December 14th.
8:45 am – I went in for my 38 week check up feeling miserable.  Every day for almost a week prior to this day, I had had regular contractions for about an hour, then they’d subside.  My doctor told me to watch out for these contractions, because he said those who have had multiple pregnancies can get to transition (which is right before birthing the baby) really quickly.  So I went in wanting to know “how much longer”?

The week prior, I was dilated 1 cm.  My OB told me he didn’t want me to walk around at more than 4 cm because of fast transitions and because he worried about my water breaking and the cord being around the baby’s neck.  I knew nothing would happen until I had contractions, but with them being so sporadic, I didn’t know if I should call my OB and come to the hospital to be checked.  And, the baby had been so high up in my uterus that I wasn’t yet worried about her falling out.

My OB has a really great sense of humor and is very personable.  I told him that that day I was headed to Kennedy’s Christmas program at 10:30 that morning.  He told me (all the while doing the exam) to make sure I don’t miss a moment of the Christmas programs, because “it’s so important to take time to…” and then he stopped talking and his eyes got big.  He asked me, “What did I say you were last week?”  I told him 1 cm.  He said, “You’re at 4 cm right now.  Maybe even 5.” and then I started having bloody show.  He pressed on my uterus and said, “You’re having a contraction right now.  Do you feel that?”  And I said no, because I had had way worse than that.

He said I needed to go to Kennedy’s program and then get myself checked in to the hospital.  He mentioned Pitocin, which I told him I didn’t want, and he said he’d break my water, which I wasn’t opposed to doing.  So, I left his office, called Kevin, told him to cancel his plans for the day, made some other phone calls to family, went home to pack my bag, swore at myself for not folding the 5 loads of laundry I had done the night before, and went to Kennedy’s program at school.

It was pretty neat to see and tell some people “Today’s the day!”, especially parents of Kennedy’s friends and her teachers, who kept asking, “When are you due?  How are you feeling?” all semester long.  It was also neat to be able to pack my bag rather than run around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to drop off the kids where they needed to go and worry about what time they all get out of school and who would pick them up…

11:30 am – After the program, Kevin and I went to Chick-fil-A for lunch.  This wasn’t my first rodeo:  I knew the hospital wouldn’t feed me until the baby was born.  I saw some friends at CFA and they laughed at me when I told them I was in labor!  I didn’t eat a lot (because of nerves), but I did get some nuggets and an Arnold Palmer (1/2 sweet tea, 1/2 lemonade – my favorite drink)

12 noon – We arrived at the hospital.  I checked in downstairs, went up the elevators, and walked into a very empty maternity ward.  I was greeted by nurses who asked me, “Are you thinking of having the epidural?”  And I said no.  Their faces lit up as they said, “Oh!  She’s one of our kind!  We love patients like you!”  I really had no idea *I* was so rare.

1 pm – I kept laboring, much like I had labored the past week – heavy contractions for a little while, then a nice long break.  My OB came in, checked me (I was at 6 cm by that time.), then asked if I wanted pitocin.  I told him no, but I said I was ready for him to break my water.  He did break my water and Kevin said it would be 38 minutes from that time until the baby would be born.  Boy, I wish he would have been right.

1:30 pm – We took pictures, videos, and I kept laboring.  Repeat for the next 5-6 hours.  We kept getting texts from family asking “How’s it going?” or “Baby yet?” and that didn’t help me relax.  Meanwhile, every time the ever-encouraging nurses would come in to check me and I was still at 6 cm.  I kept changing positions, I tried all the things that I could possibly do with my water broken to try to get this baby out.  I told Kevin “This baby is going to be laid-back.  Not in a hurry.  She’ll get here when she gets here.”

7:30 pm – At this point, the baby was starting to move into my birth canal, but she flipped posterior so that I had extremely intense [painful] back labor and Kevin had to press really hard on my back to alleviate some of the pain.  (And because of this, I would have bruises and soreness for a week after the baby was born.)

