It's about time to introduce...

Kaydence Rae Munson

Born August 2, 2012- 7lb. 12oz.-19in.-11:45AM

Our 5th member to join our little family. Although when you say 5th it doesn't seem to be "little" anymore. We find it is easy to forget that there is a third to care for, like when you go out to eat at an ice cream place and you start to walk off without your baby in the carseat....AHHH! It has been so nice to have life where your kids just follow you and do what you do and you don't have to carry them around. We've had kids in the toddler stage for a year now and are just getting back into the baby stage. 

Anyways back to Kaydence- (this is the journal entry...lots of details and exactly what went on the last few weeks all the way up to well today...and she is 3 weeks old. So WARNING-this will be LONG!) At my 36 week appointment my doctor checked my progress and I was dilated to 3.5cm. and 80% effaced. I knew I was dilated that much. I just had a feeling, call it mothers instincts if you will. Yet, I was shocked! But from that moment I thought well...she will be coming early for sure! That weekend was stressful for us, because Patrick being in the bishopric had responsibilities that had him going to High Adventure with the Young Men that following week. We were a little nervous of me being that far progressed and with him being 2 hours away and possibly without cell phone service. We contemplated every scenario and exactly how we would handle situations, but we both felt he should go. Turned out that he had cell service and we talked more that week than I think we normally do in a regular week. That week, week 37, Patrick left for High Adventure for 4 days and I went to my doctors appointment the first day he was gone and found out I had not progressed any further than the week before. I was a little bummed, yet thankful all at the same time. He stripped my membranes a little bit and then off I went to be with my mom in Lehi for the remainder of the time that Patrick was gone. Well that first night I was contracting. Nothing regular or real painful for about an hour and a half. Then everything stopped. I was able to ride out the rest of the time til we got back  with Patrick that weekend.  We were relieved to be together and know that that week was all behind us, yet  a little disappointed nothing had happened yet. 

Week 38 then rolled along and I went to my dr. appointment and found out still nothing had changed. He stripped my membranes again and off I went. Dr. Bierer said "Well I will be REALLY shocked if I don't see you soon to have this baby. But let's set for the next time I see you to be not a check up appointment but to induce you. I'll have my nurses call you with that all set up for you." And off I went and I did all my errands and cleaning that day thinking all of the working would send me into labor and also I'd be totally prepared for going to the hospital and knowing everything was in order here at home. I absolutely expected to be going to the hospital that Wednesday night. well sure enough at about 3:45pm that day I started contracting. I did so for 4 hours, just they weren't consistent enough for me to have reason to go into the hospital. Patrick had called Bishop and said "Skye is contracting and we very well expect to go in tonight to have the baby." Well, 7pm rolls around and everything came to a halting stop!! It was so frustrating. And that was when real frustration hit me. I had just cancelled my plans for that evening and so did Patrick. I felt awful that I had held him back from his priesthood duties and calling and had nothing to show for it. The next 4 days were incredibly hard on us, me especially. They were filled with tons of emotions and feelings each ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other. Frustration all the way to hope and expectation for it to be TIME. I quickly learned to be ok with it and that I needed to enjoy my time with my 2 older kids while I had it. I needed to enjoy some of my freedoms that I was taking for granted. So...I did knowing I had an induction date set, it was all good and I knew i just needed to wait and enjoy my time, and that she would come when she would come. 

Week 39 rolls around and I have my induction date set up for Thursday August 2, 2012 at 5:30am that week. Like I said I took my time that week and enjoyed all of my lasts before baby number 3.  We actually got a little worried about her movements. Not that they had decreased or anything, but that they were seizure like. So we went in for an appointment on Tuesday (July 31st) and had ourselves reassured that everything was fine! That babies can't seize in utero and that she is and has been super healthy through the whole pregnancy. I came home that night and had an hour of really hard contractions that were 5 minutes apart. I really thought that was it. I was going to have her that night!! But as soon as that 1 hour mark hit ONCE AGAIN the contractions stopped. BLAH! and UGH! Luckily I hadn't gotten my hopes up and filled myself with complete joy that it might be happening. 

