I was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday November 25th at 7 a.m. I was 39 weeks pregnant. All the past week I really just was so uncomfortable. I had been having countless braxton hicks, I couldn't sleep, I felt huge, anxious, and excited to just meet my baby. Tuesday, the day before the induction, all I could think about all day was the next day and knowing that the day was finally here. I couldn't believe it. I remember thinking that I may not have ever gotten to experience any of this so I was really soaking in every moment. Tuesday night was so surreal. It was the last night of just me and Caleb. I hardly slept because I was just so anxious and excited! Between all the emotions and me having to get up to pee every hour, I think I slept maybe 3.5 hours that night. I woke up at a quarter to 5 on Wednesday morning so I could get ready and finish packing up the last of our hospital bag. The feelings I had getting ready were so surreal. This was it. I have waited my entire life for this day, and it was here. I called the hospital at 6 that morning to make sure they had a room available for us. They did! Thank goodness because I would have DIED if they didn't and had us wait. I'm impatient.
Last prego picture, 39 weeks!
We left the house and on our way to the hospital we went. The drive there was again just a crazy feeling. Me and Caleb were excited! We weren't tired a bit. We mainly laughed and talked the whole way down. We made it to Mountain View at 7 a.m. We checked in, then was sent up to the labor and delivery unit. I surprisingly felt pretty calm through all this. I wasn't too nervous, mostly just excited. Caleb too felt calm and good. A nurse took us to our room. I got changed into my gown. The nurse came in and we got things rolling pretty fast. I got hooked up to the contraction monitor and baby's heartbeat monitor. Here's where it get's kinda crazy. The machine was showing that I was having contractions every 2-3 min. The nurse kept asking me, "do you feel those? You're having another one right now." I could feel slight tightening, but nothing painful at all. I just thought they were braxton hicks this whole time. Anyways, another nurse comes in. They checked my arm for a vein. I of course had nothing so they went and got a warm blanket to see if that would help plump up a vein for my IV. I was probably most nervous for that more than giving birth. After a few minutes, they came and checked for a vein. They found one and got it in first try. Thank goodness! It wasn't pleasant but not horrible either. They weren't able to draw blood from the IV though, so they had another lady come in to draw my blood from the other arm. She did fine, but left me with the biggest bruise I've ever had.
They continue to get everything set up. They got my blood pressure cuff on (most annoying thing ever), my IV was in, my contraction and heartbeat monitor was set, and we were pretty much ready to go. All while this was going on, I was apparently still having contractions. I could feel some but like I said, I thought they were just braxton hicks. Still no pain, just tightening. Another nurse came in at 8:30 to see how far dilated I was to get an idea for pitocin and what not. When she checked me she said, "wow! You are a 5.5 and 100% effaced! If you were planning on an epidural I say we get him in here because I bet you'll go fast from here." I was shocked! I was almost a 3 a week prior at my doctors appointment and my guess was that I would MAYBE be a 4 when I had gone in that morning. I was wrong though! Apparently all these contractions were getting me dilated! The nurse mentioned that maybe we wouldn't need to use pitocin if I'm doing this on my own. We chose to not start any pitocin and see what my body decided to do. Around 9, the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural. It was crazy because I still was in 0 pain. This wasn't how I thought this day would go at all. I thought I'd be getting this epidural when I was having horrible contractions. But hey!, I was all for a pain free labor! Things were going great! The epidural was such a weird thing. The only part that kind of stung was the numbing shot. Other than that, it was just a weird sensation. I felt popping, pressure on my right side, more popping, just so weird. He told me that they don't love to give the full dose because women do SO much better when they are pushing and can feel some pressure. He said he can always up the dose if I needed it later. Right after the epidural, they got my catheter in. Right after that, my doctor came in to break my water. I was already numb at this point. I could move my legs and feel anyone touching me, but I had no pain. It was weird. After he broke my water, he checked me. It was 9:30 at this point, and I was dilated to a 6-7. I was SO happy! I had apparently gone into labor on my own and still had no need for pitocin because I was doing great on my own. I still am shocked that minutes prior I still was in 0 pain which is weird because I would think being that far dilated I'd be kicking and screaming at that point. I'm not complaining though! We were finally all set up and left alone to basically labor for a couple hours.
