Baby Kevin

I know I seem to only write on my blog for birthdays and babies.... so since another baby has been born, I guess that means it is time to write again:)  Plus, I always enjoy reading the birth stories of other kids so I'm sure somebody would enjoy reading mine!

Baby number 4 has been different in many different ways.  First off the cravings during pregnancy were very different with this one.  I wanted fresh and non-cooked food.  Like fruits and sandwiches.  I think it is for that reason that I only gained a total of 19 pounds for the entire pregnancy.  Also, I didn't show very much for a long time.  I thought with it being number 4 I would show very quickly, but it took till I was 32 weeks for people to really know I was pregnant.  If you knew me before hand you might be able to tell before then, but it wasn't really noticeable till 32 weeks.  And the biggest difference  would be the position of the baby.  I never had any concerns before with any of my other kiddos, but this one was sideways at the 20 week ultrasound and growing right under my bellybutton so it was hard to see with the shadow.  Then for every ultrasound after that the baby was breech.  At first I wasn't worried.  The doctor said that 19 out of 20 babies would figure it out and turn.  So I walked a lot and did different exercises that are supposed to help encourage the baby to turn.  I tried every day to figure out what was a head or butt, if it was hiccuping where could I feel them the most?  Over and over I would try to guess and I was just so tired of it.  I would convince myself that the head was for sure low this time, but then I would go for an appointment and again baby would still be sitting up and I would be disappointed and feel like I had no idea what was going on.

Also, as a side point, we wanted to have this baby be a surprise on the sex.  The pregnancy was very similar to Hannah's and I really thought it was a girl.  One time though I went in for my appointment and my normal nurse was on vacation. He replacement for the week came in and said, "Congrats on a boy."  "Thanks" I replied, "but it was supposed to be a surprise."  ooppss...she felt so bad.  I knew Kyle wanted to keep it a secret and I didn't want to ruin it for him, so that was no small feat keeping it a secret from him.  Anyone who asked what it was I said it was a surprise because I didn't want it to get back to Kyle in any way.  And it was just easier to pretend I didn't know then to explain...so that's what I did.  Anyway, back to baby being breech.

So I was 37 weeks and baby still had not turned.  I was on blood thinners again this time (a daily shot since I have had blood clots before, I did it as a precaution) so I was scheduled to be induced around 38/39 weeks.  I knew I wanted the epidural and any other meds I could so I would have to plan when I would have the baby because if I took the blood thinner  and went into labor on my own I couldn't have any meds including the epidural for 24 hours after I took the blood thinner which I was not about to risk:)  So I'm 37 weeks, scheduled to have the baby the following week and the baby is still breech.  Not what I wanted to hear.  So we had a c-section scheduled for the following Wed, but I did have an appointment on Tues just to check one more time.

The following Monday Kyle and I were praying together and Kyle was asking the Lord to please help the baby turn.  He asked according to our faith that if would happen and that he knew the Lord could turn the baby.  Wow!  I was a little floored by how intense he was.  I was to the point of just praying for a healthy baby and quick recovery for me.  I knew SO MANY people were praying and fasting for me and the baby, but I also thought that babies can come into this world in more then one way.  So I went to my appointment on Tues afternoon without any expectation that the baby had turned and was just ready to get instructions on what to do to prepare for the operation in the morning.

The doctor started feeling the outside of my belly, and then proceeded to check my cervix.  He felt for a bit and then said, "I may be crazy but that feels like a head."  That really caught my attention!  So he had me go over and do an ultrasound real fast just to double check.  The lady said, yep that's a head and I gave a little "YEAH!!!"  she probably thought I was crazy, but I was just so excited!!!!  The doctor wanted me to go home and pack up my stuff and go to the hospital 2 hours later and they were going to soften my cervix through the night and have the baby in the morning.

I got everything ready and sent Kyle a message to call me and headed to the hospital.  Nothing real exciting was supposed to happen through the night so Kyle was going to stay home and come first thing in the morning.  I'm not sure what it is called how they softened my cervix, but they pretty much put this bendable rod thing through the opening in my cervix, then on the uterus side was filled a balloon with a fluid and on the vaginal side another balloon with more fluid.  So the two balloons were putting pressure on my cervix to thin and dilate it.  I'm getting contractions about every 3-5 min at this point and I felt cramping, but nothing to serious.  I was able to get a pain killer in my IV and a sleeping pill to help me get one more good night of sleep.  So, I'm really out of it obviously and they keep coming in to change the position of the monitors to read baby's heart rate.  At one point it was taking a really really long time to find the heart rate, and they had to put it up by my ribs to finally get it.  Well, that is not a good sign, so they had the on call doctor come in and wouldn't you know that little turkey turned back to breech!

The sent for the epidural and then the doctor was going to attempt turning the baby back to head down from the outside, I think it is called inversion.  I really have no clue what is going on right now though because I was so out of it.  The doctor needed to talk to Kyle to get the ok to do everything since I wasn't coherent enough I guess.  Even now it is all such a fog I'm not sure how it all went down.  I know they talked to Kyle and told him I sounded like I just had my 5th margarita.  I remember being really wobbly and not being able to sit up on my own for them to do the epidural.  And I remember the doctor attempting to turn the baby.  She was able to turn him sideways but then he moved right back.  Then the 2nd time she tried he turned all the way down and stayed down.  But again, most of this I just vaguely remember, it's more I know that it happened more then I remember it happening.

The next morning Kyle came by and I was dilated to a 7/8 but the baby was still really high. The doctor showed up around 10am and broke my water.  By 10:45 I was ready to push but had to wait for the doctor.  He showed up and suited up and I was ready to push.  I had a mirror in the room because I really wanted to see the baby come out.  But I needed an extra set of eyes.  With only one push the baby was out, but I was trying to look in the mirror and also look at the baby in person and also look at Kyle to see his reaction to having a boy since he didn't know..... phew just typing it all is making me crazy:)  Anyway,  the baby was a perfect little boy!  7 lbs 13 oz and 19 in long.  Our smallest baby!  We decided to name him after our dads.  Kevin Larry.  Thankfully Kyle was never serious about naming him Dirk, it was just a mean joke.....

The other kids love him!  They want to hold him all the time!  It just feels like our family is complete with him here.

On a side note, the hospital does not give you enough food to eat!!!  I told them I needed a guest tray for every meal and made it sound like Kyle would eat it, but it was really so I would get enough to eat! haha... But other then that the hospital staff was great!  I think it is funny how with your first you want the baby with you as much as possible, but now I'm like, I will be waking up with him plenty, the nursery can do it now and just bring him to me to eat... haha

Anyway, I'm so grateful Kevin is here and that the Lord answered our prayers!