Welcoming Kaylee
So, the minor details: on Monday 8/18 during Heather's routine doctor's appointment she got met in the waiting room by her doctor as soon as she entered, who told her to come right in. How often has that happened to you? It seems that her tests from the week before showed that she had a form of Strep B that a certain small percentage of all women can get during the end of pregnancy. Harmless to her, but potentially trouble for the baby should it catch the bug upon exit. As such, they were scheduling a hospital stay for us on Wednesday since we needed an induction. A quick course of antibiotics, administered within a tight timetable (hence the induction), reduced the risk to nil. We agreed, scheduled, waited nervously.
Here is breakfast, the morning of. Pretty routine. Bagels. My dad was still here from his previous visit. Jackson was up to wish Momma well.
We got to Banner Desert Medical center at 7am. They were a little busy, so after check-in things didn't really get rolling until around 11am, when she got the IV for the antibiotics and a gel to get things moving. They did, and she started having regular contractions. Same as with Jackson, the goal was "healthy momma, healthy baby, as natural as possible," so no drugs. Breathing and walking. Here we are at lunch, on the ball, eating between contractions, watching a movie on the laptop:
We hit the 4cm mark in the early afternoon, but by around 6:30 when her doctor came to visit we were still at 4cm. This was a scary number for Heather, she spent almost 16 hours at 4cm with Jackson and it took both the Pitocin and the Epidural to get things moving. After talking with Dr., she broke the bag of waters. This made the contractions a bit more intense. Stuffed dog Coco lends support:
It was described to me that with the bag of waters gone, its the difference between squeezing an empty fist and one holding a stress ball. See how much further you can squeeze the empty fist? Friend Lori was the other key person in the Team Omega Birth Unit, and she really helped in these hours:
By 9:30pm Heather had moved to 8cm. So success! However, she was really tiring out. Talking it through with the nurses and us, she decided to ask for the epidural at this point so she would have a chance to rest before pushing. It took almost 90 minutes to get it installed, and they weren't pleasant at all. However, within minutes:
Much happier! She also had a chance to rest for almost three hours, so just before 3am, we got the doctor in the room and started the main event! Just like for Jackson, there was very little pushing, maybe 15 minutes worth, and at 3:10am, we got our first glimpse! The doctor had said that Michael got to make the call as to the baby's gender, and he gleefully shouted "It's a girl!!"
So tiny!
What is that? You want a pony? Of course you can have a pony! Anything for Daddy's Little Girl!
We still didn't have a name for her at this point. Heather and I honestly expected a boy. But the nameless beauty wasted no time in having her first meal and winning the hearts of everyone in the room. A great big thanks again goes out to Lori Simonson, we would have never had such a great birth without her:
Madonna and Child, part II:
Interestingly, all the post-partum rooms above were full, so we stayed the rest of the night and most of the next day in the labor and delivery room. We didn't mind, we knew it was much larger than the one we'd be going to. So later on Thursday Jackson came to visit. Here he is getting asked the question we've asked him a lot one final time, finally with an answer:
"What do you want, a baby brother or a baby sister?"
"Baby sister."
"Well good! That's what we got for you!"
Jackson has been very good with Kaylee. He likes to watch her, wants to hold her, kisses her, and gets very worried when she cries:
Here we are, the whole family:
Aren't these the most beautiful ladies you've ever seen?
Ready for her closeup!
But after two days at the hospital it was time to go! Jackson came to help get his new baby sister ready to leave:
My mom had come in to help out. She had actually been out here in Phoenix until the 18th, leaving scant hours before the doctor's appointment. She flew back out on Saturday to help out.
Finally back at the house! Welcome home Kaylee Maryanne Monigan Berger!
Here is breakfast, the morning of. Pretty routine. Bagels. My dad was still here from his previous visit. Jackson was up to wish Momma well.
We got to Banner Desert Medical center at 7am. They were a little busy, so after check-in things didn't really get rolling until around 11am, when she got the IV for the antibiotics and a gel to get things moving. They did, and she started having regular contractions. Same as with Jackson, the goal was "healthy momma, healthy baby, as natural as possible," so no drugs. Breathing and walking. Here we are at lunch, on the ball, eating between contractions, watching a movie on the laptop:
We hit the 4cm mark in the early afternoon, but by around 6:30 when her doctor came to visit we were still at 4cm. This was a scary number for Heather, she spent almost 16 hours at 4cm with Jackson and it took both the Pitocin and the Epidural to get things moving. After talking with Dr., she broke the bag of waters. This made the contractions a bit more intense. Stuffed dog Coco lends support:
It was described to me that with the bag of waters gone, its the difference between squeezing an empty fist and one holding a stress ball. See how much further you can squeeze the empty fist? Friend Lori was the other key person in the Team Omega Birth Unit, and she really helped in these hours:
By 9:30pm Heather had moved to 8cm. So success! However, she was really tiring out. Talking it through with the nurses and us, she decided to ask for the epidural at this point so she would have a chance to rest before pushing. It took almost 90 minutes to get it installed, and they weren't pleasant at all. However, within minutes:
Much happier! She also had a chance to rest for almost three hours, so just before 3am, we got the doctor in the room and started the main event! Just like for Jackson, there was very little pushing, maybe 15 minutes worth, and at 3:10am, we got our first glimpse! The doctor had said that Michael got to make the call as to the baby's gender, and he gleefully shouted "It's a girl!!"
So tiny!
What is that? You want a pony? Of course you can have a pony! Anything for Daddy's Little Girl!
We still didn't have a name for her at this point. Heather and I honestly expected a boy. But the nameless beauty wasted no time in having her first meal and winning the hearts of everyone in the room. A great big thanks again goes out to Lori Simonson, we would have never had such a great birth without her:
Madonna and Child, part II:
Interestingly, all the post-partum rooms above were full, so we stayed the rest of the night and most of the next day in the labor and delivery room. We didn't mind, we knew it was much larger than the one we'd be going to. So later on Thursday Jackson came to visit. Here he is getting asked the question we've asked him a lot one final time, finally with an answer:
"What do you want, a baby brother or a baby sister?"
"Baby sister."
"Well good! That's what we got for you!"
Jackson has been very good with Kaylee. He likes to watch her, wants to hold her, kisses her, and gets very worried when she cries:
Here we are, the whole family:
Aren't these the most beautiful ladies you've ever seen?
Ready for her closeup!
But after two days at the hospital it was time to go! Jackson came to help get his new baby sister ready to leave:
My mom had come in to help out. She had actually been out here in Phoenix until the 18th, leaving scant hours before the doctor's appointment. She flew back out on Saturday to help out.
Finally back at the house! Welcome home Kaylee Maryanne Monigan Berger!
posted by Michael at 3:47 PM
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