Baby Keely

Time for a serious catch up on this blog . . .

 

After months of anticipation we welcomed Keely Kristine into this world at 4:40pm on September 6, 2012 (just 2 days before her due date) weighing 9 lbs 4 oz.  Like most of her brothers she was born with a full head of dark hair. 

 

The birth story

After only being dilated to 1cm for weeks, an attempt by the Dr. to sweep my membranes, and multiple attempts with castor oil there was little progress made toward an early delivery.  I managed to reschedule my appointment for Wednesday, September 5.  I asked the Dr if he would strip my membranes again, but was feeling pretty sure that there hadn't been any noticeable change in dilation despite some nights with consistent, strong contractions.  I was so excited when the Dr told me that I was now dilated 3cm.  He was a little leary of stripping my membranes for fear that I would go into labor and not make it to the hospital at all this time around.  I was tenatively scheduled for an induction on the morning of September 11 if I hadn't gone into labor by then.  After the appointment I went to do some grocery shopping and the headed home to take the last bit of castor oil.  I ended up having good, hard contractions for a majority of the evening and was seriously thinking that this was going to be the night.  Around 9:00 pm I decided to take a bath to see if the contractions would stop.  They continued to come every 7 minutes, but I decided that I would try to sleep.  If it was the real thing I knew that eventually I wouldn't be able to sleep so I should get as much rest as I could.  I had a few contractions during the night, but nothing consistent and nothing that made me think "this is it". 

The morning of September 6 I woke up to bloody show.  Finally the sign I had been waiting for....the sign that meant that it was "go time".  Unfortunately the contractions that had been so consistent the night before had stopped for the most part.  I was having three or so an hour.  Matt decided to stay home, just in case. I walked/ran on the treadmill in hopes of getting the contractions started up again, but they still weren't terribly consistent.  About 10:00am I called my Dr's office to see what they recommened.  They suggested that I just head into the hospital since I have a history of going fast once things start.  I called Mama Barnes and she started on the drive here.  Dad got Trey out of school so that he could watch the little boys and we headed up to the hosptial at noon.

The bloody show continued.  I was dialted 3cm and 60% effaced. I was hooked up to the monitors for an hour.  For some weird reason they weren't able to pick up the contractions, but the nurse said that she could tell that I was having them.  She put a call into Dr. Cannon.  My options were to 1--go home and labor for a while until contractions became regular or 2--the Dr could come break my water and see what happened.  I was worried that if we went home we wouldn't make it back to the hospital in time so I opted to have my water broken.  Dr. Cannon came in at 2pm to break my water.  He told the nurse to check me every hour because I have a tendency to go fast.  The first hour the contractions weren't very regular, but they were definitely more painful than they had been.  At 3:00 the nurse checked me and I was 4cm and 80% effaced.  I was so frustrated, it seemed like it was taking forever.  During the next hour the contractions were much more intense and HURT!  I definitely prefer labor with intact waters over having my water broken.  I spent most of that hour leaning over the back of the bed while my mom rubbed my back.  I would look over at dad with pleading eyes as I tried to endure the pain of the contractions. 

The nurse came back in at 4pm to check me and found that I was now 100% effaced, but only 5cm.  I about lost it when I heard I was only 5cm.  I thought there was NO way that I would be able to handle much more of the pain.  As I was sitting in the bed being monitored I began to get very antsy and I felt as though I couldn't handle it anymore.  I could feel myself starting to lose control.  Thankfully my mom could see it and went to the nurse to tell her that things were changing (4:20pm).  The nurse came in and found that I was 9cm now so she and the other nurse started getting things ready and paged the Dr.  I started feeling seriously out of control and like I had to push and everyone kept telling me to breath.  There were a couple of times that I felt like I forgot how to breath because everything was so intense.  The nurses kept saying "where is the Dr?"  Then I said "I feel burning, I feel burning".  Mom told the nurse that and she came over to check me and said "Um, I have a head coming."  She was getting ready to deliver the baby just as there was a knock at the door.  Both nurses yelled "Don't knock, get in here!"  Dr.  Cannon was quickly able to get gloves on and then Keely was born onto the bed (it never got broken down).  As soon as she was born I threw my arms up into the air and said "Yay!"  My heart was so full when I got to hold my daughter for the first time.  My sweet daughter.  After a couple minutes of holding her she was taken to be weighed and measured.  I knew she looked big, but I was shocked to hear that she was 9 pounds 4 ounces and 21 inches long.  She was our biggest baby by almost a pound and 1 inch.  After she was cleaned up a bit she was given back to me to try to feed her.  She latched on right away and proceeded to breastfeed for nearly an hour. 

It was so fun to have the boys come up to the hospital to see their little sister.  They had all been anxiously awaiting the arrival of their sister, we all had.  Because of her size she was considering large for gestional age so they had to poke her heel every few hours to check her blood sugar levels.  Thankfully she never had any issues with her sugars being too low. 

We were released from the hospital the following day, less than 24 hours after she was born.