Kennedy's Arrival

Kennedy made my day by coming one day early from her due date. I started having contractions on Monday, July 9th around 3:00am. After about an hour and a half of contractions my water broke and we grabbed our stuff and headed to the hospital. Luckily, my brother Matt was living with us and was able to watch Ben. It worked out because we did not need to wake Ben up and bring him elsewhere before we left.

We got to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center and got checked in. In triage they confirmed that my water had broken and that I was 4cm dialated. We were in our labor and delivery room by around 6:30 and by 7 I had my epidural in and was measuring at 6cm. By 9:15 it was time for the delivery part. With Ben, I pushed for about 45 minutes. With Kennedy, she was out after 3 pushes and one contraction. She was born at 9:29am. It was amazing how quick she came!

She was perfect and had an apgar score of 9 and 9. She weighed 8 lbs 6 oz and was 21 inches long. Ben weighed 8 lbs 2 oz, so she was a little heavier. She was born with a nice head of hair too! Nursing with Kennedy was easy. She latched on right away without a problem.  

The nurse I had during labor and delivery was wonderful. She was so nice and made me very comfortable.

We enjoyed the first 24 hours with Kennedy. She had a great appetite and we cuddled a lot. We knew we would be at the hospital for at least 48 hours because I had strep B and I only got one dose of antibiotics.

On Tuesday afternoon, the results of Kennedy's bilirubin test came back with her in the high risk zone. This meant that Kennedy had severe jaundice. The doctor came in and explained where Kennedy was on the bilirubin chart and that the course of treatment would be to put her under lights for therapy for 24 hours. This meant she would be in the nursery, stripped down to a diaper, and would only be allowed out of the lights to nurse 20 minutes at a time. They would also feed her extra fluids with a syringe while under the lights. Corey was not there when the doctor came in because he went home to spend some time with Ben.

I kept a brave face as the doctor explained all of this to me, but then when I went to explain all of this to Corey over the phone I started crying. I knew jaundice was very treatable and that she would most likely be fine, but the idea of her being away from us and alone in the nursery was scary. I worried that she would cry and cry while in the nursery and we wouldn't be able to console her. Within a half hour of talking to the doctor, Kennedy was sent to the nursery.

Corey and our closest family friend gave Kennedy a priesthood blessing that night. The blessing was such a comfort to me.

For the next 24 hours we checked on her in the nursery throughout our time there and I fed her about every 3 hours. It was such a blessing that she was a good eater. Because she ate well during our 20 minutes together she slept for the majority of the time she was under the lights. I also pumped so that they could supplement her with breastmilk instead of formula.

After the first 24 hours, her levels had gone down overall by 1 point. But, we needed another point before the doctor would send her home. So, on wednesday I was discharged and was set up in a smaller room down the hall so that I could stay at the hospital and still feed Kennedy. Kennedy was kept under the lights for another night. In the morning our prayers were answered. Her levels dropped another 1.4 points and she was discharged. We still need to keep watch on her, but the worst is definitely over. We are home and enjoying holding her and snuggling with her. She is such a beautiful little girl and I am so glad she is here! I am also thankful for my mom who was able to watch Ben while we had an extended stay at the hospital. I am also thankful for Corey keeping me company whenever it was time to head to the nursery to feed her. I am also thankful for my sister Lauren who kept me company our last night at the hospital. And of course, the nurses in the nursery were wonderful. They helped put me at ease to know that Kennedy was in good hands.

 Kennedy shortly after birth.

 Me holding Kennedy shortly after birth.

 Corey holding Kennedy during a feeding session in the nursery.

 Benjamin visiting in the hospital.

 Me and Kennedy together.

 Kennedy under the bili lights. They had two sets of lights shining from above and a light under her back. They also had little cloth eyepads on her protecting her from the lights.

 Kennedy shortly after we found out she would be discharged.

 Kennedy and I all ready to head home.

Our family leaving the hospital. Ben helped push Kennedy all the way to the nursery, where we signed release paperwork. Now it is time to adjust to having two little ones!

We are 'patiently' waiting for Kennedy to arrive. A week and a half left till my due date. I am pretty much all set for her to come. I am certainly ready to regain my ability to move around more easily and sleep more comfortably, despite the interruptions I am sure to get! Below are some things we have been doing to keep busy along with a prego picture!

 Me at 37.5 weeks pregnant with Kennedy

 Our last family photo with just the 3 of us, soon to become 4!

 A few of the hairbows I made for Kennedy

 This is a carseat pillow for Ben that I made. It is designed to hopefully keep his head from flopping to the side when he falls asleep on long car rides. I have yet to try it out, but hopefully it will do the job. I feel so bad seeing him slouched over in such an uncomfortable position on car rides. I plan to make one of a different style for Kennedy as well, since this one was such a pain to make.

 Here are pictures of Kennedy's room with pink curtains and polka dots. Corey and my brother did all of the painting and paneling.