Wednesday (August 1st) rolls around and I cleaned and got everything ready to go around the house. Grandma Lori Munson and Kelsey came up and we ordered pizza and enjoyed the evening together. I asked Patrick to give me a blessing that night, because it's not very often that you get to plan when your baby will be born. Patrick said that while he was giving the blessing he realized that halfway through that she was connected to me and that he could bless her through me. It was a neat little blessing and filled my heart with peace and comfort and joy.  

Just sittin & waitin! 

Thursday (August 2nd) morning 5am comes and we were off to the hospital. We arrived there and got ourselves admitted and got to know our nurse well. She checked my cervix and I was dilated to a 3.5 maybe a possible 4 is what she said. All was said and done by 6:45am and they started the Pitocin drip at it's lowest level, a 4. Around 7:30 they upped the pitocin to the second level, an 8.(Which the nurse later informed us that most women don't start feeling or having contractions til level 5, a 20.) At 8am I was starting to really feel the pain. The contractions were hitting me so quickly I had maybe 1-2 minutes to breath before the next one would hit. I was really trying to be strong and push through. I kept thinking to myself that I was being a HUGE wimp. I was thinking how could I be feeling pain like this so quickly, yet how come the contractions were coming so frequently too?!
 I had many blessings before this delivery and was told that I would know my body and I was advised to listen to what my body was telling me and speak up about it. Well, I told Patrick my very thoughts and we got the nurse in there to check on me. It was 8:25am and she checked me and I was dilated to 7cm. WOW! Our nurse was impressed and quite shocked. We had her call for the epidural and found out the anesthesiologist that was in the labor and delivery secition of the hospital was in a C-section at the time and wouldn't be able to come soon. When I heard that I was in the middle of a contraction and I just looked up at Patrick and shook my head and widened my eyes as if to be saying "NO! that is not ok! I need the epidural NOW!" So Patrick said to the nurse is there anything we can do about that? The nurse stayed in the room while I had a couple more contractions and she realized the pain I was in. So she called almost every nurse that was available to come get the room set up and ready to go AND she called another anesthesiologist from another part of the hospital to come give me my epidural. While waiting for him to get there they got EVERYTHING ready so that when he walked in our door all he had to do was give me that epidural and all would be well. We even turned off the Pitocin drip to maybe help slow me down a little bit. The anesthesiologist finally arrived and he gave me the strongest first dose he could give me to play catch up to the pain I had been having and BOY was I numb! It felt great! My bum felt like the weight of a gigantic boulder. After I got the epidural and was feeling better it was about 9am They checked me and I was at an 8. My doctor was already there at the hospital. In fact he was the one doing the c-section. When he finished there he came over to see how things were going and since I was progressing so quickly he decided to stick around, thinking that baby would be here any minute. Well 20 minutes passed and I was still at an 8. So he went back to work and waited for us to call him. Then we waited.... and waited... While we waited, we watched the Olympics and I felt dandy because I was totally numb! They restarted the Pitocin drip at the first level. And Grandma Munson, Kelsey, Porter and Kinley came cuz we had told them it was gonna happen soon. But once they got there things had really slowed down so we hung out for a while and then they decided to go to the library across the street and then go get some lunch.
They left and the nurse came in to check my cervix yet again, because she had been checking me frequently and nothing had been happening. As she checked me she was really confused because every time she checked my cervix was totally gone on the left side but not on the right. And she thought that had something to do with why I was going so slow, so she kinda stripped my membranes WHILE I pushed. Within 2 minutes, I mean the nurse hadn't even finished washing her hands and getting out of the room and I looked at her and I said, "Uhhh.... I need to push" So she checked me and sure enough I was at a 10. This time it was about 11:00am.  So she called Dr. Bierer and he showed up at 11:30. I pushed 3 times and Kaydence Rae was born at 11:45am!!
Here is the Hindsight side to this story: Once her head was out, we realized why my labor had slowed down both that morning and all the other times weeks before when I would contract. Also why my cervix had only thinned completely on the one side....well... She was Posterior-meaning she came out with her nose facing the ceiling instead of the floor. Hindsight: I'm grateful she was posterior because week 37  when I contracted for 2 hours and then all of a sudden it stopped, Patrick was gone on High Adventure, and with the speed that  my labor went through in the beginning hours there would have been no way Patrick would have gotten back in time for the delivery. I don't even know If I would have made it to the hospital in time on my own. So that makes me grateful for not going into labor during week 38 too.
About Kaydence: Lots of hindsight and details within this whole experience, but we are so thankful for the lessons learned and that we have a healthy little girl! She has thrown us a little bit with the amount of hair she has and how dark it is. Porter and Kinley were not dark nor did they have the amount of hair she does. I'm sad when I think of it and how she will probably lose it, at least in the back with the whole bald spot thing going on.
She was a little jaundice so we had to take her in 3 consecutive days after she was born to keep being tested. And each time we went in she got better and her weight was going up! So that was really good. She is amazing at nursing! She had no problem learning how to latch on! Even with her being tongue tied and all! She was great! And even better after they clipped her tongue! She wouldn't take the binki-absolutely hated it for a while there. Now she is 3 weeks old and she'll take it ONLY if she is full and knows how tired she is and wants to go to sleep. It was frustrating for a while, but I can't force it and i've learned other ways to soothe her. Which has been quite the process. Because she isn't a fan of the binki she used to and is getting better at this but she thought she had to be nursing ALL the time! It was tiring for me and confused me. It made me think I had no milk and that she was starving to death.
As for me and my Recovery. This go around has been AMAZING! Really truely amazing! I was up and walking around the day I delivered and seriously it took me maybe 5 to 7 days til I was feeling almost back to normal me! Now it's bragging time: I even weighed myself at 2 weeks postpartum and I only have 5lbs to go til I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight! I FEEL GREAT! I have to give credit to the MANY people who have helped us out over the past 3 weeks! Lori, Jenae, My Mom, and a full weeks + worth of meals from friends! It's been marvelous!

