Settling In

Tuesday
It's been great getting to come home.  We came home on Tuesday afternoon unpacked our gear and started to settle in.  Dennis and LuAnn were still in town and they made a run by the grocery store for us.  After that, we were able to spend a little time relaxing.

We were also worried about how Sammy would respond to Kennedy's arrival.  To our surprise, he has behaved very well around her.  He has kept his distance from her, but he sure has been keeping an eye on her.

Other than that, we've been spending most of our time tending to feeding and pooping.  It is amazing how we are spending a huge amount of effort focused on trying to get Kennedy to nurse.  She had lost almost 10% of her body weight in the hospital and we wanted to make sure that she gets plenty of nourishment.

Wednesday
We made our first visit to the pediatrician office.  Nursing was still a little shaky and we wanted to make sure that Kennedy was good and full before we went.  Unfortunately it was still early for her meal and did not feel like eating early. Jason took Kennedy back to a room with a scale to check her weight.  He had to strip her down and sure enough, she had a "dirty" diaper so Jason had to run back to the patient room to grab a fresh diaper from Rachel.  Kennedy had dropped more weight and they requested that she come back on Thursday for a weight check.  To make matters worse, Kennedy was not too happy about being naked and cold so she started to fuss.  Her fussing turned into a full cry and the doctor had to have the lactation specialist come visit so that we could get her fed and calmed down.  We were glad to hear from the lactation specialist that we were doing all the right things to get her nursing properly.  The problem was simply that Rachel's milk hadn't come  in so we weren't able to keep up with Kennedy's demand.  That night was pretty tough on us because Rachel's milk came in and we still weren't able to get to to nurse well.

Thursday
We made another visit to the doctor's office and to our bewilderment, Kennedy had gained 3 ounces!  We're not sure how, but we were glad to hear the news.  The lactation specialist also told us that it is common to have trouble with nursing right when the milk comes in.  Again, she reassured us that we were doing all the rights things and that we just needed to hang in there.  We had no idea that it could be so complicated to feed your baby.

Friday
Nursing started to go much better.  We went back to the doctor's office and Kennedy had gained another ounce for a total of 7 pounds, so that is great news.  When she saw the pediatrician, they said that she looks to be in very good health.  So good in fact, that they don't need to see her again until she is two months old.  We really started to settle in about this time.  We have also started to try out several different bows as evidenced by the photos below.

Saturday

We continued to make progress with nursing.  That morning, Courtney and her mom, Peggy, brought lunch and came by the house to see Kennedy.  Later that afternoon, we were able to catch up with some house cleaning.

Sunday
Tiffany and Barrett were passing through the DFW area for a concert so they came by for a few minutes on Sunday morning.  It was really great getting to see them.  After they left, we headed out to the airport to pick up Whitney.  She is going to hang with us for a while to give Rachel an extra hand since Jason is headed back to the office.  We're blessed that she is able to come give us a hand.  Rachel's boss Lori also came by for a few minutes in the afternoon.

Kennedy's Arrival

On Wednesday, we made another visit to Dr. Walter's office.  They measured Rachel about 3 cm and 90% effaced.  The practitioner also stated that she'd be surprised with we made it another week without going into labor.  Since we had heard that before, we tried not to get too excited.  Rachel liked to joke that Kennedy wouldn't come until after July 23rd since she would be considered a Leo and stubbornness is a characteristic of Leo's.  Reference Rachel's Week 39 photo below.

On Saturday, we went to dinner with the Jalberts to celebrate Courtney's birthday.  We met them at a little mexican food restaurant near downtown Grapevine.  Rachel made sure to eat plenty of chips and salsa in hopes of encouraging Kennedy to come a little sooner.  That evening we also walked a couple of loops around the block in case the spicy trick didn't work.

We're not sure if any of those old wives tales did the trick or not, but Rachel went into labor that evening.  Starting at about midnight, Rachel stated to experience labor pains.  By 2:00 AM, they were strong enough and frequent enough that she knew it was the real deal.  We quickly got dressed and started heading to the hospital.  By the time we made it to the hospital, the contractions were about two minutes apart.  When we first started to visit with the nurse, she told us that Rachel would need to be 5 cm and 100% effaced before she would be admitted into the labor and delivery unit.  The nurse checked her and sure enough, Rachel was exactly 5 cm and 100% effaced.  That was about 3:00 AM.  The nurse asked Rachel if she's like to go ahead and order the epidural, but Rachel thought it would be best to wait and see how things progressed.  We called our parents right away to share the good news.  As we were walking back to our labor and delivery room, Rachel said that the contractions were getting pretty intense so she asked to nurse to go ahead and order the epidural.  The photo below was taken before the epidural.

