A VERY overdue birth story. ;)

I know! I'm SO sorry. I hope noone is too upset that this was one of the first things I let fall to the waste side after the girls came home. Well, honestly, for the first month I wasn't able to get on the computer at all since it was upstairs. My OB told me I was absolutely NOT allowed. :( This will be very long but anyway..here's the story of how I met two of the most beautiful little girls in the world. :)

It all began at a weekly doctors appt. (Cut to the week before when I'd literally had a breakdown in the office because my doctor wouldn't even entertain the idea of an induction.) I think he knew I was at the end of my rope as far as how much my body was handling. I mean look at this thing!

I was just over the pelvic pain, the heartburn, the head between my ribs. It was just getting really really uncomfortable. Anyway, at this appt, the first words out of my OBs mouth were, "How bout we get those babies out next week?!" I cried again I was so excited. He asked me what day I'd like their birthday to be, and I replied, "ANYday! Lol." So, we set the induction for the following Tues. Dec the 20th. (I thought, how cool! If they do come on this day, they'll share a birthday with one of my good friends little boys..and if they decide to wait until the following day..they'll be born exactly six years after their father and I started dating.) Little did I know, I'd get both my wishes. Haha.

Luke and I spent the rest of that week doing little things to finally prepare ourselves. And that weekend, we spent every moment we could doing things together. He took me up to Great Falls (where we got all the extra little things for the girls I hadn't gotten yet), and the next day, took me to Bozeman. That Monday I spent most of the day just sleeping, minus my yoga class. Everyone oohed and aahed over my belly for one last time, and most couldn't believe that I was STILL attending classes. (Boy do I miss it!) Did I sleep that night? No. Thank gosh I'd taken a lot of naps during the day. I was so anxious to meet our little girls I couldn't think about anything else.

So Tuesday comes, and I get up at 6. We head to the hospital at 7, and by 8 I was in my room. :) The nurse tries to start my IV. This hurt SO SO bad. The lady could NOT get the danged thing in my vein. She dug around for at least 15 minutes. I cried. I'm such a baby. But hey..that sucks. (And I still have a scar from it. :( ) After that was started, my doc came in around 8.30 to check me. I was only a 1-2, so they started me on a dose of cytotech. They'd hoped this would jumpstart my contractions and get me to dilating more. Well it worked! Lol. My contractions started around 9.30, but they started getting pretty noticeable around 10. I was only able to get up and walk around twice, which annoyed me. I wanted to do everything I could to get me to progress, but since we were having twins I was hooked to the monitors most of the time. (Which is a huge pain.. B kept moving around and coming off her monitor. Stubborn sister. Lol) But I was able to get in the tub around.. 1ish. Not that it helped me much.

My doc came back around 3. I still was only dilated to a 3..so he decided to break my water. Haha. It felt JUST like I'd peed on myself. It was pretty funny. After he did that, we placed my epidural. I don't think I've ever cried so hard. I had snot like dripping out of my nose. It was quite the sight. Lol. But boy did I feel better after that. (Though I immediately noticed that it was only numbing my right side.) They kept putting me on the left to get it numb too. They gave me about an hour to make some progress.

A much more content me, waiting to get the show on the road.

Cut to 5..and nothing. I'd completely stopped contracting. So, they started me on pitocin. THAT sucked. Though I did have an epi, the contractions were pretty intense. My doc checks me, I'm at a 5 at 6. He decides to go home and grab dinner since he knew it'd be a little bit. By 7, he'd come back and I'd made it to an 8. Things started picking up. At 9.30, he tells me I'm complete, and they start prepping for baby A's arrival. I start pushing at 10 on the dot.

So here we go! I start pushing, and am surprised at how well I'm handling it. Though I was in a complete FOG, the only thing I can really concentrate on is feeling my contraction build, and then listening to Luke count me up. Around 10.40ish, doc notices that A is coming out sunnyside up. (They're supposed to rotate toward the back and be face down when they come out.) She wouldn't, so he gets out the vacuum to assist her. A few more pushes, and at 11.01 pm I hear the most wonderful sound in the world. My baby girl came out and let out a few whimpers. They immediately rush her over to the warms and start doing their tests on her. My little Kathryn Marie was born at 4 lbs 13 oz and 17 1/2 inches long. She was the tiniest thing I'd ever seen.

