Nicole and Brandon: Baby #2 has arrived

We welcomed a healthy baby girl, Kennedy Leigh, into the world on Sunday, January 28, 2018 at 9:19 am! She was 7 lbs, 9 oz and 21 inches long! She has a head full of hair that we suspect is strawberry blonde and dark blue eyes.

I was 38 weeks and 1 day when she decided to make her appearance (or 39 weeks, 1 day if we go by original due date but I'm going with the doctor's due date of Feb. 10). My labor and delivery was fast and furious. I woke up at 5:30 am to go potty, stood up out of bed and my water broke! I just kind of stood there not knowing what to do, haha! Then I softly called for Brandon, then more loudly when he didn't stir and we turned the light on. I felt the need to check that it wasn't blood. At that point I wasn't really having any contractions but we called the doctor and she told me to go right in and that my contractions would probably be going by the time we got to the hospital. So, we called my mom to come get Blake. I woke him up and remember thinking this was the "last" time he'd be my only child (emotional mom moment). Grandma arrived and took Blake, who luckily went right back to bed at her house. We finished packing, Brandon took a shower while I made him breakfast. My contractions started, just crampy ones, nothing bad. Then we left for the hospital. We arrived at 7 am exactly, right at shift change. :) I got checked into triage and was there for maybe an hour while they got an IV hooked up because I was Group B strep positive (google it) so I had to have antibiotics pumping through me during labor and delivery (delivery came quicker than expected so I had to keep the IV port in all day). They also checked to make sure it really was my water that broke. By the time they got me a wheelchair to wheel me up to the L&D room I was breathing through my contractions and making Brandon fan me with our "Birth binder" from a class we took when pregnant with Blake. He fanned me and fanned me and fanned me. He was a saint. :) We arrived in the L&D room and the nurse immediately started preparing all of the things needed for delivery. I stood over the bed starting to really feel the bad contractions and trying to breathe through them. With Blake I hyperventilated multiple times so I was trying really hard to keep my breaths steady. The nurse kept saying, "tell me if I need to page the doctor" in kind of a sarcastic voice that was irritating to me! (I promise she was not being snarky....it was definitely just my perception through my pain) Then I climbed up onto the bed and labored on my hands and knees until it was time to push which came shortly after. The nurses at the desk were apparently impressed (amused?) by me because when they paged the doctor all they could hear through the monitor was me yelling when only a few minutes ago I was wheeled by their desk smiling. The doctor arrived in the nick of time (just like with Blake) because I was starting to push. I was stuck on my side through my first push because I hadn't flipped over yet. I remember thinking well I'll just push the baby out this way, whatever, as long as it comes out, haha! However, after that push I did manage to flip over all the way and continue. She came after two more pushes (I think). They asked if I wanted to know what gender she was and promptly held her parts in my face! :) I was so sure it was a boy that I was questioning what I was seeing but quickly saw that it really was a GIRL! Then I burst into tears of happiness and exhaustion. (I remember in the throes of all the pain wanting so badly to go to sleep...) They put her on my chest and pretty soon after I nursed her. As I was nursing her I noticed that she had turned completely blue. The nurse whipped her away from me and she immediately started to return to a normal color but then they monitored her for a while. She ended up being just fine.

Sitting in Triage

First photo as a family of 4!

Our time in the hospital went smoothly after that. We had to stay until Tuesday afternoon because they had to continue monitoring both of us with the Group B strep stuff. (Not strep throat) After we were moved up to the recovery room, Grandma and Grandpa brought big brother Blake up to meet her. He was curious and held her but mostly he like to play with the buttons on my bed that moved it up and down. :) My parents were thrilled that it was a girl! Brandon's parents came the next day (through a terrible snowstorm) and were equally as thrilled! We had lots of visitors to keep us company but also had decent downtime to bond with Kennedy. Kennedy is a fantastic nurser so it was SO much less stressful than with Blake who struggled in the beginning with latching. We were able to go home without any special instructions and she is back to birth-weight at just a couple days shy of 2 weeks old (she weighed 6 lbs 13 oz at discharge).