a few weeks (about 20% effaced when I was checked earlier that day). When she checked me I was still a 1.
The "waiting game" began. At about 6pm on the 31st, I was given Cervidil for 12 hours to "kick start" my dilation and perhaps start contracting stronger.
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| Here I am somewhat relaxed early on Wednesday evening. |
No such luck. I remained at the current status for the entire 12 hours with little progress. In the morning, I was a 1.5 or a 2! Wow...
Progress was slow for that entire Thursday. The hospital was busy with women who's babies weren't as comfy cozy in the womb as CC was...so the Dr.'s would pop in here or there, but with no progress on the petocin, we were in it for the long haul.
Around 1:30 pm or so on Thursday (my due date!) the Dr. mentioned breaking my water in an hour or so. At about 6:00 pm I inquired of my nurse if that was going to take place. They did, and contractions started coming harder. I was dilated to 4 cm at approximately 8:22 pm. It took me 7 hours and 42 minutes to then dilate to a 10. They had been messing with the pitocin levels up and down depending on how CC was reacting to it.
Sometime later Thursday evening I got an epidural. I really wanted to hang on as long as I could, but I was so tired after over 24 hours of contracting, an uncomfortable bed, and they wouldn't let me wander the halls or anything because of my one high blood pressure reading early on Wednesday. It was too risky Dr. said. I am grateful they were looking out for me, but I really wanted to be mobile during labor, and that wasn't going to be able to happen. So I opted to get the epidural so I could begin to rest a little bit.
The epidural was immediate relief. I was so relaxed they gave me oxygen since I wasn't breathing regularly. They upped the pitocin, and as they did that the epidural wore off quickly on my left side. They called the anesthesiologist back in to try to redose me. It didn't work. He had to start over again from scratch on the epidural. Paul remarked that he thought I was being doped because he saw so many syringes of fluid enter my body. I had plenty of funny things to say during this time. Also there is a horrific picture that exists of me clutching the side of the bed with all my might. I leave it out purposefully for all of your sakes. But here are a few of my mumblings during the drug induced comfort:
- "You are the greatest person on earth, I just really think you are so nice." (to the anesthesiologist)
- I repeatedly thanked everyone for being so wonderful to me.
- "I can't even tell you how great this feels, I can totally see how people get addicted to drugs and alcohol if they feel like this"
- I told the nurse and Dr. about my trip to Bend Oregon with my sister in 10th grade (random I know...but he did ask me if I'd had surgery and I answered yes and told him about the trip my sister promised me when I was going under for my appendectomy). I talked about cross-country skiing, horseback riding, etc.
- I asked my nurse Sarajane (who rocked by the way and was my all time favorite nurse while were there and she got to be there through to the delivery!) to get me all the names of nurses and staff that helped me so I could write them thank you notes.
- I told them all that the oxygen mask was "great" because it smelled so strongly of pralines. I said " I can get used to this!"
I'm sure there were more, but a week later, my mind is foggy and Paul can't recall right now either.
After the second epidural and before I was checked to see that I was dilated to 10cm, I was instructed by Sarajane not to push if I felt like pushing but to do the whole panting thing. She left the room, Paul fell asleep and I spend 45 minutes trying not to push. It was soooo hard not to, it seemed the only way to relieve the pressure. But I listened to my nurse.
Sarajane came in to check me again and I was ready! I was incredibly limber in my medicated state, I was able to move my own legs the entire time. She called the Dr. who was about to scrub up for a c-section and since I'd been so slow to progress, the Dr. said she'd pop in to see how I was doing, but most likely I'd be pushing after she performed the c-section. Dr. McFadden, the on-call Dr. came in as Sarajane and Paul had me oxygen-ed up, ice chips between contractions, and had already started me pushing for little CC's arrival. Her head had begun to crown before Dr. McFadden arrived.
Dr. McFadden walked in kind of non-chalantly, until she saw baby CC's head and then she quickly gowned up and said, "Somebody tie me, somebody tie me!" 48 minutes of pushing like a champ ( Dr., Paul, and nurses words not mine) we had our little one!
Paul was so great, he fed me ice chips between pushings, he kept encouraging me to push and gave me updates on her progress. They had me feel her head in the middle of the ordeal which made me want to push even harder because I could tell she was on her way! The Dr. was so nice too! I was so grateful for the people that supported me. We had decided that we just wanted it to be Paul and I in the delivery room and I was a little nervous about only having support on one arm, but honestly, it was perfect! Paul and I were thrilled to be able to share those moments together. I know my mom and dad were present with us in the room as I felt the comfort of all my family during the labor.
I immediately asked about her ears (two of them and they both work great!) and her fingers and toes as they placed her on my tummy and Paul was preparing to cut the cord. I was so relieved and happy to see her I was almost distracted enough not to notice I was clearly being stitched up extensively south of the equator. (no more details needed there...2nd degree tearing)
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| See the deets on labor on the bottom of the whiteboard |
So, they call my labor length 9 hours 34 minutes (from when I was dilated to a 4 until delivery)
So the contractions from Wednesday at 4:30pm until Thursday late evening didn't get me any credit dang it! :)
We feel so blessed. She is happy, healthy, little one that has brought us so much joy already! Here are a few pictures to enjoy of her first few moments on earth.
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| 7 pounds 8 ounces, 19.5 inches, circumference of head 13.8 and just beautiful! |
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| Ahhhh...the relaxation! |
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| Proud Daddy in his Daddy scrubs |
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| Wow, I look beat! Gotta love the hormones doing a number on my skin... Claudia Cate was worth every minute! |
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| She's so cute and tiny! |
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| Hearing Screening Results! She passed in 2 minutes 34 seconds! |
A surprise super blowout poo gave Paul the opportunity to 'scrub her down' at the sink with the nurses assistance on Day 1. When Paul opened up the diaper he said, "Woah I'm going to need to get rubber gloves for this" It quickly resulted in CC getting poo on her hand, feet, tummy, etc. I was in bed so the nurse suggested they go rinse her off in the sink. Paul was the one to scrub her up. She also got a litle scalp massage with the brush.
I didn't believe Paul at first that she had created such a mess. I thought he was trying to be funny...It was quite laughable AFTER she was all cleaned up!
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| Look how tiny she is compared to the sink...and Paul's arm! |
