Mckynlee Ann Taylor
(Welcome to the world, little one!
On Tuesday, February 23, I started having contractions. Now, when I say contractions, I mean my stomach felt a little tight. There was a definite change, but I certainly wasn't in pain. Discomfort, yes. But not painful. As the night progressed, they became more frequent. I was timing them as we went about our night and they were coming in around every 3-5 minutes. After two hours of consistency, we figured we could go to the hospital just to check it out.
Once there, I was checked for dilation and was told I was at 5cm and 90% effaced. The problem was I still wasn't having strong contractions. So the nurses had me power-walking around the hospital. It was about 9pm, so we were the only ones there. After an hour, I was checked again. This time, I measured to 5.5cm. The nurse had me bounce on an exercise ball and power-walk some more. I was making progression, but I wasn't having contractions, so she wasn't sure what to do. While I was doing my late-night exercises, she called my doctor to see what he thought I should do. After another hour, there was a decision to be made.
We could 1) stay at the hospital and wait to see if the contractions got stronger, then at 5am the next morning, the doctor would break my water and we'd have the baby. 2) We could go home, get some rest (by now its past midnight) and see how my body did overnight. We chose option 2 because I had an appointment that next morning anyway, so we could talk to the doctor and figure it out from there.
So home we went, 6cm dilated and 95% effaced. But no baby.
The next morning was like all other mornings. We had breakfast, we ran some errands, life was just a typical day. (Luckily, Jake decided to work from home that morning because we hadn't slept much the night before.) Just before lunch time, we headed to the doctor's office. Unfortunately, my doctor was off catching someone else's baby, so we weren't able to see him. But, he had filled in one of the nurse practitioners on what had happened the night before and he told her what he was expecting and what he wanted to do.
I was checked yet again. This time, I was 6.5cm dilated. The nurse said, "You're having this baby tonight. Go check into the hospital right now. They'll check you in, Dr. Hannah will come by in a few hours to break your water and you'll have a baby tonight!" Feelings shocked and a little bit (or a lot bit) in awe, we headed straight to the hospital.
At our hospital, to check into labor and delivery, you have to check in through the ER. I went to the front desk--remember, not having contractions or showing any signs of labor--and asked to be checked in.
"What can I help you with?"
"Um...I'm in...labor...?"
"Are you having contractions?"
"No."
"Did your water break? Any blood or fluids? Is the baby still moving?"
"No, no and yes."
"Then why are you here?"
"My doctor told me I had to come here?"
I guess that was enough because shortly after, I was on my way up to labor and delivery to have a baby!
I was hooked up and checked in by 1:30pm. I was told the doctor would be by around 3-4 to break my water. Until then, I was just to rest and hopefully start having contractions. Around 3, we still had no doctor. So the nurses started pumping very small amounts of pitocin. Still nothing. But Jake, my mom, and I were having fun playing Phase 10, so we were good.
5:00 rolled by and we still didn't have the doctor there. I wasn't in pain and I wasn't really having contractions. We were told the doctor would be there by 6. We hoped they were right.
At 5:50pm, a team of nurses and a different doctor came in. My doctor was off with another patient (he was a busy man!) and a different doctor would be breaking my water. That was fine with me, so we moved forward. So, at 6pm, we considered my "active labor" to have started. I was dilated 7cm and was 95% effaced...still not really in pain.
Shortly after my water was broken--which is really quite the odd sensation--contractions started. I hadn't planned on using an epidural, but I certainly wasn't against it. After hearing the opinion of multiple doctors and nurses on staff, I opted to have one put in. I wasn't in dying pain, but I could control how much of the anesthetic I had, so I figured why not?
Crazy thing. They had just finished putting the epidural in when an announcement was made about a Code C. Which I guess is an emergency C-section. So the nurses and anesthesiologist rushed out of the room yelling over their shoulders, "Don't try to escape or get off the bed." So I sat very still for the next 45 minutes or so, not really knowing what was going on. Later, we found out it was actually just a drill. They wanted to make sure the night staff knew what to do in case of an emergency. I was feeling lucky that my epidural was completely in, rather than in the process. Good to know the emergency team is on their toes though!
And we continued to wait. And wait. And wait.
Around 9pm, I was dilated to 9cm.
At 10pm, I was checked again and I was at 10cm! Wahoo! Finally. I was instructed to prepare myself to start pushing. Around 10:30pm, the process started. I had no idea I'd be "pushing" for that long. The hospital certainly isn't anything close to what is shows in the movies. If my birth was a movie, no one would watch it. Because it would be incredibly boring, and full of Jake, my mom, and I playing card games.
At 11:25, the doctor came in (finally!) and by 11:31pm, we were holding our sweet little girl.
Before pushing, the nurses were making bets on how big the baby would be. Based on my size, they were all guessing in the low 7 lbs. range. Once the baby's head came through, they started readjusting their guesses.
