Kaylee's Arrival - March 4, 2011

Wes and I went to see Dr. Pohl on Wednesday, March 2 (36 1/2 weeks) for my 36 week check. When he checked me, he said Kaylee was head down and ready, my cervix was soft, but no dilation yet. He let us know that we were headed in the right direction. Thursday I went to school and that afternoon when I went to the restroom I stopped in front of the mirror and just looked at my tummy and teared up knowing this was the last pregnancy for us. That night Wes and Landon went with the Hildreth boys to a night at their church. Since our boys were gone Kerri Hildreth, her daughter, her younger boys, and I went to dinner at Cracker Barrel. It was a very nice relaxing night.

The boys got home around 9pm and Landon was in bed soon after. Wes and I got ready for bed and watched American Idol until 10. I felt like I had been asleep for hours, but at 10:27pm I realized that my water was starting to break. Unfortunately, Wes had not slept at all the night before so he decided to take a sleep pill so he would feel rested. He heard me jump up and say "OH NO!!!" We both came to the conclusion very quickly that our family of 3 was about to change. We rushed around the house calling the Dr, getting the little things that were on my "pack at the last minute" list, and calling family. The last thing we did was get Landon up and pack him in the car too, still asleep. We are blessed to have a WONDERFUL Nana Irene. She is not blood family, but she is our adopted family. We called her right after my water broke and she offered to take Landon at her house. This was such a comfort because it calmed my nerves about keeping his schedule as uninterrupted as possible.

By 11:00 pm I started to get full contractions and the reality of what was to come started to set in. At 11:30 pm we arrived at the hospital, and by 12:00 they were hooking me up to all of the monitors. When they checked me I was at 4cm dilated and 80% effaced. Wes was EXTREMELY tired because of the medicine, but we were blessed that my sister-in-law, Alisa, decided to come up to the hospital. With her there it gave me someone to talk to and allowed Wes to close his eyes for a little bit. Around 1:45 I started to have bad contractions and asked to get checked again, but was only at 5 cm and still 80% effaced. This was very discouraging to me. At 2:15 my contractions were off the chart and the pain was everything that I remembered from Landon. I told Wes and Alisa that I was feeling a lot of pressure and felt like I needed to push. They both were standing on either side of my bed looking at each other. I am sure that they were thinking that I wouldn't/couldn't have moved that much in 30 minutes, but I told them I wanted her to check me and if not the I WANTED AN EPIDURAL because I couldn't handle these contractions for much longer. Well, the nurse came in very slowly, I am sure thinking that I was going to be one of "those" patients. As she checked me she said, "Man you move fast...we will page Dr. Pohl." I was fully dilated and effaced, which meant it was time to push. So, at 2:45 Dr. Pohl arrived, I was SO happy to see his face! I started pushing and at 3:06 am on March 4, 2011

Kaylee Elizabeth Sturgeon was added to our family.

I made it through 2 births without an epidural. I am very proud of myself! It makes my recovery so much easier without the drugs, but the pain is NOT fun!

As the nurse was cleaning her up she said, "Man she is a little stretcher", and if you have been around me this pregnancy the one thing I complained about is that she wasn't a kicker instead she was a stretcher. This always seemed to hurt more than the kicks.

She weighed 6lbs. 10 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Aunt Alisa getting to hold Kaylee. Alisa stood in the hall while Kaylee was born and when she came back in she said, "Man she has a set of lungs."

"Little Princess" is what Wes has named her. Do you think he is wrapped already?

YES!!!

I guess I will have to be the strict one on her.

Around 8 am that morning Wes went to get Landon, who was SO excited to meet his sister. He didn't even take time to take his jacket off. He just jumped right up into bed with me to give her kisses.

Even in labor I did think through packing Landon's Big Brother shirt for Nana to dress him in.

"Mommy I want to hold her."

Can you tell how proud he is? That smile says it ALL!

Kaylee is just a little loved!

Landon brought Kaylee her bear, which is bigger than she is.

We had a lot of wonderful visitors at the hospital to help welcome Kaylee: Aunt Alisa, Nana Banana, Uncle Jeff, Mimi, Bubba, Kristen Hewitt, Kristi Terry, Erin Reinstein, Kerri and Aaron Hildreth.

Unfortunately, Michelle McMahon and Luci Hunt both had planned to come up, but woke up sick so they will have to meet Kaylee later.

Since Kaylee was born 3 days before my official 37th week, full term, they treated her like a preemie. They did a bunch of tests, but she passed them all with flying colors. (I told Wes that I have thought that I was always a week ahead of where my Dr. put me, and looking at her weight she isn't a preemie. With my calculations she is the same age as Landon was when he was born.)

Either way, she is a beautiful bundle of joy. We feel blessed to have her in our lives. I know that there are MANY adventures that we are going to have together as a family of 4.

Our family is a complete Sturgeon package!