Tuesday, April 29, 2008

April 29, 2008

Kyrah had a great weekend with lots of big events. Saturday morning while playing with Dad on the floor she rolled over for the first time from back to belly. She has been rolling from belly to back every now and then, and she was so close to rolling over the other way for so long now. Both Dennis and I were there to see it. We were so proud of our little peanut. Saturday afternoon we all went to Cape for Broc's baseball tourney. Kyrah was great - she loves being outside and loves going for stroller rides. She was styling in her new brown and pink camo stroller. Broc did well in the game, however, the team still lost. It looks to be a disappointing season for the Ste. Genevieve Propst Masonry Baseball Club. The weather was getting cold and the second game would not start until around 8 pm, so Kyrah and I went home. She looked to be getting tired and would want to eat soon. This is an hour drive from Cape to Ste. Gen - Kyrah screamed the entire way home. So unlike her. She is such a great baby usually and does well in car rides. I have no idea what was wrong with her this time, but it was not a fun ride home. I stopped off at 6 exits to try and make her happy, but nothing was working. As soon as we got home, everything was fine.
Another big first for her was her first bath in an adult bathtub. She now sits on a mesh support which you put in a regular bath tub. She didn't care so much for that - I think she likes her own small bathtub better.
Sunday morning, Kyrah woke me up about 6:15 and we went on the couch to have her morning bottle. She was so playful, we did patty cake and so big games and she liked just looking at me. I put her on the floor to make me breakfast and she had a toy just out of reach and she rolled over again!! What a strong little girl. Dennis and Broc went down to Cape for another baseball game and Kyrah and I stayed back because it was pretty chilly out. Well around 9 am I put her down in her crib for a morning nap, she slept maybe 30-45 minutes. After that we went to Tina's house and had a mid- morning bottle and some portage which you got everywhere - what a messy eater. You have a bottle about every 3-4 hours. Then all of us went up to Festus shopping at Wal-Mart. In the evening, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for Sunday night dinner, when we put you in a walker for the first time. You didn't move around by your self, but seemed to like it okay. The biggest accomplishment of the weekend was that she slept from8 pm Sunday night to 5 am Monday morning!! This was Kyrah's first official night sleeping all night long. She didn't even wake up once for the binki. Dennis fed you a bottle at 5 then you went back to sleep.
Monday you had a great day at daycare and played with Dad in the evening. I went to the Cardinals baseball game. Dennis put you to sleep at 7:30 and you only woke up 3 times that night. Each time, I just had to put the binki in you mouth and you went right back to sleep and didn't wake up until 7 am. Such a sleeply head.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Memories from the night of labor

Following are some of the email updates I sent to my friends while I was in labor.

2 AM

Well it is 2 am and nothing more has been happening. The contractions are not any stronger or closer. Right now they are about 3 to 4 mins apart. Which is odd because I thought when they are that close they would have been stronger. Anyway the doc said she would let me go tonight and just see how things progress rather then give me any drugs to increase the contractions. The nurse said the best thing to do is sleep which would be much easier if I wasn't laying on what must be the hardest bed in the world and it is about 80 degrees in here and the nurse comes in every hour. Other then that I would be sleeping like a baby!

6 AM


Nothing much is happening. At 3 the nurse started a pitocen drip to kick the contractions back up. But this means I can't walk around anymore. I actually fell asleep from 3:30 to 6 of course waking up every half hour when the blood persure machine went off on my arm. But fell back asleep each time.
The doctor has office hours at 8 so I expect to see her before that. I will let you know what she says.
Oh and the nurse said if she had to guess I probably won't have it until late tonight!!! That is crazy talk! If labor starts when my water broke yesterday at 8 AM I am almost at 24 hours. But the contractions are only now uncomfortable so not sure if I should count yesterday.

10 AM

Not much progress. They have slowly increased the pitocin and I am feeling the contractions but I am getting a lot of back pain with each one so they think the baby is facing the wrong way. We are going to try sitting on a yoga ball that is supposed to help.
I can definitly are an epidural in my future but then I am stick in bed and that bed is horrible! So I am trying to avoid it as much as possible!