A nurse came back in to check me at 11:45. I was at an 8! Yay! I was so happy that I was in labor on my own. What are the odds that I was in labor the day of my scheduled induction. She would have come that day whether we had it scheduled or not! Me and Caleb just hung out. He at a sandwich, I sipped on water. We talked, we laughed, he watched a show while I rested, things were smooth sailing at this point! A little side note, I had had THEE WORST cold. I was nervous to even give birth to her with me being sick. I couldn't breath through my nose at all and my throat was so so dry and sore. That was probably the worst out of everything else going on.
At 1:50, I was checked again. I was kind of starting to feel some pressure but only sometimes. Also, by this point, I could finally start feeling some contractions. But again, only some tightening, nothing painful. I was dilated to a 9 ALMOST a 10. They could feel baby's head and that she wasn't quite turned how they wanted her to be, so they had me flip to my side to see if that would turn baby. I lied awkwardly on my side for about an hour, She came back in to check me at 2:40. I was complete! Say what!? Already!? I had just gone through labor in like 6 hours. I often wondered if I weren't scheduled for an induction if I would have even known I was in labor or not that day? I have no idea. I definitely could feel a decent amount of pressure with each contraction. Even though I was complete, they wanted me to "labor down" to save me from pushing and just let my body bring baby down. The pressure was starting to get very intense. It was probably around 4 when I ended up crying from a contraction because the pressure was so intense. I asked for the anesthesiologist to come back in to up the dose. I could still feel and move my legs and still feel if someone touched them but they were numb at the same time. The anesthesiologist came back in and upped my dose. That made me feel SO much better. I still felt some pressure but not like I had. Also, side note, the epidural made me itchy and kind of have the shakes too. I almost didn't like it, but also did because I wasn't in pain. At 4:30, two nurses came in and said it was time to start pushing! AH! In the stirrups we went and the pushing began. I never realized how tiring pushing could be. I was doing 3 sets of push's each contraction and by the 3rd set I wasn't really able to hold that air in to push. They had me push 3 different ways. 1, holding my legs, 2, holding onto these bars, and 3, holding a sheet while the nurse held the other end. I pushed and pushed and pushed. The pressure was getting quite intense. I could feel the baby's head slowly coming down with every push. About 45 min. later, my doctor came in. I knew it was getting close where he was now there. More nurses were coming in too. I was so tired at this point just from pushing alone. Caleb was on one side holding one leg, a nurse on the other. Caleb fed me ice chips in between contractions. As the pushing continued, I was getting so much pressure I could feel the stretching and it was getting extremely painful. I was so focused and all I remember was one nurse continually counting to 10, everyone telling me to push, she's almost here! I remember my doctor saying "her head is right there! I'm gonna make a cut and next contraction we can have her out!" My breath was taken away with the pain and pressure at this point. I felt her head slowly coming out. There was a lot going on. Nurses and my doctor telling me to push, Caleb rubbing my forehead, and me in tears with no air to really push as my breath seriously was taken away. A few unbearable moments and I felt her head come out, then her shoulders, her body, and a twist and she was on me crying. It's like I almost blacked out for a second because it all happens so fast, yet it's so surreal it's hard to explain. The feeling I had was nothing like I had ever experienced. It was almost as if I felt like, "man! I MISSED you". It was like I knew her from before and I had waited SO so long to see her and hold her in my arms. It was honestly one of the closest experiences to heaven I've ever had. She was here! She cried as she lied on my belly. I was sobbing with joy at this point. There's no words to explain that moment. Everyone was congratulating us and telling me good job. The nurses were rubbing her down. Caleb cut the cord. The doctor was still working down there and I just held my warm baby, crying. The nurses took her over to be weighed and to finish cleaning her off some. They then brought her back and placed her skin to skin on my chest. The room was quiet at this point and I just couldn't hold back my tears. It was such a special moment that I can't really describe how I felt or how the mood was in that room. It was beautiful. I had my baby. I held her close, she held onto my finger. She was here. She was the most beautiful little girl I had ever seen. I pushed for an hour and 15 min. I was exhausted yet had an adrenaline rush. Caleb took so many pictures of her on my chest and the moments of her after she was here. All in a split second, his phone shut off randomly. As he turned it back on, and pulled up his pictures, they ALL were 100% gone. It's like his card got corrupted or something. I was so sad it made me sick that we just lost ALL those tender pictures that you can't exactly re do to get more. Ugh. I didn't even want to think about that because she was here. I delivered my placenta, and the doctor stitched my 3rd degree tears up. Everyone just kept telling us congratulations, she's beautiful! The moment I longed for my whole life was happening at that exact moment. Every horrible pregnancy thing was worth it. The infertility, the puking, the 24 hour nausea, the pregnancy rash, the stretch marks, the aches and pains, the 3 glucose tests, the needles, the heartburn, the sleepless nights, the peeing every hour, the crazy pregnancy dreams, no clothes fitting, just everything was all of a sudden just ok and fine because I had my sweet girl there and it was one of the most special moment's I've ever experienced in my life.
