Kinley's Story----pictures to come later

Tuesday morning, January 26th, I woke up feeling 37 weeks pregnant. I was rested, but still very aware I was in the last part of the third trimester. I got Emily up and ready for daycare and when I finished changing her diaper and lifted her from the changing table back down to the floor, I felt my back get really sore. After I dropped her off and headed to work the tension in my back didn't feel any better. I turned on the seat heater in my car because it often reaches to my lower back. I got to work and was really uncomfortable throughout the day. It finally hit me that maybe what I was feeling was actually contractions and not braxton hicks.

I had sporadic contractions throughout the day---nothing consistent---nothing really even noteworthy except for that I was uncomfortable. I met with students, I wrote letters of recommendation, I dealt with parents--a normal day. I took a short lunch because I just wanted to get home to rest. I was able to lay down without Brian or Emily around for about 40 minutes. Brian got home with Emily and he left to get his hair cut while Emily and I played games. I didn't have any contractions during that time. In fact, I didn't really have anything for several hours. The pain from the day helped me realize that I didn't have anything packed for myself or Emily for the stay in the hospital so I got busy doing that. I even washed Kinley's "going home from the hospital" outfit. Around 9:00 I started to feel the contractions come on a bit and started researching braxton hicks----from what I could remember they didn't start in the back and I was right, but was I really having contractions 19 days early?

I decided to turn in at 10:00, but contractions started coming every 10-12 minutes and hurt more while lying down, so I got up and walked around a bit. I started praying. I didn't know what all of this meant. With Emily, my water broke before I felt an ounce of pain from a contraction, so I really didn't know what to expect. They started coming a little more regular under 10 minutes so I decided I should wake Brian up. We timed the contractions for 45 minutes and they were now falling every 5-6 minutes and lasted 45-60 seconds. We called the doctor on call and they suggested I head to the hospital. We had to wake up our friends Shannon and Jeremy to come and watch Emily. Once they got there we headed to the hospital.

I was so nervous it was going to be a false alarm and that we woke our friends up prematurely. I just kept hoping it was legit. We arrived around 1:00 am and they had a billion questions to ask me before they did any type of check. Around 1:45 am, they checked me and I was dilated to 4 cm. I was admitted shortly after that. We headed to the delivery room and again, I had to answer several questions all the while breathing through contractions that were now coming every 1.5-2 minutes. Contractions are not my friend. You know who is? Mr. Epidural. Once the epidural was active, I was able to rest. My mom, dad and sister got there right after they medicated me and we had some nice conversation before I decided I really needed to close my eyes and rest while I could.

The nurse came in around 5:00 and let me know that the doctor was next door finishing up a delivery and that she would be in to check me shortly. I was at a 10. It was go time. At 5:30, I pushed 2 times and they had me wait because she was already ready to come out, but the room wasn't ready. So, we waited. I was watching the clock because Emily was born at 5:51 and I thought it would be cool if I had them at the same time. Unfortunately, they finished setting up 2 minutes too late! 2 quick pushes and Kinley entered the world and changed my life forever on January 27, 2010 at 5:53 am. (18 days early!!!) She was already "talking" with the doctor. It was so cute, she wasn't crying, she was cooing with her. (Don't worry, the cries came.) She weighed 6 pounds 6 oz and measured 19 inches long.

For those of you who know me well know I am a little silly about numbers. You'll be glad to know that her birthdate---01.27.10 can be added up 1+2+7=10.

36 weeks and other happenings

That's right, I have actually less than four weeks until my due date and we're pretty excited about that around here. I took a picture of my belly, but I am a bit too lazy to get it uploaded for this post.

My mind is exploding with all kinds of thoughts right now. The devastation in Haiti is beyond words for me. My brother in law's father just lost his battle to a brain tumor and when I don't really know what to do in these situations to help, I pray. I pray a lot.

So, I get choked up in the little things around home. I appreciate the laughter Emily brings. I love it when she looks at my belly to see how Kinley is and then turns around and lifts Brian's shirt up to see how Kinley is....hehehe. I think she's finally starting to understand that Kinley will be coming home with us. She's helped us get some of her clothes put away. She knows where her bed is. I made the mistake of telling Emily that Kinley will come out of my belly and she'll probably cry, but she'll also sleep and eat and poop....so now Emily often asks if Kinley pooped yet. Great.

I cherish our "night-night" routine and love hearing Emily sing songs of worship and offer up names of people she wants to pray for before she goes to bed. She prays for family, she prays for the kids in Haiti, she prays for Kinley. She sings "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world" and that one gets me the most when I think about all the children in Haiti....She's such a little nurturer because if she sees a tear she wants to know, "what's wrong mommy?"

She's going to be such a good big sister. We're talking about Kinley all the time around here. Can't wait to meet her!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

If the year 2010 will be anything like the last few hours of 2009 it will be a GREAT year. I haven't laughed so much in a long time and it was just what I needed! My parents were SO sweet to offer to watch Emily overnight for New Year's Eve so we thought it would be so fun to ring in the new year with Joe and Alisha sans kids! We had a lovely dinner and spent 3 hours in a restaurant actually focused on each other and the conversation instead of instructing one of our kids to stay close or leaving the restaurant to "reset" our little one's attitude.

We planned to go to a movie, but since our dinner took so long we just decided to head home. Now, I get made fun of a lot because I'm always wanting to get a picture or "THE" perfect picture for my blog. Well, we didn't quite get the perfect photo last night and I decided I needed to post the series of events...

First of all, the reason I wanted a picture in the first place was because they bought us these flannel pajamas and they were giving us a really hard time because we didn't wear them yet. Brian and I both get pretty hot in our sleep so the idea of flannel didn't sound cozy. Fine to hang out in, but not sleep in. Anyway, after much abuse we finally put them on. So, I "demanded" a photo.

Joe looking super comfortable, cozy and cute, Queen Alisha on her throne, me holding on to Brian hoping to somewhat cover the major baby bump...After this picture I realized I probably shouldn't have already taken my make-up off...oh well.
Okay, so the next picture, I decided that holding to brian didn't help, I liked Joe's idea of cozy from the first picture...Brian looks like he might like me a little bit more in this photo....oh, and Alisha is still on her throne.
Our camera was on a timer. Joe and Alisha were posing like they were at prom and then they said it wasn't much like prom....I told them it was because Brian wasn't holding on to me. So I grabbed his hand and put it on my belly---it was at that exact moment that the camera took the picture which is why Joe and Alisha are laughing so hard.
So, then we do the prom picture and they don't---Alisha's eyes are even closed. It was at that point that they all gave up on me.

For the remainder of the evening we pretty much just played games. I HAD to get a video of Brian playing this game because it was just too good not to share. I'm sure if you don't know Brian that well it's not very funny, but trust me this is SO OUT of his comfort zone. This game is called "Just Dance" and he actually BEAT all of us! It was a great night!