Kennedy's Birth Story

I am happy to announce that at 5:24 a.m. Kennedy Layne Sheets joined our family! She weighed in at 5 lb 10 oz and was 18.5 inches long. We had quite an exciting journey and it didn't go as planned, but we are all doing well and enjoying our time together.

Here is how it all started:

At 5:00 pm yesterday Stephen and I arrived at the hospital to register. We were taken upstairs to our room where I was hooked up to all the monitors so that they could keep an eye on the baby. Shortly after I was hooked up, they started an IV just in case it was needed later. Dr. Odaffer came in with an ultrasound machine to check on the position of the baby which ended up being head down, so we assumed we were in for a long night and a long day today. (Not so much!) Dr. Odaffer then began the induction with a foley bulb catheter which I will spare you the details of. It wasn't fun, but apparently it was very effective. While the foley bulb was in place, they also started Pitocin so that my body would start contracting. The contractions started coming about 3 minutes apart around 10 o'clock at which time they gave me some Ambien to help me sleep.(again not so much!) The contractions started getting really strong around 3 o'clock, so they gave me some Stadol to try and help me relax, but it didn't really do much. At 4 o'clock I got another dose which also didn't do much.

At 5 o'clock, my water broke, but my foley bulb was still in place which meant that I wasn't dilated anymore than 3 cm. With the next contraction the foley bulb was forced out, so my nurse Christy checked my cervix which was dilated to 5 cm. I politely asked for my epidural, so Christy went out in the hallway to call the anesthesiologist. While Christy was in the hallway, I told Stephen that something didn't feel quite right and I thought the baby would be coming soon. Christy came back into the room and I told her that I felt like I needed to push. She promptly responded with, "You can't push, the doctor isn't here!" She then checked me and realized I was serious. Stephen ran out of the room to get another nurse who called my doctor and the ER doctor.

The ER doctor was downstairs and my doctor lives about 10 minutes away from the hospital. Unfortunately neither of them made it for the arrival of Kennedy Layne. There was no time to break down the bed for delivery, no time for anyone to "catch" Kennedy (don't worry the bed wasn't broken down yet, so she had a nice soft landing), and no time for my epidural! I apologized profusely for having to push anyway, which I now realize was silly because that baby was ready to come out. Stephen came back into the room and within seconds we met our little girl!

Kennedy cried shortly after her safe landing on the bed. She was pink and moving around well. I was totally in shock so I didn't even pay attention to her Apgar scores. The ER doctor was able to cut the cord and tend to Kennedy and my doctor (Dr. Odaffer) made it in time to take care of me.

It all happened so fast and not at all as planned, but we have all enjoyed our first day together. Addison and Lincoln came down to meet their little sister this afternoon. Addison was completely crazy about her new little sister, she just couldn't get enough of her. Lincoln was also excited to hold his little sister, but it didn't last too long. I think it will take some time for Lincoln to adjust to our new family and I also think I am going to have to keep a close eye on Addison who will not be able to keep her hands off of our sweet little baby.

Sorry that this post is so long, but it was such an exciting adventure. We are all doing well and we should be sent home from the hospital on Saturday morning. We appreciate all the well wishes and words of encouragement. We both have such wonderful family and friends to share these exciting events with.

Enjoy the pictures!