Katelyn's Birth Story

Monday, January 4th felt like any other day. It was completely packed. I had to work from 6:30am - 2:30pm, clean out the car, go to my weekly OB appointment, meet my mom at the elementary school, deliver the Subaru to the guy who bought it (in Dillwyn, VA) and then go home to cook dinner and do more baby preparations. Little did I know that Katelyn had other plans...


I went to work, took care of cleaning the car, and drove to my OB appointment which was at 4pm. The appointment seemed to be as normal. I had gained 5 lbs in the last 2 weeks (no big deal - the total was now up to 20lbs). Other than that it seemed like it was going to be a dull appointment. Finally, they checked for dilation. Dr. Culver gave me a really strange look. Next he says, "do you feel any contractions?" I was already at 6cm and felt nothing. He had never seen anyone in his office that dilated that didn't feel anything. Therefore, he sent us right to Martha Jefferson Hospital for monitoring. I called my mom to let her know the plans had changed for the evening. Although they sent me to the Labor & Delivery floor, I expected to be going home in the next couple of hours. I told Dylan to stay at work (since he is paid hourly and it was the first day back after a 2 week Christmas Break). So, my mom and sister came and hung out with me in the birthing room.


Dr. Wamhoff said that if I lived closer to the hospital, she would send me home. However, I live about 30 minutes away. Since I wasn't feeling anything at 6cm they were worried I might deliver at home. The choice now was to weigh the risk of delivering at home against the possibility that the baby was going to be small and born too early. At 7pm, Dr. Arnold took over the shift. He made the decision to keep me at the hospital and informed me that sometime in the next 24 hours Baby Silverman would be born.

I called Dylan. Naturally he left work and went home to pack our bags (I had planned on doing my packing the following day since I didn't have to work and we still had 3 weeks until our due date). Thankfully, I had made a list of what I wanted and Dylan was patient with finding my things located all over the house. He got to MJH around 9pm. This all still felt surreal since my water hadn't broke and I wasn't feeling contractions. Essentially I didn't feel like my body was in labor.


Around this time, Brandi and her boyfriend, James, went and delivered my car to the guy who bought it. Luckily, he was really nice about the whole thing even though he thought I had stood him up earlier in the evening. Thank goodness there are still trusting and friendly people in this world :)


Dr. Arnold broke my water at 11:30pm. I had expected to feel contractions shortly after, but that was not the case. The nurse encouraged me to get in the bathtub because it would help me relax and help my skin become more elastic. I was hesitant, but decided that I would give it a try. 


After many phone updates, Dylan's mom could not take the suspense of waiting at home any longer. She came up to the hospital. So, the four of us (my mom, Dylan's mom, Dylan, and myself) all waiting for little Katelyn to decide to join us. 


I didn't feel anything uncomfortable until about 4:30am. Around 4:45 I asked for a dose of fentanyl. Altogether I had two doses of fentanyl, but they were very short lasting and worse off way before the hard labor began. I took the fentanyl mainly for the purpose of relieving my frustrations with the nurse. She continued to tell me to let her know when things felt "different". Clearly, I would let her know and each time she would look at me, nod her head, and say she would be back. This was really frustrating. I had no idea what kind of "different" she was looking for.  Finally, I gave her the correct answer for her secret "different" question. Now it was time to push. 


Dylan's mom and my mom left the room to wait in the family waiting room. Dylan was my support person throughout the rest of labor. He brought water and let me squeeze his hand until I cut of the circulation. When I was ready to quit - literally I told him I wanted to quit and go home - he was encouraging and helped me to stop whining and crying. The hard part of labor lasted about 1.5 hours. 


Dr. Montgomery came on duty at 7am and was barely able to get scrubbed in before Katelyn was born. He was giving me guidance and telling me when to push and when not to push, but at some point I stopped hearing him. Due to being overwhelmed and having a temporary lapse of hearing, I had to get quite a few stitches. Thankfully, I was mesmerized by Katelyn and didn't feel (or see) any of the needles and such. 


Katelyn Ann was born healthy on January 5th at 7:33am. She weighed 7 lbs, 14 ozs and was 20.5 inches long!