Unfortunately, at this point I also lost my supportive nurses at this point because they went off shift. And, supportive nurses were replaced by epidural-happy nurse.  EHN came in as if I hadn’t been laboring for the past 6 hours with my water broken, asked if I wanted an epidural, and when I said no, she hung around for several painful contractions.

8 pm  - Also with EHN in the room, I remember screaming at Kevin that I couldn’t do this anymore and that I couldn’t handle the pain that was happening (with the baby being posterior).  In my mind, I was ready to settle for a c-section, just to get her born.  The pain was that intense.  EHN suggested that I could try some staidol to alleviate the pain, and then some pitocin to make the contractions more intense.  I didn’t want the pitocin because I knew the contractions would hurt like crazy.  But, since it’s standard practice to give OB patients pitocin after labor anyway, in order to help the uterus contract back to normal faster, I decided to go ahead and have just a bit.  My OB was also there at the time and told me, “We don’t have to give you too much, just enough to make those contractions come more regularly.”

So, he checked me before all these things happened, and I was still only at maybe 7-8 cm.  And I started screaming at EHN to take the monitors off of me and to get away from me.. I begged for an epidural at that point.  I’m pretty sure I wanted to rip my IV off too.. all of that is foggy because of the staidol.

And then, I needed to push.

Let me interject here to tell you all what a superstar husband Kevin is – he deflected all the texts and calls, he ran out of phone battery trying to get everyone up to the hospital when needed, and most importantly, he was the best labor coach I could have ever asked for.  All those intense contractions and times when I didn’t think I could even breathe on my own, and he was there holding my hand and breathing with me.  Sometimes I think he was more tired than I was at the end.  I had to go through physical pain, but he had to endure the emotional pain of watching me in pain.  There were many times when I wanted to give up, and the only thing stopping me was Kevin.  If he hadn’t encouraged me and cheered me on and prayed with me, I definitely would have ended up with that c-section.  Instead…

8:30 pm – Things got really interesting in the room; all the table setting up and taking down and nursery nurses entering and people trying to get me fully dilated. I pushed my way into 10 cm and then my OB took over.  I forgot how to push.  My OB helped me push.  Kevin helped me breathe.  I got into a position that was comfortable for me (forget grabbing my legs and laying on my back).  After a few pushes, my OB said to wait while he got the cord untangled from her neck. And then, I looked down and saw her head.

8:41 pm – Karis Mercy Grubbs was born.  20 inches long, 6 pounds and 13 ounces big.  The first thing I noticed about her wasn’t how big she was but how loud her scream was.  It was a beautiful sound.  She looked so purple but her apgar scores were 8 and then 9 (at 10 mins.)  Kevin and I cried and kissed and then he got on the phone – my parents and our kids were just downstairs; they had brought Kevin’s phone charger just a few minutes before.  The OB’s first words were, “She looks like her sisters!” and boy does she ever.  And, then he prayed with us before he left the hospital that night.

We were so blessed to have such a wonderful experience.  All things said, it wasn’t exactly how I pictured it, but it was exactly what needed to happen without too much intervention.  I didn’t have any tearing or stitching, and all of the tests they ran on Karis came back a-ok, so we got to go home when she was 24 hours old.  Everyone who took care of me did a fantastic job, and I’d highly recommend this hospital and staff to anyone looking for a great hospital L&D experience.

Other than that, all I’ll say is, “Don’t walk your infant by the elevators, or the alarm system will think you’re stealing a baby.”

And, because a picture is worth a thousand words, here are two – at Kennedy’s program, one of my last pics while pregnant; and our beautiful early Christmas present.

Just FYI – “Karis” is Greek for “grace”.  So her name means “Grace and Mercy”.  And she shares her initials with her daddy – KMG.

