Baby Kate's Birth Story

Baby Kate's delivery was quite an intimate group, with only our doctor, Dr. Bartlesmeyer, the Resident Obstetrician on duty, a nurse or two, the anesthesiologist, and nurse for Baby Kate...

It seemed like forever before Pat was allowed into the operating room... finally he was told to come in and soon there after Dr. Bartlesmeyer began surgery... Pat was videotaping with the camera around his neck... he looked so cute!!! We decided we really only wanted to video the birth and events afterward, so Pat focused the camera on me for what seemed like an eternity!!!  I'm hoping I asked him to film the room, but can't remember for sure...  It seemed like it was taking forever for Dr. Bartlesmeyer to announce "Uterus" which we were told is code for start filming, the baby will arrive next... I asked if everything was OK as the anesthesiologist had previously told me that she should be born about 15 minutes after entering the OR... Dr. Bartlesmeyer told me there was a lot of scar tissue from Sarah and Anna's birth that he had to remove and all was fine... finally I heard him declare, "UTERUS" and knew we were moments away from Baby Kate making her appearance!!!!


Pat turned the video camera away from me and began to tape over the blue curtain... I was super excited as I waited to hear Baby Kate's first cry... seems like I was waiting for an eternity... I could feel a lot of pushing and tugging which didn't hurt but felt strange... I didn't care about myself, just my Precious Princess... I could tell by the way Pat was clenching his teeth and grimacing that something was wrong... I felt so helpless and alone... I was so scared... The anesthesiologist told me that if it felt like the doctor was literally laying on my stomach, it was because he was... a nurse shouted out that she had lots of hair, another person announced that she was bigger than they thought as Dr. B had just predicted that she would weigh about 7 pounds 4 ounces... I was guessing 8 pounds 4-5 ounces... time moved so slowly as I continued to feel helpless and alone... I desperately wanted to hep but knew there was nothing I could do or say... I heard a machine turn on and visualized it was helping empty her huge bag of water... finally, I heard her cry... what a wonderful sound... I didn't care what she looked like, all I cared about was that she was safe and healthy... Pat later shared that the doctors had a difficult time getting her out... upon reviewing the video, her sweet head was out of my body while the doctor tried to get her body out... a lot of the video is blocked by someones back as they were pushing on my belly... the machine looked like and sounded like a circular hair dryer... since Baby Kate was born with a hematoma on the top of her head and a small cone head, I'm guessing it was a vacuum they used to get her out even though she was head down and near but not in the birth canal... I plan to ask the doctor about this at my 6 week check up...


I think the nurse gave me a quick glance at Baby Kate before moving her to the warming bassinet for assessment... I was beyond thrilled to hear that she looked great and that her Apgar scores were 9 and 9... although her birth was slightly traumatic, she was thriving!!!! What more could I ask for?


Pat and I anxiously waited for Baby Kate to be weighed... we were stunned to see the scale register a whopping 8 pounds 5.8 ounces!!!


Dr. Bartlesmeyer shared that Baby Kate's umbilical cord was short, which was fine for her development, but not good for our collection of umbilical cord blood stem cells and tissue which we planned to privately bank with Via Cord... I asked him to please do his best and save whatever he could... I think they even called in more support for this as I heard another male voice from behind the curtain... soon after, Dr. B announced that he thought they were able to collect enough to be processed...


The nurse handed Baby Kate all cleaned up and swaddled to Pat... It was beyond amazing to watch him hold her for the first time... we took a few photos then I was wheeled to recovery while Pat carried Baby Kate...