The story of Kellyn Adrianna Elizabeth....
Well, Saturday started out as normal. Brian's 41st birthday, kids running around, we went out for Mexican (per my request) for lunch, and then a nice birthday dinner at Brian's parents' house.
Tired, I went to bed at 10:30pm. I thought that since I hadn't felt barely any contractions that day, I should go to bed and get some sleep just in case it did happen that night.
Around 1:40am I woke up to what I thought was the end of a contraction. I had been sleeping with my Ipod on, so I checked the clock on it, and waited to see if I had another contraction. Low and behold, about 4 minutes later, I felt another one. And they came about 4 minutes apart until 2am. That's when I decided to come downstairs and start timing the contractions online, while carrying on a conversation with my brother. I waited until about 2:20 before I went upstairs to wake up Brian. Of course, he was pissed. Only because with all 3 kids my labor started in the middle of the night, after either working lots of over time, or this time....feeling sick. Poor baby!! LOL
I called the hospital to ask about when to come in, because with this pregnancy I tested positive for Group B strep. Which means I had to have antibiotics administered during labor so that the baby wouldn't contract the virus.
We both decided to shower and then call Brian's parents to come over to the house to sit with the kids. By this time it is like 3am. I'm still feeling contractions, and they are bearable. So I didn't feel too much urgency. We left for the hospital around 3:30am. My contractions didn't feel totally normal in comparison to the other two kids, so that's why I wasn't to sure it was 'real' labor.
Did the whole hospital check in, I was greeted by, "this must be Darcy." when I walked up to the desk. Apparently I'm the only one who called in that night. :) I did the whole switcharoo into the gown, urine sample and got hooked up to monitors. The contractions were getting worse, but were only down by my hips, back and pelvis. This was SUPER different from the boys.
The nurse checked me, and I was dilated to a 3. So they called my doctor and admitted me. I got into a room... on the opposite side of the maternity ward from the boys.... a nice change.
I wasn't a trooper... I opted for the epidural as soon as they could give it to me. The whole back labor thing isn't a walk in the park. In fact, it SUCKS. I was in some nasty pain by 4cm, I can't imagine laboring to 10 dealing with that. I would have begged Brian to knock me over the head. After the epidural, I was totally chatty. My doctor made a surprise visit at 6am (she was on call saturday, but came in to check on me vs having another dr do it) and checked me and I was at a 7. She decided to break my water around 7:30, another difference from the boys, theirs broke on its own at home.... which in doing that, I went back to a 6 from having no pressure on my cervix. At that point, she told me that things should move along pretty quickly now.
Indeed they did. About 8:30 I could start to feel my contractions again through the epidural. Once again they were all in my hips and back area. Not cool. I had a couple decent contractions, and both the nurse and the doctor come into the room, I made the comment that I can feel them again.... and they replied that they knew that and that's why they came back into the room. They were some strong ones! I let them know that I felt like I should be pushing, they got stuff all ready, and off we went.
After a few minutes of pushing (like 15) my little baby was here. They took her out, put her on my tummy and I just stared at her. A nurse finally asked what it was because the doctor never said....
Her response was, "hold on a minute!!" And then, she said, "IT'S A GIRL!"
I couldn't see, she was laying just right so that no boy or girl parts were visible, and after she said that, I was in SHOCK. I didn't really believe her. "What am I going to do with a girl?" came out of my mouth... And as soon as I saw her eyes, I couldn't believe her eyelashes!! Super long, even past the puffy, swollen eyes. Then they took her away to get cleaned up and weighed. While that was going on, I got stitched up for about 5 minutes (ouch), thanks to the episiotomy. For my 3rd child, this probably shouldn't have been an issue, but my little girl came out sunny side up... (posterior) That meant that the biggest part of her head was coming through first. So it also explains the fact that I was having back labor. And the famous comment by my doctor, "you were made to have kids if you can deliver a posterior baby like that." Thank God for my big pelvis.... :)
Kellyn Adrianna Elizabeth
She weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces. Measured her at 20 inches long. 8:54 am she came into the world.
Brian and her aunt Susie got their wish. From the beginning she was set to have a due date of 4/14. They compromised and said that she should come on the 13th. That way Brian would keep his own birthday (the 12th), and his sister Sue would keep her own birthday (the 14th). And she did. Pure coincidence obviously.
We had a great stay in the hospital, I was waited on hand and foot by some awesome nurses, and finally made the trek home on Tuesday.
The boys love the new baby, however Soren won't really come near her. Braden has held her twice, and that's ok with me. The more standoffish Soren is, the less likely she is to have a permanent marker tattoo, or a huge goose-egg on her head. :) Gotta love my two year old.
We're a little exhausted around here... but it will soon get better. She is jaundiced like the boys, so tomorrow we take her in again for a blood draw to check her bili levels. 12.8 was her last one on Thursday, lets hope its down, and we don't have to do this for 2 weeks like Braden. Grrr....
~d
