Kam and Ky: ~Thanksgiving Baby~

Here's the story!

Twas' the night before Thanksgiving when all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a.... oh wait, YES I WAS!

Wednesday November 27th was a normal day. I worked all day, no issues.. went home, I started cramping a little bit in my back, which was normal, so I put a heat pad on it. We went to bed around 10, and between 10 and midnight I had like 2 contractions. Now up to this point I hadn't had any contractions at all! I hadn't even felt like I had had braxton hicks contractions from how the doctor described them... but when I had these 2 contractions I was like oh ya I think that's a contraction! haha

Well at midnight I woke up to another contraction, got up out of bed and (might be TMI here so read on at your own discretion 😜), got up out of bed and had a bit of fluid.... which I had had a little bit more than pregnancy normal through out the day, but it wasn't an alarming amount, and neither was the amount when I got out of bed. It wasn't a gush of fluid like they describe. I had the thought that it could possibly be my water breaking, but I was 34 weeks... normal-non complicated pregnancy... it wouldn't be my water breaking! Anyways the contractions were coming pretty close, so I started timing them, and in between midnight and one o'clock they started at 3 minutes apart, then went to 2 minutes apart, then to less than a minute apart.... in an hour! Some of them were right on top of each other with no time in between! And they were getting more intense and painful-almost unbearable so I finally told Kameron that we better go in. For one,, this was baby #1 and I didn't really know what was going on, if I was contracting or not, and for two, I am a really hard person to talk into going to the hospital, Dr. exc. haha "I am tough, I can get through this, I don't need medicine, I don't need a doctor" haha that's what I always tell myself,, and being a nurse may not help either haha but the pain was too much to handle! Aaaaaand it's a good thing we went in!

When we got into the ER they asked me if my water had broken and I was like "I don't know.. I had fluid but ??". They wheeled me up to L&D, which was the longest ride EVER!!! The CNA that was wheeling me up there was just taking her sweet time, non shalontly wheeling me on a joy ride up to L&D and I was about to scream!! Haha and it was very obvious that I was super uncomfortable.. but she didn't pick up the pace at all! Haha heck I could have been having the baby and we probably would have just been takin it easy, takin our time getting up to L&D! Haha Anyways..... (off my soap box 😜) We got up to L&D, I signed papers in between contractions (my signature looked great!👌 haha), the nurse attempted admission questions, in between contractions, and then after a few minutes of attempting she called the doctor and said could you come in here haha Oh and I forgot to mention, when I first got up to L&D, the nurse did a little swab thing and verified that my water HAD broken! So I was like, so at this point is there anything we do? Or are we just havin a baby? And she said ya you aren't going anywhere. We're having a baby! And honestly I was kind of releaved because I really couldn't handle the contractions anymore! I didn't want to try and stop them (if that was an option) because I did not want to go through this again! haha and I was in so much pain that I couldn't really think, was kinda in shock, and really didn't care haha I guess it like didn't even phase me that my baby was 5 weeks early. I just wanted the pain to STOP!

But anyways.... so the doctor came in and checked me... which was NOTHING! Haha compared to my contractions... it was nothing! haha but anyways, I was a 4. So at this point it's probably like 1:30 in the morning, and about an hour later-if that, I was an 8! At some point they moved me from the triage room to an actual delivery room and when they checked me and I was an 8 they called the NICU, Respiratory Therapy, got all set up and ready to go, but must have called everyone a little prematurly because then everyone left for a little bit haha

Everything happened so quick! I can't even remember what came first haha but when they checked me and I was an 8-it was too late for an epidural! 😫 I don't recommend it! haha They did still try and give me a spinal block or something like that I can't remember for sure what it was, but it didn't work either 😭 So all nat-ur-al it was!! I can truly say it was the hardest, most pain thing I have ever done in my life!! I wanted to give up! It was so tiring and painful... but you already know that if you've had a baby! haha Anyways, lucky for me I only pushed for an hour, which was hard because I didn't even feel pressure or the urge to push but had to anyways.. and when I finally got down the "right" push, it took 3 pushes and then the nurses told me to stop and got the Doc, who was luckily just outside the door! Because at that point I WAS feeling pressure and wanted to push this baby out! Haha Just a couple more pushes and she was out!! It was the BIGGEST relief I have ever felt in my life!! Pain wise that is! The pain was instantly gone! It's so crazy to think about! The whole processes is really. (And you know like in movies all the screaming and yelling and hollabalu that goes on when in labor and giving birth.... that's for real people! haha if you don't have pain medication-that is not dramatized in the movies! 😜) I was actually a little embarassed when I was going to be wheeled from L&D to postpartum because when I emerged from the room I was in.... all the nurses and such that were out at the nurse station were going to know that that was me making all that rucus 😬🙈 haha

Back to the story... since she was early, I got to see her while the doctor held her up and Dad cut the cord and then NICU took her and got her on the pap (I can't remember if it was cpap or bipap) and took her to NICU. Definitely not the labor and delivery I was expecting, hoping for, prepared for. No skin to skin, immediate birth mother baby bonding, breast feeding, cute pictures, hugs and tears between Mom and Dad... you know, the goods, But you do what you got to do...

Dad and Grandma King went with baby and I stayed in L&D for about an hour or two before I got to go see her. The nurse said she had to keep me to make sure the feeling in my legs came back and I was safe haha I was like sister the feeling in my legs is all there! It never went a way-not one bit! haha but I know they have to keep me anyways to make sure I recover ok, it just cracked me up a bit 😂

I was finally able to get wheeled down to NICU to see my baby!

It was hard to see my baby hooked up to everything- the pap over her nose, IV in her poor little hand 😢, as well as not being able to hold her, but we did at least get to put our hands through the port holes and hold her that way, letting her know we were there!

After being in the NICU for a little bit, we went to our post partum room and rested for a little bit before heading back to the NICU.

Later that day I finally got to hold her!

Only 13 hours after she was born, she was able to be taken off the pap! And did so well with it off-it never had to go back on! So then they took the feeding tube out of her mouth and put it in her nose.

Big brother and sister were able to come see her later that day as well! They were able to come see her 3 times before they shut the unit down to kids for RSV season.

And they even got "Big Brother" and "Big Sister" wristbands!

Early the next morning.... like 2 o'clock early! We went in to do Marley's cares which included a bath! She absolutely LOVED the bath! Her favorite part was getting her head rubbed, it was so stinking cute!! I wish we would have taken a video of how much she was loving it!