I have a Pandora charm bracelet that I got for Christmas a few years ago. Pretty early on during my pregnancy, I started telling Colt that I wanted a new charm as my push present. Of course, I had to explain to him what a push present was when I told him that was what I wanted. I may have also kept reminding him about it just to be sure he heard me. He does listen though, and I'm sure with the rush of her being early... he probably even remembered when things were crazy. He brought it up to the hospital for me! I love it and love him!
Here are the pictures that the hospital photographer took of Kinley on Saturday, June 13th, around lunch. She was only about 12 hours old.
I usually don't have my nails painted but I had just happened to get a manicure and pedicure for my baby showers that I had planned on going to that weekend!
Her poor little feet were all bloody and bruised from her heel sticks. She was definitely not a fan of that. She would start screaming when they started cleaning her foot with the alcohol. Little did we know that was just the start of her getting stuck over and over.
All of her little clothes were WAY too big for her. This little outfit that Dede had bought her was about the closest thing that came to fitting her, and we had it all bunched and tucked!
In addition to the pictures above that we bought, here are a few more pictures that Dede snapped on her phone.
I can't believe our sweet little girl is already 5 months old as of a few days ago! I've been putting notes in my phone the last 5 months. Since I'm not up-to-date on here, I'm hoping it will help me go back and document all the "little things" and how fast she is growing and changing... which is definitely fast. The last few months, especially the first couple, are like a big blur when you think back. I typed a lot of this post a while back so that my memory would still be fresh in hopes that I wouldn't forget anything.
The week leading up to Kinley's birth, it felt like my hips were starting to feel more loose. Of course, I guess that's expected though since my body was getting ready to have a baby in 4-5 weeks. On Thursday, June 11th, Colt got off that morning at 7am. He slept a little during the day and went back into work on Thursday night at 7pm. That shift ran until Friday morning at 7am. Due to my prior doctors appointments and being told that I would probably be induced a little early, I was trying to get a lot done at work that week. I was in the process of transitioning all my work to other managers and seniors and was actually planning on trying to wrap up most of the transition Friday so that I would just have a few projects left on my plate. That Thursday, I ended up working about 14 hours and went to bed super late. While I was working that night, I took a bathroom break and noticed a jelly like substance when I went to the bathroom. It wasn't bloody or anything, but I still texted Colt to let him know. Then of course, I also started "googling." Per my husband and per google, it really didn't mean anything and could still be weeks. I went back to work and didn't really think about it again.
Friday morning I got up, took a shower, threw on a dress and was about to start blow drying my hair when my water broke! I don't think I'll ever forget what dress it was... it was my comfy short length spaghetti strap dress that is black on top and kinda islandy/summery looking on the bottom...I've worn it since and always think about it being what I had on when my water broke! It was 8am when my water broke. At first, I thought that maybe I had just peed on myself since I wasn't supposed to be having a baby yet! I called Colt. He had gotten off at 7am but hadn't made it home yet. He didn't answer. I called him again and he was wrapping up breakfast at the Taqueria after work. Luckily, he answered that time. He said he was heading home. I was gushing water and was just standing there dripping all over the bathroom rugs. In the meantime, I called my mom. At this point, I was sitting on the toilet and water was just draining out. She said yes, I think your water definitely broke. I got off the phone with her and was a little frantic. I didn't know what to do and didn't really want to move at first. I had so many things running through my head... I should be far enough along that everything will be ok with her was of course at the top of those thoughts... but then it was also all of the little things... what about our showers...what about everything we need to take to the hospital... I don't have her room ready or any of her stuff washed... it was endless! I was about to start blow drying my hair or putting makeup on when Colt got home and came in the bathroom. He told me I didn't have time for that and he also didn't even let me change clothes, which wouldn't have mattered anyways because they would've gotten soaked too. He grabbed me another towel and put a towel in his truck for me to sit on and we left. We had no bags...no nothing. All I grabbed was my purse. I was planning on washing baby clothes and packing our hospital bags when I got back from baby showers after the weekend and saw everything that we had. I had a hospital bag list started but that was the extent of it! I was definitely not prepared! We live literally right up the road from the hospital so it didn't take us long at all to get there. He dropped me off at front of hospital to go park, and I got on the elevator with my towel wrapped around me and water draining down my legs. I started checking in at the front desk. I was about to fill out the paperwork when Colt came in and we went on back. Another emergency resident, Michael Benham, was working that morning so we talked to him and Colt got me hooked up to the monitors immediately. I don't know what even happened to my paperwork. Colt got a strip out and checked to verify that I was indeed leaking amniotic fluid. When I got there, I was only dilated to a 1 and 50% effaced but since my water broke, we would would be being admitted, induced and I would be having a baby that day! While we were waiting, they made me give a urine sample to check for protein in my urine. The results came back positive, but at that point, I still had amniotic fluid coming out so we didn't feel like there was any way that it was accurate. Colt mentioned it to the doctor and had them recheck it. He didn't want them having a false preeclampsia diagnosis on my chart for treatment purposes or for future pregnancy purposes. They rechecked it later and it was negative for protein. After we hung out a while and Colt made some calls and texts, they sent me up to labor and delivery.
