June’s Birth Story

June Deanne arrived Friday, May 13, 2016 at 2:43 AM!

9 lbs. 9 oz.

21 1/2 in. long

15 in. head circumference

June was due on May 12th. Since I was 10 days overdue with Ada and 4 days overdue with Lola, I was sure that I’d be going at least a few days over with June. For most of my pregnancy, I told people that I was due on May 17th, my Bobba’s birthday, so that I could avoid the barrage of, “Is baby here yet?” questions. I made sure that my due date was packed with appointments and things to do so that I could stay busy and keep my mind off being due with no baby.

Thursday the 12th looked like this:

Get girls ready for school

Drop girls off

Joke with teachers about how I’d see them on Monday, still pregnant

Pick girls up from school

Go to 40 week check-up

Take girls to get their hair cut

Go to Orcutt Burger for dinner

Get my nails done

I had a full day! And stay busy I did. Well, at my check-up, when Dr. Rasul checked me, I was 4 cm dilated! I asked her to strip my membranes and she said that I would probably go into labor that night. She wanted to send me right over to labor and delivery, but my doctor (Colton) wanted to send me home. Less intervention = better chance of VBAC. I agreed and wanted to go home too to finish my list of to dos for the day! I was having some mild cramping but nothing unbearable. As I was leaving, she looked me up and down and said, “I don’t think baby will be 9 lbs. You let me know.” I went about the rest of my day and it was when I was getting my manicure that things were getting a little more uncomfortable. It was so funny, I closed the place down so they were mopping the floor while my nails were being finished. They said not to get out of the chair and walk, they would push me in my chair to the front. So I had two guys pushing hugely pregnant me in the rolling chair along with the owner walking behind us saying, “Taxi!” It was hilarious!

When I got home from the nail place around 8:30 PM, I told Matt and the girls that we needed to get packed up so the girls could spend the night at my mom’s that night. After a false alarm the week before (which really was my body doing some work and progressing), I already had everyone’s bags ready. So it was just the toiletries and electronics that needed to be added to the bags. As I was packing the bathroom stuff, painful contractions started. I was timing them on my phone and they were 3-4 minutes apart. I’d texted my mom after my doctor’s appointment so she had dropped off sub plans at her classroom just in case it was the real deal! We dropped the girls off at my mom’s and I stayed in the car it was so painful. Matt comes back out to the car and asks, “So, home or hospital? Maybe we can watch one more episode of Walking Dead?” I just looked at him and said, “Hospital. Now!” He dropped me at the ER door since it was after hours (11 PM) and went to park the car. I waddled in and said, “Hi, I’m in labor.” They got me in a wheelchair and took me up to L&D. Matt came up and joined me in the little triage area where they made sure I was actually in active labor. Baby girl was definitely coming tonight!Contractions at this point were getting closer and getting up on the little bed with metal bars on the side was not comfortable or fun. My nurse was awesome and stayed with me the whole time I labored! She rubbed my back and talked me through contractions. She said I started squatting while holding onto Matt and she knew we had to get into a delivery room. I had no idea I was doing that, it’s amazing what your body instinctively does to get through pain.

In between contractions, making Matt laugh with the hat I had to wear before getting my epidural :)I’d asked for an epidural the second I showed up. I wanted to get it and take a nap since it had been such a long day! My labors with Ada & Lola were 14 and 12 hours, so I thought I’d be able to get a good chunk of sleep in while I progressed. HA!

Once in the delivery room I finally got the bag of water that has to be in you before you can have it. I was 8 cm dilated by the time I was able to get the epidural! The contractions were so intense that my whole body was shaking, teeth chattering and everything. That’s never happened to me before! Matt, my nurse, and doctor all took turns letting me squeeze their hands and coaching me through the pain. The anesthesiologist was wonderful. I asked him to talk through everything as he did it and he was great. The nurse held me as he placed it (at this hospital, Matt couldn’t be in the room while they did it) and I barely felt a thing. My contractions were 1 minute apart at this point and he had to stop in the middle because I had another contraction!