 Here is the other side of her room with her name and some picture frames. We have the changing table in there and Ben's future big boy bed for the time being. Kennedy will sleep in the playpen for the first little while in our room. Ben has yet to climb out of his crib, so we plan on keeping him in it for as long as we can.

 This is a boppy cover I made for the boppy pillow I got myself. Didn't use one with Ben, but I thought I'd give it a try with this little one. It is a pillow I can use for extra support while feeding Kennedy, and it also can be used to sit the baby in so that she will be propped up a little bit.

Along with all the work Corey did in the baby's room, he took the time to refinish this dresser for Ben. This dresser has been in my family for many years, but had seen better days. Corey sanded it, painted it and put a new finish on the hardware. Also, the dresser is so old that it does not have the safety pull outs that stop the drawers from falling out when you pull on them, so Corey fixed that problem too. This is a must, so that they don't fall on Ben when he opens the drawers. Corey did a wonderful job and I love the way it looks. Now, he just needs to paint Ben's twin bed to match!

Projects

Here are the projects I have completed in the last couple months. The majority of these were completed whilst Grandma watched Ben for me. Without her, I never would have done it. Thanks Mom! The top are some bean bags I made for Ben, then there is the twin size quilt I made for Ben with a matching pillow sham, then some pink burp cloths, and a quilt for the new baby.
To give credit where credit is due, for the quilts and burp cloths I relied heavily on the tutorials from quiltingintherain.blogspot.com. And for the pillow sham I used a tutorial from elizabethannedesigns.com.
The baby's quilt is a rag quilt and was the first of the projects I completed. It took quite a bit of time to sew each of the little quilt sandwiches, but it was much easier to put together.
The hardest project by far was also the biggest. Ben's quilt was quite the challenge, especially since I was 34 weeks pregnant when I finally completed it. The hardest part was all the work I had to do on the floor, since it was too big to lay on my table. But, I persevered and it is done! I do not recommend making large quilts to anyone in their third trimester. LOL! I think it came out pretty well since it was my first real quilt.
The  baby's room is slowly coming together. We are 95% done with paint-just some touch up to do. I do need to put up the wall decorations. And Corey still needs to paint some furniture for Ben's room, so that we can swap his stuff with the baby. But, we have plenty of time, right?
Our tour of the hospital is this week! Looking forward to checking it out!

Graduation 2012

Memorial day weekend was also the weekend of my brother James' highschool graduation. We drove up to celebrate his big day and hang out with the family. Ben got to stay up late Friday night to attedn the graduation. You can see him in the top pic eating a snack with his great grandma, Aunt Lauren, and Uncle Matt. Then, you see Corey and I. Then you see James getting his diploma. It was a good event and Ben was pretty well behaved (he only poked the guy in front of him a few times). Considering he was up until 9:30 instead of in bed at 8pm, I would say he did pretty well. For Memorial day we had some fun and went shooting. Ben wasn't freaked at all by the loud noise, which was great, since he refused ear plugs. He had a lot of fun playing in the dirt. Corey and I took some shots, along with some of my family.
As you can see, I am looking very pregnant. Only about 5 more weeks to go! We are excited to have a  little girl join our family soon. Super nervous about Ben and how he will handle not having me all to himself.

Camping May 2012

In May we went camping for one weekend. We went down to Mount Lemmon near Tucson. Ben had a blast getting to play out side all day. Unfortunately, he did not sleep well the first night which made for a moody Saturday. But, overall I think he had a good time. He got to play ball. He kept Abby company while she was kenneled and insisted on letting her out a few times. He loves that dog soo much! He also got to play with a hammer and his dad's gloves. He was working hard banging on that pallet. It was a fun weekend, but it will be a while before we go camping again!

May 2012

Here are just a couple fun pics of Ben taken in May. On the top one you can see he is helping himself to the leftover fudge from a pie he helped me make. It was bath time shortly after that pic was taken!

In the bottom picture Ben is playing with his new set of trains. They are his absolute favortie toy right now. He can put the pieces together all on his own, but I help him too. Sometimes he will even say "choo choo" while he drives the trains around. Most of the time he goes "vroom vroom." He is starting to look less and less like my little baby.

Easter 2012

Here are some pics of Ben from Easter weekend. We spent my birthday/Easter weekend at my parents' home in Northern AZ. Ben enjoyed looking through his basket of sand toys with some books. He got some Easter candy from Grandma, which he enjoyed a ton. In the top pic my parents' dog is trying to get Ben to share some of the good stuff.
My mom, who is the awesomest Grandma ever, watched Ben the week after Easter so I could take a break and so Corey and I could get a weekend away to celebrate my b-day. We spent the weekend up in Scottsdale and had a great time just being together and relaxing. We got massages together, went to the county fair, and ate a lot of good food. It was great having my hubby all to myself for a few days.