Born: Friday, May 22nd @ 1:30 am
Weight: 8 lbs 11 oz
Height: 20 1/2 in
That's right, our sweet little angel daughter has decided to join us. We couldn't be more happy to have this sweet spirit added to our family. She was a pound bigger than Tavita and 1 1/2 lbs bigger than Brayden. She has a full head of dark hair (full at least by the standards of a family accoustomed to bald babies). Her eyes are bluer than either of her brothers but we're guessing they're going to go brown in the next bit. She's a good combo of both her brothers, now with her in the mix people might actually connect Brayden and Tavita as brothers, but seems to resemble her Grandma Sileiloa the most. To say her brothers are enamored with her would be an understatment. Everytime they came into the hospital they'd have huge permagrins and couldn't get enough of her. The love hasn't worn off since we came home, they constantly want to hold her (not just for a few minutes either we're talkin a good hour), she's the very first thing the run to when they wake up and are constantly asking about her all day long. Brayden has held strong to the name Rowbie but has accepted others calling her Kalei.
I'm a little slacking at getting this announcement out. The past couple days have been a whirlwind and I'm just now finding time to get this post up. I figured the above information along with some pictures would suffice the appetite of the blog browsers. However, if you have a minute or two or 20 here's the whole story for you.
Wednesday May 13th: My mom arrived and I was relieved to know the baby could now come since help was here. Spent the day and every other day doing things like cleaning out the garage, gardening, getting upstairs ready to remodel etc. Any sort of busy work that I wanted to get done before baby came and in hopes all the work would encourage things along.
Wednesday May 20th: I went to the doctors feeling hopelessly overdue even though my due date wasn't until Friday. There was so much worry about her coming early that by the time it neared her due date I felt like I was weeks pastdue. I had also been having A LOT of contraction since Sunday, most of them not painful just pressure. Despite feeling like things were dragging on I didn't want to take the induction route, I felt that she would come when she was ready. The doctor said things were progressing along (I was dialated to a 2 and 75% effaced) and she should be coming soon but just for a precaution whe wanted me to take a nonstress test to ensure everything was safe with baby. That night my mom took me out walking. We walked all the way from my house over to BYU (not incredibly far but definitely not nextdoor either) and up and down every set of stairs we could find (the steeper the better). By the end of the walk I was exahusted to say the least but other than that didn't feel much different.
Thursday May 21st: Spent the day out shopping getting last minute things for the baby. Went in for my nonstress test at 2:30. The nurse said my amniotic fluids were running low and recommended an induction. I thought I'd be going in the next day but when they contacted my doctor he told be to come on over to the hospital as soon as I could. So we went home, did a few final preps, got babysitting arranged for the boys and headed off expecting a relatively short delivery since I had already started dialating. We got to the hospital at about 5ish. The checked me and I was dialated to a 3 and things seemed to kind of be progressing on their own. Instead of putting me on pictocin (what we were hoping would be the catlyst for a short delivery) at 6:30 they put in a gel stuff called Cervidell. The nurse told us to get comfortable because usually they let that sit for about 12 hours and if it hadn't started labor thy start the pictocin. Thinking it would be a good 10 hours or so before and labor started they gave me permission to eat. Off Junior headed to Mimis Cafe where he got me a big fatty Beef Dip sandwhich loaded with cheese, onions, peppers, the works and of course french fries. Looking back, not the smartest choice of meals with imminent labor ahead.
Anyway, we were realxing and watching movies bunkered down for a long night. At about 8:30 I started feeling contractions that actually hurt quite a bit and was soon having to breath through the contractions though they still weren't overly strong ones. By 10:45 I figured if I was going to be enduring that for the next 8 hours I might as well get an epidural now so I could sleep through the night. We buzzed for the nurse and I explained that even though the pain wasn't unbearable, it'd be nice to have an epidural so I could get some rest through the night. She checked me and said I had progressed to a 4 so the contractions were doing something but agreed it'd be hours before I delivered. Since the anesthiologist wasn't there at the time she said she'd have to call him in and it'd be about 15 minutes. No big deal only til a little after 11 I thought, I could easily last that long. WRONG! The nurse must have triggered something when she checked me because very soon after she walked out of the room the contractions came full force and were one on top of another. I never got a chance to relax after one before another came on strong. Then I started regretting having eaten such a heavy dinner because a full stomach doesn't mesh well with contractions so the puking began.
Finally a little before 10:30 I told Junior to call the nurse and ask where the anesthiologist was. I think he was just glad to have his hand back for a few minutes (I had been twisting it everyway possible) and he called the nurse. She was surprised that I was getting anxious for the epidural because just 1/2 hour earlier I was doing pretty good. She said he wasn't even to the hospital yet, but would have him in as soon as he got there. After 10 minutes of Junior trying to coach me through breathing saying I had done it before no epidural (yeah but once you opt for an epidural your defenses go down) I demanded they go and find where the dang anesthiologist was, not only did I feel pain but the pressure was getting to the point I wanted to push. My mom went into the hall and soon returned with the long awaited relief, after 45 min of extreme pain ( I swear it was way worse than Brayden but it could've just been me being whimpy). Once the drugs started kicking in and I could relax enough to be checked the nurse checked me and was shocked to see I had gone from a 4 to a 9 in 45 minutes. She says she's never seen someone on Cervidell go so quickely (I think Kalei had already decided to make her way and the Cervidell was just helping her along).
Anyway, by a little after midnight I was a happy camper again, still a ton of pressure but at least the pain was gone. The nurse came back into check me and I was ready to go but my doctor has his patients "rest and descend" for an hour, basically just relax and have the baby make it's way down so there's little pushing to do. It cuts down on the swelling and the trauma to baby. After an hour she hadn't descended to much more but would move if I pushed. So the doctor came in and the pushing began. At 1:30 am and 9 pushes later and our little miracle was here. She was born posterior (which is why she wasn't descending on her own) and the doctor said that was like adding a pound to her weight (another reason she didn't descend very easy). We are so grateful to have her here healthy and strong. When she was first born her cheeks and forehead was HUGE apparently it's what posterior babies get instead of the dear old conehead. She was a champ in the hospital at night they'd only bring her in to nurse every 4 hours and during the day she'd just peacefully relax in our arms.
Her first night home was a tough one, waking up every 1/2 hour-1 hour, but last night was a huge improvement and she's doing well. She's a strong, wriggly little girl and already wiggles to her side which is how we always find her sleeping. Had her first bath last night which she did not appreciate one bit but was quickly content again once she was dressed. There's nothing I love more than a freshly washed baby. They're so soft and smell so good. Her hair was so cute, it was soft fuzz all over. Anyway, now that I've won the record for longest post ever I'll put in a few pics and call it good. These are just from the night she was born and early the next morning, I still need to download more.Many more pics to follow!
