Kylie’s Fresh 48

I am so excited to share both Kylie’s birth story as well as the moments that make up her “fresh 48!”

On Wednesday the 13th, Brett and I headed to my 38 week appointment. Brett had been telling me for a whle now how he was guessing Kylie would join the world on the 13th. I told him, “You better come to my appointment with me, then, in case my doctor sends us up to L&D!

Well, I wasn’t far off because my doctor told me I was 3-4 cm dilated, 75% effaced, and could go up to L&D to see if I was progressing enough to be admitted. She said it was possible Kylie was ready now, and if not, she would likely be here this weekend. I didn’t want to go up quite yet because I had things to wrap up at school and home, plus I wanted to spend more time with Morgan first. We made our arrangements and later that evening headed back up for me to be checked out. I wasn’t progressing much, despite my contractions growing stronger, so they sent us home. We came back and picked M up from my parents’ because I wanted to spend all the time I could with him as I knew he wouldn’t be an only-child for much longer!

The next morning, I decided to keep a close eye on my contractions by timing them. They started to be more frequent and painful so I tried so hard to get all my testing finished up in my classroom because I knew I was running out of time! It got to the point that I wasn’t able to stand or talk when a contraction came and some were only 3 minutes apart which made it very hard to teach my first graders! I called the principal for help with covering my class and my mom got ahold of Brett to come get me. My first graders were very quiet throughout all of this as they knew something was up! I felt bad that I didn’t give them a formal goodbye, but the clock was ticking!

On our way up to the hospital, the contractions were already more intense than what I had experienced with Morgan, which had me surprised when I still had to be monitored for about an hour before they checked me into a room! We arrived at the hospital around 11:00 and at 12:30 I was 6cm dilated, so they moved me to a room and notified the anesthesiologist that I would be ready for an epidural before long. I was glad to feel the contractions that come with labor but by this time I was over them – I do not have a high pain tolerance! I was so relieved when that epidural equipment rolled through the door! I got the epidural at 1:45 and it was fully working at 3:00, so the doctor broke my water and I requested a peanut ball to speed up the process which sure worked! About 45 minutes later, I told the nurse to go ahead and call for the doctor because it was time to push (I was also relieved to have the doctor get to my room first because there were 3 other mamas just about ready to go, too)!

After five minutes of pushing, Kylie Brett Houchen was in my arms at 3:58pm! I remember seeing her being held up in front of me and I couldn’t believe she was here. It was like a dream. She was a bright pink little thing with the prettiest lips and quite the scream!

We spent the next hour (at least) doing skin-to-skin, breastfeeding, and just soaking each other up.

Kylie’s first visitor was Brett’s mom and then my parents brought Morgan up to meet his new baby sister! When Morgan came in the room, he peeked around the corner at Kylie and me and smiled. It was so cute!

Our first night, there was very little sleep, but Brett and I are pretty used to getting terrible sleep so it wasn’t a huge deal. We took turns holding Kylie while we all slept because she wasn’t, and still isn’t, a fan of sleeping alone!

The next day, we were told that we could go back home that day as long as Kylie passed all her tests and as long as we made a pediatrician appointment for the very next day, so I went ahead and scheduled one for Saturday. Kylie passed all her tests, so we were discharged that evening and headed for home to enjoy our first night together as a family of four!

Bedtime was a little emotional for both Morgan and myself, though, because Kylie needed me to nurse her at the same time Morgan needed me to lay in his crib with him. I told him I had to leave and he said, while trying not to cry, “Mommy you will come right back?” I did come right back after getting Kylie fed, but M was asleep already and it broke my heart. I still snuggled with him and told myself I will always make time from now on to still snuggle him to sleep!

The next day, Brett’s dad and step-mom came to visit. Kylie has 6 very proud grandparents!

K’s first 48 hours of life were full of snuggles and I wouldn’t have had it any other way! As I am typing this, a full week has already gone by. It makes me sad how much of a thief time can be, so I am making sure to live in the moment and soak up every moment I can with both of my babies!