Mckynlee weighed 8lbs. 13oz. Almost 9 lbs! This was a shock to everyone in the room. She measured 19.5 inches long (but was actually remeasured the next day at 20.25 inches long.) Everything went well and we were holding our beautiful little girl.
The hospital is very big into "skin-to-skin" contact right after birth. For the first hours, it was just baby, Jake and I. Soaking in the precious moments. About 30 minutes in, while still being stitched and cleaned up, the nurses excused themselves to go help a patient that came in at 8.5cm dilated. They promised they'd be back in 20 minutes to finish helping us. Keep in mind, they didn't give us any instructions. Where the extra diapers were, where we should lay her down, how to swaddle, anything. And we didn't know any of it.
3 hours later (around 4am), a nurse finally came back. Jake and I loved spending that time with our little one, but we were extremely tired and little bit overwhelmed. Needless to say, we were super tired. And it really didn't get much better from that moment on. The baby stayed with us at all times. Which is great, because we love her. But getting a little bit of rest before taking her home would have been nice too.
Anyway, I don't want to focus on the negative. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and we're so happy to have this little girl in our lives. We decided on the name Mckynlee. We've been struggling to pick a name since the very beginning. We've had a short list for months and we thought we'd pick on of those names. A few weeks before the birth, Jake proposed the name Mckynlee. We fell in love with it. But we did want to see the baby before making it official. Once she was present, we knew it was the name we wanted. It actually surprised our families because we hadn't told anyone (well, my mom knew) that we even liked this name. But it just fit perfect.
Her middle name is Ann, which is named after my mom's middle name.
Mckynlee Ann Taylor.
It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
We had to spend two nights in the hospital because she was born so late and with Arkansas Law, babies have to stay in the hospital for 24 hours. Since I wasn't going to leave without her, we stayed. We've never been so happy to be told we are going home--as a family of three.
And there you go. Pretty simple. Pretty easy.
Parenthood is hard. We haven't slept more than 3 hours at a time. Nursing is...different than I expected. But the love I feel for this little human is also so different than I expected. I wouldn't change a thing about her. In my eyes, she couldn't be more perfect. A little sleep deprivation never hurt anyone (well, I hope it hasn't.) Plus, I keep getting told she looks just like me. :)
We love her so much. Welcome to the world little Mckynlee Ann!
On Tuesday, February 23, I started having contractions. Now, when I say contractions, I mean my stomach felt a little tight. There was a definite change, but I certainly wasn't in pain. Discomfort, yes. But not painful. As the night progressed, they became more frequent. I was timing them as we went about our night and they were coming in around every 3-5 minutes. After two hours of consistency, we figured we could go to the hospital just to check it out.
Once there, I was checked for dilation and was told I was at 5cm and 90% effaced. The problem was I still wasn't having strong contractions. So the nurses had me power-walking around the hospital. It was about 9pm, so we were the only ones there. After an hour, I was checked again. This time, I measured to 5.5cm. The nurse had me bounce on an exercise ball and power-walk some more. I was making progression, but I wasn't having contractions, so she wasn't sure what to do. While I was doing my late-night exercises, she called my doctor to see what he thought I should do. After another hour, there was a decision to be made.
We could 1) stay at the hospital and wait to see if the contractions got stronger, then at 5am the next morning, the doctor would break my water and we'd have the baby. 2) We could go home, get some rest (by now its past midnight) and see how my body did overnight. We chose option 2 because I had an appointment that next morning anyway, so we could talk to the doctor and figure it out from there.
So home we went, 6cm dilated and 95% effaced. But no baby.
The next morning was like all other mornings. We had breakfast, we ran some errands, life was just a typical day. (Luckily, Jake decided to work from home that morning because we hadn't slept much the night before.) Just before lunch time, we headed to the doctor's office. Unfortunately, my doctor was off catching someone else's baby, so we weren't able to see him. But, he had filled in one of the nurse practitioners on what had happened the night before and he told her what he was expecting and what he wanted to do.
I was checked yet again. This time, I was 6.5cm dilated. The nurse said, "You're having this baby tonight. Go check into the hospital right now. They'll check you in, Dr. Hannah will come by in a few hours to break your water and you'll have a baby tonight!" Feelings shocked and a little bit (or a lot bit) in awe, we headed straight to the hospital.
At our hospital, to check into labor and delivery, you have to check in through the ER. I went to the front desk--remember, not having contractions or showing any signs of labor--and asked to be checked in.
"What can I help you with?"
"Um...I'm in...labor...?"
"Are you having contractions?"
"No."
"Did your water break? Any blood or fluids? Is the baby still moving?"
"No, no and yes."
"Then why are you here?"
"My doctor told me I had to come here?"
I guess that was enough because shortly after, I was on my way up to labor and delivery to have a baby!
