McKenzie

Okay, I said that my next post would be the birth story for Kenzie.  So like I said with my post about Owen, this is more for me so that I have it documented.  I don't expect anyone to really pay attention. 

Because Owen was so big we automatically knew that I would have another C-section and my Dr decided to schedule it at almost 38 weeks. This was a big deal because my Dr said that he never does a scheduled c-section before 38 weeks but he felt with my situation it was just fine to schedule it earlier rather than later.  Throughout my pregnancy I felt that I had low blood pressure.  Whenever I would go in for appointments I was in the low 100's over 60's but often when I would stand up or be on my feet for a while I would get very dizzy and light headed.  Of course that never happened when I was in for an appointment to verify but I'm quite certain it was low.  There were a couple times I felt close to passing out but if I just sat down I would be ok.

My c-section was scheduled for Friday August 10 and the Friday before I felt that my braxton hicks were getting really bad.  They were really close together but every time I would change positions it would stop.  I just assumed it was the braxton hicks or false labor.  Quite honestly from the things that I read it was describing false labor and I never was in labor with Owen so I really didn't know what to expect.  I went to my appointment on Monday morning and told my Dr what was happening but brushed it off saying it was false labor.  He asked if I wanted him to check my cervix and I told him no since I felt certain it was false labor and I didn't want to since that is uncomfortable and awkward (I now regret that decision).  I worked Monday night from 3pm-1130pm.  I was in a lot of pain, very uncomfortable and could hardly stand for more than 5 minutes before feeling like I would pass out.  I went home exhausted but knew that the next day was going to be busy.  I had hardly seen Owen and I would get to spend a little one-on-one time with him and I wanted to pack my hospital bag.

The next morning Joe left for work and kissed me goodbye at about 630.  I immediately fell back asleep.  The next thing I knew I felt a gush of water.  My first thought was "oh great I just peed the bed, how embarassing".  Then I moved to go to the bathroom and there was another huge gush.  At this point I knew my water just broke.  I looked at my phone and saw that it was only 645.  I called Joe (side note his first thought when he saw me calling was "did I forget to take out Owen's carseat again" since he had done that the day before).  Apparantly he whipped his car around, called his work and came speeding home to get me.  In the mean time I had ran to the bathroom to try to clean up but could not think clearly.  All I could think was I want my mom.  I tried calling her at home and then her cell and then my dad's cell multiple times and no one answered.  I finally called my brother to have him get a hold of my parents when he reminded me that they were at some training.  I finally realized that I should call my in-laws to come be with Owen since he was still asleep.  Luckily, Joe had already done that.  Joe got home, gave me a kiss and tenderly asked me how I was feeling referring to me being in pain. Honestly with it being a whirlwind to get me cleaned up and ready I hadn't even thought of pain and looked at him and said, "I'm fine and not really in pain".  A minute later his dad was at our house and we were off to the hospital.  I was in awe that I had actually gone in labor.  I was not ready!  Our camera wasn't even charged for crying out loud!  I guess that was the problem with having this scheduled, I didn't have everything ready.

We got to the hospital by 730 and they put me in one of the OB emergency rooms.  I was feeling great, a little nervous but not bad.  It went so well with Owen that I wasn't nervous about the c-section this time.  They got me hooked up to the monitors and asked if I wanted to try and labor on my own.  I told them that my babies are too big, I'm not a good candidate for a VBAC and I just wanted to do a c-section (once again, wished I would have had them check me but I didn't-I would have liked to know how far progressed I was).  Aparantly, it was a really busy day for them and they already had a lot of scheduled c-sections so they told me that it would be a couple hours.  I was fine with that, because I was feeling fine.  The aide was in my room and I asked her if it was ok if I went to the bathroom to have a bowel movement.  She asked me if I was only feeling that during contractions or all the time.  I said, I don't know let me check.  I sat there for about 30 seconds, had a contraction and said yup now I have to poo.  She looked at me, said don't go to the bathroom, that is the baby bearing down on you.  She left the room and about 5 minutes later (or less) the nurse came in the room and said you are going to the OR now (I later found out that Kenzie's heart rate was also dropping during contractions). They wheeled me to a different room, started an IV and while doing this the anesthesia team came to me and had me sign consent forms.  About 20 minutes later they took me to the OR room and tried to start the spinal on me.  It took them a really long time to get that- I think it was about 4 or 5 tries.  They would stick it in and then I could feel them moving the needle around in my back....not pleasant.  They got me all ready and Joe wasn't there.  Everyone kept asking where Joe was.  I guess he was all dressed and ready to go but no one had come to get him and they forgot to give him the booties and cap and they had to go find those.  By the time he got there they started immediately.  They pulled Kenzie out and she had a very strong cry.  Something neat with her was that the Dr (who wasn't my normal Dr) showed her to me over the drape which I didn't get with Owen.  Joe went with Kenzie to the nursery while I was getting stitched up.  As I was lying there I felt like I was going to pass out and throw up at the same time.  It took a huge effort for me to roll my head to the other side to look at my blood pressure.  I saw it in the low 80's over 40's, then 79/38 and then 77/34.  At this point I was willing myself not to pass out.  I called to the anesthesiologist and said to him "do you see my blood pressure?"  Of course I would have the audacity to point that out to a Dr.  He pointed to the medicine he was pulling up and said I'm getting something right now.

Because of me Kenzie's blood sugars were REALLY low so she could not be with me for the first 3 days.  She had to have an IV in her head (so sad) and was hooked up to a drip that was giving her sugar.  Every three hours I would walk to the nursery and stay there for an hour, get about an hour and a half of sleep then do it all over again.  The first night I probably shouldn't have been walking by myself, especially with a fall risk band on my wrist, but I just pretended every thing was fine even though I was pretty wobbly on my feet.  Recovery for this c-section was a lot harder.  I think me being in the hospital scared Owen because he never even wanted to be by me when someone would bring him to me.  Someone charted some information incorrectly so there was this drama of them thinking Kenzie was losing too much weight.  At first I thought I was going to go home without her but we were able to go home together on Saturday.  This time around was very lonely during the day since Joe was at home taking care of Owen.  I would stay in the nursery as long as possible and would go back to my room and try to get rest but it wouldn't really happen.

McKenzie Jane Keyes 08/07/2012, 9lbs 14oz, 20.5 inches long.  If I had known she was under 10lbs I would have tried to do a VBAC, oh well live and learn.  I think I had been in labor since about Friday until my water broke on Tuesday. 

In this picture she looks a lot like Owen did when he was first born.  When I first held her, I thought "oh no, my baby girl looks like a grumpy old man because that's exactly what Owen looked like."  Don't worry within a couple hours I was able to see how beautiful she is and she's not a grumpy old man.

Adrianna is holding Kenzie and Owen is seeing Kenzie for the first time through the glass.