Day 9...we're still alive!!!

Greetings everyone!

this may be a short post...but that all depends on how well I was able to bind my child straight-jacket style in a blanket.

Kennedy Rose Hilson was born at 1:56pm on Sunday September 14th. She was 7 lbs 14 oz and 20 1/4 inches long.

So, here are the BRIEF details of my labor: Some of my buddies (including my bestie) were in town for the weekend and I hung out with them until 1am on Sunday morning. I felt fine, everything was normal when i got in bed at 1:30am...then I woke up exactly 1 hour later by the most fierce pain I've ever felt in my life...and not "fierce" as in America's Next Top Model fierce, but fierce as in the bite of a lion fierce...ouch!

After the first contraction I thought...hmmm, maybe we'd better finish packing our hospital bag and get some sleep because this baby might be coming in the next few days.

Well, that contraction was followed by another one, equally as fierce and only 3 minutes later!!!

I thought these things were supposed to be about 10 mins apart and then you work your way to 2-3 minutes closer to push time, but for me labor started with a bang and did not let up AT ALL...so, the bags were haphazardly packed between contractions and screaming (did i mention that the contractions were FIERCE?!?!?!)

Let's just say that everything that I learned in my childbirth class when out the window. i didn't know that you can feel contractions in your legs. that hindered me from getting into any of the positions I learned.

So, we made it to the hospital at 4:30 am (contractions were 2 minutes apart at this time). After puking at the check-in desk and on the way to our LDR, I proceeded to yell at 2 of the most incredibly rude nurses you could imaging...If i remember correctly, they wanted me to get undressed and to place an IV all while I was in the middle of contractions and I kept telling them that we'd need to to these things between contractions when I was not in excruciating pain. they were so impatient so I said something to the effect of "Look, you need to do this quicker...I can't sit still in the middle of a contraction, so if you can't do it between contractions then find someone who can"...ouch!

By the time I got to 8 cm, I knew that natural was not the path I was going to take. I had not slept that night and i could barely breathe the contractions were coming so fast. It took them until 9cm to place the darn needle in the right place, but boy was I in heaven after that! It was funny though because the entire time I was preggy, I had told E not to let me cave in under the fear of pain. He was trying to do that and I swear I think the nurses thought he was an abusive husband or something because they all kept saying "You know mam, this is YOUR choice. No one can make this decision for you"...he was like, "I'm just doing what she told me to do"...priceless!

After the drugs, I was able to sleep for 1 1/2 hours, which ended up helping in the end. I pushed for 55 minutes (it seemed more like 10 minutes honestly and I can barely remember that part at all) and out came my little princess! (wreaking havoc on my body along the way).

Here are some of the pictures taken with my cell phone...I'll post better ones soon.

day 1...in the hospital:

Sleeping in her "thinking" pose:

Her signature "hard day at work" sleeping poses:

first swing ride:

peekaboo!

And my personal favorite...the smile. don't ask me how I was able to catch her smiling in her sleep. She has the cutest dimple!