Kaylee Anne

Just going to warn you all now - this will be long and possibly put together in sections.

Three weeks old now - I figure it is time I shared her story!

Both big sisters came early.  So of course from the beginning my OB (as well as everyone else) told me to expect early again.  Which of course means I had this feeling she would be two weeks late.  Luckily I was wrong, and so was everyone else! EDD (Estimated Delivery Date) According to LMP was July 21st. EDD according to my OB (or the nurse that for some odd reason wrote it down wrong) was July 22nd.  EDD according to my calculations on when ovulation took place was July 18th.  But since Taylor was 3 weeks early I wanted everything ready by 36 weeks just in case.  The problem when everything is ready early...is that mom is also ready early and baby may have other ideas.

We decided not to find out the sex of the baby this time.  Baby number 3, we have to do something different right? I discovered that I do NOT like not knowing.  Perhaps it is the control freak in me, but I so love being able to say "him/her" before baby is born.  Sure, it is fun to discover the sex on the big day, but no more fun then finding out a few months early. And some of these things are nice to stretch out...not that any of this is really that important to the story.

Anyhow - This was by far my easiest pregnancy.  I was in good physical shape to start (which I highly recommend.) and did not have any of the weird, rare conditions that we had the last two times (Amazing!) was just sick for 25 weeks.   But once July started, I was ready to have this baby!  The baby, however, had other ideas and decided it wanted to sit tight. 'July 4th would be fun' we all said...yeah no baby.  Everyone made their guesses...no baby.  My guess was July 10...I was wrong.  NO BABY.

"Maybe the baby will be born today!" became the mantra of the house.  The girls got so tired of hearing it I think they believed mom would have a big belly forever..and I was starting to wonder myself.  I was walking 2-3 miles most days, and doing everything I could think of (within reason) to get things going. I started having regular contractions (not just B&H) at about 37.5 weeks so I kept feeling like it really could be anytime.  Some days they would be every 10 minutes for hours, then settle back down again.  I was ready to have the baby, but luckily not anxious at all.  I kept saying I thought it would be a while still because I was not so uncomfortable to be desperate yet. And you have to get to some level of desperation to be crazy enough to go through the pain of labor...on purpose!

I went to a doctors appointment on Wednesday the 14th of July and was already dilated to 3 and 70% effaced.  It was nice to see all these contractions were doing something. The nurse told me she thought it could be anytime.  "Make an appointment for next week." She told the receptionist. "But she wont be here, she wont make it through the weekend." Oh I hoped she was right!

The weekend of the 16th got here and I was feeling very done.  We had said all along that a baby born on Daddy's birthday (the 15th) would be fun. So when the day came and went with no baby I think I reached the end.  The morning of Saturday the 16th we needed something to pass the time, so we went to see Winnie the Pooh in the theater and had lunch with some good friends. Contractions were certainly regular at this point, but still didn't hurt too much.  I was in the same place I had been for 2 weeks.  It felt like it could be today...or next week. 

Saturday ended, still no baby.

I admit I felt kind of foolish.  Here my due date(s) was not even here yet. I wasn't comfortable, but certainly not constantly in pain (like the times before) and yet I was complaining about still being pregnant. I think the waiting was mostly what was driving me crazy.  I could make no plans, I couldn't focus on anything knowing it could be an any minute thing.  But when it is any minutes for 3 weeks...the minutes get longer!

Sunday morning I dreaded going to church.  The cheery "still no baby?" comments made me feel I could possibly commit murder. Ok, perhaps not that bad.  But we are talking about a hormonal pregnant woman here! I looked like I was carrying a basket ball around under my shirt.  A completely round belly all out to the front, getting so low I couldn't sit correctly - and walking looked comical to put it nicely...as I knew from the various "waddling wife" songs my wonderful husband smugly composed whenever he possibly could.

By Sunday afternoon the contractions had been a very regular 10 minutes apart all day (no matter what I was doing) and I was ready to get this rolling.  I sat on the yoga ball a while that afternoon thinking it would help and they stopped entirely.  So I went on a walk (in 100 degree weather, that is how desperate I was feeling!) and they started up again right away.  We had a pot-luck at my pastors house that night and we figured since there was no real sign this was it for real we might as well go.  Everyone must have thought we were crazy as I kept yelling across the room "Ryan, what time is it?" every time I got a new contraction so he could time them for me. 

