oh my goodness, i just had a baby {round 2}

{There are pictures at the end of this post if that is all you want, you boring person, you!}

 

Ladies and gents, we have survived the first two weeks of being a four person family.

And I absolutely love it.

While it seems that all has been quiet on our end, I assure you it has not.

There has been lots of warm cuddling, kissing chubby cheeks, feeding, burping, pooping, giggling, smiling, and general happiness floating through our house.

{And to keep things real, yes, there has been some yelling, crying, sleepless nights and snippiness, but that comes with the territory, right?}

Tyrel is on paternity leave from work, so every single day I get to spend time with my best friend/hubster, cuddle with a sweet, sweet newborn, and giggle with an energy-filled toddler.
I am on Cloud 9.

Tate's birth story is seriously uneventful.

But we were SO SO SO glad it was.

{You can read Kemry's here}

Around 37 weeks, we kicked it into high gear trying to get him to come out, just like every mom does.

We tried every natural induction method in the book.

But nooooo baby.

We had been talking with our doctor and decided that we would be okay with an induction at 39 weeks if baby didn't come by then.
Since we were wary of all the kidney/heart problems we might encounter coupled with the fact that I was Group B Strep positive and needed antibiotics when I went into labor, we all decided that a more controlled setting might be better for all of us {but mainly me and my nerves}.

We would only go on with the induction if my body had progressed far enough along to lower the risk of c-section.

At 38 weeks, I wasn't ready {so we couldn't schedule one ahead of time for the next week}.

At 39 weeks, however, I had progressed just far enough that we were good to go.

We went into the hospital at 6:45 am on the 7th.

Just before we left, I kissed Kemry on the forehead and suddenly burst into tears.

She was sleeping so quietly and looked so perfect, and I felt so guilty ending my one-on-one time with her. 

The next time I would see her, it would constantly be two-on-one time.

But I pulled up my big girl panties and got in the car.

They monitored me for an hour and then started the Pitocin at 8:30.

I had heard all of these horror stories about how awful Pit made labor for some women.

Not for me, thankfully.

Around noon, they told me that the doctor wanted to come in soon and break my water.

That was when labor got really painful for me last time, so I asked for my epidural.

This time around, I felt the doctor put the epidural in, and it hurt a little more than I would have liked.

And it only numbed one leg, but it got rid of the contraction pain.

It took 2 doctors to break my water since little boy's head was pressing right up against it.

Unfortunately, there was more blood then they felt comfortable with once it did rupture, so they put me on internal monitors, just to make sure that the placenta didn't tear away from the wall {which is serious business, and thankfully it hadn't}.

The contraction pain slowly came back, this time right smack in between my legs.

I knew I was getting really close to having the baby, and the fact that I could feel ANYTHING in between my legs scared me to death.

But after a little pain, some tears, and lots of pleading, they got the anesthesiologist to come in and give me a booster dose.

That stuff is nectar of the gods.

Seriously.

Around 4:00 I paged the nurse and told her that I felt more than just contraction pressure.

To her surprise, I was at a 10.

She told me to try a practice push but then made me stop about 2 seconds into it because the baby was coming.

  She frantically ran out to find the doctor, worried because he had just been delivering another baby.

They all hurry in {along with a NICU team, just in case}, and tell me to start going at it.

20 minutes of pushing later comes the sweetest little cry!

We were thrilled! 

A baby!

But then we realized that now he was here. 

And we had a few tests to pass to make sure he was okay.

I tuned everyone out and listened for the Apgar score.

A 9!

Thank heavens!

His five minute score was a 10, and the nurse was just so tickled because she had never been able to give a 10 before.

It all happened so fast, and it was all okay!

He was perfectly pink and perfectly perfect.

 

The team started to sing Happy Birthday, and I just erupted in tears.

It was the sweetest, most perfect moment.

{Poor Kemry got robbed of a sweet moment because of a 22 hour labor where I fell asleep in between contractions. They didn't even put her skin to skin with me! Looking back, I am pretty disappointed at the whole process at the hospital with her...but her NICU stay was amazing, so I guess that makes up for it}.

And that was that!

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As for his heart and kidneys, let me sum it up:

-Echocardiogram showed all the heart defects we thought plus a few others, but overall, they were all very small and shouldn't be a problem. He might have to have surgery when he is 60ish to replace a valve?

-Kidney scan looked fine...we are meeting with a doctor tomorrow to make sure he doesn't need surgery to reconnect things to the right places.

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And a few things we have learned about our little Tate over the past two weeks:

 

-He doesn't really cry much. He is a whiner. Just like his dad. When he does cry, it comes out as a loud, girly sounding shriek. We still can't help but laugh every time. And there is no cooing. Just grunting.

-He has huge hands. Ty was exceptionally proud of this, already planning his success as an NBA All-Star. 

-He also loves it when you play with his hair. Also just like his dad.

-Hungry. Hungry. Hungry. He wanted to eat every 30 minutes at the hospital as opposed to the 2-3 hours that is "normal." Thankfully, he has stretched that to every 2 hours now, allowing me to get a GLORIOUS 45 minutes of sleep at night in between feedings...gah...

