Heaven Sent... Kenley Kay

Wyatt is proud to announce the arrival of his new baby sister, Kenley Kay Jeans. Our family is blessed beyond words. Kenley made her grand entrance October 16, 2011 at 12:10 am. She was 19 inches and 8 lbs 1.6 oz. Chris has all the pictures on his camera and so those will be added soon, but I wanted to take this opportunity (while sister is watching big brother watch a TV show) to share her birth story so that I can look back for years to come and remember such a special day.

On Saturday morning I woke up with cramps that weren't painful, but I had a feeling they were some sort of progression so I was extremely excited, but trying to hide it because I didn't want to get excited if it was nothing. I told Chris and it was such a pretty day that we decided to break bed rest rules and go on a short family walk. When we got home I asked Chris to put Wyatt's play table outside close to the lounge chair so that Wyatt and I could play with play dough. We had about an hour to play because my mom was going to pick up Wyatt to take him to trade days for some fun and shopping. Chancy came over and brought me lunch and we ate outside while Wyatt played. Shortly after she left, my mom got here to get Wyatt. I told her what I had been feeling and told her to make sure to keep her phone close. I laid down and continued to feel the cramping in my back and was able to time them and they were 4 minutes apart for about an hour even though they weren't lasting very long. I decided to call the doctor just to give him a head's up since it was the weekend. He said to go ahead and go in to labor and delivery to get checked. I figured that we would end up coming home so told my mom what was going on, but not to do anything because I knew IF anything was happening that we had plenty of time. I got to the hosital and was only at a 1, the same as two weeks prior, and so they monitored blood pressure, baby, and contractions for quite a while because my blood pressure was up and down. I continued to feel the tightening in my back, but when I asked the nurse if she saw them on the monitor she said she saw a few and they didn't last very long. Once my blood pressure leveled out the nurse called the doctor and told me that he would see me on Monday as planned and explained that in order to get things moving along I should be looking for the contractions to last for 1 minute for at least 1 hour. Since I was induced with Wyatt I wasn't too sure what everything would be like, but I was glad to be going home because I hate being hooked up to the monitors and if I was going to go into labor I wanted the easy part to be at home. I honestly didn't think I would make it until my appointment on Monday, but I assumed it could be several hours or maybe a day before labor started. We were very excited to get home in time to watch the Rangers play (Game 6 of the ALCS that sent the Rangers to the World Series) and I was glad to have something to do because I was getting a little more uncomfortable every hour. I asked my mom to take Wyatt to her house to play and have dinner with them and she was going to bring him home later that night and she would spend the night with us, but it would be much later because they were watching the game, too. I was glad to know that my body was preparing for Miss Kenley's arrival, but very confused why the contractions weren't getting closer to a minute long. In the meantime I watched the game, took a warm bath, watched the game, took a shower (by this time I was very uncomfortable and hoping the water would help), watched the game some more, and dried my hair. By about the 8th inning when I decided to dry my hair (because I was concerned that I might not be able to soon) the pain had gotten so intense that it would bring me to my knees. Chris was such a great support this entire time. He kept coming and checking on me, but I felt silly because I felt like it was way too early to be hurting so bad and I just kept waiting for the 1 minute contractions. I remember telling him several times that I don't know how the average person deals with all this pain before they ever even went to the hospital. I also wondered if it hurt this bad, when would someone get an epidural. (Side note: I wanted to have a natural birth with Wyatt, but was open to an epidural if I decided. I decided. I wanted very badly to try again for no epidural with Kenley, but not knowing what to expect was open to changing my mind. This is a large part of why I didn't want to be induced... I hoped it would be different and I could make it.) Now, at this point and the intensity of the pain I was pretty certain that whenever it was time, I would be asking for an epidural. The pain was now getting worse every minute. Still not 1 minute contractions, but I was in tears and Chris was very concerned. He wanted to call the doctor and I begged him to call my friend, Susan, who is a labor and delivery nurse in Amarillo that I had been texting all night instead. While he was on the phone with her the pain was so intense that I was "not quiet" and getting very scared. My water broke and she said go ahead and go in because it sounded like things were progressing. :) Progressing would be an understatement at this point because I couldn't even change into my clothes to leave without Chris's help and my body wanted to push. Chris called the call-line. I was scared to death that we were not going to make it to the hospital. We got to the car and Chris drove as fast (but safe) as he could while my body continued to push. He called my mom and I remember screaming to her how scared I was. We got to the hospital. Chris grabbed a wheelchair, some nice stranger helped me out and into the chair, and Chris RAN me up to labor and delivery. I'm sure we were a sight to see. The entire time I was praying for as few contractions as possible while running through the hospital because I was sooooo embarrassed (I don't like to stand out and sure didn't want to be the crazy pregnant girl in the hospital straight out of a movie scene). (Another side note: I've spent a lot of time googling what labor would be like during my 5 weeks of bed rest and I read several times that it does NOT happen like this... only on TV.) We got to the l and d desk and they started to take me to triage (the l and d "holding cell" with 3 beds where you go when you aren't really in labor). I was mortified for 2 reasons 1.) I was sure we did not have time for this. 2.) There was a poor girl in one of the other beds and I'm pretty sure if she could turn back at this point she just might. The nurse quickly came back and we went into the real room (this is when the doctor called and when he leaves his house) and I was begging for the epidural. She checked and I was at a 9 1/2 so no meds, not even IV meds. The room quickly filled with tons of nurses for me, tons of nurses for Kenley, and they shared the news that we had to wait for the doctor. What?! Chris was more than I could have ever asked for. He stood at my head, talked me through everything, held the oxygen, and was just the sweetest. We got to the hospital at 11:30 and by 12:10 Dr. Joseph was holding our sweet baby girl and the waiting room was full of family and friends. At exactly 12:10 the intense pain me stopped immediately and every second of it became worth it. Kenley's cry, just as Wyatt's did, melted my heart and was the most soothing, calming sound I've ever heard. She is such a blessing and we are blessed to be her parents.

And because you might wonder and I will want to look back one day and remember. Why did I want a natural birth? I was never really sure, but I just always wanted this. My mom did it with my sister and I and I knew it could be done. Most importantly, it was just something I wanted to try to do and a feeling I had. However, after having Wyatt with Pitocin and an epidural and Kenley with no medicine I can say there is a world of difference between the 2. I think being at home for the majority of labor made a huge difference, as well. I felt great immediately after. And I felt so good the next day. I didn't have the groggy medicine feeling or anything. It's hard to explain, but there was a huge difference.

Kenley Kay, you are Heaven sent and Mommy, Daddy, and Wyatt love you more than words can say.

We will soon be adding the video of Wyatt meeting Kenley and it is the sweetest thing I've ever seen.