By about 6:30 I knew things were progressing.  I had started leaking water and contractions were starting to hurt, but I didn't want to go to the hospital unless I knew FOR SURE this was it. The very last thing I wanted was to be sent home. 7:30ish contractions hit a regular 6-7 minutes apart and were taking real focus at the peek, so we decided it was time to head for the hospital.  I called my mom so she could get on the road, we called my in-laws to meet us at our house to pick up the kids and excitedly got to tell the big sisters that "the new baby was finally coming!"

We got home and as Ryan was loading the car, I was singing the girls their goodnight songs when I got a real gush of water and knew that this was it 100%!

We got to the hospital about 8pm and checked in.  Things still felt like they were progressing pretty slow, contractions took focus but still were not too painful. We told the nurse we wanted to do things natural, that this was baby #3 and so we knew what we were doing, that my mom was a doula and was on her way from LA. They were amazing and let me be only monitored intermittently.  I had to have the IV (group B+) but still had the freedom to move as much as I needed too.  We went on a walk up and down the halls and things started to move foreword.  Once we got back into the room I wanted to sit on the ball and that turned out to be the very best position for me. I could sit and roll and move back and forth as much as needed with Ryan sitting on a chair in front of me so I could lean on him.  About 2 hours into it contractions were pretty painful, but still fully bearable so I felt I still had a ways to go.  I didn't have back labor this time which was soooo nice! I had it both times before and it had made things so much harder. About 2.5 hours in I got on the bed for a moment, I cant remember why and immediately felt a shift foreword in progress.  I started to make noise through the contractions and got sick and threw up.  I can remember thinking "I always get sick at transition, but there is no way I am already 7-8cm.  I have not been at this near long enough!" I got back on the ball and all of a sudden it felt like things were going at record speed.  I focused on keeping sounds low and I think that really helped.  At about 11:15 all of a sudden things changed again and I felt like I needed to bare down.  Again, I thought "there is no way I am already close to a 10! It has barely been 3 hours!" The moment I thought that my mom got there.  I was in the thick of it all at this point and the moment there was another contraction I needed to push again.  I can only describe it by saying that at the peek of a contraction it felt as if the pain was so strong I needed to get it out of me, and had no control over my body pushing it out!

I yelled for the nurse to check me and she said I was at a 9 with a lip.  I couldn't believe it, I was already so close to the end!  My mom said we needed to get me to the bed since I was squatting on the floor at that point and so I made my way over, but the moment I was on the bed it hurt worse so I turned to my side trying to move off again...only to feel a head start to come out! I yelled "The baby is coming!" and the nurse ran out the door to get the doctor...which she should not have done because if I say the baby is coming that means it is coming NOW.  I hear my mom say "Ryan get the head, I"ll check the cord" and so because there were no doctors or nurses in the room at the time, daddy got to catch his baby girl!  By the time the doctor and a team of nurses had made their way back in, the baby was in my arms! 

Kaylee Anne was 5lbs 5oz. and 19inchess and was born at 11:29 pm on Sunday July 17th - half hour before my estimated due date. She must have been in a balloon of water to make such a big round belly on mom for such a little baby! She came out bright pink and perfect.  They were able to do all tests with her on my chest and she nursed great right away.

We had to stay in the hospital a day longer because she had come so fast I did not get all the antibiotics I needed and so we had to have her blood drawn and tested.  Well, a bacteria somehow got into the sample and so they had to keep her to make sure it really was a lab contamination and not something in her. We got the all clear (just something from the lab) and got to go home Wednesday!  While frustrating, it was a small thing to make sure she was ok, especially since she was so tiny.

Here are some pictures taken by Aunty on day 1. Daddy said the hat looked silly because it is too big. I thought it was cute.

tired mom!

proud big sister

so sad

daddy is already being a pest

she is awake

even more tired daddy

See? the hat is cute

she loves her baby sister

so little!

a family of 5!

I promise I will take more pictures soon. She has already changed so much. (I admit i am waiting a bit for the baby acne to clear.)

Now Kaylee is 3 weeks old.  She gives us about 3 hour stretches of sleep at night (though most of it she still sleeps on mom). and a 2-3 hour nap every morning in her swing! She loves her sisters and her daddy and most of all her mom. She likes being outside and does not like her car seat, diaper changes or being cold. She is getting bigger everyday and is finally getting too big for her preemie clothes and just barely fits into her newborn ones.

I'm so happy you came to live with us Kaylee! And as tired as you make me, I can't wait to watch you learn and grow.  I love you so much and I am so very proud to be your mom!