Happy BIRTHday Kate!

Our baby.................GIRL has arrived! Kate Lutkin was born on Aug. 19th at 10:38 am. She weighed 6lbs. 8oz. and measured 19 1/2 inches long. She is so beautiful and we are so excited to have a girl. She came a lot sooner than we had planned. I went to my doctor's appt. on Mon. the 18th and had another ultrasound. It was confirmed that the baby was still breech. Also my blood pressure was still high so Dr. Bowman talked about taking the baby sooner than her due date which was Sept. 7th. We discussed the option of turning her externally, so that was scheduled for Tues. the next day. At first she was talking about doing the external version later that week, so I was very shocked when she said tomorrow. I went in at 7:30 am on Tues. morning and Dr.Bowman with the help of Dr. Merrill tried to turn the baby at about 9:00 am. After many painful attempts and 30 min. later, the baby would not budge. I didn't want to give up but the chances of her turning were very slim. It was more painful than labor and I had no medication to relax me because of my blood pressure. I was very disappointed and felt like I should have allowed them to keep trying. The other option we talked about was a c-section but I didn't want a c-section. I wanted to do everything possible before that decision was made. Dr. Bowman didn't even want to do the external version because I was throwing up, had horrible heart burn, and had traces of protein in my urine. But I am glad that we at least tried. She gave us the choice and told us to think about taking the baby today, Tues. or waiting another week in hopes that the baby turns on it's own. But if we chose that option I would be on pure bed rest for that week. I would have to find someone to take care of Beck for that week, and just lay in bed. Mark and I discussed what would be best and we figured that we might as well stay and have the baby. I was thinking that maybe it would happen later on that day but within minutes I was wheeled into the OR, given my spinal block and minutes later, had our baby girl. The whole experience was surreal and a bit of a whirlwind. I just didn't expect everything to happen so fast. Luckily I had packed a bag that night thinking that maybe I would go into labor after the attempts to turn her. I have to say that it was a very bitter sweet moment. I was so happy that she was healthy and here, but sad that I had a c-section. I have no idea how much medication they gave my in my spinal block but it rocked my world. I couldn't feel my arms and I was very dreamy when they told me that it was a girl. Dr. Bowman said, "and we have ourselves a little..........girl!" I could hear her say it but I couldn't express my joy. It wasn't the elated moment that I had imagined when you find out for the first time what "it" is. I couldn't hold her until 2:00 that afternoon and I couldn't walk until 10:00 that night. I like to nurse my babies within that first hour but I couldn't. When I saw her for the first time I remember thinking oh my, a little girl. She was absolutely beautiful. She was so much smaller than the boys and had such dainty fingers. Although I knew she was a girl, she looked so much like Beck that I couldn't decide on a girl's name. Our choices for her were Tess or Kate. Kate won! I call her my little cupKate. My parents were there with the boys and I remember seeing them in the hall when they wheeled me out of the OR. Mark was holding her and made them guess what we had. My dad said a boy and my mom said a girl. When Mark confirmed my mom's guess, she cried tears of joy. The boys were very excited to meet her, especially Cole. Beck was a little unsure and wouldn't give her kisses until a couple days later. Then he couldn't give her enough kisses. Mark was thrilled to have a little princess and a daddy's girl. He said he got a little teary when we were told it was a girl. We are all so happy she has arrived. We had many guests that day. Jason and Jane, Jonny and Liz and the kids. It was a happy birth day for our little cupKate!