the pregnancy diaries: week 40 --SHE'S HERE!!

please forgive me for being a whole week behind with this post, because last saturday, may 4th, i was 40 weeks.  i was also in labor. and gave birth to our beautiful little girl.

Kenley Madeleine Hopper

Saturday, May 4th @ 2.13 pm

6 lbs, 9 oz 18.5"

(and then 19.5" at the doctors a few days later--babies are pretty wiggly when they have just been born)

first family photo. love that little puffy, slightly cone headed, newborn face! it's already gone!

and the reader's digest version of kenley's birth. i will keep all of the intimate details to myself and steven, for now. it's still long, and i will never know if you just skip on through and look at the pictures only. permission granted.

i woke up 2 am friday morning with consistent contractions 5 minutes apart.  they were painful, but manageable.  it was a great opportunity for me to practice relaxing and breathing through them.  i was pretty determined to do this birth naturally.  i knew i could.

all cleaned up, right after birth.

i took a bath to somewhat relieve the pain.  that's when steven woke up and asked where i was.  i told him i was fine and i'll be back in a minute.  finally, around 4 am, i woke steven up again and told him i was having contractions every 5 minutes.  i called the hospital and the nurse said, after asking if the pain was manageable, "come in when they are 3-5 minutes apart and hurt like hek." 

so we showered and got ready to go so we would be ready when the time came.  and we waited.  and waited.  we watched like 3 episodes of psych.  then we decided to go on a walk to get things going, stopping every 5 minutes so i could breathe through a contraction.  the pain was still manageable when we got back, so we waited some more until around 3.30 pm when i felt the pain was bad enough that they would admit me and we could get this birth day started.

wrong. i was monitored at the hospital for an hour, all the while the contractions worsened. but still, not in active labor for them to keep me.  and so we went home.  and we ate some food.  i took a bath and steven sat in there with me and we watched more psych.  i was so not interested.  i laid on the bed after for a couple of hours.  the contractions got worse and worse and worse and i was in  p a i n .

my first time holding kenley.  what an amazing experience.

 i was still doing a great job at relaxing and breathing through the contractions.  it's hard, because the natural instinct is to tense up and create pressure to relieve the pain, but that doesn't help progress labor and actually makes the pain with contractions worse. 

we decided around 9 pm to go back.  again, i was monitored for an hour and it was decided i was still in early labor.  not fun.  sent home twice!? this time, despite my feelings towards conventional meds, i took a morphine shot right in the derriere.  the nurse did it between contractions, but still, that thing hurt! 

 the morphine relieved almost all of the pain and allowed me to get 4 hours of solid sleep (which, remember, i woke up at 2 am with contractions, so i had been having a long, painful day).  the morphine started wearing off and contractions were then 4 minutes apart.  at 5 am, i decided to shower while i could still manage the pain.  i laid back in bed after and got steven up at 6.30 am.  he made me some plain toast and then got ready himself.  we were out the door at 7.30 am.  hoping this time it was for real.

dad's first time holding his daughter.

we went through the same process at the hospital as before.  this time, i had made progress since the previous night.  the nurse hooked me up to the monitors then called the doctor.  she came back and recommended, although it sounded awful, that we walk through the halls to get things going even more.  seriously? well, we did.  we walked back and forth through labor & delivery and postpartum for 45 minutes.  we stopped every 2 minutes so i could put my head in steven's chest and breathe.  it was great.  but it paid off.  baby was ready. and the nurses got me all set for delivery.  when the nurse was walking out to call the doctor, she told asked if i wanted an epidural.  Y E S. yes i did.  and when that anesthesiologist walked in--hallelujah.  getting an epidural was always an option for me, even though i really wanted to go natural.  but after going through 33 hours of contractions, i didn't really feel the need to keep going when they were just going to get even worse. i had never been more willing to get a needle and drugs pumped into me than at that moment.

after the epidural was in and my legs were numb, the nurse started me on pitocin to progress things faster.  she said it would still be about 4 hours before pushing time came, but girlfriend was ready and it was only about an hour and a half.  the room was set up for delivery and next thing i knew the doctor was walking in and putting on his gloves.  he also had his 13 year old granddaughter with him shadowing.  she basically just stood to the side and watched, maybe, maybe she didn't.  i didn't really care.  i was previously occupied.  

i pushed for about 10 minutes and then i could see kenley's face.  soon the doctor had her whole body in his hands.  when i saw that tiny body and heard her make her first cry, i was overwhelmed with love and relief.  she was here.  she was healthy.  steven cut her umbilical cord and she was whisked away to be cleaned and measured and whatever else they were doing over there.

not choking her--just looks that way! just giving some burps.  doesn't she look like a little hobo here?

the nurse soon brought kenley over to me for some skin-to-skin time.  steven and i stared and stared and stared at her.  she was ours.  completely hours and so precious.  straight from heaven, our little angel.  i can't accurately describe all of the feelings rushing through my body.  we were so in love.  her puffy body, double chin, chubby cheeks, and tucking her bottom lip in.  l o v e.

after a little skin-to-skin time, the nurse had me try feeding her.  we were both learning so it took awhile.  finally, nearly 2 hours after she was born, steven was able to hold her.  i felt horrible that it had been so long before he got to hold her.  watching him take kenley in his arms melted my heart.  he was so sweet with her.  the two people in this world i love the most--nothing could be better.

before we knew it all of our siblings and my mom were in to meet kenley.  my mom also brought us dinner, which i scarfed down.  2 pieces of toast 13 hours ago and delivering a baby in between? yeah. hungry.

first time in her car seat! and a little newborn rash.

 we stayed 2 nights in the hospital and went home monday around noon with our perfect little girl.  we are so obsessed with her.  she is perfect and so precious.