They say she whimpered until they got her dried off, and then she immediately pouted. This was followed by a smile, at which I can only imagine was the most beautiful sight. *I* was a bit preoccupied at this time though. I only got to hold her for a second.

As soon as she was born, my doc immediately started trying to get B to flip. She had been transversed the day before, and he was confident she would cooperate. Apparently he's never met a Harber woman. Haha. He tried doing an external version. THIS hurt. He was pushing SO hard on my stomach, which had just been through some trauma mind you. Lol. With one contraction, she flipped head down! What a relief, right? Wrong, the very next one, she flipped herself and completely went FEET first. Dang dang dang. He tried a few more times, and said to me, "She's just not going." I started crying. I knew what this meant. Since she was the bigger of the two, since her sisters cord was still in the birth canal, and since she was completely breeched now...I was headed for an emergency C section. They start prepping the room, and at midnight I'm wheeled into surgery, bawling my eyes out. I was so scared.

They make Luke wait outside while they're prepping me. I tried to tell them that I could still feel my stomach..but noone listened. I knew they'd started cutting into me before Luke was there, and I'm just laying there bawling and crying out, "OW Ow oW OW!!" (I felt so bad after, but in the moment, I was so annoyed that noone listened when I said I could feel it.) Luke is finally brought in, just in time for our second daughter to be born. Karalynn Rose made her dramatic debut at 12.05. (That's right, my stubborn little baby now has her own birthday! Lol) They wisked her away..and we didn't even get to hear her cry. I had no idea how she was..or what she looked like. After she was born, they finally gave me some more meds to numb me up. Though I was still in a LOT of pain, I could feel every single tug. (This really isn't something I want to go through again. :( And what's more, since I've now had a C section, if we ever do have another child, I'm MOST likely going to have to have one.) Anyway, I was SO out of it. I couldn't stay awake. I had to look at Luke and try SO hard to focus on his face. I remember at one point I felt myself slipping. (Luke later told me that my heartrate bottomed out.) I remember that right after that they put me on oxygen.

A little after 1 am, they finished up with me. My doc pulls down the curtain, and they get me ready to transfer to another bed. I cannot explain the pain from this. They have you roll on your side, and pull you up onto the other bed. One of the docs pulls my epi out..and FORGETS to give me another dose of morphine. So..I later feel ever jostle to my belly. They wheel me into recovery, where I have to stay for an hour to make sure nothing goes wrong. I'm laying there, exhausted, and wanting to bad to see my babies. There was nothing I could do though. I just had to wait.

I told Luke while we were waiting in Recovery that I wanted to switch the girls names since B was so stubborn. Boy was she ever! Lol. He said, "that's probablly a good idea..she has a cleft in her chin anyway!" I couldn't wait to see her. (This ended up being a great decision anyway. Kate looks more like my side of the family, and Kara looks more like Luke's side.)

FINALLY it's time for me to go to my own room, and they have to move me again. OUCH is an understatement. I was out from under any pain meds at this point, so I really felt it. It was at this point they asked me if I wanted to see baby B, and even though I was beyond tired, I wanted to see her face. So I tell them yes, bring me my baby.

My sweet little Karalynn Rose was born at 5 lbs 7 1/2 oz and was 18 inches long. She was worth every bit of all the pain I'd just gone through. I was SO thankful that both the babies were here, and they were healthy. They were perfect, and I couldn't have felt more blessed to be their mama.

Kate's on the left, Kara's on the right.

I absolutely love my family, and I thank God everyday for giving me the chance to finally be a mother. It was worth all the months of disappointment waiting for this, just for those moments of pure bliss looking at these little angels. I really am incredibly blessed.