Kelsey Playing & Talking!

Kelsey Talking to John and Me! It's really good around 2 minutes!

Still One of My Favorite Pictures!

This is what I get to wake up to on the weekends...could that be any cuter?

Our Little Girl is 2 Weeks Old!

Well..it's been a while since I've updated! Priorities definitely changed when Kelsey arrived. I've been a bit tired (as you can imagine) and updating the blog is a lot of effort when you can't keep your eyes open! Anyways - lets go through the last few weeks...

John and I arrived at the hospital on July 7th to be induced. Short story goes like this...I was in labor for 24 hours, pushed for about 5 and finally delivered a 10 pound 5 ounce baby at 5:23 am on July 8, 2009. 07/08/09 - that won't be a hard one to remember. Talk about exhausting! I had no idea my labor would progress so slowly, but if you remember, my cervix was still very high and I was only 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated when I started my induction. I put off the epidural for as long as possible, but after 3 hours of horrible cramping, I gave in and accepted the goodness the epidural had to offer! It was amazing how different I felt after they stuck me. I remember sitting in the bed, watching Wedding Crashers, thinking "Wow...this isn't going to be so bad!" Boy did I eat those words later on!! :) Anyways - everyone in the hospital room was stunned when she finally arrived. My doctor told me if she would have known she was this large we would have done a c-section. (For this reason, I am very happy we didn't know her weight). We had to use the vacuum to get her out and in my mom's words "It looked like a tug of war between Dr. Westmoreland and Kelsey!" haha..I had no idea because my eyes were closed and I was pushing as hard as I could. John was absolutely amazing during the whole process. It was so awesome to have such a strong, motivating person to turn too, because let me tell you, labor is an extremely emotional event! He was there to calm me when I start crying and give me words of encouragement when I didn't think I had any energy left in me! I am so blessed with a wonderful husband, and now an amazing family!

Kelsey was sent to the NICU after the delivery because she had low blood sugar. The doctors said between the fluid that she had suchioned out of her lungs, the hours in the birth canal, and the cutting of the ambilical cord, her body may have been stressed out and that's what lowered her sugar level. She stayed there for about 24 hours. I got up every 3 hours throughout the night to go down and feed her because it was really important to me that she was breastfed and not formula fed. She has done a great job with feeding, which I am very thankful for! On Thursday she was allowed to come back into our hospital room and we were finally able to enjoy some quality family time, just the 3 of us. We were released from the hospital on Friday, came home, and let reality sink in! It felt so unreal to be parents!

Since then, we've been adapting to our lack-of-sleep and have enjoyed getting to know Kelsey. Let me tell you...the girl has a set of lungs. She goes from 0 to 100 in no time. We'll be sitting around and she's silent, then in a split second she's screaming at the top of her lungs! There really isn't that much middle ground with her. She's been sleeping pretty well at night (minus last night where she probably slept about 2 hours), and we've been taking good naps together while Daddy is at work. I just love her to death! She makes the funniest faces when she naps - she must have some vivid dreams already! She wimpers and cries in her sleep, then turns her frown into a smile and sighs loudly. It's so adorable! I now see exactly what movements she was doing in my tummy as well. I think she could be a black belt in karate with the way she punches and kicks all day. I love, love, love her wake time during the day. She has the prettiest eyes and is so fun to interact with. Overall, I think her best feature has got to be those cheeks!!

Here are a few pictures from the first two weeks...I promise I'll try to stay more on top of my game and update the blog more frequently. Until then...enjoy our little Kelsey Ann!

One More Day!!

For the last weeks I've been wanting her to come quickly, but this is the day I have to tell her to stay in until tomorrow. My Doc isn't working today and I would hate to deliver with another doctor, so hopefully she'll listen to me (although she hasn't quite done that yet) and stay all comfy until tomorrow. We have to call the hospital at 5:00 am again. I think most of my family is driving in tonight...they are very familiar with the Dallas-Houston route! Other than that, I am going to tidy the house today, hang up an art project I made for her room, scrapbook and read. It's actually overcast in Houston and supposed to rain around 3..haha, yeah right...so it's perfect inside-be lazy weather! Hopefully you'll be seeing pictures of our new baby tomorrow! :)

Or Not...

