The Birth of Kennedy

Our daughter Kennedy Rae was born January 29th, 2013.

She is one week old today.

She is amazing and tiny and makes the funniest faces. 

She looks like Ryan but has Pete's facial expressions.

She is beautiful and perfect and I cannot stop staring at her.

This is the story of her birth.

On Monday night, we took Ryan out to dinner to celebrate our last night as a "three family" (his words). He chose to have teppanyaki because he loves to watch them cook the food at the table.  We had lots of fun and toasted with marble soda.  

After we got home, a good friend came over to give me a blessing.  After the blessing I felt reassured that the next day would be a much less traumatic experience than Ryan's birth and that everything would be okay.  We took Ryan to a friend's house, came home and finished packing the hospital bag, and tried to get some sleep despite our excitement (it was not easy).

We woke up at 5:30 am, got ready to go, then walked outside into a snow storm and drove to I-Hop for breakfast. French toast = delicious.

We checked into the hospital five minutes early, at 6:55, met up with my doula, Rachel, and the three of us got situated into our room.  This was my very last pregnancy photo.

39 weeks

Due to the experience I had with Pitocin during my labor with Ryan, I requested to have an epidural given before they gave me the Pit this time around.  That request began the waiting game, as I was third in line for the epidural man, and then right before it was my turn, a woman came in the hospital in extremely active labor demanding pain relief, so I had to wait even longer.  Shortly before 10:00 epidural man Mike finally showed up.

The epi was not as bad as I was expecting.  I assumed that it would hurt more than most women claim because I was not already having extremely painful contractions to counteract the giant needle in my spine...but it turned out to be nothing compared to some of the pain I felt in the hospital following the car accident. Uncomfortable? Yes.  Horrible? No.  It was over pretty quickly, and then my awesome nurse, Jill, started my Pitocin.

I started contracting almost immediately, and was blissfully surprised to not feel any of them. After maybe thirty minutes my midwife, Jennifer, came to break my water.  I had already progressed to 7 centimeters at that point.  Did I mention I have babies very fast?  Yeah...Ryan was born after only five hours of labor.  

Pete, Rachel and I spent some time watching the snow fall outside the window, laughing at the license plate of an OB/GYN's truck: "PUUUSH", talking about dogs named Duchess and discussing the extreme variation of music on my Pandora stations.  The difference from my un-medicated labor with Ryan was unbelievable.  All I could do was laugh when Pete would tell me how strong of a contraction I was having.  The only unpleasant moments were some various bouts of nausea and itching from the epidural.  I never thought having a baby could be so simple.

This is me in active labor.
I was trying to look serene, but instead I just look like I'm asleep.

My doula, Rachel, with absolutely nothing to do.
At least she got a break from her
kids for a few hours.

We eventually got kind of bored so Pete put When Harry Met Sally into the DVD player.  We only made it to the part where they run into each other on the airplane by the time I started shaking and feeling extreme pressure down below.  The pressure got really uncomfortable, so Jill requested Epidural Mike to come numb me up some more for delivery.  He came and went as several people brought in all of the delivery trays and baby stuff.  At about 12:15 pm, my Jennifer checked me and said it was time to have a baby.

I grabbed Pete's hand and started to cry.  

I cried because I was partly scared about what pain I might feel during delivery, and also because I was overwhelmed with the fact that the time had finally come to bring my daughter into the world. After nine very long and difficult months, suddenly everything was happening so fast.  I pushed for thirteen minutes.  I started to cry again when Pete told me he could see her dark hair. 

And then, at 12:36, after only two and a half hours of labor, she was here.

I did not feel any pain during her birth. It was amazing. No tearing, no stitches.  She was placed on my stomach immediately while Pete cut the umbilical cord. I remember asking him if she was really a girl, and he laughed at me.  Pete, the midwife, the nurses and I were all in shock at how tiny she was (from the first look at her head Jenn made a comment about how big she looked).  Despite her tiny-ness, her lungs were massive as she screamed and screamed. 

I held her for a few moments before she had to be examined by the respiratory guys a few feet away.  Then, after they took her, my husband and I grabbed each other and cried.  

We did it.

She was weighed, measured, diapered and wiped clean, then she was back in my arms.

(Daddy had to wear a mask when he first held her thanks to the ridiculous cough he had been fighting for two weeks.)

The euphoria of a pain-free birth was unfortunately very short lived.  My placenta was not coming out in a timely fashion, and when it did start to come out, it came out in pieces (not a good thing).  Jennifer eventually had to manually scrape the inside of my uterus to get all of it out, and the epidural had worn out before she was finished.  But I used the best pain killer I had - the sight and smell of the baby in my arms - to get through it and before I knew it, everyone was gone, the room was calm and silent, and it was just us.

One of the best moments of my life.

Later that afternoon, Pete went to get Ryan and brought him to meet his baby sister.  I don't know if there has ever been a boy more excited to see a baby - just look at that face!

Kennedy was getting her blood sugar checked in the nursery when they arrived, so we had to wait a few minutes.  When the nurse brought her in and I held both her and Ryan in my arms, I cried again (those postpartum hormones are insane, in case you didn't notice).

A memory I will never forget.

We told him it was his special job to count her fingers and toes and make sure she was perfect.

Does it get any better than this??

Ryan's gift to Kennedy - a pink giraffe.
Giraffes are his favorite animal, and he was adamant that his baby sister have one of her own.

Ryan eventually went back to our friend's house, and Pete and I spent the rest of the evening basking in the glow of Kennedy's tiny sweet face .  The day was over before we knew it.  The pain of giving birth eventually set in and I had an awful night.  But it was all more than worth it, just to experience this...

In the end, Kennedy's birth was exactly what I was hoping and praying for.  It was calm, peaceful, happy, quick and drama free.  It proved to me that childbirth really can be an amazing experience as long as it works for you.  I know there are many women that can experience natural childbirth and love every minute of it, and there are women who have horrible experiences with inductions and epidurals.  But I learned that as long it's the birth experience that's right for you, there is no right or wrong way to do it. I went into this pregnancy wishing to avoid induction at all costs. But in the end, it turned out to be a great blessing that I was induced at 39 weeks due to the surprising condition of my placenta that could have caused severe problems if my pregnancy had continued any further.  So despite my plans, I was induced, and it turned out to be exactly what I wanted.  Gotta love it, right?

***

I love you, Kennedy Rae. 

Thank you for an awesome day I will never forget.