Since some of you have been asking how it all went down, I'm taking a few minutes to sacrifice much needed sleep to share my labor and delivery story with you. That's how much I love you. :) 

I'm sure there are some people out there who really don't enjoy hearing these things, but I always love when people share their delivery stories, so here goes!

As I mentioned earlier, I was borderline toxemia at my appointment on Tuesday, so my doctor was concerned about letting me go any further. We scheduled me to be induced early Thursday morning, but going to the hospital Wednesday night to get Cervidil (medicine to soften the cervix as I was at 1 cm at my appt the week before and apparently still at 1 cm at this appt). 

I drove to the hospital Wednesday at 4:00 PM (it was kind of funny driving myself to the hospital to have a baby since I had always pictured I would be in labor and in too much pain). Nate was in class and would join me there as soon as he was done. I got the Cervidil at about 5:00 PM and just stayed in my hospital bed the whole night. I had to have the Cervidil in for either 12 hours, until I was dilated to a 3 or until my water broke - whichever happened first. Nate and I went to sleep about 11 and I slept soundly until maybe 1:30 - after that I started having painful contractions and really didn't sleep a whole lot.  Nate woke up around 3:30 when the contractions were painful enough that he could hear me trying to breathe through them and he wanted to sit with me and help me through them (I'll probably say it again, but he was SO good through the whole thing - I have an awesome hubby). 

A little before 6, my nurse came in a took out the Cervidil and said they would be starting the Pitocin soon. I asked her if I could have them do the Epidural at the same time they did the Pitocin because I was already in a lot of pain and was apparently only dilated 2 1/2. She suggested I wait at least until 7 because that's when the new shift for the anesthesiologist came in, so he'd be fresh and not at the end of a shift. I agreed reluctantly. :) 

The nurses changed shift at 6 and my new nurse Jill (who was WAY awesome) said they needed to draw some blood to check my platelet count before they could give me an epidural, since I had had blood pressure issues. I continued to have ever increasingly painful contractions through all of this. 

Then came the traumatic part of the day. The anesthesiologist came in and with his amazing bedside manners (ha) basically told me my platelet count was too low and I probably wouldn't be able to get an epidural as "blah blah lots of medical terms like hematoma and paralysis." So because my platelet count was so low, giving me an epidural COULD cause problems that could cause me to be paralyzed from the waist down. My the time he told me this (about 7:45), I was in a TON of pain and REALLY looking forward to that epidural. I just broke down and cried. He said they would take some more blood at 8:30 and check my platelets again. If they had stayed at the level they were at  OR gone up, I could get the epidural. If they had gone down at ALL, I wouldn't be able to. 

After he left, they started me on Pitocin and the doctor came in a broke my water, so everything would start moving more quickly. At 8:30, the nurse drew more blood and we all waited (some more patiently than others) for the results. I spent much of the time trying to prepare myself for not being able to get an epidural and having to deal with all of the pain (which was getting worse and closer together since the Pitocin was in my system now). 

I got the results back a little before 9:00 - my platelet count had risen 20 points in about 2 hours, so I could definitely get the epidural! Oh man, you've never seen me so relieved. Unfortunately, there were two other girls in labor at the same time as me, so the anesthesiologist was giving them their epidurals first. He {finally} got to me a little before 10. Let me just tell you how hard it was to hold still while he put the needle in since I had about three in the time he was getting everything ready. He started the medicine and after 20 minutes I was still in pain, so he came in and upped the dosage a bit. I could feel my legs getting numb and feel the pain lessening. 

So about 10:00, I was FINALLY able to relax and get some sleep (I was, by the way, STILL only at a 3 at this point) - I slept  until 11:30 when my nurse came in to see how I was doing and see if I had dilated any more. She was a little worried about the baby because her heart rate kept dropping - sometimes lower than she was very comfortable with. So she checked to see how dilated I was and said "Oh, you're kidding me.  Would you believe me if I told you you're complete?" So in an hour and a half (all of which I was sleeping), I had gone from a 3 to a 10! And I was ready to push! However, my doctor wanted to have me wait about an hour to let her head get a little lower so I wouldn't have to push as much. PLUS, he had two other deliveries to do, so as soon as he finished those, he'd be in to do mine. 

At about 12:30, he came in and got everything ready. He's an expert with forceps and since my blood pressure had been high he didn't want me pushing too much and making it go higher. So he used forceps and I pushed about 4 times and she was here! 

My in-laws are anxious for more pictures so here are some of the latest. 

This was taken after her first bath at home (which she hated by the way). She was better once we wrapped her in her robe. FYI Our nurse said that you no longer have to wait for the cord to fall off to bathe them. 

This cute dress was complements of auntie AJ.  That is where the Jane in Karly Jane came from.
Like her cousin Graham, this is also her favorite position. 
We're not really sure where she got these long skinny feet and toes from.