Miracle #4

Katelyn Rose

The twins were 9 months old, and we had finally settled into a nice routine. They were almost walking, and had transitioned to a sippy cup instead of a bottle. (Granted it wasn't much different than a bottle, LOL, it was just cheaper!) Then one day, I just got that feeling. The same feeling I had when I knew I was pregnant with the twins. Bryan didn't want me to take a pregnancy test. I guess he just didn't want to know. So, I went on my lunch break one day and picked up a test. I took it in the bathroom at work. I was working at a daycare, and had been since a little before we conceived the twins. I had taken a bit of time off after they were born, so I think I had only been back to work for maybe 6 months.

Another teacher was standing outside the bathroom when I came out, and saw my face. She knew then too. Said there was only one reason to look that way after being in the bathroom. :) Yep, the test was positive. So again, I called up my doctors office and asked to come in for a blood test. That evening, it was confirmed. I was pregnant. I was a pregnant mother of 9 month old twins. Holy crap!

Bryan couldn't believe it. Wanted to know what had happened, how in the world? Like I've got an answer to that question besides the obvious! LOL. But all I could come up with is that God has a strange sense of humor.

When I went in for my first OB appointment, my doctor walked into the room, shook my hand and said "Valeri, your the one person I never expected to see back here this soon!" Yeah, me too doc, me too!

The pregnancy was a difficult one. My body wasn't quite ready to be pregnant. I showed even faster than I did when I was pregnant with the twins, and I was sick. Very sick. I had intense morning sickness, and I had never done that before. With Dylan, I didn't have any really. I just didn't want to eat with him, had no appetite. With the twins, I had a little bit of nausea in the beginning.. but it passed early on. And I ate everything in site until there was no more room for my stomach in my own body. LOL. But, with this pregnancy.. I had each and everyone of those. I was sick sick sick, I was hungry hungry hungry, I was disinterested in food... Repeat pattern over and over and over. It was crazy.

It was early on that my Doctor decided this pregnancy was different for me, and put me on depression meds. Actually, I asked for them. It was pretty clear I was dealing with more than the usual hormonal cry at every commercial issue.

The day we went in for the ultrasound to determine gender, I was completely sure we were having another boy. That was my track record, ya know. Boys boys boys. There was so much testosterone in my home that I was producing high levels of it too! They had rubbed off on me!!! ROFL! So when the technician told us that this time, its a girl.... I didn't believe her. I asked her to check again. And she did, and said "yep still a girl". We repeated this at every single ultrasound until birth. HAHA. We also repeated the teasing. The "Oh gosh, I think I see more in here" or "Did the Doctor talk to you yet? We think you are having triplets". They nurses did this at every visit, with big huge smiles on their faces and laughter echoing down the hallways. And the doctor, he was in on it too!! Drove me crazy. They would try to switch it up, catch me off guard. And a couple times it worked, and I waited all freaked out for the doctor to come in and laugh "Got ya this time!" There is something to be said about a doctor with a sense of humor... but ummm.... at this point, I've had my fill of strange sense of humors!

I didn't open any of the baby girl stuff. Didn't take off tags from the clothing. I was so sure that somehow, at delivery, she would morph into a boy. I even had a boys name all picked out, as well as twin versions for both a girl and a boy... Just in case. I was covering basis. I mean, I was living the "stranger things can happen" scenario already, wasn't I? Things could get stranger, seemed almost like a given! HAHA. But boy did I want her to be a girl. I wanted that badly. I can't even express how much. I love my boys, and wouldn't trade them for the world, but I did want that baby girl too.

Somewhere in the craziness, we decided to move. I quit my job, we bought a house with 4 bedrooms and a large playroom, and moved 60 miles north to where Bryan was working. It was insanity, but worth it after we settled in. We celebrated the twins first birthday in the new house.

At about 5 months, I started to wear down physically. I was exhausted, and in alot of pain. My doctor said it was from my hips spreading to fast.. all I know is it was bad. I could hardly walk. I felt like I had to carry my belly everywhere I went. If I didn't support it, the baby would just fall out. I was put on modified bedrest. If we went anywhere, I had to ride in a wheelchair. I hated that. HATED that. I didn't have to do that with the twins at all, but did with Dylan. It didn't help that I was bigger than I had ever been while pregnant. I carried this baby so very different, and it showed. At 6 months, I was huge.


