Katie’s due date had been passed for ten days when I finally got the call Thursday evening that they were pretty sure she was in labor. I thought, “Great! I can probably catch a couple hours of sleep before I head out!” But it ended up being one of those times that I was too full of anticipation to fall asleep. I was in touch with Katie and Andy’s doula Molly, trying to determine when the best time to head out would be since she had not yet been checked to determine dilation. I ended up leaving for the hospital by about 1:00 am. I arrived to Katie laboring on the birth ball, with Andy and Molly by her side. By the sounds of things, I thought she might be close. A check while I was on my way revealed that she was 7 cm. Katie was handling things beautifully and was heading into the most intense part of labor. She had expressed before the birth that she wanted to go unmedicated, but that if things got too intense, she wasn’t dead-set against medication. After a couple more hours we all thought she might be complete, but she was only 8 cm. Even though she was laboring like a rock star up until this point, she said she was done. Now, this is the declaration of EVERY laboring woman at on point or another. But this woman meant business. There was really no arguing with her. She used her super-serious mom voice to let everyone know that any attempts at reassuring her were futile. So the anesthesiologist was called, but was having a busy night and took a little while to get there. The epidural was literally right outside the door when one last check let us know that Katie was complete, and it was time to push. Katie went right to it and pushed her baby into the world not too long after. Oh, did I mention she pushed her TEN POUND baby into the world?? And she did it like a pro! What a sweet, squishy little sweet heart! Congratulations guys! Thanks for letting me be a part of such an awesome birth.
**Don’t forget to click the little “HD” in the upper, right-hand corner of the slideshow, and watch in full screen!
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