Introducing, Kinley Ray Niederer. Born on 11/25/15 at 5:45 p.m. She was 6 lbs, 13 oz. 18.5 inches long. Healthy, and the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.
Moments after she was here, skin to skin on my chest.
First time Caleb got to hold Kinley.
First moment Caleb got to hold Kinley.
After a little bit, a nurse came in and had me breastfeed for the first time. Kinley did awesome and I'm very grateful for that. After she ate, I ate a little myself. All while, I'm getting messages like crazy on my phone. I basically just ignored it and figured I'd get to everyone later. I wanted to enjoy this moment. They brought me in a chicken alfredo dinner. Even though I was starving moments before since they don't let you eat while laboring, I had kind of lost my appetite. I was able to get some dinner down. Another nurse came in and took Kinley and Caleb to go get her first bath. Caleb picked out the hat and headband and was able to get a bunch of pictures of her getting bathed. I'm glad he was able to be there for that.
While they did that, a nurse helped me get a bath myself. ALL privacy goes out the door when giving birth. It's like you don't even care either and you are just grateful for the help. The bath felt amazing. I felt so much better after getting cleaned up. After the bath and getting cleaned up, the nurse took me to our other room, the room we'd be staying at while recovering. As I got in there, Caleb was there holding Kinley. It's amazing how much I thought I loved Caleb, but seeing him as a dad and holding our baby just intensified my love for him by a million. I got settled into my bed there and was finally feeling a little better as things were settling down. We were finally left alone to just be a family of 3. It was at this time that we let all the rest of the family and friends know that she was here.
Some of my family decided to come that night and see her. My mom, dad, two sisters, brother and his wife and kids came. It was like 9 that night so they didn't stay long. They all were in love. I was excited to show off what a cute baby we made ;)
My dad
sister
brother
sister
Here's a few more photos. They pretty much show the rest of the time there.
After getting settled into our room. First family photo.
FAVORITE
Next morning cuddles. I don't think I slept at all that night. It was a snowy night and I pretty much watched the snow fall all night while Caleb was sound asleep and I held Kinley. Lots of special moments that night. The mood was calm, and very special. I was SO tired while there but between nurses, and doctors coming in every 2 hours its next to impossible.
The next day was Thanksgiving, so we got thanksgiving meals brought in to us. Not bad actually! I had just taken some pain medications before our food was brought to us and unfortunately they made me head to the bathroom to maybe throw up because I was quite nauseous. I never did throw up but I sat with a barf bag till I was able to get some zofran down. Boo for percocet, and yay for zofran. So because of that, I only had a few bites of my thanksgiving meal before I was more than done. Caleb enjoyed his though, and he was especially happy that they gave us pumpkin pie, his all time favorite.
Obsessed with baby toes!
Thanksgiving with my little family
Caleb constantly would go over and just stare at her. He's completely new to baby ANYTHING so it was adorable seeing him hold her, stare at her, talk to her, and be with her.
So for a newborn, she smiles ALL the time. In her sleep, and just a lot. But she does it most when daddy talks to her. The CUTEST! Also on Thursday, Caleb's sister came by to meet Kinley.
Caught a smile :)
LOVE her blonde hair! For a blondie she has quite a bit of it! We weren't able to go home till Friday afternoon. So that morning, Caleb's other sister came by to see Kinley.
Finally we were ready to go home! I cannot express how grateful I am of how smoothly things went. Especially for a first time mom. The labor was a breeze. The delivery, although very painful at the end went well, Kinley is here, she is healthy and perfect and I'm healthy. Caleb was so great and he has surprised me with how cute and great he is at this whole dad thing. All my nurses were wonderful. Minus one. Although she was nice, she only came in my room once, then never came back to get me my other dose of meds, ice packs, or anything. Good thing she was my last nurse and didn't have her for a full day. We were taken care of greatly, the food was pretty decent, the stay was comfortable and just overall great. Life is already SO great with Kinley in it, so I am looking forward to forever with her. We are so happy! So much love is in our hearts right now. We love you sweet Kinley Ray.
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