Kaden's Here!

Here is the story of Kaden's birth...

On February 6th, my Aunt Mary and cousin Laura threw a baby shower for my sister and I. We had all of my mom's family over. After everyone left, around 4pm, I started getting contractions. This was not a new thing for me as I had contractions for about 2 weeks at that point. Around 5:30 I started timing them just for the heck of it and they were consistently 5-6 minutes apart. I called the on-call midwife and she said to wait until they hurt so bad they made me cry. I thought that was stupid because I don't cry that easily. I went home from my sister's house and continued to count. Around 9pm I called my sister because the contractions were stronger and about 3 minutes apart. She thought I should get checked, so she drove me to labor and delivery. The nurse checked me and I was dilated 3cm and 100% effaced. She told me to walk around for an hour and they would check me again. Kelly and I walked all over the hospital for an hour and I got checked again around midnight. I had not progressed at all so they sent me on my way. But not before giving me an Ambien to help me sleep.

I went back to Kelly's house to sleep. Around 5:30am I woke up to a burst of water. My water broke. I was so out of it from the Ambien that I went into the bathroom and just sat there trying to figure out what to do. Fortunately, Kelly came out of her room to check on me and I told her my water broke. We got in the car and headed back the hospital. At this point, the contractions were pretty painful but luckily the Ambien was helping me. I got checked in and put in a room around 6am. At 7:30am the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural (OUCH!) After the epidural I felt amazing and everything was sort of a blur. I started pushing at 9:45am and only had to push a few times. At one point, the nurses got pretty serious and told me not to push. Everyone was rushing around and I had no idea what was going on. It wasn't until after the fact that I found out the cord was around his neck. Kaden was out at 10:26am.

Despite being born 2 weeks early, he was a healthy weight and everything was developed. He was slightly jaundice and had some issues with body temperature, but, as of today, he is healthy as a horse!

Ok Ok. Time for an Update!

This is mostly because Jessica asked for one :) The last month has been pretty hectic. Between starting school, work, finishing up my practicum, and all the baby showers, it's been pretty hard to keep track of time! I am officially in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy and, honestly, it's horrible. I can't wait for it to be over.

To summarize, I have a small torso and small pelvis. It's a genetic thing. My mom has the same problem which is why my sister and I ended up c-sections despite the fact that we were both pretty small babies. Anyway, I am growing an elephant baby who already weighed 7lbs at 35.5 weeks. I am 36 weeks now and will have another ultrasound on Thursday to get a new weight estimate. At this point I am measuring at 40 weeks. I am weighing my options and have not ruled out an elective c-section, especially if they find that he is approaching 8lbs. No way I am going to push out a 10lb baby!!

I have figured out a way for me to graduate a quarter early and will be meeting with my advisor next week to discuss my plan. I think he will go for it. I am also still working on the paperwork to possibly teach an undergraduate course in the Fall. I am also meeting with my practicum coordinator next week to set up my advanced internship. And all of this has to get figured out before baby gets here! Let's cross our fingers and pray everything goes as planned.

In other news, Mike is coming home soon. He won't make it home in time for the birth, but will be here shortly after, so I guess I can't complain. At least he will get 2 full weeks with the baby, though I think he is pretty bummed that he will be missing the birth. Maybe it's better that way :) I still have to convince my sister that she is NOT video taping it.

We had a loss in the family. Our fish of 1 year, Mr. Fishy, got excited and jumped out of his bowl. He landed on the ground and Peanut ate him. It was a sad day. RIP Mr. Fishy.

I think that's all for now. I will try to be better at updating!