Frustration is really the only way I can describe how I feel right now. After finally making the decision to commit to an induction and getting all excited, I called the hospital this morning and there wasn't enough room to bring me in. It has taken me quite a while to understand that this is God's plan and definitely the best for me and Kelsey, but it's hard when you get yourself so pumped up to finally see your new baby and that experience is ripped away from you. I definitely shed some tears this morning, but after the initial emotional release, I am realizing everything will be ok.

I called the hospital this morning to see what time they wanted me to come in and they told me to call back around 8:00 and they would have some decisions made. I went to bed (off and on, of course) until about 7:15 and called at 7:45. They told me that there wasn't going to be any room to do the induction today. Now let me explain this phenomena...my induction (since I wasn't over a week late), was considered an 'elective induction' aka the bottom of the totem pole. The hospital only does 4 of these each day, and they fall behind any emergencies, natural births, or 'medical' inductions. It makes sense, I know, but you try telling that to a 40+ week pregnant woman! So thanks to Hurricane Ike, the amount of births at the hospital is probably more than expected right now, and thus I'm here waiting for Tuesday. I know it's a blessing though, my body probably isn't the best prepared for birthing right now, as my cervix is still really high and I'm only about 1 cm dilated. Kelsey will still be here soon, but like I've said before, I feel like I'm wasting my summer days away without her :(

So the good news...if nothing happens before Tuesday, naturally, I will definitely have her on the 7th. At that point I am considered a 'medical' induction because I have gone longer than 41 weeks and I will be the priority in the birthing center. So I'm hanging in there - catching up on the sleep I missed last night, and trying my hardest to stay positive. All the family headed home today, except Dad who met some friends for the 4th of July in Galveston, but they will be back Tuesday (or sooner if need be). John and I will also be able to make it to church this weekend which we both really wanted to do because we actually made a new series from the start! haha ...and hopefully we can get the backyard completely finished...the final rocks are down, we just have to mortar.

Sorry if I don't answer my phone today, you know how it is telling the same story over and over. It gets me all worked up again and I will become emotionally drained. Hopefully this will help you guys understand what's going on!

And the wait begins (yet again)...

Time for Kelsey!

I had my check up this morning and not much has changed (surprise, surprise)! Anyways - after some discussion with her and John we decided we are going to induce July 2nd. It was a big decision for us, but if it wasn't tomorrow, it would be Tuesday, July 7th. There were a lot of reasons for me deciding on induction. First, my doctor is on call all weekend and it is really important to me that she delivers Kelsey. She is off on Mondays, and I know with my luck, I'd go into labor Monday and miss out on her delivering. Second, my cervix hasn't changed at all in the past three weeks. Now I am fully aware that anything can happen, even within a day, but if nothing does change by Tuesday, then we would be in the same situation we are right now. I've been praying about this a lot and don't want to rush her if she's not ready, but it seemed like everything lined up perfectly. They had 1 extra spot open for an elective induction, and all our family and friends will be able to be here to enjoy the first days of Kelsey's life. John and I have to call the hospital at 5:00 am to see if they still have a position open, and as you may see right now it is actually 3:00 am. My parents came into town this afternoon and we decided to go to Maccaroni Grill for dinner. I ate wayyy to much and I'm sitting up with bad heartburn and nausea. I'm hoping it will go away in the next few hours because this is not how I want to go into the delivery room!

Besides that, I'm sooo excited to finally see Kelsey. She's been one active girl tonight! I'm hoping it's her being just as excited to come out :) She is still a big kicker...constantly going crazy on my right rib! It's these times where I can't wait to see what those movements look like outside the womb. It's crazy - tomorrow (or later today I should say), John and I's life is going to change forever! We are going to enter into the world of parenting and be responsible for another life! I get excited thinking about the beautiful creation God allowed us to make and pray His guidance will help us develop her into a wonderful child of God. He obviously has confindence in our abilities, so we'll see how it all works out :) I'm so thankful for all our family and friends that are praying for our situation right now. I went to bed smiling, thinking about how when my friends say "You're in our prayers", they actually mean it. How great is that! That's all for now, but hopefully with the help of Laura's iphone, we can get some pictures up as soon as our little blessing arrives! Until then ... keep us in your prayers!