Colt was going on hardly any sleep in the last 48 hours so I think he looked worse than me and the nurses felt more sorry for him than they did me! They started to induce labor not long after we got upstairs. They started by inserting a medication to help soften my cervix. Then later they added Pitocin. My mom and Dede got to the hospital at about the same time. My dad was at work so my mom made the trip by herself. This was the first time my mom had driven by herself and she took a little detour but she made it! Since we had no hospital bag, I made a list on my phone and sent Colt to go home and pack some things and try to nap. He was only gone 30 minutes so he didn't nap! He also packed nail polish and nail polish remover :) He said he thought I would want them. That was definitely the last thing on my mind!! The whole day seemed to go so fast and is a blur. They didn't check me too many times during the day to help reduce the possibility of infection I think. They checked later and I was a 3 and 100% effaced. Then I was a 5 and 100% effaced. I stayed that way for a while!
As far as pain goes. It started to hurt as my contractions got a little more intense. My back was hurting the worst as I was laying in bed. I just couldn't get comfortable and the majority of my pain seemed to be in my back. I remember going to the bathroom so I could stand up and pace a little bit and I remember Colt asking me if I was ok. I remember it just felt better than laying in bed. They asked when I wanted my epidural. I asked if there was a reason to wait and they said no so when I started getting more uncomfortable, I went and ahead and got it. The anesthesiologist was a resident that was almost done with training. It took him two tries to get my epidural. However, he was awesome. He kept coming back to check on me about 10 times. One of my legs was almost numb feeling and I had to lift it to move it but the other one I could feel pretty much everything so I told him and he came in and adjusted it and it was much better after that. Colt said we definitely got good treatment from our anesthesiologist and that most of the time treatment wasn't that good. Sometime after the fact, I said that labor wasn't that bad for me and Colt laughed and said it was because I got my epidural and drugs so early!
I was starving the whole day. The last time that I had eaten had been an early dinner around 5pm on Thursday night. I'm a person that HAS to eat breakfast and everything had started that morning before I had a chance to eat. Then after I got to the hospital, they advise you not to eat just in case there ends up being a need for an emergency surgery. I had vegetable broth and green jello for lunch and then I had beef broth and orange jello for dinner. At least for dinner, I got a better color jello! I also had a couple more jellos during the day to try to help subside being hungry.
Colt went home again around 6 or so and tried to nap but he kept texting me but there was no change.
Later at around 10 Colt had left to go meet my dad. My dad had gotten to our house so Colt was meeting him and getting him to the hospital. David got there about the same time that my dad did. While Colt was gone, the nurse checked me again and I was a 10 and 100%. She was like..."um, where's your husband?" Then she said I needed to get him back there because we would be starting to push within the hour. I ended up ordering everyone else pizza (even though I couldn't eat) and it got delivered to the hospital. It was delivered about the time it was time to push so Colt didn't get to eat either and our parents took it to the waiting room.
We actually ended up starting to push about 20 minutes later, not an hour later, because my doctor got there quicker than they thought. Colt and I decided that it would be best, especially due to Kinley being early, that we be the only ones in the delivery room. We pushed for about an hour.
Earlier that day when there kept being no change, we kept saying that we weren't sure whether or not she was going to make it there by the 12th and that she might be a 13th baby. She cut it close and was born at 11:57 pm. Colt used the time to try to coax me to push harder while we were in delivery to get here there before the day was over.
She weighed 6 pounds even (2744 grams) and was 19.5 inches long. For a preemie she was a good size. I think if we would've went full term, I would've had a pretty big baby.
By the hospital and doctor's records I was only 35 weeks and 5 days. Because of her being premature, we had NICU team in the room with us. It's policy at the hospital we delivered at that they are automatically there and if she would've been under 5 pounds, they would've taken her immediately. Luckily that wasn't the case.
