Katherine Leah Krentz was born August 10, 2012! I was leaking amniotic fluid the week before, so my midwife decided it was best to induce me gently to see if we could get this baby out a couple weeks early. Kevin and I spent the afternoon at the hospital watching the Olympics (ribbon dancing is a sport???) and taking walks around Capitol Hill while I eased into early labor. At around 5 pm on Friday, Sally broke my waters and things started in earnest. I decided on a natural childbirth, so things got pretty painful and scary and I was not exactly at my best, but Kevin was by my side the whole time and I felt well taken care of by the unobstrusive staff at Group Health and my incredibly experienced midwife. During transition, Kevin came up with the idea to distract me by asking me trivia about our honeymoon during contractions, and if I managed to shout out the answer during the peak of the pain, I earned "points." I think I got 1.5 right out of about 10, but it did seem to help keep things light. Then things got really heavy and hard and before I knew it, I was pushing that baby out. I had never had an "urge" to push with Jesse, so although it did not feel good, I let my body do its primal thing, and the midwives let me take my time, and Katherine was born in no time. She was a healthy 8 lbs 2 oz, and has all her fingers and toes. Surprisingly, she is blond! and otherwise, looks almost exactly like her big sister did. More updates soon-- so far, we are all feeling great and doing well.