-Speaking of hungry, he surpassed his birth weight by day 5. They hope for babies to do that around week 2 or 3. He shall be our fatty baby :)

- We think he will keep his dark hair and that his eyes will be brown. Right now they are a very very very dark blue, so dark you can't quite even see much of the blue.

-Like any good boy, he is super gassy and poops constantly. CONSTANTLY.

-Tyrel gets credit for passing on his good looking genes for this one. He hardly looks like me at all.

 -He has stolen his big sister's heart. She loves him to pieces already. She is the first one to get to him when he is upset, reassuring him that "It's okay. Kemry right here. It's okay. Don't cry! It not scary in here!" She also thinks he is "so cute" and "so sweet" and "so tiny." He is the first thing she wants to see in the morning and the last thing she wants to kiss before bed.

And now, what you really wanted, pictures:

baby, part 2

Bah. So cute.

It is amazing how quickly you fall in-love with this little someone that you hardly know!

It makes it tough to watch them, all tiny and defenseless, fight through little struggles of their own.

Our little girl came out a little jaundiced {I joked that it was due to all the carrots I ate during pregnancy, since I thought she looked more orange than yellow}, so she had to snuggle up with a little BiliBlanket for the first few days of her life.

Totally cuter than my Gloworm I had when I was a kid. Just sayin'.

As we were getting ready to discharge and pack our bundle-of-joy in her carseat, the nurse informed us that Kemry had a fever above their worry-level, so she would have to be admitted to the NICU for a few days. 

I was hanging strong as the nurse told us all of the tests they were going to run...until she said "lumbar puncture."

WHAT?

You are going to do a spinal tap on my 2-day-old baby?!?

The nurse left, I turned to Tyrel, and I freaked out. We were both sobbing because we had no idea how serious this was, and the doctors were certainly not reassuring us with "She is going to be fine" comments.

Tyrel and I were discharged but decided to room-in at the hospital so we could at least feed her when she needed and could see her when we wanted.

So. The next few days were filled with waiting. And hoping. And praying.

Our poor little girl was hooked up to all sorts of machines, had a splint on her arm for her IV, and was sporting all sorts of tiny band aids.

She was the only infant in the NICU, so I was lovingly-known as "NICU Mom."

The nurses were wonderful. One even made a little mobile to put above Kemry's crib so it seemed a little more homey.

We were free to come-and-go and had to be creative to occupy our time. Tyrel hooked up our PS3 to our room's TV so we could watch Netflix and Ty could play sports games.

We totally took advantage of the "free" food while we were there. I cannot tell you how many 4-packs of Oreos I ate. Apparently Sunkist Orange Soda was not popular in October. Or November. Or December. Maybe January would do the trick?

After 48 hours of waiting and waiting for tests to culture, all her results came back negative. We were finally good to go home. We have no idea what caused her high fever, but by that point, we didn't care. We just wanted a healthy baby at home with us.

One really tired mommy and one really tired daddy packed up one really precious (and still yellow-colored) baby and went home...really tired :)

oh my goodness. i just had a baby {the longest post ever}

We have a baby!

I guess we have had a baby for over 2 weeks now...and I am finally getting around to blogging about it.

I guess you can say that babies are a handful.

Or two.

Or five...which means that, even though I am missing about 3 hands, I still get to take care of this little lovely.

And I love it :)

I seriously have tried to blog since a few days after she was born, but every time I open up a new post, something happens that needs my attention. 

But here I am, making another attempt.

Thus, here is my baby story :)

At my lovely 39-week check-up, my doctor determined that I was still only 1 cm dilated but believed that she could try to move things along with a membrane sweep. Ouch. We can skip the yummy details of what that entailed.

I went home and crashed on the couch, not feeling that great. 

And then I start to feel them...you know, contractions.

But I had no idea if that is what they were or not. They certainly did not feel like my Braxton Hicks, but they were somewhat painful and were happening about 10 minutes apart. 

This happens aaaaaaallllllllllll daaaaaaayyyyy looooooonnnnnngggggg. When Tyrel got home from work, we went to the mall so we could walk laps, hoping that would move us along.

We timed those darned contractions until about midnight, where they were about 7-8 minutes apart. We decided to go to bed, realizing that we needed sleep more than anything. 

That didn't last long. 1:30 am rolls around, and I wake up with a naaassssty contraction. I get up, drink some water, and walk back to bed. As I sit on the bed, wham. Another one. Not really 7 minutes apart anymore. 

I decided to time a few, just to check, and then go back to bed...but when I realized that they were coming about 4 minutes apart, bed wasn't where I was going to be going. I wake up Tyrel, and we pack the rest of our bags. The doctor told us to go to the hospital when our contractions were about 5 minutes apart, so we head to the hospital...at 2:45 in the morning. Zzzzzzzz.

We walk in and ask for a labor check. They take me to my room where I change and wait...and wait...and wait...

Finally the nurse comes in...unfortunately with the "Great...first-time parents overreacting" look on her face. We were 99% sure they were going to send us home.

