Keelyn's Big Arrival!!!

****Warning: OBSCENELY long post ahead!!!****

And possibly TMI at times...

Consider yourself warned :0)

Well as we all know from where I last left off, I checked into Mercy Medical Center on Thursday, July 23rd at 8pm. I answered all the nurses questions, got into the sweet hospital gown, got my IV put in (FYI... I was a big ol' wimp at this and cried like, well, a baby!). At 9:15pm, the nurse checked me out. She told us that I was 2-3cm dilated and thin. Woohooo!!! Progress from Tuesday's dr. appt. That's what I like to hear!! When she hooked me up to the monitors, she also found that my contractions were 3-6 minutes apart. Hmmm... funny... I didn't really even know I was having them. 'Is this all it will be?' I thought? Oh... if I only knew then what I foudn out later. But I digress... She gave me the first Cervidal pill and left us to be.

At 12:15am, a new nurse came my way, checked me out and said I was 3-4cm dilated, and contractions were ranging from 2 minutes to 5 minutes apart. Again, progress! WOOT!! She called Dr. Johnson to see what he wanted for the next step and he said to forget the next dose of Cervidal, bring on the Pitocin! So, that's exactly what she did. And boy did that stuff start to work!!! From 12:15-5:15, there wasn't a whole lot of sleep for this girl. I was having some serious contractions (yeah, I knew I was contracting now. Oh, for the hours earlier when I didn't know...)

At 5:15am, the nurse came back in to check me out and found that I was 4-5cm dilated and asked if I was ready for my epidural. Am I? Yep!! Sign me up!!! So she called the anesthesiologist and within minutes she was in my room getting me prepped. Not gonna lie, the overwhelmingness (is that really a word?) of the events started to hit me. OMG! I'm getting closer!!! Surprisingly, I handled the epidural WAY better than I handled the IV. Call me crazy. It's ok. I pretty much am. Again, I digress.

The epidural began doing its thing within minutes (well, felt like minutes to me, that is) and I was able to drift off to sleep for several hours. I'm not sure what time my next nurses came in, but it was maybe around 7:30 or 8am. They again checked me out and wahlah! More progress! Let me also say, Mary Beth and Lacinda were THE BEST labor & delivery nurses that I could have ever asked for.

**Side story: Lacinda is also a nurse at Dr. Johnson's office and was the nurse who filled

in for Dr. Johnson to hear Keelyn's first heartbeat on that fateful January day.

It was meant to be.**

At 9:30am, they checked me out and I found I was completely dilated but still had some cervix left on my left side. They said they would check me again at 10am, but I was having some pretty strong contractions. Again, I LONGED for the time the night before when I didn't know I was contracting!!

At 9:45am, I told Sean to call them because I thought I needed to push. Rather than calling, nervous nelly Sean went out to get them :). Mary Beth & Lacinda made their way to my bed and allowed me to give one push and said I wasn't quite there yet... needed to wait some more. Wait some more?!??! Are you kidding me!?!?

At some point, Dr. Johnson came in to check me out, and he noticed that I had meconium in my amniotic sac (Keelyn pooped inside me...nice). So he informed Sean he wouldn't be able to cut the cord, and that we were going to have to have NICU doctor and nurses in the room when I delivered. I was a smidge nervous, but trusted that everything was going to be fine with it. Anyway, back to the story...

So, I followed their directions, and sure enough, they came back in at 10am to see how I was doing. Contractions were much stronger, and like magic, I was 100% effaced and ready to go. So they got the bed and gear all set up, and put an oxygen mask on me because they said the baby needed it. Around 10:10am, I began pushing. I pushed, and pushed, and pushed for a bit, then I hit a wall. I'm going to be a Mom. I'm in labor. I'm going to be a Mom. You would think I would have thought this before, but I think everything finally hit me. I had a large, overwhelming, OMG what did I get myself into, oxygen mask flipping off meltdown and cried and cried and cried. Mary Beth, being the ultra professional that she was looked at me, told me in the nicest way possible to put my mask back on and gave me a come to Jesus meeting. I calmed myself down, and began pushing again.

Now somewhere in here, I had a funny thing (to everyone else, not to me) happen. Keep in mind, I was given my epidural at 5:15am, therefore my legs were completely numb, therefore I was unable to get to the bathroom to brush my teeth. So I'm wearing this dang oxygen mask breathing heavy like none other with the pushing and all of a sudden I yelled out, "My breath stinks!". Yep, that's me...classic and smooth. This sends everyone else to start laughing and tell me it's ok, it's not bothering us, to which I replied "That's because I'm the one breathing it in in the mask!". I flipped it off once more, and once more, Mary Beth had to have a come to Jesus meeting with me. I put it back on.

More pushing followed, with me hitting Sean on the arm, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and telling him to either pull my leg back or push my head. This was the only "negative" thing I did to Sean the entire time.

**Side note: Let me just say this... my husband was absolutely WONDERFUL during the entire labor and delivery. He did everything he was asked to do, by myself and the nurses, and was just what I needed beside me. I love you, Sean!**

I was apparently pushing the right way now as they called for Dr. Johnson to get there, as well as for the NICU team to come, too. In they came, a few more minutes of pushing, and at 10:55am, Keelyn Avery Lynam made her way into the world!!!!!!! Dr. Johnson suctioned her nose and mouth and handed her off to the NICU team. Once the NICU people had her, Sean left my side to watch them work while Dr. Johnson had to work on me. And boy did he have to work on me. Keelyn gave me severe lacerations on the inside and Dr. Johnson and the nurses worked on stitching me for around 45 minutes, at which point they ended up having to insert a vag pack as well as a catheter.

At some point during my repair work, the NICU doctor came over to tell me that everything checked out ok with her, and Sean followed her on down to the nursery for her to get measured and weighed. They did bring her over to me so I could see her (except I really couldn't see her because I didn't have my glasses on), but I saw enough to know that I had just given birth to the most beautiful baby girl the world has ever seen!!

After awhile, Sean made his way back upstairs to where I was laying wondering what on earth my body had just gone through, as well as my Mom & Dad, and then the arrival of Keelyn. I was informed that she weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz., and was 19 3/4 in. tall.

Friday & Saturday consisted of LOTS of visitors (as you can see), and we were released on Sunday...





Monday morning was Daddy/daughter morning. Sean took Keelyn to see a few people (and do some bragging), then took her to his favorite store...Menards. What a crazy guy! Grandma Sally came back on Monday to stay for the week to help out with cooking, cleaning, laundry, and of course, getting in some good ol' spoiling of her granddaughter.

Tuesday consisted of hanging out and going to the doctor. Dr. El Dadah said she's doing great. We are working on some feeding problems (she's super hungry, wants to eat NOW, and doesn't want to work for it so we are doing some major supplementing of formula until Mommy can get enough milk made).

So far, we are having a GREAT time. Keelyn is, quite possible, the best baby in the entire world. She sleeps 3-4 hour stretches, and she only fusses when she's hungry. And did you know she has the cutest lil' toes in the world? And she's also the world's best snuggler. We are so blessed to have her as a daughter.

Get ready blogosphere... Keelyn's here, so let the bragging begin!!

BTW... congrats to any of you who made it through this whole post. I promise I will try my best to not make any more obscenely long posts like this anymore.