So today Kenzie is one month old...and I really can't believe it has already been a month! When I was in the hospital those two days were the longest days of my life...and now it has been a month, I am in shock. I thought it would be good to write my experience of having a baby down, so I figured no better place than this.Warning this is long...
Derek and I arrived at the doctor's office for my 39 week check up on Tuesday 27th. We had shared with Dr. Nelson that my mom was going to come today and had scheduled last week for me to be induced on Thursday January 29th. It was totally just a normal check up, I was dilated to a 3 1/2 ish and almost 100% effaced. I had been dilating slowly for about 2 weeks. Dr. Nelson then said...Your mom's coming today right?Do you want to have the baby today? Derek and I looked at each other with a bit of shock, ran through our next two days schedule and said SURE! She called and made sure they had room and walked up to the room.
We called our families and shared with them the news. I was totally excited to tell my mom because she was on her way from Colorado and would be there that afternoon between 4 and 5. They started my on Pitocin about 11am. I started to feel a few contractions, this was NOTHING compared to what i was going to be feeling. Dr. Nelson came up and broke my water at about noon. Which is one of the grossest things ever! You can move without excreting tons and tons of amniotic fluid. Then warned my that once she broke my water, that is when the contractions really start coming, I said okay and thought really nothing of it. The Anaesthesiologist came in and said he was going home (I think to feed his cows, only in Idaho) and that he would be 30 minutes away if I needed him so keep that in mind. I said okay and instead of getting the epidural then he went home and that is when they started. After about 45 minutes I called the nurses between contractions and said I would be ready for an epidural in 30 minutes. The contractions came one after the other for about an hour and a half until the doctor came back. I thought I was going to die! I didn't ever even think that experiencing that much pain was even possible. Derek was having a hard time because there was nothing he could do about it. I could feel the contractions beginning to start and would start to cry and say no, no, no.
Once I received the epidural I was okay! Even though it took him a long time to give it to me it was worth it. 100% completely and utterly worth it. I then proceeded to go numb. I felt completely like a beached whale...once the medicine kicked in all the way. But it was totally worth it. Derek and I then played Wii for the rest of the afternoon....REALLY that is not a lie.
At about 2pm we were monitoring the baby and she was having a hard time recovering from the contractions. Her heart rate would drop and then pick back up and repeat. So they completely stopped the pitocin until about 4pm. They checked me again at 4 and I was about a 5-5 1/2. They started the pitocin again VERY slowly. They noticed that the Baby was completely on my right side...like the most lop-sided EVER. So they moved me to be on the left side to make sure that I dilated evenly and not just on one side. She did NOT like that, her heart rate would drop a little and they moved me back to my right side...we did this about four times...every time ended in the same situation-me back on my right side. Which is where she was almost the whole time.
At about 6pm, I was checked again. This time the news was shocking I was completely dilated. Holy Crap...that went fast. Since I obviously wasn't feeling any pain Dr. Nelson said i was going "labor down" for a little while, while she went to mutual (only in Mormon towns). Laboring down is just when your body moves the baby down further so I wouldn't have to push as much. At 8pm I started pushing. This was the first time it hit me...I WAS GOING TO HAVE A BABY, you would think the 9 months before I would realize what was happening...nope! Derek asked for a mirror for me, he knew that I wanted one really bad, and I completely wasn't thinking about that. I thought that giving birth was completely the coolest thing ever. I loved watching it...you may be thinking GROSS I AM NEVER GOING TO WATCH...trust me it was the coolest thing I have ever seen...really! At 8:38pm she was born and the first thing I said when they laid her on me was...she is HUGE! She was average, 7 lbs 11 oz. and a whole cone head of hair. The doctor warned us that she was a cone head before she came out...before I even started pushing. She was low for a long time.
After our parents left and we were settled in our hospital room we decided on the name Kenzie Marie Cook. We told our parents the next day when they came to visit.
For about the next week, I had a VERY hard time keeping my emotions together. I will fully admit that I had the baby blues. I could barely stand people calling me and asking how I was doing without crying let alone visitors. I knew people wanted to see Kenzie but could stand visitors for very long, yes I would have preferred not to see anyone, talk to anyone but with where we live and the family that is around that is impossible. The only people I wanted to be around were Kenzie, Derek and my mom. I could NOT, absolutely NOT have done it without my mom being here. By the time she left I was feeling more emotionally stable, not 100% but better and could actually go about normal day activities without crying.
Well I feel good now, I was down to my pre-pregnant weight within two weeks, you couldn't tell that from looking at my belly! Now I just have to start lightly working out...it has only been a month. Everything is going good now...hopefully Derek and I will be moving out of Idaho within 6 months, we have some ideas now so we shall see what happens we will know pretty soon what is going to happen.