After all of the paperwork and the bloodwork cleared, they were able to call the anesthesiologist back to administer the epidural.  Rachel said that getting her IV was worse than the epidural.  They also had a monitor on Rachel's belly to observe Kennedy's heart beat.  After Rachel received the epidural, Kennedy's heartbeat dropped to about 60 beats per minute.  The nurse had Rachel roll on her side and that seemed to do the trick because Kennedy's heartbeat went back into the acceptable range (90 to 150 BPM).  The nurse also checked Rachel's cervix and stated that she had dilated to 8 cm.  The nurse suspected that the quick progression was due to having Rachel bent over for the epidural.  The photo below was obviously taken after the epidural.

At 8:00 AM, Rachel had become fully dilated, but the nurse and doctor recommended having Rachel sit up for about an hour to let gravity do some work for us before starting to push.  About that time, Matt and Courtney made it by to visit for a few minutes.  Sure enough, about 9:00 AM, the doctor came in.  Dr. Walters was not on duty, but her partner, Dr. Lopez, would deliver Kennedy.  Dr. Lopez confirmed that confirmed that it was time to start pushing.  Matt and Courtney went out to the waiting area and it was about to be showtime in the labor and delivery room.  The nurse started working with Rachel to push.

Matt had loaned us a book about pregnancy from the father's perspective.  One of the chapters in the book emphasized that at some point, the father will develop a whole new appreciation and respect for his wife.  Jason's moment was about to happen.

Rachel pushed for about 40 minutes and Kennedy was born at 10:05 AM on Sunday, July 24, 2011.  She was 7 pounds, 9 ounces and 20.25 inches long.

Around noon, the grandparents and Whitney made it in from Amarillo to see Kennedy.  About that time, a couple of nurses came by to make their assessment of her and to give her a bath.  She sure didn't like getting her bath as evidenced by the photo below.

The grandmas sure did love getting to hold her as they'd soak up every minute that they were able to cuddle with her.

That first evening was pretty tough.  Kennedy would latch okay, but she wouldn't really suck much.  As a result, she got pretty hungry and fussy so we hardly slept.  We were pretty much running on fumes by this point.

After spending two nights in the hospital Kennedy and Rachel were released to go back home.  It was a little intimidating since we would no longer have the safety net of a nurse being right outside of our door.  On the other hand, we were glad to be heading back home.

Still Pregnant

On Wednesday, we made our weekly visit to Dr. Walters' office.  When we saw the doctor we got some good news; Rachel's blood pressure was looking good.  The doctor also said that Rachel is measuring at over 3 centimeters and predicted that Kennedy wouldn't stay in the womb for more than a week.  This was great news and we we've been very excited ever since!

As of Sunday evening, Rachel is still pregnant and hasn't started labor.  It's been a strange feeling for us.  It's almost like we are stuck in pregnancy purgatory.  We've completed about everything we need to do to prepare for her arrival and we don't want to start any new projects around the house because we could be heading to the hospital at any moment.  That means that we've been spending most of our time just waiting and anticipating her arrival. It's almost like that feeling when you were a little kid and Christmas was just right around the corner.  You know that something great is about to happen and you'd do anything in your power to make it come faster. 

We have been walking up and down the hill on our street in hopes that it will help speed up the process, but no luck yet.  The bottom line is that we can't wait for her to come so we can hold her!

Saturday morning out near the community pool.

Rachel hanging out on Saturday afternoon.

Sammy is also doing better.  He continued to react to the medication so the vet gave us an alternative ointment for his eye; however, Sammy reacted just as much to this medicine.  Since his eye appeared better, the vet asked us to suspend application of the ointment.  The vet also observed a high level of enzymes in Sammy's blood so he has us giving Sammy some antioxidants in his food.  That means we have started giving him wet cat food so the powder will stick to his food.  In the photo below, he's chowing down some delicious, yet stinky grub.

Take a look below for the week 38 photo.  We wouldn't be too sad if it's the last one.