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I really can’t believe you are 3 years old.  THREE. And yet, I look back at pictures of you from this time last year and I think of how much you’ve grown.  You got rid of your “dinky” a long long time ago, and ever since then, you’ve been working hard on speaking just like your older brother and sister.  Really I should be counting the words that you still say like a baby, instead of the words you say clearly.

When you count, you like to skip 13 and 15.  Colby did this too and now he’s a pro at math, so don’t worry.  You’re still not a good sleeper.  I’m hoping that one day I’ll snap my fingers correctly and you’ll love and adore sleep as much as your poor ol’ mom.

I cannot wait to see you with this little sister of yours.  I know you’re going to take such great care of her and help me with her.  You can’t stop kissing my belly and talking to her.  (*not sure if that’s because my belly hits you in the head sometimes – so sorry about that!*)

I LOVE that you are starting to do things for yourself – like brushing your teeth (even though we still help you half the time – we still help Colby & Kennedy too), getting dressed, helping to put away dishes, and going potty.  All of those really help your pregnant mom get out of the house with some sanity.  Now if I can only get you to wear shoes when we leave the house…  And up until this week, it was okay to leave the house barefooted because it was 100 degrees outside for the longest time.

You love to argue with me and tell me NO.  But I figure that comes with being 3.  I don’t like being told NO any more than you do.  You love to draw and color pictures, especially on Colby’s homework or important papers that you’re not supposed to be able to reach – even though the drawing paper is within your fingertip reach.

Since your daddy has started playing drums again, you have taken to listening to him at the beginning of church and then when the sermon starts, he will take you to Sunday school.  Correction – you want to run to him up on the stage so he can take you to Sunday school.  You act as if you haven’t seen your daddy for days at a time!  But your daddy really does love it. And you love love your daddy.

The thing I’m most proud of is your love for books.  I love that you love reading and memorizing those sing-song patterns (like in Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?).  Of course, when you read a book 100 times, it’s no wonder that it gets stuck in your brain.  I am only kidding, of course.

I know it’s not supposed to be so evident at a young age, but I am beginning to see that your love language is quality time.  Because you don’t want to be away from me or your daddy or your siblings.  And that hasn’t changed since you were born.  I’m happy to oblige in this.  That’s why you get to do some special things that your siblings haven’t – because you know what privileges are and how to work them in your favor.  You’re no dummy.  Except when you decided to cut your own hair a few weeks ago.  Thankfully I walked in before you did much damage, and admittedly, your daddy really likes what you did with your hair – but don’t tell him I told you.

I could write and write for days about the things I love about you, especially your laugh, your beautiful blue eyes and your red hair. I know I’ve written this before, but I wasn’t sure if I could love a second little girl in our family.  Now I can’t imagine not loving you.  You are still very strong-willed, and there’s things that you do that I don’t like – at all.  But I do love you and will always love you, no matter what.

Be a sweet girl, Carlee.

Love, Mom.

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This football season Colby and I went to one game (Kansas), and Kevin went to 2 games (OSU & Texas).  Kevin’s company also had a big tailgate for the Idaho State game back in September.  So, the 5 of us rode the Aggie buses to the Quad and then walked to Kyle Field so we could eat barbeque at 4 pm.  Because tailgates can last all day, but not really with kids.  (We didn’t stay for the game.)  It was a lot of fun because it turned out to be in the Aggie practice field, so while the kids weren’t technically allowed to play with the equipment, there was nothing our kids could really “destroy” out there.

I took the stroller with us, but that turned out to be a big mistake because the kids ended up fighting over it more than using it.  Other than that, it was a great day in Aggieland.

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This is in the welcome area of Kennedy’s preschool.  I have been so used to “hurry-up and let’s go to the next thing”, but one morning Carlee asked to stop and play here.  Without hesitation, I said yes.  And then she told me to take her picture.  So I did.

