Timothy Joseph Karr

Timothy arrived April 8, 2012 (Easter Sunday!) at 8:25 am weighing 6lb 14oz and 19in.

Now for the story of how he got here....

When I woke up on April 7 I had a feeling that this might be the day. I was contracting when I woke up and it just felt different. My sisters and little niece had spent the night Friday. Amy, Gwyn, and I were all up at 5:30, so we were just sitting there talking. At that time, we did a big family breakfast on Saturday mornings, so we got started on that after a little bit. I kept having contractions, but nothing major. (I had been contracting for 14 wks already!)

After we cleaned up breakfast, I decided to go for a walk. My sisters and I walked for a while. The contractions would get a little stronger from time to time. Once we got home, I just kept moving and doing things. :)

My sisters left, but said to call if I needed them to come back. I kept contracting but they weren't getting much harder. Finally, around 2:30 - 3:30 I decided to have my mom out to take over the kids. I called my 2 amazing friends, Erin and Tyra, and told them that we were going to the hospital, but not to come up there until I knew what they would do and if I was in labor.

So, we leave and my contractions are much stronger in the car on the way to the hospital. We get there and get up in a room and they check me. I was 6 cm. I wasn't going anywhere. I had an amazing nurse!!! My contractions slowed down while I sat in bed and signed everything and had her ask me a million questions. Once all that was done, I walked the halls.

After an hour they checked me again and I was 7 cm. I walked the halls and swayed and all in the room for another hour and a half and only got to 7.5cm. ugh! I was frustrated. I wondered at that point if I should have them break my water, but decided against it because it was nice to have contractions without pain really. The nurses had changed over and my night nurses weren't as good, but they were ok. When my day nurse, Joy, left she told me good luck and that she wouldn't see me in the morning. (Little did she know! LOL)

Of course, my doctor wasn't on call either. The doctor on call was the same one that delivered Janie Beth. I didn't care for him then, but I thought maybe it was the circumstances. (Little did I know! LOL)

So, after walking and swaying and what have you for a while, I got to 8 and then 8.5-9, and 80-90%. I got stuch tho. I was still debating about getting my water broken because at this point I really liked not having any pain!! Who wouldn't like walking around at 9 cm with no pain really!?!

At 3:30 am on April 8, I tell the nurse to call the doc to come break my water. (My water has never broken on its own.) She comes back a bit later and says that he said he would be there in a few hours. A FEW HOURS!!!! I almost started to cry! I was so mad and upset and tired. I had been contracting forever and I was worn out even if I wasn't in much pain. She told me to try and nap. They also tried to "accidentally" break my water, which didn't work, and hasn't worked before when tried.

I was so defeated that I just sat in the bed and decided I would try to sleep, which I did. Because I was doing nothing, my contractions all but stopped. In the 6 o'clock hour I got up and started moving around the room to try and get the contractions going again. I was having some but not much.

In comes my nurse from the day before, Joy. She comes and just gives me a hug. I was thankful that she was assigned to me again!

Finally, at 7:30 in walks the doctor! He doesn't introduce himself or anything. He just read my paper work and then said, "so, you want your water broken." Silly question! LOL He breaks my water and leaves.

And the contractions begin. At first, they aren't too bad, then I have to start breathing through them. They are getting the room ready. He drops and I say, ok you need to check me! I still have a lip. Well, it just goes down hill from there. I begin to lose it a bit. (It felt like I lost it for a while, but Joey tells me it was only 5 min or so.) She calls the doctor to have him come back to the room, but I can't keep from pushing so she has to have Joey take the phone off her shoulder. Timothy was born in a couple pushes into my nurses hands. :) I was perfectly happy for her to catch him. At first, I was thinking it was taking forever to get his head out because I could remember a bit of relief after pushing out Joy's head, and that wasn't happening. Then, she says he is out! His body just came on out right after his head so there was no little time of relief lol. In walks the doctor and he says, "I was just down the hall." He did catch the placenta. lol

They placed Timothy on my belly, his cord was really short. I had wanted it to pulse for a while, but it was very uncomfy for me to try to reach him as it was pulling the cord which was still attached to me! So, they asked after a couple min if they could got ahead and cut it, to which I said yes. Then, I got to hold my precious little boy. :) They weighed him and all and then we nursed.

Everything went great! I did have some hemoragging once I got to my post partum room, but after some pitocin that cleared up just fine. He only left the room a hand full of times and he was a champion nurser! We went home on April 10.

It is hard to believe that he is now 3 months old!!!! He is such a happy baby! He has allergies, both to food and environment, but his nose has cleared up and he can breathe much better now! He smiles all the time and loves to talk! (I think we are in trouble. LOL) He still does quite a bit of sleeping in the swing due to having to sleep reclined for so long from his nose issues, but he is beginning to sleep well in the pack n play too.

I will do another post with pictures of him soon. I am not at home so I don't have any pictures with me, but I assure you, he is cute!!! :)