Kayla Lynne 10.22.08

I was due on October 13 and really thought I was going to have her early. Boy was I wrong!! She had an agenda of her own and was coming out on her terms!! October 13 came and went and at my doctors appointment on the 14th he said that I would see him on Monday and then if she wasn't here I would be induced on Wed. Oct 22. Dh and I were getting pretty anxious and I had worked a shorter hour week the week before and was scheduled to start my maternity leave on October 13. I only get 6 weeks and 2 of those weeks are my vacation time, and I am not paid for the rest because its just me and my boss at the firm. At my Monday appointment the doctor checked me and I was 1-2 cm and thinning out so they went ahead and told me to come to the hospital at 8 am to be induced. The doctor "helped" me a little bit with the dilation and I was very crampy and spotty that Monday. On Tuesday, I still was not feeling good and was pretty much in bed most of the day. I still had some errands to run so when DH came home and we went to Target and grocery shopping and my "menstrual like cramps" started getting worse and worse. We got pizza for dinner and when we got home I had a feeling in the back of my mind that these were contractions and that she was ready to come out and meet mommy and daddy. I didn't finish my pizza thinking about that. We went to bed at 10:00 and I got up for my nightly potty break at 12:15 ish and lost my mucous plug! Woo hoo I thought! Progress finally!! And then my little princess decided that it was time to come out!! I started having contractions and was walking around and walking it off and timed them. They were 5 min apart and 1 min. long and I was uncomfortable. I thought to myself that this was finally it!! I timed them for an hour and they I woke DH up and told him I wasn't going to make it until 8 am. He got up and we called the doctor and he told us he would meet us at the hospital. The hospital ride was about 20 minutes and we passed a state cop going pretty fast but all was clear. When I got there I was put in a wheel chair and wheeled down the long hallways to my room, DH following anxiously behind. I happen to be the only one on the floor that night so I got the biggest delivery room. I immediately got an IV (which hurt me more than the contractions and bothered me throughout the night) and the penicillin for Group B Strep. They put the contraction monitor and the baby’s monitor on my belly. The doctor came in right away and checked me and I was already 3-4cm dilated. He asked me what I wanted to do for pain and I told him I would get the epidural. The nurse asked me what my pain level was on a scale of 1-10. Of course I had no idea how bad it gets or if this is it so I replied 3-4. She told me that was really good because I was having strong contractions. The anesthesiologist then came in shortly after to give me the epidural. I was told to sit on the edge of the bed and we would wait until the contraction ended to do the epidural. The local anesthesia needle was worse than the epidural, and even so wasn’t even that bad! I then was told to lie on my back so the epidural was distributed evenly. I was pretty uncomfortable lying on my back but immediately felt the epidural take effect. My left leg went completely numb and stayed that way through the whole labor and delivery to the point where DH had to move it for me if I wanted to flip. I was no longer feeling contractions! Whoo hoo! It was an uncomfortable feeling to be numb. I proceeded to switch sides every now and then and tried to stay comfortable. I did get sick about 3 times and then was given medicine for it and didn’t after that. After I got the epidural my contractions went off the charts, DH loved watching the monitor. At one point when the doctor came in to check me I felt a pop, and thought it was the baby kicking, but my water had broken. I was soo glad I didn’t have to be induced and everything was happening on its own. When I reached 7 cm I began feeling the contractions slightly on my right side so I had to get another addition to my IV. I finally reached 10 cm at around 1:00 pm. I was then told it was time to push! Dh and I were so excited that we were that much closer to meeting our little girl FINALLY!!! Once I reached 10 cm my contractions slowed down a lot. I was told that when a contraction comes I was going to push three times for each one. I couldn’t feel anything so I didn’t know what progress I was making but it seemed like forever! The doctor finally turned down the IV so that I could feel the pressure of the contractions so that I could push more effectively and I was given pitocin to speed them up. Then at 2:42pm it finally happened, our baby girl came into the world weighing an even 7 lbs and 21 inches long. Dh was crying and I fell in love with him all over again. He waited to cut the cord and then grabbed the camera to get a picture of Kayla on the scale. While I was pregnant he said that he wasn’t sure if he was going to watch her birth, but he ended up watching the whole thing and didn’t take his eyes off of the birth of his daughter. He said it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life and words could not explain it. I wanted to breastfeed her right away and I was kindof ticked at the fact that I was told that the lactation consultants were in the postpartum section. So I was basically on my own not knowing what I was doing and breastfed my baby girl for the first time. She latched on and ate for 40 minutes. I of course didn’t latch her correctly, and I was a little sore after. Both our moms and DH’s grandma had been at the hospital since we arrived and were waiting at the door for the news of her birth. I had to “recover” until I was able to move my legs before I got taken to the postpartum room. My epidural didn’t wear off for a while and my left leg was numb for a while after I got back to the room. I made sure to use the nurses as resources and every time I would go to feed her I would call them to come help me so by the time I left the hospital I was a pro at breastfeeding!

We were both so happy and we are so blessed to have her!!! We are sooo in love. It has been the best experience of our lives. It’s so great being a mommy and watching my hubby be such a great daddy. He has been reading to her every night and just is so natural and wonderful with her. Our families and friends are being soo supportive and they are all soo in love with her as well. I can't believe its already been a week and a half since I had her.

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Message edited 11/2/2008 12:02:58 AM.

Re: Kayla Lynne 10.22.08

Congratulations! She's beautiful!

Re: Kayla Lynne 10.22.08

She is gorgeous! Enjoy every second with her

Re: Kayla Lynne 10.22.08

Congratulations!! You're story has me crying. She is so beautiful. Those are great photos.

Re: Kayla Lynne 10.22.08

Our children share the same birthday!! Congrats!!!

Re: Kayla Lynne 10.22.08

She's beautiful! Congratulations!

Re: Kayla Lynne 10.22.08

soo cute! congrats.

Re: Kayla Lynne 10.22.08

Congratulations! Her shirt is right, she is adorable!!!

Re: Kayla Lynne 10.22.08

So Beautiful

Re: Kayla Lynne 10.22.08

she is so cute !! Congrats !!

Re: Kayla Lynne 10.22.08

congrats