Wilson's (almost) Irish Twins: The Kenley Marie Story

My baby is a week old today. Time, to me, is a funny thing. It never changes, but yet never feels constant. A minute is a minute, right? But yet those last weeks of pregnancy take forever to be over, and those first days go by in a blink of an eye.

I am sitting here in a quiet house with my baby sleeping and my children off to the zoo with their dad. It is almost feeling a bit surreal. But what better time to actually sit down and remember Kenley's birthday.

As I alluded to in previous posts, we started to notice some questionable behavior of her heart at my last doctor appointment. Nothing that was exactly wrong, but it wasn't right either. Basically, she would have moments that her heart rate would be high and moments when it would be low, and some how those were the moments that they were checking me, which lead to more testing.

My wonderful husband, wonderful doctor, and wonderful (amazing) nurse.

At my last doctor's appointment on April 19, we heard her heart rate decelerate, so they sent me over to the hospital to be monitored. She was fine, I was fine, so we were sent home to follow up with a non-stress test on Monday.

So Monday, I went to my test and while she was pretty excited and moving around, the nurse felt that I was good to go. However, that evening around 4:30, she called me and said that the fetal monitoring doctor thought I should come in to be monitored again to make sure. I headed back to the hospital around 5 to be monitored again, and again, I was good, baby was good, I was not anymore dilated than I was on Friday. Home I went with my next non-stress test and ultrasound scheduled for Thursday morning.

Life was pretty normal Tuesday and Wednesday. And then with Bob watching the kids, I walked into the hospital Thursday morning feeling like today was not the day and I would be going home after a quick ultrasound and test. I was wrong,

Her lungs definitely were strong. I was so happy once she settled down.

My bio-physical ultrasound went well. Baby looked good, She measured well and was doing everything she was suppose to be doing. Yeah. Then I headed to my non-stress test to monitor her movements, heart rate, and my contractions. Well, that did not go so well. She was CRAZY active and her heart rate was again all over the place. Again, this was not exactly a bad thing, but it wasn't a good thing either. She just would not settle down enough for them to find a baseline heart rate.

So the doctor came in and said Kenley's eviction was here. It was my due date and this was my third test with issues. It was time. I am pretty sure I looked like a deer in headlights. When he used the word induced, I am pretty sure my skin crawled and my stomach turned. This was the last thing that I wanted.

Phone calls were made, I was checked into labor and delivery, and I was realizing how not ready I was for all of this. Panic was striking.

Luckily, when the resident doctor came in, we were able to talk a little more about the situation and set up a game plan that I was way more comfortable with than just inducing me with drugs.

Because I was so far along and I was having regular braxton hicks contractions, we were going to monitor me and see if I went into labor by myself before my doctor arrived that evening around 7:30 and if I didn't, we would start with just breaking my water and hold off completely on using pitocin till or if it was necessary. That plan was perfect for me. It meant a long boring day at the hospital, but it gave me time to calm down and relax.

She definitely had a grump face right from the beginning.
Now, she seems happier about life.

Well, I never went into labor by myself, but my contractions did grow a bit stronger and continued to be very regular. At 8:10 p.m., we broke my water. It was game on.

As my husband and doctor sat and watched the NFL Draft (yes, that really happened), I began to go into labor. I quickly got an epidural since I knew once again, this would be a short labor, but a painful one none-the-less. I am no super woman, so I had an epidural with all 3 of my children.

This time the epidural did leave a little pain on my right side, which I actually didn't mind because it let me know that I was still contracting and that she was moving down quickly.

At about 10, for some reason, my monitor was not picking up my contractions, so my doctor thought my labor had stalled. He threw around that Pitocin word again, and again, I looked like a deer in headlights. I knew I was contracting, my nurse knew I was contracting, I was contracting.

Thank heavens for my wonderful, wonderful nurse. I can not tell you how amazingly wonderful she was to me. She listened to everything I said and really helped me have the delivery that I wanted under the circumstances.

We convinced my doctor to check me in 30 minutes if I had not progressed than we would pull out the drugs.

Snug as a bug and ready to head home.

Well, that 30 minutes never happened. Just after my doctor left the room, the pressure in my right hip increased tenfold. My nurse checked me and I was complete and ready to have a baby.

My doctor came in announcing he was wrong and let's have a baby.

He had me push once and I got a half push in before he yelled for me to stop because she was there and crowning and they were not ready. They scrambled and I struggled to hold in the girl we had been waiting to meet.

Literally, 2 half pushes, not a single full push, later, Miss Kenley Marie was laying on my chest. My tiny little peanut arrived at 10:36 p.m. April 25 just 2.5 hours after they broke my water. No pitocin needed.

She came into this word a bit feisty crying for about the first hour with nothing settling her down. I just kept hearing that "Look Who's Talking" movie line "put me back in, put me back in" as she was telling me she was not ready to be here.

But she was here and we could not have been happier. A bit freaked out by the crying wondering what we got ourselves into, but immensely happy to have completed our family with this tiny nugget.

And she is little. She weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces and measured 18 inches long. That is about a pound less and 2 inches shorter than her brother and sister.

She has barely made a peep since her first hour of life. She is eating well and sleeping decently. I am loving every moment of her.

The one thing I have learned is that no delivery is the same, and no delivery is what you have planned. I am just glad I never had a baby on the expressway and my children at home were well taken care of. Despite having quick labors, I was always able to have enough time to figure everything out, which is what my husband always reassured me would happen. (Though it didn't help that my friend had her son 5 days earlier on I-275, thanks Kelli.)

Calan came into the room so excited telling me that Baby Kenley was here and asking did I see her. Maisie, however, is just now warming up to her. She wanted to stay about 5 feet away at all times.

Our bad attempt at a self picture before we left the hospital Saturday Morning.

I am a little baby obsessed with how little she is. I never thought I'd have a baby in the 10-25th percentile since everyone else was 50-75th. She seems so little in everything.