6 Piper Azalia Kent

March 11th, 2016

7:46am

7 lbs. 10 oz.

20 inches

At 33 weeks pregnant, I went to my doctor's appointment and they were concerned because my blood pressure was very high and I had alarming amounts of protein in my urine. I was showing signs of preeclampsia again (which is why I was induced early with Christian) so we began the talk of early induction. My doctor was glad I was 33 weeks along and was hoping I could make it to 34 weeks but they were monitoring me closely and put me on bedrest (which is the biggest joke with an active one year old).

I obviously did not want to have the baby too early so my goal was to make it to March. Week after week hit and every week my doctor wondered if I would make it to the next. Then March arrived and I started to get antsy! I could not believe I made it that far after weeks of hearing talk of early induction. My pregnancy with Piper was incredibly painful as I dealt with sciatica and Symphysis Pubic Diastasis. I was also still dealing with bad morning sickness until the very end so I was definitely ready to have a baby and feel somewhat human again. I had contractions for weeks and weeks so my body was exhausted but the contractions were nothing to go to the hospital over so I just waited. My new goal was to have the baby by my birthday, March 10th. 

This is me the morning of my birthday. I had woken up from probably the best night of sleep I'd had in a couple months. My mother-in-law joked that it's because my body was resting up for labor (I think she was right)! This picture makes me laugh. Apparently I wasn't excited about waking up still pregnant. Little did I know, she wanted her own birthday and less than 24 hours later, she would come!

Ironically, on my birthday, the contractions that had been pretty constant stopped. I went about the whole day feeling like my body had regressed. We went out to a fun birthday dinner around 6 pm with Sean, Christian and my mom. Back at home around 9 pm I sat down and finally was able to respond to all my nice texts from friends and family. I can't tell you how many, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Is there a baby yet?" texts I got! To each person I pretty much told them nothing was happening and it was probably going to be awhile. At 10, Sean and I climbed into bed but I couldn't fall asleep because pregnancy insomnia is a beast.

At around 11 I started having the kind of contractions that are just annoying. They hurt a little but they hurt as much as all the contractions I'd been having for over a month so I didn't think anything of it. For the next few hours I timed them. I didn't know what it was like to go into labor on my own so I was doubting myself and I definitely didn't want to go to the hospital for a false alarm. Around 2am, I knew they were consistent and painful so I woke up Sean. My dad had luckily just flown in that night, so I woke him up and told him we were headed to the hospital.

Once I got there I was ready to show the nurses my contraction log to prove it so they'd admit me. Instead they just took me back and strapped me up to the machines. When the nurse checked me I was at a 5! I couldn't believe I was actually in labor. They brought me back to the labor and delivery room and by about 2:30am and within 30 minutes of arriving, I was hooked up to an IV and they started pitocin. The anesthesiologist came in and hooked me up with an epidural before my contractions ever even got really bad! AWESOME. The whole time I kept thinking, "it can't be this easy, there's no way it's going to be this easy..." After an extremely long and semi traumatic birth with Christian, I just couldn't believe how smoothly everything was going.

Sean and I talked and tried to sleep for a little bit but it wasn't too much longer until I started feeling pressure so I told the nurses. Sure enough, I was at a 10 and they said she was about to come so they were going to grab the doctor! I still laugh thinking just several hours after my birthday dinner where I felt nothing, I was delivering a baby.

I was so surprised how quickly everything was going. Hours before I never suspected I was anywhere close to even having a baby! I started shaking and getting really jittery. The doctor on call came in and then Sean introduced himself as a medical student and asked if it was possible if he could deliver the baby. The doctor was so nice about it and told him he could! Sean quickly gowned up and three pushes later, she was here, delivered by daddy! Our parents didn't even have time to make it to the hospital when I said things were progressing quickly. Such a happy whirlwind!

Wrong baby. Still cute. 

I looooove her cheeks!

It was the most bizarre thing starting with a newborn all over again so quickly because my memories of Christian as a newborn were still so fresh. I kept having weird moments where I felt like I was holding baby Christian and having to consciously think about it being a completely different baby. I knew from night one Piper was definitely feisty! Sean and I looked at each other after the first night in the hospital like, "what the crap did we just get ourselves into?" She was not going to let either of us relax post birth and she made that clear!

Little did I know the next few months I would almost never put down my screaming baby. She had two modes: sleeping and screaming. She quickly got her nickname "Pipes" because there was never a louder screaming baby that has graced this green earth. Hah! Ha Ha..... I truly thought I was losing my mind at times. I always said she would've been the perfect first child. She demanded every ounce of me and I felt so badly that I really had to give so much energy to her and Christian often times got what was leftover. After a few months we have finally been able to get some of her issues sorted out and now, I think I can safely say we have a more content baby on our hands! HALLELUJAH.

Here are some examples of Piper ages 0-5 months:

She still wakes up 1-5 times a night and she still makes her opinions (very) well known, but man I love this girl. She has personality oozing out of her! We went for her well check yesterday and her doctor was constantly saying how busy, social, curious, strong, etc... she is. She's a little thing but she's a fireball and we love her for it. Even though I'm terrified of 7th grade Piper, she is always making me laugh (and sometimes makes me roll my eyes). She has evolved so much in her short life and it makes me tear up to think of what obstacles we've had to go through to get her happier. She really is the sweetest, funniest little thing. She's tough and can handle whatever big brother throws her way. It's cliche but I cannot remember life before her. What would we do without this munchkin? So glad she's ours!