Karis Jo Odegard

(A very long, detailed, birth story, for my records, but feel free to read if you want)

Sunday, August 8th, 2010 (8-8-10) at 12:04pm Karis Jo arrived after pushing through 3 contractions for a total of 9 minutes. (Timing compliments of my mom) She was 6lbs 5oz and 18 1/2 inches long. I can't believe she was so little! For some reason I thought they were going to say she was over 8lbs. (maybe the pain of pushing gave me that idea? :) )

Saturday was a very busy day for me. I thought I was going to just go to a couple of garage sales and relax while Brandon was at DragonBoat races. However, the first garage sale I went to was a jackpot and we were there most of the day (at different times for different reasons). It's too long of a story, but it kept me hopping for a lot of the day. I missed Brandon's first race and called to see how the schedule was going for his second race and he was already heading out to the starting line. I grabbed my mom and Cayden, we rushed into town and I thought I was taking a shortcut. However, it was crazy days so the road was blocked off. Cayden and I jumped out of the car and ran 3 blocks to the races. (Actually I ran for a minute realized I should NOT be running and we fast walked the rest of the way.) That was the first moment I realized the baby was probably going to come that night. We made it to the race in time to see Brandon paddle to shore. (Bummer, but Cayden was satisfied)


After more errands I went to my moms and we jumped into the pool, it felt gorgeous! Then we went coupon shopping at Walgreens and did some things online. I was exhausted! I told mom the baby could not come that night b/c I was so tired and my house wasn't clean. I'd been keeping my legs shaved, house cleaned and was trying to be well rested. (That was the second moment I realized she was going to make her arrival that night) Finally at 11:00pm I went to bed, leaving my mom and Brandon still up finishing a movie. I tried to sleep, but I kept having contractions. Finally at 11:45 I got up and went into the living room and announced my contractions were 5-6 minutes a part. We timed them for over an hour and they were consistent. The nurse said I could come in or wait until it was painful. I was afraid to wait until it hurt b/c what if I missed my cervical block opportunity?! So around 1:30 am on Sunday we headed into the hospital. Mom was already at the house so that worked well for leaving Cayden. They checked me and hooked me up and after an hour or so decided I could go home or stay the night. We decided to stay the night b/c the insurance was already charged and I figured I'd sleep better not caring about timing the contractions. At 4am I woke up for about 4o min with uncomfortable contractions, but fell back asleep until 6am. At that point I told the nurse we could just go home and walk and try to get things going more. (The contractions were still consistent, but not closer or stronger.) She suggested we see what Skogerboe said. He wanted to check me on his way to church so we waited around until he got there. The nurse figured it was fine for me to go home and I was feeling frustrated that we just spent the night at the hospital for no reason. I mean really, it's not like it was a hotel!!

However, when Skogerboe got there, just before 8am, he said I was dilated to 5cm and asked for the hook to break my water. I was like, "should I try and get things going on my own more?" and he said, "no, if you've dilated to 5cm without noticeable pain I'd rather not have you leaving, you're ready to have this baby." So he broke my water and I noticed an increase in labor pain, but not unbearable. At 9:30am the nurse checked and I was about 6cm. She wanted me to get up and walk around or sit in the chair, but I wasn't in unbearable pain so I wasn't real anxious to increase my pain. I finally got up and got in the chair and then after a bit my contractions were really starting to hurt. At about 10:45 I said I wanted the cervical block. She said they could try and check my progress again and I said, "yes and give me the block" (They like to wait until about 7cm) I was a 7 and was able to have the block, about 1 contraction too late, that last one was a bad one! However, after he gave it to me, man did I feel good!! I felt less pain/pressure than with my braxton hicks throughout the pregnancy! I got up and visited my parents, Cayden, and Peggy in the waiting room and we talked and I walked for awhile. Then I started to feel the contractions stronger and the nurse suggested checking me, it was about 11:30am and I was at 8cm. She suggested I walk a couple more times around. I wasn't too keen on that idea because I wasn't feeling as good as I had been, but she said it would help get the baby coming. I made it a few steps out the door and had to stop, then Brandon suggested we take a shortcut back to the room. Just after passing the birthing room I had to stop again and this time felt like pushing. My mom was just heading down the hall with Cayden to take him to the bathroom and I told her it was time. She said she'd be right back and I was like, no somebody else needs to take him potty, I need to push now. My mom and Brandon were both in the delivery room for this birth. I figured it was a little weird, but the miracle of birth my mom would get to experience outweighed the weirdness. It was pretty special. Especially being able to tell her that the baby's name was Karis Jo, named after her. We both got a little emotional:)

I got back in bed and Skogerboe suggested I have 5-6 more contractions and I said, "no, I mean I really have to push" so he said ok and got all scrubbed up. I looked at the clock and it was about 5 to 12:00pm. I thought to myself, I want to have this baby by noon. I didn't say anything, because I figured they'd scoff at me and that it was just wishful thinking. However, at 12:04 she was born. I considered that close enough to noon! I was hoping for another cervical block before I got that far along (because they only last about an hour), but I was too close to delivering. He did a pudendal block and that helped a little. I had a grade 2 tear, but nothing too bad I guess.

I think I asked if it really was a girl and had to look to make sure and she was! When I held her I was surprised that she didn't look like Cayden or any one of us. While they were weighing her and checking her I looked over at her and thought to myself, Karis Jo, and I just knew that's who she was. I looked over and Brandon and asked him to confirm and he said, "is that what you want?" (he said it exactly like he did with Cayden) and I said, "yes" so he said, "yeah" and smiled. We had talked about that being our favorite name, but it was still hard to really determine it until we saw her. I really liked Reagan the whole time, but Brandon didn't. We both really like Taylor since we were dating, but we didnt like the meaning of either of those names. Karis means grace and goes really well with Cayden. Also, I thought it was easy to spell and pronounce and with the hassles I've had with my name I didn't want to do that with my daughter. (I've found I was totally wrong, not many can pronounce it and it's already been spelled worng!) We figured it was the best name. The only problem was that I know a Karis (she's super cute and it's where I got the name) but it's really hard to picture my child with the name when I always picture our friends daughter. That first day I asked Brandon a couple of times if that's really the name we wanted because I was having a really hard time calling her that and believing it was really her name. However, Cayden would proudly announce, "Karis Jo" to everyone that asked and Brandon had no problem calling her by her name and after a few times trying to get her to nurse by calling her name it started to get more natural and I really liked it. Sometimes it still seems weird, but I know she will become her name soon enough. I didn't have this issue with Cayden because I knew I wanted him to be Cayden for the last few months of my pregnancy. I do remember thinking its so wierd that a baby is born and because I'm the mom I get to pick a name and for the rest of their life that's what they'll be known as!

It took awhile for any of us to see who she looked like. Then the next day my mom came up and was like, "oh my, I feel like I'm sitting in the hospital holding you again, she looks just like you!" (her looks changed so often in the beginning). I'm hoping my mom will find some pics of me and maybe I'll be able to scan them and post them, however, don't hold your breath!