He's here!!

Today Kellen is a little over two weeks old! It seems both forever ago that he was born and yet I also can't believe he's only two weeks old! This post is about his grand entrance into the world!!

Tuesday April 23rd was a day like any other. I was still pregnant and praying every minute that I would go into labor! That evening, I was babysitting my neighbor's two kids for an hour. They came over to my house and we were watching TV. When their mom and dad came to pick them up, I stood up to hand over the little one and felt a giant gush! I knew I had either peed my pants or my water broke :) As the water kept coming and coming, I knew that my water had really broken. Chris was washing dishes and I yelled to him, "hey! My water broke. For real!" He was surprised, but surprisingly calm! We called the doctor, packed up our stuff, and headed to the hospital.

A key detail to mention here is that my water broke at 7pm and I hadn't eaten dinner yet. I knew that once I got to the hospital they wouldn't let me eat, so I had some yogurt, but I was so excited and anxious that I couldn't eat anything else. BIG MISTAKE.

We got to the hospital, filled out some paperwork, they checked to make sure my water really had broken (uh, duh!) and then admitted us! I was only 1 cm dilated so they started me on pitocin. My mom got there very soon after we were admitted and Penny and Denny came not too much later. Once pitocin started my contractions started getting more intense. And I was starving! After every contraction I would say, "just so everyone remembers, I'm really freaking hungry!" We walked around the hall a few times, I had a popsicle, sat on the birthing ball, but by 1:30am I was done. As a contraction ended, I said, "that's it! I'm done!" My mom, the encourager, said "that's right, this contraction is done, good job!" And Chris said, "I don't think that's what she meant!" I meant get me an epidural right now!! It took about 15 - 20 minutes but the love of my life - the anesthesiologist - finally showed up and gave me an epidural. It wasn't too painful getting it and the pain was better almost instantly!

At that point I was exhausted, so we all decided to get some sleep. Penny and Denny went home to catch some shut eye and Mom and Chris slept in the room. After a couple hours, I woke up with some intense pain in my sciatica. I didn't really understand that I could get more drugs, so I was just trying to tough it out. By this time, the nurse who delivered  me, Jamie was there. She was absolutely amazing! It became clear that I couldn't take the pain any longer and she said I could get some more drugs through my epidural. I felt so much better after that round of drugs, but still wasn't 10 cm.

As my labor progressed, I started feeling intense pressure to push. I wasn't 10cm yet though so I couldn't. I tried lots of things to deal with the pain. I tried sitting up - which apparently freaked Kellen out and we had to turn off pitocin and I was on oxygen for a few minutes as his heart rate dropped. That was scary but he responded well after that. I tried singing songs - like "American Pie" (it's a long one!), but the pressure was so intense. I got another round of drugs and pretty soon was ready to push.

Both the doctor and nurse said there was a very good chance I would need a C-section because he was still very high. He was also face up, so the doctor kept trying to turn him. I started pushing around 8:45 am. Denny and Penny had returned - Denny waited in the waiting room. Rick was there as well. It was so wonderful to have my family surrounding me, cheering me on. As I was pushing, the pressure again was very intense. Even when I wasn't having a contraction I had an insane urge to push. After about an hour of pushing, they gave me another round of drugs to relax me. Before those drugs I kept telling the doctor that I couldn't do it and begging her to just pull him out! :) After the drugs, I looked at her and said, "I think I can do this!" I pushed, and pushed and pushed! Finally his head began peeking out. He had an intense cone head and finally the crown of his head was out! I wanted to push the rest of him out, but nooooo, they said I had to wait for another contraction. Well, my contractions decided to take a break and it was a good 5 minutes before I had another one! Yup, I was just laying there with my baby's head half out. Let me tell you, not such   a good feeling. I kept saying, "this is unreal! This is ridiculous!" Finally, I had another contraction and out he came! Kellen Lee Kays! Born at 10:45 am, 8.04 lbs and 21.5 inches long. April 24th happens to be the 8 year anniversary of Chris and my's first kiss - the day we counted as our anniversary before our wedding. Pretty cool, huh!

The first time I saw him, I immediately thought he looked like me! (which he does) He grabbed my hand and I have never been so happy. Of course, they cleaned him up, cleaned me up, and everyone got a chance to hold him. Everyone pretty much left after that - we were all exhausted! They brought me food - the best meatloaf I ever ate in my life! and I nursed. Eventually we were moved to our hospital room.