I was hooked up and checked in by 1:30pm. I was told the doctor would be by around 3-4 to break my water. Until then, I was just to rest and hopefully start having contractions. Around 3, we still had no doctor. So the nurses started pumping very small amounts of pitocin. Still nothing. But Jake, my mom, and I were having fun playing Phase 10, so we were good.
5:00 rolled by and we still didn't have the doctor there. I wasn't in pain and I wasn't really having contractions. We were told the doctor would be there by 6. We hoped they were right.
At 5:50pm, a team of nurses and a different doctor came in. My doctor was off with another patient (he was a busy man!) and a different doctor would be breaking my water. That was fine with me, so we moved forward. So, at 6pm, we considered my "active labor" to have started. I was dilated 7cm and was 95% effaced...still not really in pain.
Shortly after my water was broken--which is really quite the odd sensation--contractions started. I hadn't planned on using an epidural, but I certainly wasn't against it. After hearing the opinion of multiple doctors and nurses on staff, I opted to have one put in. I wasn't in dying pain, but I could control how much of the anesthetic I had, so I figured why not?
Crazy thing. They had just finished putting the epidural in when an announcement was made about a Code C. Which I guess is an emergency C-section. So the nurses and anesthesiologist rushed out of the room yelling over their shoulders, "Don't try to escape or get off the bed." So I sat very still for the next 45 minutes or so, not really knowing what was going on. Later, we found out it was actually just a drill. They wanted to make sure the night staff knew what to do in case of an emergency. I was feeling lucky that my epidural was completely in, rather than in the process. Good to know the emergency team is on their toes though!
And we continued to wait. And wait. And wait.
Around 9pm, I was dilated to 9cm.
At 10pm, I was checked again and I was at 10cm! Wahoo! Finally. I was instructed to prepare myself to start pushing. Around 10:30pm, the process started. I had no idea I'd be "pushing" for that long. The hospital certainly isn't anything close to what is shows in the movies. If my birth was a movie, no one would watch it. Because it would be incredibly boring, and full of Jake, my mom, and I playing card games.
At 11:25, the doctor came in (finally!) and by 11:31pm, we were holding our sweet little girl.
Before pushing, the nurses were making bets on how big the baby would be. Based on my size, they were all guessing in the low 7 lbs. range. Once the baby's head came through, they started readjusting their guesses.
Mckynlee weighed 8lbs. 13oz. Almost 9 lbs! This was a shock to everyone in the room. She measured 19.5 inches long (but was actually remeasured the next day at 20.25 inches long.) Everything went well and we were holding our beautiful little girl.
The hospital is very big into "skin-to-skin" contact right after birth. For the first hours, it was just baby, Jake and I. Soaking in the precious moments. About 30 minutes in, while still being stitched and cleaned up, the nurses excused themselves to go help a patient that came in at 8.5cm dilated. They promised they'd be back in 20 minutes to finish helping us. Keep in mind, they didn't give us any instructions. Where the extra diapers were, where we should lay her down, how to swaddle, anything. And we didn't know any of it.
3 hours later (around 4am), a nurse finally came back. Jake and I loved spending that time with our little one, but we were extremely tired and little bit overwhelmed. Needless to say, we were super tired. And it really didn't get much better from that moment on. The baby stayed with us at all times. Which is great, because we love her. But getting a little bit of rest before taking her home would have been nice too.
Anyway, I don't want to focus on the negative. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and we're so happy to have this little girl in our lives. We decided on the name Mckynlee. We've been struggling to pick a name since the very beginning. We've had a short list for months and we thought we'd pick on of those names. A few weeks before the birth, Jake proposed the name Mckynlee. We fell in love with it. But we did want to see the baby before making it official. Once she was present, we knew it was the name we wanted. It actually surprised our families because we hadn't told anyone (well, my mom knew) that we even liked this name. But it just fit perfect.
Her middle name is Ann, which is named after my mom's middle name.
Mckynlee Ann Taylor.
It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
We had to spend two nights in the hospital because she was born so late and with Arkansas Law, babies have to stay in the hospital for 24 hours. Since I wasn't going to leave without her, we stayed. We've never been so happy to be told we are going home--as a family of three.
And there you go. Pretty simple. Pretty easy.
Parenthood is hard. We haven't slept more than 3 hours at a time. Nursing is...different than I expected. But the love I feel for this little human is also so different than I expected. I wouldn't change a thing about her. In my eyes, she couldn't be more perfect. A little sleep deprivation never hurt anyone (well, I hope it hasn't.) Plus, I keep getting told she looks just like me. :)
We love her so much. Welcome to the world little Mckynlee Ann!
The First Week as Parents
It's only been a week, but we certainly love her and can't imagine our lives without her. Plus, I think we already have more pictures of her than we do of ourselves, which is saying something because I take pictures everywhere we go.