I wrote about Madeline’s, my first born, birth story in two posts.  Catherine’s will be much shorter.  Why?  Well, in all honesty, I try not to write a whole lot about Catherine because we are in the midst of filing a malpractice lawsuit for permanent injuries that were a result of her birth.  This is what I will share…

Noah and I were enjoying our life as a happy family of three.  I had a job that I loved and we were planning on selling our home so we could live closer to family.  We knew we wanted more children, but we weren’t really planning on when we would have them.  I’m very open about the fact that I was breastfeeding and not on any birth control.  I had two postpartum periods before conceiving Catherine.  (spoiler alert: that’s a trend when conceiving Braiden)  She was actually conceived in DeKalb on our moving day (no Emily, she was NOT conceived in your house).  We moved out of our home and into my sister’s house at the end of July.  We were trying to buy a home in Oswego, but it was a foreclosure and was taking a bit of time.  My sister and her husband let us stay with them for a few weeks and I am forever grateful for them opening their doors for us.

Anyway, I remember laying in bed at my sisters having the urge to research new doctors since we were moving.  We finally moved into our home Labor Day weekend and by the end of that first week I found out I was pregnant.  I immediately called my new doctor and began receiving prenatal care.  As previously mentioned, I’m not going to go into much detail here.  My pregnancy was uneventful.  I did not pass my one hour glucose test (no surprise since I had gestational diabetes with Madeline), but did pass the three hour test.  At nearly three weeks before my due date, I woke up at midnight needing to use the restroom.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but that was my water breaking.  I spent midnight through dawn not being able to sleep.  I ended up in the family room trying to sleep in the recliner.  Noah actually was a groomsman in a wedding that night.  In the morning, I decided to take a shower.  I wasn’t in any pain at all and it didn’t even cross my mind that I was in labor.  I remember sitting at the breakfast table with Madeline just not feeling right.  Noah and I decided to go to the hospital just to get ‘checked out’.  We brought Madeline to Noah’s mom and proceeded to the hospital.  We got to triage and they determined that my water definitely had broken and that I was around 4 centimeters dilated.  They admitted me and I texted my boss telling her I was starting my maternity leave early.

I progressed through labor and received my epidural at some point.  All of my family arrived as I had told them that the baby would definitely need to be born before midnight since that was when my water had broken.  I continued to progress through labor and finally felt the urge to push.  Keeping things simple… I experienced shoulder dystocia, my mom was forced out of the room, the OR was called, medical professionals applied two maneuvers, and then Catherine was born.  My doctor immediately told me something was wrong, but it was one of two possible things.  My doctor later met with me and apologized for how Catherine’s birth went.  Catherine was given a Xray and were told told at the hospital that she had a broken collar bone.  At two weeks old, we were told that there was no broken bone and that Catherine had a brachial plexus injury, also known as Erbs’ Palsy.