Our BIG HAPPY Family!

Family Adjustments: The kids have been great with Kaydence. The greatest thing about this delivery was the kids were there 30 minutes after we had her and were able to meet their new little sister! It was so neat to be a part of that! They both held her and were super soft and cute with her! Giving her lots of kisses and hugs! One of the first things Porter said after holding her was "Mom! Now we are one big happy family!" It was as if he knew we had been waiting for her to come and now that she was here we were officially a BIG-HAPPY family! I loved it! Now that we are back to normal life and at home Porter is constently in Kaydences face! I have to tell him to scoot back and give her space. He LOVES to give her kisses and ask her how she is doing or what's the matter when she is crying. Kinley is the one who likes to read to her and hold her and sing her songs! They both love to be the one to notify me when they hear her grunt, or cry! I've got two really good helpers! I feel bad though b/c I can tell that they don't like how having a baby has effected their lifestyle. They can't go play outside as much, or they don't have as much mommy alone time. We can only go to the store or play outside at a certain time of the day and so on. But we are all doing well.

Just so Happy he can't contain himself! :)

Meeting their new sister.

First time Porter held Kaydence

First time Kinley held Kaydence.

Shirts given to the kids from Kaydence!

Sweet Hospital room. Just down the hall from where I was born! Pretty cool to be born in the same building as your mom!

Mom dressing me to go home.

1 Day old-Going home from Hospital

4 Days old- After first bath at home.

So glad Nae and Josh could come up and help us out! The Kids had so much fun playing with Josh!

Nae-Already third grandma to Kaydence!

First time Grandma C met Kaydence

At Kaydences 2 week well child visit- she had gained 1 lb 3oz from the time we left the hospital. weighing 8lbs. 3oz (56%) and was 21.5 inches long (95%) So growing well and is healthy and happy. And as I type that it almost seems like an understatement. She really is so healthy and REALLY happy. We only hear her cry when something is seriously wrong, as in a hurting tummy from a bubble or gas, or a hungry cry. Maybe she just hasn't found her voice, but I'm pretty sure it's just that she is a happy girl! It isn't a rare thing to find her Smiling! We love it! Oh and one more thing- she is a good sleeper- now that she has a better idea of her nights and days! she will go every 4 hours for eating and sometimes at night I can get 5 and sometimes 6 hours between feedings. On average I get a good 7 hours of sleep each night! Which has been really really nice! Like I said she's a good girl and has treated us well!