She concludes that I am only dilated to a 2 and tells me that I need to dilate more than that in the next hour if we didn't want to go home (like I had much of a say in what my freaking cervix does..). Tyrel and I walk and walk and walk, stopping with each contraction since they HURT. 

After an hour, we waddle back to the delivery room and wait for the nurse. Guess what. Still at a 2. As I start bracing myself emotionally for the "go home and don't come back until you are really in labor" talk, the nurse notices my contractions on the monitor. She gets a puzzled look on her face and says, "Hm. Your contractions are really close together and are getting pretty strong."

Really? Gee. I had no idea! {End of sarcasm}

"I'm going to call your doctor..."

...10 minutes later..."She says to keep you another hour. Do you want me to unhook you so you can walk around or do you just want to stay in bed?"

At this point, she could see the pain grimaces in my face and seemed to understand when I told her that I just wanted to stay in bed.

Tyrel took this embarrassing picture of me breathing through my contractions...which I thought were bad at the time...but little did I know...

Pretty attractive, eh?

An hour passes, still at a 2...but with stronger contractions. 

"Do you want me to try to convince her to induce you today"

Yes, please. I am not going home and sitting through this for another few days.

Aaaaaand I'm admitted to the hospital. 6 am. Finally.

Tyrel calls my mom and tells her to bring my dad out with her {she was going to leave that morning regardless and help me around the apartment until I had the baby and was going to fly dad out when I went into labor}, and we start to get excited. We are going to have a baby!

Luckily for me, the euphoria helps the pain to not seem so nasty :)

We return to the waiting game.

I meet the doctor who will be delivering my baby, drink lots of apple juice {and even a little food...the lovely, new shift nurse let me sneak some since I hadn't eaten since 5 the previous night and a long day was ahead of me.}, and try to nap.

The nurse tells me that I should walk for another hour and then take a bath in the sweet jetted tub, hoping that would speed things up.

Eventually, they come in to check on me and find that I am now at a 2 1/2. 1/2 a centimeter? That's it? All of that waiting and I only progress 1/2 a centimeter? The nurse prepares me with some bad news..."The doctor is old-fashioned and likes first-time moms to have their babies when their bodies are ready. He might send you home to move along on your own." You could pretty much hear my heart breaking.

The doctor comes in and gives me three options: {1} You can go home and labor there. {2} We can put you on a morphine nap and hope that you are ready to have the baby when you wake up. {3} I can break your water.

I wasn't going home, that's for sure. And as good as morphine sounded, I was ready for him to just break my water. The contractions were just getting worse, and I was getting sick of being pregnant.

The nurse warned me that my contractions were going to intensify and come a lot more frequently after the doctor breaks my water.

I'm tough. I can handle it.

So. Pop. Gush. Ow. OW. OWWWWWWWWWW.

Apparently, I'm not as tough as I thought.

And I also realized that my "pain" earlier was more like a slight discomfort. Not pain at all. 

Now I was in pain. And not far along enough to have my epidural.

The nurse gave me some pain meds through my IV to "take the edge off." It seemed to be helping, so Tyrel decided he was going to run home and shower. He was gone about 10 minutes when my pain was back to a 10. I paged the nurse and, sure enough, I am at a 4 1/2, just like that. Give me that freaking epidural.

She tells me that the anesthesiologist had one lady to give an epidural to, and she was dilated to an 8, so she needed it a little more than I did. "Give him 20 minutes."

So I wait. And wait. And Tyrel comes back. And we wait.

3 more IV pain injections and 40 minutes later, I finally get my epidural.

I made it to a 6 without one. How people go all the way without blows my mind. That was the most pain I have EVER felt...so I was extremely glad that I could now no longer feel anything below my waist :)

From there, I just napped my labor away. Nap, nap, nap, puke (ew, apple juice), nap, nap.

Tyrel watched a Celtics game on TV and ate cookies. Pretty much in heaven.

The next thing I realize, the next shift nurse came in, checked me, and told me that we were ready to push.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?

I don't even know how to push.

Well, after 1 1/2 hours of "not knowing" how to push (and falling asleep in between pushes...10:15 pm to be exact), we heard a little squeal.

And then there was a cute, little baby on {and no longer in} my belly. She turned her head to look at me and cried her little baby cry while staring into my eyes. Amazing.

We had had a baby :)

Tyrel refused to cut the cord {as did I. Ew.}, and my doctor offered to show the placenta to us. Ty saw a glance of it, and I decided I wanted to just look at my baby instead {"It just looks like red koolaid!" Thanks, Doc!}.

The nurses cleaned and bundled our little one up.

She was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, cone head, swollen eyes, bent ears, and all.

You couldn't get that baby out of Tyrel's arms. And that might have been the most precious thing I have ever seen :)

Tyrel's parents and my brother Lyle were waiting right outside to come see us once we had her. Daddy left and helped the nurse give her a bath while I took another one of my own. Our heads hit the pillow at 2:00 am, and my parents rolled in the next morning.

Long day, but totally worth it :)

Kemry Elle Murri

January 21, 2011

6 lbs, 13 oz

20 1/2 inches

Perfect :)

Well, I guess this isn't really the end of our story. 

A little jaundice and some NICU lovin' to follow.