Taylor the Big Sister

Taylor has accepted her new role as big sister proudly. I'm not sure why I worried about her adjusting, she's done great....so far. If anything, she's been too eager and doesn't realize that she can hurt Kendall. The following are the cutest things that she's done to help us out.

1. Taylor's first reaction in the hospital was total awe. She was mesmerized by Kendall's features and had fun pointing out each one: nose, mouth, ears. She also wanted to hold her so bad by holding out her hands. However, she won't sit still to let us help her hold her.



2. The passe - everytime she see's Kendall's passe lying around she assumes it must go in her mouth. She tries so hard to shove it in her mouth.

3. The bottle - If there is a bottle on the table, it must go in Kendall's mouth. Not to mention, she loves helping feed Kendall. She'll sit on our lap and help hold the bottle. She's also our runner back and forth to the sink. Dirty bottles go in the sink.


4. The other morning when she first woke up and Kendall was in her bouncy seat, Taylor walked right over to her and crossed her elbows and rested her head on the bouncy seat and stared at Kendall. The moment was so brief but was priceless.

5. Kisses - I've never seen Taylor give real kisses. Usually she just leans in and accepts a kiss on her forhead. She has been so affectionate toward Kendall, planting kisses all over her.

6. Yesterday, Kendall wasn't feeling real well and was fussy. I explained to Taylor that she didn't feel good. Taylor took off running and brought me Kendall's passe and then turned around and brought me Kendall's blanket. It was the sweetest thing. These are the two things that make Taylor feel better so she thought they would make Kendall feel better.

7. It's been amazing how much Taylor understands. We've talked about Baby Kendall for months and it seems from day one that she understands that the baby we have is Baby Kendall. Every time she walks in the door, she excitedly greets Kendall with 'what's that?'

8. First sibling tears: As much as Taylor seems to enjoy Kendall, again she at times she's a bit much for Kendall. We can't leave them in the room together alone (like walk to the kitchen) because Taylor has tried to squeeze her head, sit on her in the bouncy, flip the play pen trying to climb in and just yesterday she threw her sippy cup at her head. Kendall screamed bloody murder so I know it must have hurt. It even brought tears to her eyes, which was a first I've seen. I read that newborns don't even have tears. It was sad but I'm sure the first of many sibling tears.

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.



I'll keep everyone updated on Kendall's progress and post more pictures later.

Mother's Day 2009

This year for Mother's Day, I decided to stay put since I was having a baby in 48 hours - and was trying to keep it that way. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy my day but it turned out rather nice. When we woke up, Adam made me my favorite breakfast: chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs. It was delicious. Afterwards, he surprised me with an apple tree that he later planted. I was able to take a nap and read my book. I rarely get to enjoy both. That afternoon, I had Shealy's delivered to my doorstep (a huge thanks to my parents for the Shealy's, Nana and Pa Allen for the delivery). Taylor and I watched Adam plant the apple tree and Taylor got her first experience with the hose/sprinkler. We played outside for an hour and ended up taking her inside kicking and screaming because her diaper had had enough. It was a great day! It's hard to believe in just a couple of days, our family will be on more person larger.

Hmm....

I really don't feel like blogging though I've had a running list in my head for weeks of things I should blog about. But considering I'm suppose to have a baby in less than a week, I figured I better get in one more blog. So what has happened the past few weeks...

1. I think we are officially ready to have Kendall. I've been physically ready... the mentally ready has been lagging. But I think I'm on board now. I've also come to really appreciate all the other mother's out there. This has been a REAL hard pregnancy on me... my body... alot of pains, 24/7. The thing that has kept me going is knowing my end date 5/13. I feel like the little engine that could.... 12 more days... I think I can..... 10 more days... I think I can. I sat up one night realizing that most women can't do that. They don't know their end date. They never see the light at the end of the tunnel... it just appears suddenly. Also I appreciate all the other mothers because as much pain as I've been in... I still am having this baby two weeks early. I have no idea how women carry until 40,41, or even 42 weeks. It's insane! Kudos to all mothers!

2. Sleepless nights: Every morning Adam asks me "How did you sleep last night?" My answers have gone from an actual answer to a grunt to now I just ignore him. He has quit asking. Between the bathroom trips EVERY 2 HOURS (literally.... am I suppose to peeing that much), the thousands of things going through my head, (I've started keeping pen and paper by my bed and have aced writing in the dark, and the pains of rolling over from Position #1 to position #2 and back again. Nightime is not for sleeping!

3. On a brighter note, I think Taylor is going to okay with a new sibling. I think she is going to be alittle momma. She is already such a little helper around the house. But Miss. Lisa at daycare has caught her chasing the baby trying to feed him. This week, while I was getting our bottles ready, I gave her an empty bottle and a formula dispenser (the kind that's already partitioned). She spent the ENTIRE day playing with it. She knew exactly what to do with it. She would take the imaginary formula dump it into the bottle while making this 'shhh' sound and then turn the bottle upside down. It's amazing what she picks up... she must have seen this at daycare. I'm alittle nervous about the hospital stay for her. She's never been away from m/d or home that long. But it may be tougher on me than her.

4. Other big Taylor news.... Last weekend she went pee pee on the potty! We really aren't potty training. But when she started acting like she was curious, I bought her a potty. Since then she usually just sits on it with clothes while we go potty. At times she tells us when she is pee peeing but she hasn't acted interested in sitting down to do it. But last weekend, she said pee pee and Adam put her on and by golly she went! We freaked... she seemed to not think it was a big deal. Maybe she won't be so hard to potty train.




5. Taylor had her first major boo-boo last week. She was at daycare and got hit in the head with one of those metal buggy swings. It could have been worse but it still called for a trip to the doctor. Luckily it didn't need stitches. He was able to dermabond it. But that was by far the most traumatizing doctor experience she's/we been through. I was wishing for her worse ear infection. Luckily she seemed to forget about the whole experience once we left. But it took 4 of us to hold her down. And she was so scared... had no clue what was going on. That is one experience I'd rather not have to repeat!




6. Finally pictures of the finished nursery...