Sunday, March 29, 2009

Belly Button

Today my belly button fell off!!! Mom is happy because she thought the belly button was looking painful even though I didn't seem to mind it at all. Dad is glad because my belly button was starting to stink! At my doctor's appointment Friday, Dr. Steilgelfest told mom and dad if my belly button was not skin color and oozing after it fell off to bring me in to have it sealed. Well, it did ooze and was definitely not the same color as the rest of my skin. So, we'll go to the doctor Tuesday and have the doctor seal it up with a little q-tip of silver nitrate. That should make my belly button grey and should heal it within the week. If it is not all better, mom and dad have to take me back for another sealing next week. Hopefully they won't have to do that! Here's my belly button pics:


Saturday, March 28, 2009

Oh, I just don't understand...


My second doctor's appointment

I had my two week appointment yesterday. All signs of jaundice are gone! Yea! I am now a perfect shade of pink. Actually everyone says I am just perfect all around. :) I could get used to all these compliments! My stats at this appointment were:

Weight: 8 pounds 3 ounces (45th percentile)
Height: 22" (96th percentile)
Head Circum: 14.28" (64th percentile)

It appears I had quite a growth spurt and the doctor was really happy with my progress. I was given the all clear until my 2 month appointment. Yea!

A smile for everyone






Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Stretch....

This is mommy and daddy's favorite stretch that I do because I wrinkle my forehead (she tried to capture the wrinkle in the first picture).











Wednesday, March 18, 2009

My first bath

Today I had my first bath (aside from the hospital bath). I like baths, until mom takes me out of the water to dry me off. Look how cute I am:

My 1st doctor's appointment

I had my first doctor's appointment on March 17th - St Patty's Day! Everything went great. When I left the hospital, the doctor's were a little concerned about jaundice, so they checked me again for jaundice today. I am still a little yellow, but am showing signs of improvement, so they weren't concerned. My weight is 7 lbs 1 oz (up a few ounces from my discharge weight, which is great). That puts me in the 27th percentile for weight. My height wasn't rechecked, so I'm still at 20 3/4" and in the 88th percentile. My head circum is 13 inches, in the 13th percentile. The doctor said everything looks great and she'll see me in 2 weeks.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Grandma's Help

Grandma is helping mom this first week of my life. Here's a glimpse of exactly what she's been doing (it appears I sleep a lot), aside from cooking (of course):

Monday, March 16, 2009

I'm HERE!!!!

After 33 hours, I am HERE! :)



And here's moms labor story: mom started having labor pains Wednesday (March 11th) around 7:20 PM. They were all lower back pains and nothing like mom had imagined a contraction would feel like. Nonetheless, here they were - contractions! They were still pretty far apart, so mom and dad decided to stay home until morning. Mom labored all night, with little sleep, and went to the doctor's office first thing Thursday morning. She was sure today, the 12th, was it. Mom and dad had called the parents and they were all on their way into town. At moms appointment, the midwife checked her and she was only 2 centimeters dilated. Mom was so upset! Labor all night for only 2 centimeters! What kind of cruel joke was this?! The midwife said it could still be false labor, so she sent mom home to see if mom progressed or labor stopped. Oh, did labor progress! By mid-afternoon, moms contractions were 5 minutes apart. They called the midwife around 5 PM and was told shift change was about to occur, to arrive at 6:30 at the hospital. (Oh, how mom has come to hate shift change.) Well, mom was convinced I was going to arrive NOW and she didn't care about shift change. Dad, easily convinced by mom and using his better judgment, agreed to take mom to the hospital at that moment. Off they went. Mom was worried at this point she wouldn't be able to get the epidural, much less make it to the hospital in time because by the time they arrived at the hospital contractions were 3 minutes apart. Mom and dad left all their bags in the car, since mom could care less about them at this point, and they raced up to labor and delivery. Upon arrival, they were told to take a seat and someone would get them in a moment. What a LONG moment. Mom was furious. Here she was having contractions every 3 minutes apart and sitting in a waiting room!!! Finally, someone came and got them and brought them back to a room. This is when they were told shift change was occuring and a midwife would be in as soon as possible. Until the midwife checked mom, she was told she couldn't have any drugs. Devastating! It was now after 7:00 and after 30 long minutes, mom sending dad out to seek drugs, a midwife arrived. Yea! Mom knew this was it - 10 centimeters dilated. Here we go. So, the midwifed checked mom and.....only 2 centimeters!!! Mom had not progressed at all!!!! She was crushed!!! The midwife suggested, after mom took her death grip off of her, some staydal to ease the pain and relax mom. Finally, some kind of relief! The nurse then gave mom some staydal and it did ease some pain. Mom could still feel every contraction, but she could at least relax the few minutes between them. By late evening, the midwife came back to check moms progress and....5 centimeters! Yea - finally, progress! And, progress enough mom could get an epidureal! Double Yea!!! :) In came a team of doctors to give the epidureal. The doctors did a great job and mom felt instant relief. Her legs felt kind of like they were asleep, but she couldn't feel any pain. Mom was still able to use her legs - to help move herself around on the bed and hold her legs back. She was really grateful for this, as she had heard her legs would be dead weight. She had the perfect epidureal! Here we go - right? Oh, no. Mom stayed at 5 centimeters for several hours. It's now Friday, March 13th at this point and still I haven't arrived....mom can't believe it! The doctor came in around 2:00 and said moms contractions were actually spreading out and my heartbeat was slowing too much. They decided to try pitocin to speed up the contractions and hopefully dilation. It only took a few minutes of pitocin for the midwife to take mom off of it, as my heartrate was dropping dangerous low in combination with moms bloodpressure dropping too low. So, the midwife mentioned the possibility of a c-section to get me out, but that she would wait a little while longer. At this point, mom knew if a midwife mentioned c-section, it must be bad. She just wanted me safe and was open to whatever would make that happen! Around 3:30, the midwife came back in and said moms contractions were still spreading out and she doubted mom had progressed. She had already talked to the OB on call and scheduled moms c-section. I needed to come out as my heartrate was getting too low. The midwife checked mom one last time. And guess what?! 10 centimeters!!!! The midwife actually dropped her head in disbelief! (mom thought she dropped her head because mom was only like 3 centimeters, thank goodness it was the opposite) Anyway, the midwife said mom could start pushing and lets see what happened. She warned mom that since her contractions were 5 to 7 minutes apart, mom could be pushing for hours. Mom didn't care and she was determined to get me out right then! So pushing began. And guess what, only 45 minutes later and about 5 contractions, out I came! The midwife was again shocked at how quick I came out and how great mom was at pushing! Yea! Dad was there to catch me, as he had hoped to do. He compared me to a catfish in 100 degree water. That daddy! Whew - I made it at 4:23 AM on Friday, March 13, 2009, weighing 7 lbs 5 ozs and 20 3/4" long. And my name is Kayla LeeAnn.

Friday, March 6, 2009

1 centimeter dilated!

Moms appointment today went well. Everything is still measuring on track and my heartbeat is still strong. I am still in position to be born, but haven't dropped. I just don't want to come out! Mom measured 1 centimeter and hopefully will continue to progress (quickly)! Yea!

In the meantime, mom and dad took some last minute photos of mom pregnant with me. She's not sure how many more she's going to squeeze in before I arrive. Here they are:








Who do you think gained more weight during the pregnancy?? :)


Next appointment: March 13th!!! One day from moms due date!