Week 37

Wednesday
We made another trip to see the doctor for our weekly checkup.  This time around, we received a more favorable report.  Rachel had actually lost weight from the previous week and her blood pressure had also dropped.  The doctor said that if Rachel's blood pressure holds constant from here on out, she will allow Rachel to go 39 weeks before inducing.  This was good news and we were certainly glad to hear it, but it was a little bittersweet because we had mentally prepared ourselves to meet Kennedy early.  More time in the womb is a good thing, but sure is uncomfortable in these final stages, especially in the July heat.  And at this point, with the house all ready to go, it's hard not to get too eager for her arrival.  I guess she's already providing us with a little exercise in patience.

Saturday
We were able to spend another weekend simply resting.  We can't help but to think that we'll be wishing for these opportunities here soon.  Matt and Courtney came by on Saturday.  Rachel and Courtney spent some time making some hairbows.  Mallory will be in town next week and the Jalberts wanted to take advantage by scheduling Mallory to take a few photos of Addison.  Hence, the girls were making hairbows.

Jason had to take Sammy by the vet on Saturday.  When Jason got home on Friday, Sammy didn't come greet him and the door.  This was very uncharacteristic of Sammy.  Turns out, he was hiding under the bed.  He was favoring his left eye and it was inflamed.  We weren't sure if it was infected or if maybe he had poked it.  On Saturday, it wasn't looking any better so we took him to the vet.  The vet thought that he had some form of pink eye and they gave him some antibiotics.  The vet also noted that Sammy's teeth are in pretty bad shape.  Sammy has pretty advanced gingivitis and we'll have to take him in later for a cleaning.  When we got him home, he was acting very uncharacteristically and he was clearly very disturbed.  We thought that maybe he had a bad reaction to one of his shots or possibly the antibiotics.  We took him outside later that evening in hopes of cheering him up.  It apparently helped because he shot across the yard and caught a small field mouse.

On Saturday evening, Jason spent some time making his favorite dessert, Creme Brulee.  This is always a tasty treat.

Sunday

We took it pretty easy on Sunday.  We spent a few moments watching the Tour de France and having a sip of coffee.  Rachel was feeling pretty uncomfortable, and unfortunately that's becoming pretty common for her at this point.  We had also received a report that Rachel's cousin Joey had gone into labor so we were doing our best to keep current with that situation.  The cat was still acting like he didn't feel good, but at least he was being social again.

Later that afternoon, Rachel got some gear to make a small photo book for Kennedy's sonogram photos.  Take a look below to see her in action.

And last but not least, we have Rachel's Week 37 photo.

Monday
The folks over at Rachel's office hosted a shower in the afternoon.  We received many more goodies for Kennedy.  They also conducted a stroller race and as is tradition, the forthcoming father is obligated to participate.  Jason lost his heat, but only narrowly.  The photo below shows just how close it was.

That evening, we attended our prepared childbirth class.  They had a couple come in who had recently had their baby at the hospital.  Their story was very captivating for all of the eager parents to be, especially since their experience was still so fresh.  They also played a clip of Bill Cosby Himself.  He had a pretty neat monologue about the birth of one of his kids.  It was pretty hilarious, Rachel and I were both crying it was so funny.

Wednesday
Rachel attended her regular checkup and while Rachel normally receives a perfect report card, we were surprised with  some slightly different news.  Rachel's blood pressure had spiked and the doctor noted that she won't let Kennedy go another two weeks without inducing.  Apparently the only way to relieve the high blood pressure is to have the baby.  That was a real shock for us since all of the other visits had been so routine.  True to form, Jason got a little anxious about the news.  He wasn't there for the appointment, so that likely made him worry more than he might had otherwise.

Through the rest of the week, we have been spending as much time as we can resting a prepping the house for Kennedy's arrival.  We had received so many items from the various showers, that we had no idea where we would put all of the baby gear.  Somehow we have managed to put most of it away in a somewhat organized manner.  It's obvious; however, that a baby is about to take over our house.

Rachel has also started to experience one of the less glamorous side effects of pregnancy.  Her feet have started to swell.  We've included a photo below for documentation purposes.

With all of the excitement last week, we forgot to mention that Dennis has made a cradle for Kennedy.  Over the past couple of months he has been working in his shop to make her a bassinet.  When they were in town, he assembled it for us.

We are so very excited to meet our baby girl and look forward to her arrival.  I (Jason) am especially looking forward to taking care of my family.  It must be some sort of primal instinct.  I can't exactly explain it, but just the thought of her and the forthcoming memories makes me feel so proud and brings a smile to my face.

It would be unjust it we were to complete a blog post without including the weekly profile picture of my lovely wife.  See below for her week 36 photo.