Post-epi comfort with oxygen for baby June. I ripped that thing off so fast the second she was born!
Things were moving so fast, I had progressed to a 10 before we knew it! I was feeling relief from the pain and they told me to push. I had horrible heartburn and kept apologizing for burping, the nurse kept telling me I didn’t have to say excuse me anymore! June felt like she was really high still and I wasn’t feeling any urges to push like I had with Lola. My pushes felt so weak and nothing was happening. I was so tired! The nurses said they had some tricks to try and get baby to descend and Dr. Colton said, “Okay ladies, you work your magic.” The nurses put me on my left side and strapped one of my legs up in a stirrup. Nothing really happened, so we switched sides. June’s heart rate was dropping on that side, so they put me back on the left side. I felt like I just needed to labor longer! After a while, Dr. Colton came back in and the nurses said we would try a little tug-o-war. They took a sheet and tied a knot on each end of it. As I pushed, a nurse pulled one end and I pulled the other. The nurse who started out had to switch with another one because she said I was too strong! During one push, June’s heart rate dropped and Dr. Colton said I was looking at a repeat c-section if her heart rate didn’t bounce back up like it was. I said okay and prayed that she would continue to stay strong and I would be able to have another VBAC. I could feel Matt holding my shoulders and giving me a blessing to do the same.

We had every single nurse in our delivery room. Things had moved so fast, it was 2 AM and we were in full-on labor! We were both calm and positive, praying for a VBAC. During pushes, I could hear Dr. Colton’s stern voice saying, “C’mon Kara. Down here. Push.” I liked it because his serious tone meant business. Matt told me later that he thought it was mean! Dr. Colton turned around and said something about prepping to the nurses, and I thought I was going to the operating room. I looked at Matt and he had a huge smile on his face! Dr. Colton turned back to me with his gown on and then I realized that June was on her way! I pushed for a total of 20 minutes and she was here!! She had the cord wrapped around her neck and Dr. Colton said, “Are you going to make a sound for us?” as he wiped her face with a towel. She cried out and he put her on my chest! I cried and couldn’t believe how beautiful she was as I held her and talked to her. The first thing I noticed was how blonde her hair was! Ada & Lola both had black hair when they were born. Hers is much lighter. The nurses couldn’t believe how big she was and brought in another scale because they thought she weighed more than 9 lbs. 9 oz! They had to stretch out the little beanie and it still kept popping off her head. I pushed so hard that I burst a blood vessel in my eye, it was the shape of California! It went away after a few weeks. The nurses told Matt & I how impressed they were with us, how we were so calm and a united front in laboring and having a VBAC. I did it! Successful VBAC number two!! They let me have June skin to skin for 2 hours. We checked each other out and got to know one another. She nursed right away and has been great at it her whole short life :) We were moved to a recovery room after June’s bath. She loved laying out under the heat lamp afterward, it was so cute how relaxed she was!Getting to know Papa :)She slept all day Friday as she met her family. Friday night, she decided to nurse the whole night. I was SO tired and going on hardly any sleep since arriving at the hospital. I kept looking over at Matt sleeping in the rocking chair wishing I could do the same!Every time I would drift off (even with earplugs in) I would startle awake because of a screaming baby right outside our door or a monitor beeping in my room. I was so excited to go home on Saturday! I took a little nap Saturday morning then showered and got ready to go home. That first shower after having a baby feels SO good! I didn’t have to have another rhogam shot because she is a negative blood type like me, yes! She was also very considerate to come just a few hours after her due date! Ready to go home, waiting for our wheelchair out. Coming home in the same outfit that her big sisters wore!Recovery has been great, everyone has taken such great care of us. We had help from family with taking Ada & Lola to and from school, and many delicious meals brought to us from family and friends. I am so grateful for all of it! June has been an absolute angel baby. She slept 6 hours through the night on day 4 home from the hospital and has slept that much or more every night since. We joke that my milk must be half butter and half NyQuil ;) She had one fussy night and we couldn’t even be upset because every other day she has been the happiest, sleepiest baby! We love our beautiful baby June and feel complete with her here :)