On the 23rd of October I learned from my doctor that I was 2.5 to 3 centimeters dilated. This scared Andrew and I since I had been early with my other two kids, those deliveries went really fast and Andrew was still in Arizona on an away rotation. Luckily the doctors at Arizona State were super understanding and told Andrew he could come home early, just in case. The next day Andrew came home to me, the kids, and Sarah and her kids who were visiting. Of course I didn't progress at all that week. Because that's how labor is: if you make plans they always fall through and if you don't you go into labor. I think Sarah was secretly wishing I would go into labor so she could meet little Kaylee and to tell you the truth, there was a little part of me that wished for it too.
So the day before Halloween Andrew was suppose to go to an interview in El Paso. And again, luckily, the doctors in El Paso were very generous and changed Andrew's interview date to mid November. Again I was secretly hoping to go into labor, and again, nothing progressed with Kaylee.
But (I told myself) that it was good nothing had happened yet because my mom hadn't arrived yet and I really wanted her in the hospital delivery room with us. The day she did come the doctor stripped my membranes and was confident that I'd go into labor that night. We agreed that if nothing happened I'd go in the next day and be stripped again. She also said that if I started having contractions I should come in since I was currently 4 centimeters dilated. I thought the timing would be perfect and was really hoping to see Kaylee soon. Of course ... nothing happened.
The next morning we went back in. We mentioned that I had been having little contractions that didn't really hurt at all since dinner time the night before and they said that since I was now 5 centimeters we could be admitted into the hospital. YEAH! FINALLY! That was at about 11:30 am.
I got an epidural (again, YEAH!). My mom came. Everything was awesome. Until my sweet brother, who came down from Dallas to babysit Ebby and Autumn called and told us he was completely locked out of our house. Andrew had to call a locksmith and go home to give his consent to unlock our house. That was at about 2 o'cock.
In the hour and fifteen minutes Andrew was gone I had gone from a 5 1/2 to 10 and being prepped to push. Unfortunately that was also the time that I started to feel things again. The anesthesiologist gave me another bolus of pain medicine through my epidural. Which didn't really alleviate anything but made my right leg go totally numb for the next eight hours. I'm SO glad my mom was there with me. They were literally putting my legs in the stirrups when Andrew walked into the room. It only took one contraction and Kaylee was out. That was an extreme blessing in my book. She was born at 3:28 pm, was 7 lbs 2 oz and 19 3/4 inches long.
The rest of the story consists of tender embraces, sweet kisses and grateful prayers. It was beautiful and perfectly timed. Yet again the Lord totally knew what he was doing and blessed me with his timing rather than mine.
