Kennady Rae

Kennady Rae Carter. March 3, 2011. 7 lbs 6 oz, 19 inches long.

I can't help but chuckle since my last post I said I was just going to patient and wait. I didn't have to wait very long!! That night, March 2, Zac and I went to the BYU vs. New Mexico game. They lost horribly! It was a lame game. We went home and hopped into bed. I wasn't feeling anything out of the ordinary. Just the occasional Braxton-Hicks contractions. At around 3 am on March 3, I woke up moaning and tossing and turning. I thought maybe I ate something bad and was having indigestion. I started to pay more attention to how regular the pains were coming. They were about 7 minutes apart! I tried not to get too excited, but I was cause I thought for sure these were labor pains! At around 4, I woke Zac up to tell him I thought I was in labor! We laid in bed for another hour or so, but neither of us slept. We were way too anxious. I got up to the bathroom around 5 and passed blood into the toilet. By this time, I was sure I was in labor. We got up and had some breakfast. I e-mailed my teachers that I was going to miss class that day. Kind of funny that I only have class one day a week and Kennady decides to make her entrance on that day! :) My teachers were pretty funny cause my nursing student self said something about making up what I missed in class. All three of my professors wrote back with comments telling me not to worry about class and to just focus on having that baby! :)
We used relaxation techniques from Hypnobirthing and watched Friends until around 9am. At about 9 am, the surges were every 2 minutes. We started packing to head to the hospital. By 10, however, the surges were about every 7-10 minutes. I was a little disappointed because I did not want them to slow down! I started to question if I really was in labor! Zac was so cute and looked up on the internet and a bunch of books that we had lying around the "true signs of labor". He had to convince me I really was in labor. The surges were uncomfortable, but I was getting through them just fine. At 10:30 I was really anxious so we decided to go for a walk. Unfortunately it was raining outside, so we went to University Mall and walked around for an hour or so. My surges got closer together again and were intense enough that I had to sit down every time I had one. I called the midwife on-call while we were at the mall to tell her I was in labor. Claudia was on call which was amazing! I saw her at my last appointment the day before. I was hoping she would deliver Kennady because I just love her! She told me to stay home as long as I could and to come into the hospital when I was really struggling to focus through surges. We went home and I laid down to try to get some sleep. We did more hypnobirthing techniques and Zac did lots of counterpressure (which totally saved me!) At about 12:30 I was really struggling to focus through each surge. They were so intense! I was so nervous about going into the hospital, however, because I didn't want to go to early and only be dilated to like a 3! I look back and just laugh at myself because I am so indecisive! Between surges I told Zac I didn't want to go to hospital and I was just fine. But then a surge would start and I told Zac, "Let's go!". Zac finally helped convince me we should go because I really was struggling to focus through the surges.
Driving to the hospital was such a neat experience. It is so cool knowing the next time we went home, we'd have a baby! :) We talked about what she'd be like and how excited we were to meet her on the drive up. By the time we got to the hospital, at about 1 pm, my surges weren't as intense and I felt like I wasn't really struggling to get through them. We went up to Labor and Delivery and got all checked in. It was fun because I knew all the nurses on that day. They were all excited to see me! Deep down I was just praying I was actually dilated cause outwardly I really didn't look like I was "in labor" according to the nurses on the floor. I was too calm. They checked my cervix and I was a 6 and completely effaced!! Hooray! I was so happy!

I got all settled into my room and Claudia came by to see how I was doing. I got into the tub and labored for a while, then sat on the birthing ball for a while. At 3 I was dilated to a 7 and still feeling really good! At around 5, I felt like I was leaking a lot more and noticed I was passing bloody show. From my Labor and Delivery experience, I knew this was a good sign! I was in transition! My nurse checked me again and I was still a 7! I was disappointed. Claudia came back in and checked me again and asked if I wanted her to break my water to help the baby engage more in my pelvis. Looking back, I probably shouldn't have let her break my water, but I was so tired and so anxious to get the process going more that I consented. After my water broke, the surges were unbelievably intense! I really had to focus to get through them. Claudia and Zac both did counterpressure for a while. My nurse came back in around 6 and asked if I wanted to get back into the tub since it had helped me so much earlier. I was hesitant because I wasn't sure I could do the surges without counterpressure, which they really couldn't do for me very well if I was in the tub. Despite my fears, my nurse kind of pulled me out of bed and I got into the tub. I totally lost my focus in the tub. Claudia was encouraging me to make some deep noises as I breathed out during a surge. It was helpful at first, but then I started having a hard time not crying out instead of a controlled noise. Claudia kept asking me if I felt like I needed to bear down while I was in the tub. I really didn't. She checked me and told me she thought I was really close and possibly at an Anterior Lip. I stayed in the tub for a few more minutes, but I was really really struggling through each surge. They pulled me out to perform a better cervical check in bed. I somehow managed to get in bed (it's all a little foggy to me honestly). I had a lot of back pain during surges and at this point the back pain wasn't leaving during surges. I felt my motivation and drive to finish labor naturally diminishing. Claudia checked me and I was still a 7! I had been a 7 for 5 hours at this point and I just started crying. I didn't want to do it anymore! Claudia offered to give me IV narcotics to help take the edge off each surge. I however, from my experience on L&D didn't think that narcotics would do the trick. I knew that part of why I wasn't dilating anymore is because I wasn't relaxed. I was fighting my body. I also knew myself and knew I had totally lost my focus and hypnobirthing wasn't working for me anymore. I also did not want to take any narcotics because they would affect the baby and I worried about her. I decided to get an epidural to help me relax enough to dilate completely.
The epidural was amazing! I hated getting it - I hated the feeling of the catheter going into my back. But it was definitely the right choice for this labor. I got the epidural at 6:30, which means I had been laboring for 16 hours! After I was comfortable, Zac's parents and my mom came up to the room. We had been keeping them posted by text all day. I didn't want them in the room while I was laboring because I wasn't my best self. After the epidural though, I didn't care who came in!! I was so grateful they were there, especially my mom. I needed her since Zac got to help delivery Kennady! He was down catching Kennady, so my mom was up by my head, which I needed. By 9 pm I was complete. We started pushing at 9 and our little girl was born at 9:57. It was a really wonderful experience!! My epidural wore off right as Kennady was about to crown, so I got to feel all the stretching and burning that comes when you push a baby out. Pushing the baby out is a lot more intense than I realized. It's a lot of hard work! I admire all you moms that have had babies!! I tore a little bit because Kennady's shoulder got caught. But she came wide-eyed and screaming! They laid her on my chest and I got to meet my daughter for the first time. She was absolutely perfect! 19 hours of labor and here was our little girl. It was such a surreal experience! It took us a while after she was born to decide on a name. I don't know why it was so hard! Now, I can't imagine calling her anything but Kennady. It just fits her!






Overall, I am very pleased with Kennady's birthing day. I am a little disappointed in myself for not going natural the entire time. However, I am so grateful I got the epidural because I was so tired and I don't know how well I would have been able to push her out. Maybe next time I'll do it all the way (but I don't know, cause seriously, an epidural is amazing when you are hurting that bad!) Hopefully my next labor won't be as long!
Zac was an amazing support. He did counterpressure for so many hours that he was sore the next day! He stayed calm the entire time, even when I was not calm at all. He held me when I cried, stroked my face and arms during surges...he was absolutely perfect! I love him so much. I think I fell even more in love with him that day.
Now Kennady is almost three weeks old and doing great! She is an awesome eater and sleeps pretty well! We have good and bad nights! I just love her to pieces and can't imagine life without her.