Keegan was born on Wednesday, January 16th at 12:33am, 10 (very long) days past his due date. I woke up on Tuesday morning at 4:30am with a contraction. I had some contractions and false labor in the week before, and since I was pretty sure he was never coming out at this point, I went back to sleep. I woke up 15 minutes later with another contraction and again went back to sleep. 15 minutes later... another contraction. I turned my phone on (after squealing with excitement-FINALLY) and started timing the contractions... a consistent 15 minutes apart. Ryan had to go to Stockton that morning for work and was worried he wouldn't make it back in time. I assured him my labors are long and unfortunately I don't think I will ever be one of those people who feels a contraction and pushes a kid out 2 hours later, no matter how many kids I have. Well, I was right... he was back home around 9am and by that time my contractions were still 8 minutes apart.
The nice thing about long labors is you have the chance to shower and get ready before you head to the hospital. I took a shower, washed and straightened my hair, put on some makeup, and double checked that everything was packed. I've had a newborn before, I remember how hard it is to squeeze those things in once they arrive.
After getting ready and eating breakfast I felt ready, come on labor... speed up. Then, at around 11:00am, after my contractions got to a consistent 6 minutes apart, they stopped. I was so upset. Ryan had taken the day off, we had called everyone, gotten everything ready, 9 days late, and they STOPPED?! I dragged Ryan and Mikenna on a long walk with me trying to get things moving, but no luck. I had my 41 week appointment scheduled at 3:00 that afternoon, so at least I would get to see if I progressed at all. Ryan kept telling me he was sure the Doctor would keep me, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. This baby was never coming out, I was pretty sure of it.
When we got to my appointment Dr. Scates checked me and I was dilated to almost 4! He said if he sent us home we would just be turning back around to come back so he sent me to labor and delivery and said he would come in a couple hours to break my water. (Hooray! Baby day!)
About 5 minutes after I got hooked up to all the monitors in labor and delivery my contractions started... and this time they HURT. After toughing it out for a couple hours I wanted my epidural. (More power to any of you who are able to do the all natural thing, I love that beautiful needle and I will never be one of those people. Happy-durals all the way!) I didn't feel the instant relief this time when I got the epidural, but I waited it out... maybe this one took longer to work. A half hour later and contractions were still bringing me to tears and only my right leg was numb. Somewhere in the blur of pain and worry that the epi wasn't working the Doctor came in to break my water, and my contractions got even stronger. I was in so. much. pain. The nurse turned me on my side, added more medicine, and the epidural still wasn't working. We had to call in the anesthesiologist to change the placement of the epidural. It sounds awful going through the process twice, but at that point, you could stick a needle anywhere, just take the contraction pain away! As soon as the second epidural was in, I felt instant relief. I remembered why I love anesthesiologists so much. God bless you... you little saints.
Because I got 2 epidurals the nurse told me I would probably be more numb due to so much medicine going through me. It was a bit too much for me and I started getting nauseous. My blood pressure and heart rate had quickly dropped. They gave me some ephedrine in my IV and instantly I felt better. A little scary, but thankful everything was right now and I wasn't in pain.
Mikenna got to spend some time at the hospital while I was in labor, along with our family. I was progressing about a centimeter every hour to 2 hours. It was moving slowly but I was thankful that my body was doing everything on its own and I didn't need pitocin. At 11:45pm the nurse checked me and I was at 8 cm, she suggested I roll on my side, as that sometimes gets things moving. As soon as I rolled over I felt lots of pressure. I called her back in to check me, and I was dilated to 10, ready to push! The baby still hadn't dropped, so she suggested just giving a "practice push" to see if he moved down. As soon as I did that she told me to stop until the Doctor arrived because he was almost out! I pushed with Mikenna for over an hour, are you kidding me?
Dr. Scates arrived a few minutes later. I pushed through 2 more contractions and he was here. There is nothing in the world like hearing your baby cry before you even get the chance to see him. He sounded just like Mikenna, I knew that cry was MY baby.
They placed him on my chest and I was overwhelmed... he was perfect. 10 fingers, 10 toes, and a ton of curly dark hair.
I remember looking at him and thinking, "yep, he is ours." I didn't know what to expect with Mikenna, but when Keegan came out he looked and sounded like her... I felt instantly like he was ours.
After a few minutes with both of us they took him to weigh him and check vitals. 8lbs7oz, 20.5 inches long. He was perfect.
They brought him back to me and we had some skin to skin bonding time-something I hadn't done but always wished I had with Mikenna. He instantly calmed down... it was amazing. As soon as he was on my chest he was scooting himself down and opening his mouth... he was trying to nurse. Well that was easy! I sent my mom to quickly grab everyone in the waiting room to come see him so I could feed him. Everyone got a quick peek and went home to get some rest. He nursed like a champ within minutes despite some anticipated latching issues due to a high arched palate in his mouth. We both figured it out quickly thankfully... I can't imagine not nursing my babies.
When we finally got back to our room we were exhausted, but we didn't sleep much. We spent most of the night staring at him. His almond shaped eyes, his perfect little lips, his features that looked so manly compared to Mikenna's... We haven't done much aside from snuggling and staring at this sweet boy ever since... we are so in love.
Welcome to the world and to our crazy family Keegan Bryce. We already love you so much!
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