The Story of Kathryn Hope

So here's the scoop...  When they tell you every pregnancy/delivery is very different, they pretty much know what they're talking about.  I THOUGHT my 19 hour labor with Madelyn was long...

On Wednesday, July 10, (No, you remembered right... She WAS born on the 12th!) I started having some contractions but didn't think a lot of it since I had had pretty bad Braxton Hicks contractions once or twice before, the only trouble was when I went to bed that night this was bad enough to wake me up every little bit (NOT a sign of false labor!).  So after a pretty much sleepless night, I was STILL having contractions and knew I was going to sit around miserable all day if I didn't find something to do.  Lucky for me, my sister was visiting from out of state and up for some shopping.  After taking Madelyn to Nana and Papa's house for a nap where there were people to keep an eye on her, My mom, my sister, and I spent the afternoon on the town (it just makes Walmart and our lousy mall sound more exciting that way...) where I bought a couple matchy matchy dresses for the girls (one of whom was still yet to appear) for next spring and a skirt to go with Madelyn's Big Sister shirt.  See, I had delivered her eviction notice a week before so I was taking active measures to follow up on said notice.  Madelyn and I got home late that evening (Jon had company) and I put Madelyn to bed and puttered around the house preparing for the in-laws eminent arrival (which by this point I was sure would be sometime THAT night).  Anyway, long story short-er, after trying unsuccessfully to sleep a little (two sleepless nights), I got up and finished getting my things together and watched the time until I had steady 5 minute apart contractions then told Jon he should get up and get his things together.  After explaining that no, my water hadn't broken but that it didn't always happen at home like it did with Madelyn and assuring him that we would NOT be sent home (I was NOT doing another sleepless night and who knows how many more days of this!) so he really SHOULD call and set the plan in motion for someone to stay with Madelyn until his parents got here, we got around and left (as soon as our friend got here that is.).

 We didn't get a "headed to the hospital" picture this time so we snapped this AT the hospital. (Keep in mind it was like 5:00 AM without any sleep the night before OR any pain meds. Haha)  We were supposed to have to wait til about 6:30 for the midwife to break my water... turns out that wasn't necessary and things went really mercifully quickly after we got to the hospital.  I was so afraid of laboring all day again like I had with Madelyn because I was already so tired!

 Daddy Holding her for the first time.

 Daddy went home, showered, and then came back and introduced Madelyn to her brand new "baby sisser".  She was amazingly not confused at all just a little nervous of her surroundings.

 First family picture (still bummed I didn't get one when Madelyn was born)

 The Midwife who delivered.  Seems to be the norm to see one midwife all the way through at the office then get the other one for delivery.

 I know like every other hospital has been doing this for years, but between Madelyn and Kathryn, our hospital started doing a celebratory meal for both parents (they're not particularly thoughtful of the dads otherwise).  They brought the flowers and sparkling something or other and battery operated candles then our dinner (which was actually really good!).

We came home on Sunday so we were only home minutes before Madelyn, Grama, and PopPop got home from church.  She was so excited and immediately wanted to share her most prized possessions with her sister!  And there you have it... probably more than you ever cared to know about the labor and delivery of our sweet little Kathryn!