happy birthday, kitty kat

today is kate's 4th birthday. four years ago, right now, i was at my midwife's office hooked up to a fetal monitor. i'd gone in for an ultrasound because kate was measuring small (we realized later that she had stopped growing). after the ultrasound, i happened to mention to the doctor that i'd been having frequent braxton hicks contractions all day. she noted that i was only 36.5 weeks along and agreed that it was probably nothing, but just in case, she hooked me up to the fetal monitor.

turns out i was in labor. 4 cm dialated and 75% effaced. didn't even know it. you know how they always say when you're in labor you'll know it? not true. i didn't know either time with my kids.

so four years ago today, i was hooked up to the fetal monitor. jeff watched the contractions on the paper and said several times that it looked like i was in labor. i told him he was wrong. he was right.

i went to my in-laws house around 3pm (they live right around the corner from the hospital and we lived 30 minutes away) to wait out some more contractions. around 6pm they started getting heavy so i headed to the hospital. got hooked up with my epidural and at 11:52pm, anna kate goldscher came screaming her head off into the world. all 4 pounds, 14 ounces and 17 inches of her.

and now she's 4. and i'm finding 4 to be a difficult age (i'll take a 2-year-old any day). but she's still my kitty kat. and i love her. and i can't believe she's 4.