Labor of Love

Due Date: 7-23-11

Last Doctors Visit: Tuesday 6-21-11 (3cm 50% effaced)

Last Ultrasound : Tuesday 6-21-11

Last visitor: Dad - who thank goodness was still helping us with baby room

Last Project: Baby room: Umm still a work in progress

Last rant at poor Matt: Friday 6/24/11 something like this - "Why does no one understand the urgency of getting this baby room done? If I have to stay up until 3am on Sunday morning this thing is getting done by this weekend - I'm serious. I am having this baby soon."

Last meal: P. Terry's Hamburgers with everyone at 6:30pm.

Last helping hand: 6:45pm - head to Marcie's place to take care of her cat. As we turn down her road (which is a dirt road that is slightly (major understatement) washed out. I turn around and say: " Boy dad, if I want to go into labor all I have to do is come drive down Marcie's street a couple of times" Feed cat. Barely make it to car -tired and having a hard time walking. Sit down and think....uhhh I need to rest...

Car ride home: Contractions begin - one huge one then 7 min apart about a minute plus long. Then by the time we get home 4-5 min apart. Really? No! It can't be!

In denialville: Get the boys ready and down for bed despite everyone saying just sit down - contractions now 2-3 minutes apart - Matt now getting upset with me firmly tells me we need to call the doctor and I need to sit down!

First real panic attack: "I have nothing ready!" The baby room isn't done, the boys have no clean clothes, I have washed nothing for baby, I have no bag packed. This can't be happening right now. Just let me put this load of laundry in the washer -I'll put it on the express cycle - I have nothing for the bag - I need to wash this."

Call doctor 9:20 pm: Who says- you may not have the baby in the car, but if you don't come now you may miss your chance for an epidural. "Oh - well - in that case - let's get to the hospital."

Sit still with Dad Let Matt Pack the Bag : I finally sit still and let Matt pack the bag all the meantime - still thinking - I am not ready yet!

Arrive at the Hospital: We got to the hospital I am totally guessing probably about almost 10pm. Doctor comes in and says she still wants to determine if this is false labor. "What? Are you serious? No - this is it woman - this is my third baby! I know this by now. I am not believing it but I know this is the real deal."

Long Story Short: My water breaks about 11pm. I finally get my epidural about midnight or 1am after waiting on labs and getting more fluids and antibiotics. I am crazy numb in a few minutes - can't move my legs. Labor all night. Don't sleep and haven't progressed passed 4-5cm and 60% effaced. Give me pitocin (lots). I have hard contractions now that I can feel but are not painful. Doc comes in to check me and finds another little bubble of the bag of waters in front of baby's head that is blocking the way. She breaks it. Soon after I get horrific pains with contractions. Baby's heart rate drops significantly. Nurse is trying to figure out what is going on with baby. I am reduced to tears- lots of them - then sobs- as each contraction gets harder and excruciating despite the epidural. Nurse calls doctor. Doctor checks baby and gives the okay for me to have more medicine, but asks, "have you checked her in a while." -"no" says the nurse. Doctor lifts sheets to find baby on its way out with about half the head out. PANIC. Doc runs into the hall to grab anyone out there. Nurse holds head in. It's kind of all a blur from there. All I know is that my sweet baby was delivered on the bed in chaos with me sobbing. Crazy, amazing, and yet, somehow beautiful amid all of it. So don't judge me...In most of these pictures I have been up for over 24 hours - ratty haired, no makeup, in my glasses(can't believe I'm posting those pics), and sometimes not so decently dressed.

Kellan Carter Greenwald

6-25-11 6:43am

6lbs 8 oz 20 in

Just about 45 minutes after Kellan was born - Matt and I totally exhausted - completely in shock, but very, very happy!

Colby and Brody were so cute that first visit. They both just couldn't believe Kellan was out of mommy's tummy. Colby couldn't get enough of holding him, and kept talking about how his head looked like a peach (all fuzzy). Brody takes a few looks now and then, but decided playing with the buttons on the hospital bed was more fun.

My sweet, early, and totally hairy baby boy! He came out with his little faux hawk already done! It stayed that way for several days and then flattened out a little, but as soon as I gave him his bath it popped right back up. It's natural cuteness, what can I say!?

Kellan loves to be swaddled. Loves- it! I'm getting better at turning him into our little burrito. Because he is a "late" preterm infant he has issues with keeping his body temp regulated - this and his little hat help him stay nice and warm.

No one was here that we would have trusted to take our kiddos, much less ask at 10pm to watch them while we headed to the hospital. Our sweet neighbors were out of town, Marcie was out of town, and most of my sweet friends from church were still at girls camp. Luckily Dad had come in to town on Wednesday to help me work on the baby room. His plan was to leave early (really early - like 3am early) on Saturday morning. That all changed Friday night, and I am soooo grateful he was here. Not just because it was convenient and much needed, but b/c the boys were so happy to have their grandpa here to take care of them.

Marcie came to visit as soon as she got home from here fabulous trip to the virgin islands with her boyfriend Kyle.

Grandpa and Kellan.

Finally, all showered Sunday night, and loving every minute with Kellan! I espeically loved all the alone time I got to spend with Matt. It was really nice to just be together with Kellan and have lots of quiet precious moments.

We had to stay and extra day so that they could make sure Kellan was safe to go home. They had to do a car seat study to make sure he could breathe right in his car seat, check his bilirubin several times, monitor blood sugars, and his weight, his feeding patterns, and his temperatures to make sure he would not have to return ( I guess a large number of late preterms end up back in the hospital for all of these things). Anyway - I really was not itching to get home. Since when did the hospital feel like a spa? My hospital was really nice, but it was definitely not a spa. Well, the truth is, I knew what I was going home to. Not that it is bad, its just so nice to have quiet, have someone take the baby at night so you can rest for the 1.5 hours you get to sleep between feedings, and to have someone to remind you to take medicine and rest. Being home now is great, but there are so many easy temptations to work and do, and rest is hard. The boys have been fantastic, but they still require a lot of attention. So as crazy as it sounds-I kind of miss the hospital.

Tuesday 6-28-11 Kellan comes home. The boys came up with Matt to pick me up. Our help was gone, and reality was settling in. I have to admit, I was happy, but a little fearful too. The boys crack me up in these pictures bc they of course are never looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. I love these pictures though even more than if they were perfectly posed.

Hey- look we did get a one of them looking and smiling! Amazing!

Colby took this picture. Pretty good job Colbs!

Ready, set, here we go. Wish us luck!! It's going to be a wild ride, I imagine.