Karyn Marie
November 5, 2005, after much suspicion, we finally had it confirmed. I had asked my sister to pick up a pregnancy test for me, but in my impatience I rushed out to get one and drove into our driveway at the exact moment my sister did. Sheepishly I told her where I had come from. She shook her head at me and laughed. “I’m not that late” she exclaimed. I chuckled as I took the test to the bathroom. As I waited in excitement and without surprise I watched the pink line appear.
I walked down the hallway and told Chris that I was pregnant. He smiled and said, sort of like when I was pregnant with Katlyn: “Call Gramma.”
After calling everyone to let them know the news, I couldn’t get it to register that I would be having two children. I would have kids. I thought of what it would be like for Katlyn to have a little brother or sister.
As the months went on, I grew while Karyn was more and more apparent; she was very active in utero!
April 7, 2006 we had our 3rd ultrasound and found we would be having another girl. I kept saying to myself… Daughters; Daddy’s little girls; Sisters. We were so excited with the news!
The last months dragged on: I was big, uncomfortable and tired. I was ready to hold Karyn in my arms.
And so the day came…
I awoke around 5:30 AM to good strong contractions. I got up and started timing them and they were at 3-4 minutes apart.
I rushed in between each contraction to get Katlyn ready. It was time to send her off to see her Gramma, so that my husband and I could get to the hospital. Also during that time, I packed a hospital bag hunched over in bellowing agony. I remained focused on the task at hand but the pain was strong. I felt like giving in and rolling into a ball on the floor, but I told myself, “the torture will be over soon since it is so unbearable” … or so I thought.
It was 7:30 when we left the house and headed off to the hospital. The contractions were on top of each other and I wondered if I could make it through the suffering. I remain focused, knowing I was the only one who would ultimately do this. We got to the hospital and soon after I began to cry out for comfort from my husband. He was right there and encouraging me along.
I couldn’t do it anymore. I just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t strong enough. “I’m not strong enough,” I said through the tears before asking for something to ease the pain. It wasn’t long after that I began feeling the high of the drug, and feeling exhausted and out of control. I felt sick.
Whispering through the exhaustion and contractions I spoke to my husband, “I don’t feel… so good…. I’m going… I think I’m going to be sick.” He announced this to the doctor. As the nurse got me a small bucket I heard the doctor say it was the Staidol, and then it came.
As vomit suddenly left my mouth, I missed the intended target and met with the bed and my left shoulder. Being at 8 cm dilated at this point, they feared moving me and subsequently placed a towel between me and the grape colored throw up.
Finally, after more than 2 hours of torment, I am finally allowed to push. I think inside my head, “it’s almost over.” I begin pushing as best as I can through my fogginess, dozing in and out of sleep in between.
It was hard to concentrate through my mixed disposition. I wished her here, but at the same time I wished I were never pregnant. Struggling with what was at hand I crumbled.
I remember bits and pieces of encouragement coming from my husband as I dozed in and out of consciousness. I just wanted to go to sleep. A sleep that would take away all the present emotions, physical horror, and mental strife.
What seemed like a lifetime later, a grueling and difficult 2 and a half hours later, I heard my husband say “She’s right there, just a couple more pushes Kristi, just a couple more pushes.” I started to cry again. I couldn’t, I was so tired. As the world seemed to rush about me, I was stuck in myself. Staring off as everyone was spinning.
“You can do this Kristi!” I heard my husband say through the confusion inside my head. I pushed and screamed and pushed and screamed. It was over. I couldn’t believe this little girl was finally here. I thought she would never come and at 12:16pm she was finally here.
I held her for a moment before they rushed her away because her cries were weak. They took her to a warming machine and hooked her up to oxygen. Chris and I stood by and watched as our baby girl was x-rayed and monitored. The x-rays showed that Karyn had a hole in her lung that had caused air to seep into her chest cavity. We didn’t stay worried for we knew God is in control.
The doctor requested we stay for 48 hours to keep her monitored and make sure there was no infection of any kind. As Chris and I trusted in God, He shone through when at 10 that evening they started weaning her off the oxygen and she was doing wonderfully. By 5 the next morning she was off and doing fantastic, and by 9 AM they told us we were able to leave. So in less than 24 hours she was fully recovered! Praise God!!
Katlyn was introduced to Karyn around 12:30 and she just shouted “SISTER!” and wanted to kiss her. She adores Karyn and just wants to touch her all the time. We have to keep a good eye on her though – she has already tried to squeeze her in a big bear hug and laid on top of her to hug her as well. She has so much love for her baby sister.
Karyn smiles all the time and is talking up a storm. She loves to follow Katlyn around, be outside, and loves to cuddle when she is sleepy. She looks more and more like her Daddy and also a lot like her big sister, but she certainly has her very own look. She is so special and we adore her to pieces!
