8 Christian Lloyd Kent

December 4th, 2014

5:10am
6 lbs. 14 oz.
19.5 inches

December 1st-

I was due with Christian on December 15th. Due to consistent high blood pressure though, I had a hunch he would be coming early. We made a trip to labor and delivery on November 12th because my blood pressure was extremely high. They were possibly going to send me home, give me steroid shots and have me come back in on the 14th to be induced. However, my blood pressure went down during my stay at the hospital so they sent me home. This happened again the day before Thanksgiving. On December 1st for the third time I was sent to labor and delivery after a doctor's appointment. I remember walking in feeling really chill expecting to just be sent home again. Sean was at school and I told him to not even bother coming to the hospital. After a few hours of tests, my doctor decided to keep me at the hospital for a 24 hour urine collection. I called Sean, he came to the hospital and we got set up in our room for the night.

December 2nd-

The next morning, around 10am, my doctor came in to see me. Sean had already left for class for the day and I was just watching tv. My doctor told me she had reviewed all my vitals from the third trimester and decided she just wanted to induce me and that we were going to quit the urine collection and get this process started. I had a mini freak out because it was now all becoming real! I made the phone calls to my parents and Sean's parents who made arrangements to come to Tucson since I'd probably be having a baby that night or early in the morning (Hah). I ate lunch and took a long shower. I was feeling nervous and ready.

By around 3pm, I was in room 190, the room where I was set up to deliver. The nurse inserted a Cervadil to begin the process of softening my cervix. Holllly uncomfortable. When she put it in, I wanted to kick her in the face and I was laughing so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes. Umm... weird pain response. The Cervadil has to stay in for 12 hours. This is around the time I consider my labor starting. I had been having contractions for a couple weeks about 10 minutes apart, but my contractions were getting closer together (about 4 minutes apart) and I was in more pain as the time went on. I watched tv and talked to Sean and tried to get a little sleep. By about 8pm, Sean's parents had shown up at the hospital. My parents' flight landed in Tucson around 9pm. We were able to visit with our parents until about 11pm. I decided I needed to get some sleep because I assumed when the Cervadil came out at 3am, I'd start pushing.

About 5 hours into labor. I was clueless as to what was ahead. Bahah... rookie.

December 3rd-
3am came and my cervix had softened but they decided to do another round since I wasn't as far as they wanted me to be. I was so disappointed and not looking forward to them inserting another. This time, I was really crying and I was so uncomfortable. My contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and it was hard for me to sleep. The next Cervadil was put in at 4am which means that would now put me at 4pm before we took this Cervadil out. Once again I tried to sleep and then our parents visited us in the morning and brought me breakfast. I was in a lot of pain at this point.

Between 10am-3pm is kind of a blur. I literally have never been in so much pain. I told Sean, "I just want to die," probably a billion times. Hah... little dramatic but I really wanted someone to just shoot me. I did what I could during those few hours to help me get through. I took hot showers, I walked around my room and tried to distract myself by watching some tv. I had a cranky nurse and I was bawling my eyes out begging for an epidural. She kept telling me I couldn't get one until 4pm since I had my Cervadil in. I guess someone had finally let the doctor on call know that I had already been in labor for 24 hours with no pain medication because she came rushing into my room, grabbed my hand, and told me they were going to get the anesthesiologist in my room as soon as possible. Halle-freakin-llujah. I wanted to flip that cranky nurse the bird. I don't know if I've ever cried so hard when they took my second Cervadil out. Pain was off the charts and I was sobbing. However, my contractions for the next 30 minutes were more tolerable knowing soon I wouldn't be in so much pain.

The anesthesiologist came in and was a really nice guy and explained everything to me. I remember my old Young Women's president telling me that during her epidural she recited the Young Women's Theme over and over again in her head so that's exactly what I did. Within about 15 minutes I was feeling amazeballs. My body was finally able to relax. I told our parents they were welcome to come back in the room and we talked and ate dinner and then I slept for a few hours. Around 8pm they started me on a 2 on pitocin (it can go up to 40) and increased it by 2 every 20 minutes. Once I was at a 6 on pitocin, the baby's heart dropped so they turned the pitocin off for a few hours.

December 4th-
Around 2am they turned the pitocin back on. His heart rate dropped again so they decided to check to see if I was dilated. I was at a 9! Yay! We were near the end! She told me I would start pushing in an hour and they turned off the pitocin again. Since they turned off the pitocin and I didn't have a Cervadil in, my contractions started slowing down to 6 minutes apart. At 3am, I started to push. This part wasn't so bad! I pushed for 2 hours with the help of Sean and my nurse. My mom and mother-in-law were in the room with us and it was a really peaceful experience. I don't know if it's because it was 3 in the morning and it was dark and rainy outside, or if I was just so exhausted, but I just felt very calm and relaxed at this point.

At 5:10 and after 36 hours of labor, our little guy made his debut! He came out screaming his head off. He cried for about 30 seconds and then went silent and started smiling and was looking all around the room.

Sean cutting the cord

I hadn't seen his face yet, but my mom ran over and showed me a picture.

This might be my favorite picture for the rest of my life. It's the first time I saw his face and I was totally in love!

Over the next few hours we held him and looked at him. I loved being able to meet the little boy I had grown to love and know over the previous 9 months. It was a rainy and gloomy day and we all just slept and admired our sweet new baby.

Although parts of labor were rough, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Sean was so helpful and calm throughout the whole process. I loved having our parents there. After 5 days at the hospital, I was antsy to get home!

The last few days at home have been a roller coaster by itself! We are loving our little guy and getting used to his schedule (awake allllll night and asleep during the day, of course). We are running on little to no sleep but that's how it goes! Sunday, I wasn't feeling well. Because I had no other post pregnancies to compare it to, I assumed it was because I was exhausted and I had just given birth. By 9pm I was in the ER and turns out I had 3 infections including mastitis (yowza). They did put me on antibiotics so I'm feeling so much better and we are cherishing every moment!

We are feeling so grateful for all of the love and support we have received. Sean and I can't thank everyone enough for your kindness. We are sleep deprived but feeling so at peace and grateful for this incredible gift given to us from our Heavenly Father. I couldn't feel more blessed.