Labor ~ the details

Monday I was woken up at 12:20am by a call from the hospital cancelling my 5am induction because so many women had gone into labor in the middle of the night. She told me they would call when a bed was ready. It was disheartening knowing that I had no clue when they would call, but surprisingly, I didn't have to wait long. They called again at 7am and we began the mad rush for the hospital. Landon's dad came over to stay with the boys and since we left so much later, I actually got to say goodbye to them. It was exciting telling them that I was leaving to get baby Kellen out of my tummy and they would get to meet him soon.

Last belly picture, right before we left for the hospital - 39 weeks to the day

By 9:30am, I had an IV of pitocin going and at 9:45am, my doctor broke my water to help Kellen engage his head into place. I had so much extra fluid, she said he needed the motivation or he'd just keep floating around! At 11:30am, I was ready for the epidural. The combination of pitocin and the breaking of my water brought on hard contractions fast! I got a couple hours rest without pain, but soon began to feel a lot pressure. I thought, great, he's bearing down and we'll be ready to go soon. But when my doctor checked, she said his head was still pretty far up and it didn't make sense to expend all the energy pushing him down when I could just let the contractions do the work. I waited for an hour and the pain kept getting worse, despite pushing the trigger for more anesthesia three times. Finally, the anesthesiologist came back in and gave me a different medication through my catheter called the "sit-up" dose because it's designed to work fast when you're near the end of labor. It brought some relief thankfully. My nurse kept reminding me, you want to feel the pressure so you know when to push, to which I thought, I felt NOTHING with Trenton and still managed to push him out fine! Meanwhile, I was still battling the cold I'd had for a week, which forced me to breathe through my mouth and wear an oxygen mask -- not ideal when you're trying to take deep breaths to push a baby out! At this point, I was getting pretty anxious to be done with the whole process. Despite the added dose, the pressure began to increase again and by the time I was ready to push, I could feel everything in the birth canal!! It was a rough hour as I worked to push him out, while feeling the immense pain of what I can only assume was "natural labor."

At 3:53 pm, after only 6 1/2 hours, Kellen Jesse Anderson entered the world to my profound relief. Daddy cut the cord and then they gave him to me to hold. I have to say, after such a traumatic labor, it was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that he was here and with me. I felt in a daze as he cried only inches from my face. Then they walked him over to the warming table and we anxiously waited for the measurements. I had toyed with the idea of inducing later in the week because of my cold, but I'm really scared at the idea of a C-section. I was curious whether I could have waited or if he would have been too big. The first number on the scale was 10 pounds 5.4 ounces. Everyone in the room went quiet for a second in shock! Then, unanimously, we decided the scale was probably off because he really didn't look THAT big. The nurse weighed him again and got 10 pounds 5.7 ounces. Then, in consensus, we all decided to do it just one more time to make sure and the third time he weighed 10 pounds 6 ounces! Laughing, my doctor says, stop now, he's getting bigger! So, Kellen took the Anderson record at 10 pounds 5 ounces, 23 inches, and a 15 inch head circumference.

Meeting Mommy

Meeting Daddy

My wonderful Doctor

Grandma was the first visitor and got to hold him when he was only an hour old. Then we moved to my postpartum room and that night had a bunch of friends stop by. Landon and I felt so loved by all the hugs and blessings from everyone that night. After a long day and a week of little sleep, it really lifted my spirits to be surrounded by our close friends.

Cuddling with mom in the new room

My BIG little guy

Unfortunately, the boys were still recovering from their colds so they didn't get to come visit and meet Kellen right away. I stayed in the hospital two nights, just to be sure Trenton and Sawyer were past the contagious stage. Landon stayed with me the first night and then stayed until ten the second night before going home to the boys. We also had the Dexters bring dinner that night and spend some time with us and Grandpa came to meet his sixth grandson.

On Wednesday, I was discharged just before noon and anxious to see Trenton and Sawyer and introduce them to their baby brother!

Ready to go home!