In delivery, Colt was on my right side holding my leg and I had a nurse on my left. I went to childbirth classes but they didn't tell me beforehand that you do three pushes and hold each for 10 seconds and then you get to take a break. Luckily, all the nurses tell you beforehand and help you out during! They were also cheering me on along with Colt. While I was holding my 10 second counts, I felt like I was probably turning purple and there was one time that I felt like I was going to throw up during the process. I didn't though. I do think it's a good thing that I was in decent shape because it was tiring! Colt warned me before we started pushing that there was a mirror above me. He didn't want me to look up and freak out in the middle of delivery! Evidently though during delivery I started looking up at the mirror above me while I was pushing. The nurses and doctor told me to quit looking up. My pushes were better at the beginning and when I started looking up, I started not bearing down as much. Towards the end of pushing, I quit having contractions as frequently so the pushes started to space out a little and we started pushing even if I wasn't feeling a contraction or showing one on the monitor. Colt also started having a big sense of urgency towards the end and I didn't know that he had a reason for his urgency until later. All I know is that right after I delivered her, I didn't hear her cry and didn't hear anything at all and I was panicking a little. I kept asking if everything was ok and kept saying that I couldn't hear her crying but everyone kept reassuring me that everything was ok. I was looking at Colt who was looking over at the nurses and Kinley and he had a concerned look on his face but was trying to hide it. Then I remember looking at the doctor and she was looking over there too. Even then, no one really told me that there were any issues. It wasn't until later that I found out that her heart rate dropped to 88 and she came out a little purple. The nurses had to help her get started breathing which was why I didn't hear her crying. After they got her going, we got to do skin to skin. It's crazy how much love you have for a baby and how all your worries about being a mom go away immediately and it becomes instinct. She had a little cone head from delivery and her head was pretty bruised and a little skinned up on the back but she was perfect. We got to do skin to skin, feed her and be with her for an hour or two before they let any family come back. This whole time is a complete blur to me and was even right after she was born. Colt said it's all the hormones but I wish I could remember more of all the little tiny details. They had warned me that since she was premature that she may have trouble feeding and latching. The nurse ended up getting me a nipple shield later in the night/morning to help her latch a little easier.
After our time with her, our parents came back. Evidently my mom had been pacing and ready to barge in the delivery room because she thought we had been in there too long and she was worried something was wrong. Because of the issues we did have, it was probably a good thing it was just Colt and I in the delivery room. While family were holding Kinley, Colt and I scarfed down leftover cold pizza.
All of our family headed to our house for the night and a few hours later, they got Colt and I moved to a room. We got settled around 5am. When they were wheeling me to a room, we got to ring the bell that played music around the hospital celebrating a baby being born! We kept her in our room with us. Since we didn't get settled until 5 am, they started rounding pretty much as soon as we got in the room. Because she was a preemie, they hold you for 48 hours so we would be staying in the hospital at least until Monday. Kinley was passing all her blood sugar and jaundice checks. Saturday morning, they took her for her newborn hearing screening and she passed that.
All of our nurses in labor and delivery were great and our nurses in postpartum were great too. I do remember our first nurse that morning in postpartum being a little more "to-the point" but she was still great. I appreciated all of them so much. Our nurses from labor and delivery even came down to check on us. I don't know if it had anything to do with Colt being a resident but I will say the care we were given from beginning to end was better than I could have ever hoped for. For some reason, I loved the hospital food every meal. I don't know if it was from breastfeeding but I was so hungry and regardless of what it was, it tasted so good and I ate every bit of it every meal. I'm sure it wasn't that great either!
Both of our parents came back up to the hospital on Saturday. My dad just stayed for a quick visit and headed back home for work. He didn't hold Kinley and actually still hasn't! He has a fear of holding small babies I think. He kissed her when she was laying on the bed before he left though. Josh and Brianna came to visit on Saturday and so did Wade and Kacie.
Also, sometime our moms got busy washing all of Kinley's laundry and blankets, washing bottles, getting her room ready, buying last minute things we needed that we didn't have yet, and I'm sure much more... you know ALL of the things I had planned on doing but hadn't gotten around to yet. I still had piles in her room from our Temple baby shower and nothing was washed or organized yet. It was on my to-do list but I hadn't timed it very well! It got tackled and done when we were in the hospital though. Even though things might not have been in the drawers I had planned or we might have ended up with some duplicates or things that I was still debating on if we needed or not, it all got done. It was so great nd we were so thankful. There's no way that Colt and I would've wanted to come home and have to start doing all of that!
The lactation consultant, Pattie, came around on Saturday and again on Sunday and Monday. She was so great. Kinley wasn't wanting to wake up for some feedings. She had the magic touch and helped me a ton with getting more comfortable breastfeeding. She even taught me how to use my breast pump on Monday before we headed home. I was clueless, and I was planning on having to get out the instruction manual to figure it out! It's funny how then before I got ready to feed Kinley, I had to have all my pillows perfect and her positioned just perfect to feel like it would work. Now it seems so easy! I also didn't really feel comfortable having anyone else besides my mom or Colt in the room while breastfeeding so I think that made it harder for me in the hospital. Not like I had a lot of eyes on me, but it's just something I think you need to be alone and figure out as a first time mom without feeling like you have any other eyes on you. We kept Kinley in the room with us again on Saturday night.