2:30 PM

The doc broke my water again and increased the drugs all at once and wow did that kick thinngs in gear! That was at 11:30. Then they got so bad that I asked for drugs! Woo hoo to epi's! They are great. I am gonna take a nap now they are so good. They think thinks may happen in the next 4 - 5 hours.

April 25, 2008

This blog is intened to be a journal of all the wonderful things Kyrah is doing. I figure it I am more likely to do it at work when I have a few minutes then at home when I just spend my time playing with her.
Today she is dressed in her Cardinals outfit which will make Daddy very happy. She is 5 months and 2 weeks old. I have started this late so I will spend a little time catching up all the amazing things she has accomplished so far.
Kyrah was born on Nov. 12, 2007 - a Monday. We went into the hospital Sunday evening after I spent the day debating if my water had broke or not. A quick little test in the hospital determined - yep I was in labor. The monitor indicated I was having contractions but I couldn't feel anything. Also, one point I now know is to eat before you go to the hospital because once you are there and are in labor you cannot have any food. Needless to say by the time you came Monday at 4 (about 24 hours later) I was starving. Dennis and I spent Sunday night in the hospital walking aournd the halls -this was supposed to activate labor and hopefully speed things along. Well not in our case. Finally at some time in the middle of the night the nurse has spoken to Dr. Cernik and she suggested getting a small drip of medicine to help the contractions along. Once that was set up, I finally fell asleep. The nurse woke me up every couple of hours to check me out and increase the medicine. Around 6 am I called Grandma to tell her nothing was happening yet - everyone was expecting a baby that night, but turns out they had to wait a little longer. We spent the morning doing much of the same - waiting. I couldn't walk around anymore because I had the IV in my arm, but I sat on a exercise ball because I was having a lot of back pain. The nurse said it was likely the baby was sitting in my pelvis funny and causing the pain, which using the exercise ball helped. Then around noon, the doctor wanted to speed things along since my water had been leaking for so long, she didn't want the baby to be in distress so she increased the medicine and also put an internal monitoring device in me that reached to the baby's head - not a fun experience at all!
Well not long after that - things really started to happen. The contractions were awful so I asked for an epidural. I had tried the less evasive medicine but that didn't do anything. The doctor's had a tough time getting the epidural in - and had to stick me in the back 3 times before they got it right. But, they eventually got the needle in and then the medicine started flowing to numb me from the waist down - wow what a difference that made. It was amazing - I didn't feel anything, but the contractions were still coming. I was still only 3-4 centimeters dialated at that point. Dennis was finishin up some school stuff and I told him to take the stuff up to school and hurry back because the nurse said it would be another 4-5 hours yet. I was going to take a nap. He left and went to school which is about a 5 minute drive away. The nurse came in and did another check then was helping me roll over to take a nap when all of a sudden alarms were going off and the nurse was looking a bit concerned. She did another check and had the other assistant call the doctor. All she said to the doctor was "I think we need you up here." I asked her if I should call Dennis and she said yes. Now to me nothing was different because I could not feel anything. So I call Dennis and tell him it is happening and he needs to get back immediately. At that point the doctor comes in and about 4 or 5 other people come in and set things up. Dennis calls me back while he is driving back to the hospital and he asks if he is going to miss it and he just hears the doctor say "you need to get here now". So he speeds through town. In the mean time, the doctor and nurses are setting things up for me and adjusting the bed. My legs are up in stirups as Dennis walks in the door, the doctor tells him to grab a leg and then tells me to start pushing. I think Dennis was a little freaked out about that - which he should have been!
So the pushing and labor last about 45 minutes and out you come. The doctor says "its a girl" and I ask - are you sure. I was so excited that you were a girl. That was the happiest moment ever. You were perfect. 6 lbs 15 ozs 19 3/4 inches longborn at 4:12 pm. You were all red and bluish when you came out and kind of slimy - they layed you on my belly and you were crying for the first time in your life. After that the nurses took you and cleaned you up and checked you over, while the doctor was finishing up with me. Dennis went over to you and held your hands while they were working on you and you wouldn't let go. Come to find out now - you still like to hold people's hands.