Adam, Amy, Taylor and Kendall: Welcome Baby Kendall

Baby Kendall finally joined us last Wednesday, May 13. As most know it was a planned induction. I was unsure as to whether she would wait that long since I had been off my 17p shots an extra week. As soon as the shot was out of my system, I started having many more contractions and alot of pressure. I realize now how lucky I was to be able to carry her to the 13th. I was kind of nervous about the labor. Taylor's labor was so easy, I couldn't imagine that Kendall would be just as easy. Everyone kept telling me, "your body remembers, you'll do fine." Well apparantly your body does remember. My labor with was again eventful but short and basically easy, though not as easy going as Taylor's.

We arrived at the hospital at 6 and were told we would have to wait in the waiting room. They had had a flood of preggo's from 4:00 on that were not false alarms. Luckily we only waited 30 minutes, however, I was already feeling like this wasn't going well. The nurse that got us back and started ended up sticking me three times. Again... didn't start out well. She finally stuck me in my 'antecubital' (elbow) which is usually a no-no at the hospital. It turned out to be a pain because everytime I bent my arm even the slightest, my pump alarm would sound. My doctor wasn't pleased about it. Luckily this nurse was going off duty after she started my IV (it was obvious she needed to go home) and my nurse came in. Nurse Courtney was very good and refreshed. She was actually new to LMC but did an excellent job. The labor and delivery floor only had 4 patients while I was there, so I had alot of attention.

Pitocin was started around 7:00 am and my cervix was 3 cm/65% effaced. These brought on contractions alot quicker and stronger than they did with Taylor. At 9:00, my water was broken and I was 3 1/2 cm. My motto for pregnancy has been been to endur the pain as long as possible. Courtney did tell me she would need a 20-30 min notice for my epidural. So when I got close to my breaking point, I told her I was ready. I ended up waiting 45 min for the anesthesiologist (11:00am). The epidural was quite painful. For both labors, they seem to have trouble putting it in. With Taylor, I had to have it done twice. THis guy was just very persistant and caused me alot of pain. I never got to enjoy my epidural. Contraction pain never went away. Nurse Courtney gave me two boluses (concentrated shots of med) with no luck. The anesthesioogist was called back in and he gave me another type of epidrual - with no luck either. At this point I was 7 cm and 85%. I started to panic at this point. I felt like my epidural wasn't working and my options were to have this baby with the epidural that I had or I could attempt to have it redone. Then it hit me... the pains I was having were the same exact pains I had with Taylor that signaled me to push. I had just been checked but asked if it was possible that I could be dilating that fast... sure enough.. in a matter of 15 minutes I had gone from 7 to 9 1/2 cm and was completely effaced. It was time! It all happened so quickly. But I realize that if I had waited any longer to request my epidural they wouldn't have been able to give it to me. Kind of scary!

Kendall was born at 12:27pm. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. Her face was pretty swollen and arm bruised. Apprarently she had been pushing down for quite a while. Otherwise, she was perfect and healthy. Adam was with me the whole time. My mom and dad and Nana and Pa Allen were in the waiting room. I immediately felt better. :-) It was a great feeling to be able to bend in half again. heh heh.

Our hospital stay was very busy. We had tons of visitors and appreciated them all. But we were glad to come home on Friday. We followed up with our pediatrician on Saturday to find out Kendall has Jaundice. Her numbers spiked overnite. She was on a bili bee until this past Wednesday. Her numbers plummeted. We actually go back tomorrow to have them re-checked. We are all still learning each other. She seems to be a really good baby, alot easier than Taylor was. Though we've had our share of sleepless nights, though that's to be expected.