It’s also really nice not having to drag more than 1 kiddo to the OB for check-ups.  One day Carlee decided it was her mission to clean up the doctor’s office with the tub of baby wipes on the counter.  And my doctor didn’t even blink an eye when he saw all the wipes in the trash.  Carlee has always been a helper in wanting to clean up, and I’m so thankful for her willingness to help.

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For Halloween weekend, we went to 1 party, 1 carnival, 1 church trunk-or-treat, & 1 office trick-or-treating.  And the kids changed costumes each time.  I only have a few blurry pics from the trunk-or-treat; I”ll try to bug Kevin about getting the other ones posted.

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How far along: 30 weeks in pic, 31 weeks now.  I really should stop taking pictures at the end of the day, when I look exhausted!  I promise that I put on make-up every day and actual clothes, most days.
Size of baby: 3.3 pounds & 16.25 inches, or the size of 4 navel oranges (according to my app.  shaking my head.)  Although, yesterday I measured at 36 weeks – my ob says if the baby keeps growing at this rate, I’ll have a 9 pounder, a month early.  Stay tuned.
Maternity clothes: I really thought I was going to get to break out my cute winter stuff – we had approximately 2.2 days of cooler weather, followed by consistent 90 degree temps.  Again.  I think maybe another cold front might be coming through tonight, although I won’t hold my breath.  I’ll survive with whatever I’m wearing, it’s just hard to dress my kiddos appropriately.
Movement: Yes, still lots.  My doctor told me to watch and make sure I have 10 kicks in an hour, and I told him it wasn’t uncommon for this baby to have 10 kicks in 10 minutes. But the movements are definitely slowing down a bit – not the jerky movements anymore.  I’m also having quite a few Braxton-Hicks, which is exciting and very painful, all at the same time.
Sleep: Getting more and more uncomfortable.  I am still snoring, I am still tossing and turning, and I am still in need of regular chiropractic adjustments and prenatal massages.
Cravings: Not too many now that I’ve been cutting down on sugar and grains.  I do like HEB’s vegetable crackers (which actually have like 0 vegetables?) and HEB’s honey wheat pretzels.  Both of those I could probably eat the entire box or bag, but I do limit myself.  I also still like milk and will drink a small glass each night before bed.
Symptoms: HOT.  Mostly due to the weather, but I have to have my fans on all the time.  Kevin has started growing his hair out, instead of buzzing it, mostly because I think I’m freezing him out.  [I'm reminded of that scene in Father of the Bride 2, when Steve Martin's wife AND daughter are pregnant in the middle of summer.  They've cranked the a/c on full blast, and Steve Martin runs around wearing blankets and mittens...]
What I miss: Other than sleep?  Really, nothing.  I am in the phase of realizing how little time is left of this pregnancy, knowing it will be our last, and enjoying being a punching bag for this baby’s kicking.  I am truly wondering how much more my belly is going to grow, but in the end, it will all be worth it.
Favorite Moments: I think we have decided on her name!  It’s a very recent discovery (as in, the past day or so?) and like all our girls, we don’t have a middle name yet.  We’ll take suggestions, other than Faith & Joy, which Kennedy & Carlee already have.  So far, I have thought of “tax deduction”, “Christmas gift”, and “the grand finale”.  Colby has suggested “Judges” or “Ruth” – because of course in the Bible those come after Joshua, which is his middle name.

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30 weeks along now.

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I also got some great video of Carlee swimming.  She’s quite the little squirming tadpole.  I can’t keep her out of the pool, and she swims so fast and so far that I have to watch her all the time.  Doc & Belle aren’t just “back-up”.  They’re vital swimming companions.

Dear Summer of 2011, you treated us well in the pool.  I’m still tan from my water aerobics classes (which ended just last week) and subsequent swims with Doc & Belle & the kids.  however, I’m a little tired of all the heat.  Fall on the calendar started 3 weeks ago, which actually means nothing in Texas, but this pregnant woman is really ready to have some relief from all this heat.

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