The rest of the day was spent staring and marveling at our sweet baby boy. I felt really good after, considering I had just gone through 18 hours of labor! Kellen's head was seriously messed up. He had lots of bruising and eventually even had scabbing. The doctors were concerned that the bruises would leave him at a higher risk of getting jaundice, but luckily, he never did.

We were finally able to go home on Friday. Nursing became a big issue - but I'll talk about that in another post!

T-Minus 3 weeks and counting!

Hello all, we are just 3 weeks away from Kellen's due date! Very hard to believe! I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday (I am now going weekly) and the doctor said baby is head down, but I am not dilated which means "probably not this week" for delivery. He has definitely dropped in the past couple weeks, which is good news for delivery, but not so much for my bladder. I pretty much feel like I have to pee constantly when standing up.

I had spring break this week and was able to get tons of things done in preparation for his arrival. Rick installed two cornice boards that we made which completed the nursery!! It looks so amazing and I can't wait for him to grow up in it :) My mom helped me clean my house this week and after lots of cleaning and lots of laundry, we are all ready!

My Mary Kay girlfriends threw me a baby shower on Saturday, which was so fun!! On Sunday, Chris and I went to Babies R Us and got the last few things that we needed/wanted with gift cards. Thanks to everyone who gave us one... it was the most fun thing ever to pack our cart and then checkout with a balance of $0. We installed car seat bases this week and put together the bassinet and bouncer. We had our maternity pictures on Saturday morning (sneak peeks coming to FB soon) ... so I would say we are about as prepared as anyone can be!

Thanks to everyone who has helped with Kellen's nursery or given us a gift. All of our friends and family have been unbelievably generous and we are so appreciative. He is already one spoiled little guy :)

I will keep everyone updated as we go!!

2 months to go!

Just thought I'd give a general update on everything that's been happening lately! We are 32.5 weeks and have less than 8 weeks to go! I can't believe it's going by so fast. This week we had another ultrasound because the doctors were worried that Kellen was getting too big. After the ultrasound, the doctor says everything is fine. He is head down, which is good, and weighs in at about 5 pounds, the 74th percentile. My doctor said they don't become concerned until the baby is in the 90th percentile and over 10 pounds. She also admitted that this is a best guess and their measurements can certainly be off. It was great to see him again on the ultrasound, though! His whole body used to fit in the picture, but now only his face does! I put the ultrasound pic from 16 weeks below and the most current. He is certainly growing!

16 Weeks

32 weeks (this is a sideways profile, with his hand in front of his mouth)


















Besides the ultrasound, we also had Kellen's baby shower this weekend! You can see pictures on facebook, but it was absolutely beautiful. My friends and mom planned a sea creature themed party since that is the theme of Kellen's room. Chris surprised me with flowers just in time to help open presents. We were so blessed to get so many things that we needed!!

We also were able to pretty much finish Kellen's room! Here are some pics:

This is my grandpa's baby blanket! 

This weekend we have our childbirth class, which is very exciting. I will post more updates soon! 

An Eventful Holiday Season!

Lots of fun baby things have been happening here! On Friday, I was at school and felt Kellen move. It was the first time I had no doubts it was him. Ever since then, I have felt him pretty much every time I sit or lie down. It has been so fun to feel him and I have even gotten a couple serious kicks! This morning, Chris had his hand on my belly and felt him move too! He was very excited... he has been anxiously awaiting that moment for a while now.

Friday night we had our family Christmas at my mom's. Kellen got a super cute car seat cover/shade, a personalized pool towel for Amma's pool, and a handmade teddy bear that my mom has been saving for over two years. It was a very fun night.

Saturday, Uncle Brendan came over and helped Chris paint the nursery. They did an excellent job! We will be adding wainscoting - kind of like white paneling to the bottom, that's why the whole wall isn't painted.

On Sunday, a friend dropped off bags of baby clothes from her three boys. Chris and I went through everything, plus some from our neighbor, and now have 4 garbage bags full of 0-6 months clothes, 2 bins full of 6-12 months clothes, one bin and garbage bag full of 12+ clothes! I'm pretty sure this baby will never wear all his outfits! Everything is too cute though and we feel so blessed. 

We have an ultrasound coming up on Thursday. As you might recall, Kellen wasn't cooperative last time so the doctor didn't get all the pictures she wanted. It will be fun to see him again! Hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas.

