Katherine Michelle Wood

I've been a little pre-occupied lately. WHY????? Because of this cute little thing:

Our little Katherine Michelle Wood was born on October 21, 2010 at 11:01 am. She weighed 9 lbs and was 19.5 inches long. Big baby, I know! It was a scheduled c-section and it went soooo smoothly. We couldn't believe how nice and calm having a baby could be. With Mckenzie and Abby, things were so crazy and both ended in emergency c-sections. With Katie, it was completely different. She was even full term!

This is her birth story:

My pregnancy went rather well. For the first 5 months I felt faint all the time. Not fun. I had my typical headaches, but I was used to that from my other two girls. Finding out she was a girl was super exciting and although Dan really was hoping for a boy, he was nervous, but excited for a sweet little girl to come into our family. The last little while was so painful. Katie "dropped" at around 36 weeks and she sat soooo low it hurt to walk, lie down, and sit. Throughout the pregnancy, my dr. thought that I'd have her early, but that didn't happen. He even tried to get me scheduled earlier for a c-section, see a perinatologist (long story), but apparently, it wasn't meant to be. Much to everyone's surprise, she arrived on her scheduled delivery date.

The day of her birth was wonderful. I loved everyone involved in the delivery (which says a lot because I'm way too picky about my doctors and nurses). The anestisologist was incredible, the nurses were awesome and of course I had my amazing obgyn.

I'll never forget my dr. saying that the "water is now broken" and that I'd start to feel pressure (something that is NOT comfortable) and almost immediately I heard my dr. say something to the extent of "ohhh, there she is... she just popped out".

Note: I know this picture my gross you out, but isn't it cool!?! (Not sure if Dan will want me to take this picture off the blog. We'll see. haha)

(That's my Dr. on the left. He's pretty awesome!)

They took Katie to the warming table to clean her off and the nurses kept commenting on how alert she was. Apparently, she had her eyes open and was "looking" around everywhere.

They cleaned her off, weighed her (my chunky monkey), wrapped her up and then to my excitement, they brought her over and Dan was able to hold her for the duration of the time my dr. was sewing me up! It was something that we hadn't been able to do with Mckenzie and Abby. I'll never forget the time we spent with her. I know it's a common thing to hold your baby right after he/she is born, but it was new to us. It was special for me to see Dan snuggling his baby girl in those first minutes of her life. She had such a chubby face and although she looked a lot like Abby (who is BEAUTIFUL), I was thrilled that I could see a little of me in her cute little face.

Jessica's mom and sister were AMAZING! They flew out as a surprise about a week and a half before the scheduled c-section (because my dr. thought we might be able to squeeze me in to the operating room... again, long story). Anyway, they ended up spending a week with us and it was WONDERFUL! We were able to get everything ready, my mom made EVERY meal for me, cleaned my house, and took care of me! Nothing like a mom taking care of her "baby". Even if I'm 30! Anyway, after a week of being here, my mom had to go home and she left my sister here. Bree is a tremendous help and the girls absolutely LOVE their Aunt Bree. When Katie FINALLY arrived, Bree was there to help with Mckenzie and Abby. She also spent a night in the hospital with me and was able to cuddle her new niece! I had Katie on a Thursday and my mom was able to come back that following Monday, pick up Bree and both Mckenzie and Abby and fly back to Colorado that night! The girls stayed in Colorado and had WAY too much fun for 10 days! It was wonderful to be able to have that time to recupperate and spend time cuddling my new little baby girl. I spent hours on end cuddling Katie. I am so grateful for my mom and Bree and what they did for us! We are so spoiled and so blessed! Their help was greatly appreciated and much needed! I LOVE YOU!