sunny-side up

Apparently, sunny-side up refers to more than just a way to prepare eggs.

It is also a not-so-fun way to deliver a baby.

***Warning:  This is a birth story***

My doctor was willing to induce me any time after April 1st.  Anytime we wanted.  Or we could just wait.  I wasn't actually due until the 9th and really didn't want to have a baby over Easter...although I thought an April 4th baby would be fun-that would be my brother, John's birthday, of which is what we planned on naming the baby (it's a family name on both sides).  So it was ironic when late in the afternoon on April 1st I started to have severe back pain.  And it just wouldn't go away.  Now, this has been the first baby I've carried that I could actually tell where he was, for all his little extremities would pop out of just one side of my belly, for he was head down to the side.  And he was also facing more upward.  So the next day, Good Friday, Joey had off and I was getting a little worried.  The pain was awful, but on just that one side his head was pressing against.  I have also carried him really high, and could tell he was dropping.  In fact, I woke up one morning the week before panicking because he had dropped so much, and according to the *books*, this is a sign he's coming soon...  So I made a visit to the doctor's office only to find out that I was still only 2 centimeters dilated and about 50% effaced.  Well, I returned home and suffered through the rest of the day and night.  All the while thinking, how in the world am I going to keep this up?  Then I woke up the next day feeling nothing.  Ah, sweet relief.  And for many reasons.  We apparently don't *plan* our babies very well and Joey HAD to be at work the first part of the week.  It was either have the baby yesterday, or not until next Thursday... That and we weren't really sure what we'd do with the rest of our kids if he came early...  So we went on with our normal activities, I thinking that the baby had turned over, ready for a smooth trip into the world. 

Set up our induction date for Friday, April 9th.  My parents would be here Thursday night to watch the other kiddos and then we'd have all weekend.  (Joey again HAD to be at work the first part of the week-but then would have 2 weeks paid paternity leave.)  Now, a part of me wanted to just wait for him to come, but the whole, 'what do I do with 3 other little kids' made me a little nervous, although so many people in our ward had offered to help...

April 9th, 2010

1 am:  Finally get back into bed after giving Marryn another breathing treatment.  Why would my kids have to get sick now...first Reganne all week with her croupy cough she gets and now Marryn...

3 am:  Hear Marryn crying again.  Joey gets up this time.

5:30 am:  Time to get up.  Eat breakfast.  Take showers.

6:45 am:  Arrive 15 minutes late to our *appointment*. 

7:30-8:30ish am:  Get set up and started on the petocin.  Dilated to a 3.

10ish am:  Get epidural.  Not for the pain of the contractions (still pretty light), but for the pain in my pelvic area and thinking, he's probably getting closer to coming.  For some odd reason, I expected this delivery to be just like Christian's...

3 pm:  Have watched almost all of Season 9 of Friends, starving, tired and yet, only dilated to a 4 and still not effaced much.  Actually, I was effaced on one side, like a cresent shape...never heard of that before...  Even after spending an hour reclined on my sides with a leg up on an exercise ball to get the baby to move off my cervix so it could efface and dilate...  He wasn't ready to come out yet...  He's going to be tiny, I just know it...

4 pm:  Starting to feel some pressure...

4:32 pm:  Kellen is placed on my chest.  After about 15 minutes of hard pushing and burning and tearing (and what felt on the top, not bottom...).  This kid never actually turned (?) and made his way into this world face up.  Yeah, that did not feel good.  And boy, was he ugly...  His head was totally misshapen with a big red line going down the middle of his face and head.  His nose was huge and puffy and his hands.  So this had nothing to do with his delivery, but he's got the biggest hands.  They're huge.

They finally took him to check him out.  He wasn't breathing great.  And he wasn't tiny either;).  We had a respiratory therapist at the delivery checking him out and he was a little concerned.  Which brought panic to us.  But after he brought him back over to me all swaddled up, his breathing almost instantly cleared up.  And he's been great ever since.  I had told Joey from the beginning that I'm fine with this being our last baby, but not if he's sick.  I can't end on that.  But here Kellen is.   

1 day old. 

And already looking better;).

Healthy.  Fine.  

For now.  We'll be watching him carefully the next couple months, but we feel good that he's good. 

We stayed the extra day.  The kids were doing great with my parents (apparently better than with us;), oh, and Marryn was much better the next day, luckily) and I needed a little more rest.  The afterpains, terrible.  They say they get worse with each pregnancy.  They do.  I'm feeling alright now, a week later.  Although, I have just not bounced back like usual.  Still pretty sore down there.  My parents had to leave on Monday, so Joey worked from home all week.  He wasn't as productive as he would have liked to be, but it was SO nice to just have him here if I needed him.  Our good friend took Marryn to and from school almost everyday and another friend had Reganne over to play one afternoon.  So I've been able to take it really easy.  Went to Target with Reganne yesterday (needed size 1 diapers-although Kellen fits in the newborn ones, they just won't hold anything).  Was wiped by the time I got home.  The next 2 weeks will be great though.  Joey will be home and not working (for the most part).  Hopefully we'll get into a routine...

Christian has been really good with the baby.  Just wants to hold him, which we don't let him because now he's sick with a cough and runny nose.  And when he gets a runny nose, it lasts for about 2 months.  It really sucks.  But he has been acting out.  Probably a combination of bringing home a new baby and not feeling well.  The girls too adore Kellen.  Reganne constantly calls him "the new baby."  We're working on calling him his name.  Or K.J.  Our families aren't too fond of his name, so they've already  nicknamed him that.  They like the John, not the Kellen.  

And Kellen himself.  Perfect.  Has only cried a handful of times, mostly when getting changed.  Sleeps a little too much during the day and tends to get up more often at night...we're working on that:).  Nurses really really well.  I tend to be a *late bloomer* with my milk not coming in for about a week.  Not this time.  3 days.  And alot of it.  We've even gotten a few contentment smiles out of him.  He looks so different than all our other newborns.  Well, they've all looked different, but similar.  He just looks alot different, but still a little similar.  My family thinks he might actually look like my side.  We'll see though.  They change so much.  We're hoping he's going to have blonde hair.  And Marryn's hoping for blue eyes.  I think she feels left out;). 

Home at last.

Almost too long for his cute outfit.

Check out those huge hands.

  

It's funny looking back.  Although my pregnancies are similar and pretty plain, every delivery has been just so different.  Not sure there will be a 6th, so no telling what the next one would be like;).  For now we're just so grateful to have our 4 healthy children.  Don't know if we can handle the stress of what if again....