The most photographic baby :)

I know I'm a bad blogger since I haven't updated in awhile but things have been busy! So, the biggest news to report is that we are having a boy! I know most of you already know this, but we are sooooo excited! We found out a couple weeks ago at a 3D ultrasound. My mom, stepdad and brother were there. Chris' parents were listening in on the phone (they are in Arizona right now). At first the tech couldn't say for sure if he was a boy, although she suspected he was. He wasn't cooperating and giving us any good angles. I got up and walked around a little bit and lectured him :) When I came back, he was much better and couldn't stop proving that he was a boy! Chris and I both cried when she said he was for sure a he. It was amazing to see his little profile and see him moving all around... totally amazing that something that looks so human can be moving inside me and I couldn't feel him! His name is Kellen Lee Kays and we couldn't be happier. Here are a few of my favorite pics of the night:

My mom gave us an adorable hat and overalls (she had a boy gift and a girl gift ready to go!). We got a little bear with his heartbeat recorded inside it and a DVD showing him moving. We couldn't wait to share the news and this is the picture we sent out letting everyone know... We might be slightly obsessed with our cats.

Last week we had our doctor's ultrasound. They confirmed that he's still a boy and is probably going to stay that way :) Everything looked very healthy - no issues that they can see! We even got to see something very rare - Kellen was practicing his breathing. The tech said they only do that once in a while this early, so we were lucky to see his chest moving up and down. Otherwise, he was a very naughty baby boy! He wouldn't cooperate and we have to go back for another ultrasound because they didn't get all the pictures of his heart that they wanted. They measured the thickness of his skull and Chris said, "if he takes after his mom, it might be on the thicker side." Nice. We were very happy that everything looked good and feel like we're on cloud nine. They did take some pictures of him, but none are that awesome. My blood pressure was way down, which was great news, and I've only gained 3 pounds the whole pregnancy. 

On Saturday, we went to cut down our Christmas tree. On the way there, I think I felt Kellen move for the first time! I have felt it a few more times since then, but it's definitely nothing regular yet. Here's a picture of our last tree without Kellen. It's crazy to think that next year he'll be sitting up and babbling while we put the tree up! 

Getting close.....!

Hello all! Just thought I'd update about my follow up doctor's appointment and confirm that yes, Wednesday night we will find out if we are having a boy or girl!

I went to the doctor last Wednesday to get my blood pressure checked again. It was the same as it had been the week before. The doctor took a lot of time to talk to me and explained it this way. Because it's before 20 weeks, this isn't gestational-caused high BP. She said that my BP isn't high enough to be very concerned and she wouldn't recommend trying to lower it to a more "normal" level. She explained that as my baby and placenta have been developing, they've gotten used to my higher BP. If we tried to artificially make it drop, it could be detrimental to the baby. Obviously if it gets higher, they will try to lower it, but for now, everything is OK. I also asked about preeclampsia. She explained that preeclampsia has 2 symptoms: high BP and elevated protein in your urine. Since my BP is already elevated, she ordered a urine test to get a base level of my protein now so if we are concerned about preeclampsia in the future, we can have something to compare it to. So today I have been tied to the house and have had to collect all my urine in a jug. Yes, pregnancy is so glamorous, huh! The doctor really made me feel safe and I am not worried at all. We will continue to monitor things and deal with any problems as they occur.

Which brings me to Wednesday! Yay! Our ultrasound is at 7:30 pm which make Wednesday a LOOOOONG day! Brendan, my mom and Rick will all be there and Penny and Denny will be there over speaker phone. I promise to post the news asap :)

Just FYI, all my money is on a boy! :)

A Scary Halloween

Let me start this by saying that everything is OK! Yesterday, at 14 weeks, we had our next doctor's appointment and it went very well. I have only gained 0.2 pounds, which was very exciting to me, but my blood pressure was a little high - especially because its usually very low. All my blood work came back normal and we heard the heartbeat again. The doctor was very happy with everything.

After we left, I asked my mom if I could borrow her blood pressure cuff just to keep an eye on things. I took it last night and this morning with very high results. This morning it was extremely high so I called the emergency line at my OBGYN. The doctor was concerned as well and told me to leave work, go home, and wait until the office opened so I could make an appointment. She said its too early to be pregnancy related, but I absolutely needed it checked. I definitely freaked out! I just got home, and my pressure at the doctor was the same as it was yesterday, a little high, but not nearly what the cuff said this morning. The doctor isn't sure if the cuff is working properly, so I'm not using it anymore :) I am going back next week for another check, but the doctor said if it stays where it is, they won't be concerned. If it goes up, there are other options we will look into.

So for now, I'm enjoying this sick day on my couch and relaxing! We have our 3D gender ultrasound in just 2 weeks and our regular one with my OB 2 weeks after that.

We have already been getting some wonderful baby gifts and are so grateful to everyone who has supported us and is thinking about us and baby Kays!