Keeping Up With the Kaune's: Kennedy's Birth Story

My doctor had told me he would let me go 1 week past my due date if Kennedy didn't come on her own. My due date was November 25th. However, my mom and stepdad were flying in from Oregon on Tuesday the 27th. They could only stay for 2 weeks and I thought it was pointless for me to just be sitting around pregnant while they were here. I needed help with the baby! So I agreed to come in Tuesday night so I could be started on that medicine that gets you to dialate, can't remember the name. I wasn't dialated at all! I am a third grade teacher and I had already planned to start my maternity leave after Thanksgiving weekend. I am really glad I did that. It was nice to have 2 days to myself before Kennedy got here. Monday I met my best friend Megan at the mall and we had lunch and walked the mall for hours trying to induce my own labor, hahahaha. But guess what? It worked, kinda. That night I started having contractions! They hurt, but here's the thing, they were like 10-15 minutes apart, nowhere near close enough to go to the hospital! Finally around midnight, I fell asleep and when I woke up the next morning they were gone! Nick (my husband) called to check on me and he thought maybe they were just Braxton Hicks but my co-worker Cindy who has 3 kids said that false labor is very common. That morning I caught up on some DVR shows and my dad drove in from Columbia and brought me lunch from Subway. We visited and then he left about 1:00 and drove to my aunt and uncle's house where he was going to stay while I had Kennedy. Nick came home early from work about 15 minutes after my dad left. We relaxed for awhile then went to an early dinner at Cracker Barrel at 4:30.
We arrived the hospital at 5:45 (they told us to be there at 6:00) The waiting room was PACKED and they were 3 other girls waiting to be induced. Yikes! Two of the girls got called back after about an hour. The other girl that was left with me had like atleast 6 or 7 people with her which I thought was really odd because she wasn't dialated either. Nick and I nickamed her "the girl with the entourage." Also we were told that we could eat right up until we got in our hospital room and let me tell ya, this girl was determined to get her meals in. We have a Chick Fil-a in our hospital and homegirl had a chicken sandwich, chicken nuggets, two things of fries and a milkshake. LOL. I do admit when it got to be about 8:30 and they STILL hadn't called us back, I got into the goody bag my mother in law had packed for Nick and started eating a little candy, ooops. The Reeses Christmas Trees are a major weakness of mine. FINALLY at 10:30, (yes we waited close to 5 hours) they called us back.
I was dialated one cm, woohoo, after having nothing for weeks this was great. Nick asked if I still had to take the medicine to be dialated and she said yes.I also told the nurse that I had been having contractions the night before. She looked at me like I was stupid. Did not care for this nurse. They started my IV, hooked me up to heart monoitor, gave me the meds and around midnight I drifted off to sleep.

Well fast forward to about 2:30 am. I wake up and the heart monitor machine is completely flat lined. I start panicking and pushing the nurse call button. Well turns out because I had turned to my side while sleeping, the belt had gotten lopsided and wasn't picking up Kennedy's heart rate. Once again, the nurse was super rude and acted like it was a huge deal to have to adjust the heart monitor so that I could hear my baby's heart rate while I slept on my side...geez. She also asked if there was anything else I needed because "there were other people in active labor." Not nice. Fell back asleep until about 4 am and woke up again with contractions. I knew they were real because I could see them on the monitor. They hurt but not super bad. I didn't want to press the nurse call button yet so I just layed there. About 45 minutes later, the nurse comes back in and says, "you are having contractions so we are going to start you on pitocin." My mom and stepdad arrived to the hospital about 6 am and the contractions were really starting to hurt. My doctor came in and checked me and I was 3 cm dialated. My mom gave me a foot rub and then around 7 am, I got a new nurse, woohoo! Her name was Renee and she was wonderful! I told her I didn't really have a high pain tolerance so she encouraged me to go ahead and get the epidural. About an hr later I had my epidural. At our hospital, husbands have to leave the room which I did not like. I know a lot of people say the epidural wasn't bad, but mine was. For some reason the doctor could not get it placed right, so he had to stick me 3 different times. Meanwhile I started getting really hot and dizzy for some reason. It was very uncomfortable and painful and honestly one of the worst parts of the labor. After that was taken care of, I started feeling really nauseous from the pitocin, so Renee ordered me some phenegren. Greatest thing ever because guess what, it made me sleep!!! I napped on and off all day. This made the time go by really fast. Pediodically, my doctor would come in and check me. Around 3:00, he came in and I still had not progressed past 3 cm. He prepared for the fact that if I did not start making progress I may have to have c-section. They upped my pitocin and I went back to sleep. He came back at 5:00 and I had progressed to 7 cm! Then, things started happening very quickly. At 6:45, I was 10 cm and ready to push. Nick called all of our family members and my best friend Megan and they all gathed at the hospital. My mom and Nick stayed with me for the birth.

Right as I was starting to push my new nurse came in. I was supposed to have the same nurse I had the night before but I had told Renee that she was not so nice so I had a new nurse named Ashley who was very sweet. There wasn't much to tell about the labor, I pushed for about 50 minutes and Kennedy was born at 7:39 pm. My doctor did have to do an episodtomy (sp?) which was not fun afterwards. Stitches down there, no fun! Kennedy weighed 6 lb 6 oz and was 20 inches long, tall and skinny! Seeing her for the first time was the best feeling ever and holding her was even better. I was so happy. I can't even find the words to describe it, I was so emotional. At one time I thought I would never have this feeling.(I will have to post our struggle to get pregnant at another time) I was on cloud 9! She was so wide eyed and alert and she would turn her head whenever Nick or I spoke and look right at us. I honestly think that's because we read and sang to her so much when I was pregnant.

I nursed her and she latched right on. I was very lucky, no nursing worries for her! I didn't even have to have help from the lactation consultant. They whisked her away to the nursery to have her first bath, first shot etc...I was feeling great at this time, filled with joy that my baby girl was here and no pain. My sister in law Rachael, brother in law Jon and best friend Megan all came in to see me while I was recovering and I was chatting away. My stepdad went to get me sushi which I had requested for my first meal. THEN, the epidural wore off. OUCH! The pain down there was awful. Nick went ahead and shooed everyone off. I was so glad they had come but I just wanted to rest and enjoy my ice pack down there lol. Over the next two days, Kennedy had a ton of vistitors, friends, family, co-workers, even one of my students and her mother came by. We went home on Friday, November 30th.