Kaya was due to be born on February 11th, 2008. Our Doctor suggested an induction starting February 17th if Kaya hadn't come on her own by then. Well, it seems as though she was perfectly content where she was because she didn't want to come out on her own!

We checked into the hospital on Sunday, February 17th at 6pm. Once we got settled, the nurses started the Prepadil, a gel that is inserted to help the cervix open up completely. I had 3 doses of the Prepadil, each 6 hours apart. After the gel, the next step was to start the Pitocin, which brings on contractions. They started the Pitocin at 12:30pm on the 18th. Miss Kaya wasn't budging so every few hours the nurses had to up the dosage! At this point, Mommy was only dilated to about 3 cm. I still hadn't had any drugs at this point. I wanted to wait as long as possible.

at 5:30pm on the 18th, the Dr. came in to check me. I was then dilated to 5cm, and he broke my water. After that the cotractions started coming harder and faster, so at 6:30 pm I asked for the epidural. Hubby was allowed in the room while they administered the epidural, which I was thankful for because it was scary! They poked me 3 times in the back! Once the Anesthesiologist was done, the pain instantly went away. Although I couldn't feel my legs, I was comfortable. During this whole time, Kaya's heart rate stayed at a steady, normal pace.

I started to dilated to 7cm and was told that it was possible for me to deliver around midnight or 1am. We all got so excited! I had hubby, my parents and hubby's parents in the room with me. They were all such wonderful support!

Unfortunately, I stayed at 7cm for hours and hours. At 5am on tuesday the 19th, the Dr. came in to check me. Still at 7cm! He said that if I wasn't progressing within an hour, that at 6am we were going to do a C-section.

6am came along and I got checked once again. I was so nervous because I was scared to have a C-section, and I was about to find out if I was going to be rushed to the operating room or not! Well, Kaya was listening to Mommy because I was then dilated to 9cm! Yay! no C-section required! Come 10am, my nurse Patti, who by the way made this delivery happen, told me to try and start pushing and see what happens. I thought it was a little weird, no Dr in the room and I was starting to push?

Patti was awesome because she kept me going when I didn't want to push anymore. I had hubby holding up my left leg and my mom at my right. Patti would cheer me on to push the best I could. It worked because after a few good pushes, hubby got to see the top of Kaya's head! It was amazing. She then told me to give her one more GOOD push and she would call the Dr in to get this baby out. I hadn't slept in days, and I don't know where the energy came to push. I think I just wanted this done!

The Dr came along with about 6 other staff. There was a lot of commotion and a lot of people cheering me on the push and push.

At 12:34pm, Kaya was born. Right before, they put a towel on my tummy. They said "this is for the baby". I was so out of it and worn out, next thing I knew, I gave one last push, and the Dr instantly set Kaya on the towel that was on my tummy. I can't explain the feeling you get when you see your baby for the first time, staring back at you. I was overwhelmed with emotion that I didn't know how to react. I just stared at my daughter laying on me, and the first thing I noticed was her dimples!!

She got all cleaned up and Daddy got to hold her while the Dr cared for me.

After 43 hours of intense, back labor, I got to hold my baby that we have waited so long for. After the miscarriages, it seemed like this day would never come!

Funny thing is, 5 weeks later I am STILL recovering. After all the pain I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. There isn't anything I would change because I made my delivery my very own special, unique experience that I will never forget.

One day, Kaya may even have a little brother or sister!

Born Tuesday, Feb. 19th at 12:34pm

8 lb. 12 oz., 20 1/2 inches long