Catherine Margaret Auffhammer is 2

2 years ago Catie was born, so I thought that I would take this opportunity to tell her birth story. That was the disclaimer. If you don't want to read any futher I will not be offended or hurt... :)

I was due on Oct. 28, but had no signs of labor so I attended the wedding of some friends of James. That was on a Sunday. On Wednesday, I went to the doctor's office with some false labor. I was told that I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced, but was not in active labor. "Go to the mall and walk" was the advice. It didn't work. On Friday, I was 5 days overdue. James woke up at 6 am to go to work and, of course, I had to get up to go to the bathroom. As I sat up, my water broke. I wasn't having contractions or pain or anything. I called the dr.'s office and they said to come in b/c I needed to deliver within 24 hours and I also needed to have antibiotics at delivery. We called my parents and they started on the 6 hour drive to Virginia hoping to make it before Cate was born. James called his boss and let him know he would not be coming to work.

We got in the car at 7 am and started out into Northern Virginia traffic. Usually a trip to Fairfax would've taken us AT LEAST an hour at that time of the morning, but we were there in less than 1/2 hour. At one point James used the "right turn only" lane to go straight (through a red light) to get around a line of about 20 vehicles. All I could think was that if we got pulled over, the cop probably would not believe that I was in labor b/c I wasn't in pain.

By 10 am I was checked into the room and relaxing in bed. I hadn't been a patient since I was a little kid, so it was very strange to be on the "other side" of medicine. I was still not having contractions, so the nurse encouraged me to walk. I walked for about an hour. (they told me not to eat....we went to the cafeteria and got a bagel. By that time, I knew that I would not be delivering anytime soon, so i figured it was safe.)

At 11 am, I was started on Pitocin. They had to increase the dose a few times, but i finally started to have contractions. My family arrived. James's parents were there. We all just waited. By 2 pm, I couldn't handle the pain. Seriously, it was ridiculous. I could tell James was struggling with seeing me like that also. I told the nurse I wanted an epidural and asked how long it would take to get the anesthesiologist up there to put it in. She gave the usual nurse answer of "about 15 minutes" and continued filling out paperwork and doing something with my monitor. Trying not to be rude, I said "wouldn't it be faster if you called them?". She took the phone out of her POCKET and made the call. The anesthesiologist was there within minutes and I was feeling better.

The epidural worked so well that my right leg fell off the bed. It was dead weight and i couldn't move it. haha... James thought I was playing. Then I started not feeling well. James notice my blood pressure was dropping and I was very, very lethargic. He asked if he should call the nurse and I remember telling him no, but he called anyway. i remember feeling like I was dying and telling myself that the nurse was coming and she would take care of things. (That is how my heart patients felt when their pressures dropped and they told me they felt like they were going to die.) The nurse gave me some meds to bring my pressure back up and turned down the epidural. I had passed out and I remember waking up and vomiting. It was scary.

Around 8 pm, I was able to start pushing. NOTE: my water broke at 6 am....so i had been in labor for 14 hours...not in pain, but in labor just the same. Catie was born at 9:15. James was the only one in the room (other than medical staff). I had a wonderful doctor whom we had seen throughout my pregnancy and "happened" to be on call that day. Catie was beautiful. most babies aren't born with perfect looks and i was prepared to see an alien or a monkey, but she looked perfect. (but most parents think that, so here's a picture so you can see for yourself.)

What a blessing it has been to have her in my life. Yesterday, she was dedicated at church. It was an opportunity for James and I to say, publicly, that she is only on loan to us from God. She is His child. We simply have the privilege of raising her for a short time and we will do it to the best of our ability and teach her about Him.

"I love you, my sweet Boogie."