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.