Zach, Sara, and Kenleigh Mae: September 2009

Wow, I can’t believe it. A month with Kenleigh has already come and gone. She turned one month old yesterday. She has been such a joy to have around. I am however definitely ready to get out of the house a little for the remainder of my maternity leave and explore the world that has almost been foreign to me. Here is a few things Kenleigh has been up to:
*Sleeping – during the day, not at night. However, now she has developed colic or reflux or something…she cries pretty much always if she isn’t eating or sleeping. I take her to her pediatrician tomorrow to check for reflux. Poor girlie.
*She loves light. It’s funny to leave the room with the light on and go into somewhere dark. She’ll turn her head as far as possible to keep looking at the light.
*Her eyes are still gray. The never did go blue (in my opinion). We are hoping they turn green.
*She loves taking a bath – she hates getting out!
*Her neck is getting really strong. She likes to hold her head up by herself whenever possible and look around.
*We think she is smiling more just because…not because of gas.
*She recognizes our voices. When I’m gone and come into the room she gets really excited…this excites me.
*She loves to be rocked but hates her swing…great!
*She has the hiccups about three times a day.
*She got her first real baby acne yesterday on her one month birthday.

*Her hair is still red but is falling out quick. I'm excited to see if it comes back red.
*She’s pretty much perfect!!!

Born August 29, 2009 @ 6:33 p.m. - 7 lb. 2 oz., 19.5"

Kenleigh Mae has arrived. I think I say in all my posts that I ramble way too much. Once again I’m sorry this is so long, I like details! I’ll attempt to spare you the minute by minute. My last Doctor’s appointment was Tuesday, 08/25 and I left with absolutely nothing to report…nothing – 39 weeks and still no progress. This time I wasn’t down. I knew that Kenleigh was healthy and when she was ready she would come. I finished the week feeling like my normal self. Stefanie’s wedding was set for the 29th and I was in her line. Zach and I went to Clinton Friday night for a BBQ dinner they had to give everyone a chance to get acquainted. It was a ton of fun and lots of just relaxing. We got home around 11:30 p.m. and went straight to bed. As I was going to sleep I felt like saying to Zach, “something feels different”. I pretty much felt different my whole pregnancy so I figured it was nothing. I woke up at 2:30 a.m. and knew I was having contractions. Nothing too strong and not super regular; the hours went by and they got worse and worse. My breathing through them finally woke Zach up. I told him I thought I was in labor and he thought we needed to go right away. I told him that I won’t be that girl that gets sent home and I wanted to do my labor as long as possible at home. He left to work around 7:30; around 10 I couldn’t take it anymore. The labor and delivery nurse said not to come in until my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and a minute long. They were only 3-6 minutes apart and about 45 seconds long. At that point I didn’t care. I called Zach and had him come get me – even if just to take me in for a pain shot to help me relax. We got to the hospital around 11 and by then my contractions were exactly where they wanted them to be. One nurse checked me and I was barely dilated, not even a 1 yet. She thought they would have to send me home but had us walk for an hour to see if there was progress and not false labor. 30 minutes into the hour I was buckled on the floor crying with each contraction (I was a baby having a baby)…sad huh? We got back to the room and no progress with dilating, however, I had softened. She was able to work some things out (um, down there) and get me admitted. YES!!! It was around 2:00 p.m. that they gave me my epidural at about a 2+ and broke my water 30 minutes later – still a 2+. At 3:45 they checked me again, still 2+ so they decided to start me on pitocin. 45 minutes later 2 nurses rushed in because Kenleigh’s heart rate wouldn’t stableize; I was a 5+. They said when a mother labor goes that quick the baby doesn’t generally handle it well. They took me completely off pitocin. They checked me one hour later and I was a 9+…I couldn’t believe how quick that all happened with only 45 minutes of pitocin. I was so excited and so scared I couldn’t stop crying. The doctor got their around 6 and I started pushing around 6:15. After 3 contractions of pushing Kenleigh was born at 6:33 p.m. I have never in my life cried so hard. She is amazing. She is amazing. She is amazing! I thank God every minute for the most precious gift on earth. She is amazing. Zach wanted a boy so bad for our first child. He came to terms quickly that we were having a girl but of course still wanted his boy. Now, he says he can’t even imagine what it would have been like to have a boy. He is so addicted to her. He holds her every chance he gets and hasn’t watched TV in days because he can’t stop staring at her. Oh we are so lucky. Pictures are below.