Sunday, David and Dede went home and my mom stayed with us. Tina and Brandon came to visit that day and brought her a little preemie outfit because they were afraid she wouldn't have any clothes that fit. Gerald and Allison came to visit later that day and stayed for a while. Colt ended up going to Dead Fish Grill with them for dinner and I tried to relax and catch up on some sleep. They came back up to the room after dinner with tons of baby gifts that I think they were planning on giving to us at our shower that weekend!
On Sunday, Kinley's belli check for jaundice read 9.6 so they didn't have to do a blood test then but it started to go downhill after that. In the wee hours on Monday, they checked it and it was 13.8 so we had to start phototherapy. Later in the morning after some phototherapy, they rechecked and it was 11.2. We decided to let them take Kinley that night while they started phototherapy to give us little break for sleep. Colt ended up getting in my bed with me because his spot for a bed wasn't quite big enough or very comfortable for him. They brought Kinley to the room for me to feed her just a couple hours after they took her and then we quickly moved her back in our room. We had to keep her under the lights though until at least 3pm. They mentioned pending what the on-duty pediatrician decided possibly discharging me but keeping us there for additional therapy. Because Kinley was feeding and eating so great, they ended up deciding to go ahead and let us go home on Monday. On Monday our only visitor besides my mom was Cindy Rush before we went home. We got to leave the hospital Monday afternoon around 5pm.
Those last few minutes of June 12th and the early hours of June 13th were some of the best moments of our lives because she made us parents. You hear that the love you will feel is like no other, and it's definitely true. I remember just staring at her those first few days. One of the best feelings was staring down at her while she was nursing and her just looking up at me. I loved and still love giving her little kisses on her head. There were a couple times those first days in the hospital that just thinking about her and looking at her made me tear up ... with happy tears of course... because it was overwhelming how much love I was feeling for both her and her daddy!
This picture was of me, my mom and mother-in-law at around 9pm on Friday night right before we had Kinley.
Get ready for picture overload because I'm putting about every picture we have and not really choosing between them! Since I quit printing a lot of our pics a while back and print a blog book instead, I want them included!
These were just a few minutes after she was born. Since she was born at 11:57 pm, these pictures were actually taken on the 13th because it was a little after midnight.
You can really tell in some of these how bruised her little head was. Colt said that if I would've went full term and she would've been a little bigger, we might've been having a c-section.
Our little Kinley
Her little purple foot
One of the nurses took over Colt's camera on his phone when she realized he wasn't doing the best job getting pictures.
Daddy and Kinley's matching armbands
Daddy holding up his baby girl Lion King style!
First pic of me and her
At 6 pounds, she still felt so tiny.
It looks like I was talking in this one but I love the way Colt is looking at her.
Our little family of three
They took her to clean her up at about 1:40.
The three of us at around 2 that morning.
I'm a little disappointed that we don't have more pics of us and especially of family holding her and meeting her for the first time. I'm usually the one taking pictures and no one else had their cameras out.
This was Dede holding her at around 2.
And these are of Colt a little later in the morning at around 3:30.
Me sitting up in a chair holding her before we got moved to a room.
This was on the 13th, Saturday morning, around 7:30 am after we were already in a room. It's crazy how much she changed in just a few short hours.
With dad while he was trying to rest a little.
Around 10 am sleeping
The hospital photographers came around at lunch and took her picture. We hadn't planned on buying any but we bought a ton. They were just too cute not too! I'm glad we did because by the time we took her newborn pictures just a few weeks later she already looked different. I will post those pics on a separate post.
A little later that afternoon, around 2
And that night around 5
These were both taken on Sunday morning, the 14th.
Sunday night... Colt was definitely going on tons of no sleep by then.
Then on Monday, the 15th, most of Kinley's day was spent under the lights in her superhero mask trying to get her belli levels down before we went home.
Colt's mom had both the flowers and the door mum delivered to our room. Everyone that came in commented on how good my room smelled from the flowers.
And no one else will care about watching these videos of her doing nothing but I like them, and if the internet and this blog happen to possibly be around YEARS from now, then maybe Kinley will too!
The first two are on Saturday morning, the morning after she was born.
This one was on Sunday morning.
I'm pretty sure our blog is about to become all about Kinley. I take a TON of pictures of her... I just can't get enough... even on the hard days of being a mom!!