And the biggest frustration, I was alone. Bryan was traveling extensively for work. He was gone for weeks at a time, only to come home for a weekend and head back out at the beginning of the next week. It was very hard. I was taking care of the twins, suppose to be on bedrest, and I felt completely and totally alone. My mom eventually came up and stayed with me. I think she practically lived at my house for 3 or 4 months. She was a life savor, and I am extremely grateful for all the help she gave me. I wouldn't have been able to do it with out her. She gave the boys attention, when I was spent and couldn't. She would force me to bed, or make me stop cleaning and take over. At the time, it was frustrating (the cleaning)... but now looking back, she was more than a blessing and I love her even more for it.

Baby girl was born 6 weeks early, via a c-section. I went into the doctor on monday because I was hurting more than usual. I had this sharp pain that had started the week before, that just kept getting worse. When I got to the doctors office, he didn't want to let me go home but decided that sleeping in my own bed would be better than a stay over night at the hospital and allowed me to go. It was a scary night, cause he really didn't tell me why he was rushing the c-section besides a scary comment of "I am surprised you made it through the weekend without delivery. Go home, lay down and don't get back up." And that is exactly what I did.

Delivery day was crazy. I hate c-sections, I've had one for every pregnancy, and they stress me out terribly. With Dylan, the experience was bad. So many things went wrong, and no matter how many times I told myself that I was in better care now, the fear never went away. By the time I was wheeled into the delivery room, I was a big ball of scared beyond belief. The twins' c-section went fine, with no complications at all. I was alert and responsive, experiencing everything all through recovery. But, this time, I was still terrified. Did not help when my doctor informed me that if we had waited one more day, or even a few more hours, we would have lost baby girl. That pain I kept complaining off? Baby girl was falling out of my uterus. It had torn, and one of her legs had fallen out. I remember not breathing in that moment, waiting for him to deliver her and hear her cry. I was terrified that we had waited too long. In the moment I heard her, I felt every bit of the tension that had built up in my body, just flow off of me like waves of water. I was staring in Bryan's eyes, and he was trying to reasure me... and I think we both started crying at the same exact time. I saw the fear in his eyes too, and watched it flow away just the same as mine. And the only words I could think to say? "Is it a girl?"

Yes, it is. A beautiful, wonderful, loudly crying baby girl!! Katelyn Rose. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life. They brought her over to me, and I just ran my fingers down her cheeks, thinking that I was the most blessed woman ever alive. My daughter was here, after one of the scariest pregnancies, and she would be joining a family so happy and eager to have her with them. The twins were super excited, in their 18 month old way, to finally see the baby thats been in mommy's tummy all this time. And Dylan, he was the most attentive older brother in the world. He adored his sister from the moment he saw her.

I bounced back from this C-section faster than my other two. I was out of the hospital and home in 1 day. Seriously. I only spent one night at the hospital. I had been down for so long already, I was ready to get up and run. Katelyn had a struggle for the first year of her life. At 3 months of age, she was diagnosed with "failure to thrive" which was very scary. She wouldn't gain weight, and would even lose some. Between her 2nd month visit and her 3rd, she had lost 2 pounds. Dispite that, this girl has always been a mover and shaker. She was crawling at 4 months. Not rolling over, crawling. She was the most determined baby ever. The Case workers from Early intervention were astounded by her. She was the littlest thing for the longest time, but that didn't stop her at all. She rated 2 months above her age for development, and 3 months below on growth. It was the strangest thing ever. And to this day, she is still doing things above her age... she's right there with the boys, who are 18 months older than her, on most things. And some things, she's even doing better than them. She learned to talk very very early on, and I don't think she's stopped since. In fact, she was making vocal sounds in the hospital the day she was born. We called the nurses in all scared cause she was making this grunting noise... and they smiled and informed us that she was "talking". No truer words ever spoken about my Katelyn. She's "talked" since day one. I've got a video clip of her at 3 months talking into the phone to her grandma. :)

Katelyn is now 3 years old, and is the life and party of our house. She runs circles around all three boys, and rules the house... just ask her! But even with all her spunk and attitude, she is the sweetest, most cuddly child I have. She will come over and give me a kiss or a hug at any given time during the day. And it always brightens my mood. She is joy, in a little body. And I thank god every day for blessing me with her. With her birth, I learned that sometimes things seem so very overwhelming but, in the end that in itself is a blessing too. I can not imagine my life with out my daughter, she completes our family. Yes, its crazy having three children that are less than 2 years apart... but it is also a ton of fun. There is never a dull moment in my life, and I remember praying for just that, an exciting life. I didn't think it would come in the form of so many miracles, but I am beyond thankful that it did. I started my journey to motherhood believing that it would never happen. That I would never have my own children. The road was long, and filled with obsticales along the way, but here I sit, 13 years later with a full house of noise, toys, craziness, fussiness, and love... Lots and lots of love. And I wouldn't change a thing. Ever.