Capturing a lifetime of memories, One smile at a time

I usually use this blog for photography, however, today I am going to give you a little peek inside my life. Today is my baby girl Kayla's FIRST Birthday!!!! It is most definetly bittersweet. I am so proud to see how much she has grown in the last year, however, its kind of sad to know this is the last first birthday we will ever get to celebrate since she is our last baby. Some of you have read this before, but for those of you that have not, here is Kayla's birth story!

At my 38 week check up on Wednesday, July 9, I was 3 cm & 75%. My doctor decided to strip my membranes to see if we could speed things along. Almost immediately contractions started. I had lots of spotting & contractions for the next few hours.

The next afternoon, July 10, around 1:00 p.m. I went to OB Triage to get checked. I was still 3 cm and 75% and contractions were not regular enough so they sent me home. The contractions continued over the weekend but did not get regular.

Then on Monday, July 14, I woke up and it felt this constant trickle like my water was leaking. Went back to OB Triage. Once again, still 3 cm and 75%, and they said it was not my water leaking. Sent home again! Spent a few hourswalking the neighborhood with a friend trying to help start things up. Contractions got pretty regular but not close enough to worry about. I finally was able to get comfy in the recliner down stairs and fell asleep around 11:00. I woke up at 3:30 am; contractions were strong and 3 min apart. Went up stairs to wake Joey up, and I got in the shower. Joey and I got into OB Traige around 4:30 am. I was feeling a lot of pain at this point. Contractions were showing on the monitor. When the doctor checked me at 6:27 am I was still 3 cm though. They wanted to send me home but I told them there was no way I was leaving if I was feeling this much pain. They gave me the option to walk around the hospital for 2 hours then come back and get checked or go home and wait it out. We decided to walk. We started walking around 7:10 am. Around 8:45 am I was walking and felt a small gush of fluid. Decided to go back and get checked. Nurse checked me and confirmed my water had broken and I was now 4 cm!

Once I got registered and got into labor and delivery it was around 10:25 am. This is around the time my mom and my best friend Desireè (Kayla’s God-mother) got into the room. Contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart. I asked for my epidural at this time. The anesthesiologist apparently was tied up in c-sections and they had to page her again at 11:34 am. I was in a lot of pain and it felt like it took forever for her to get there. Finally at 12:00 p.m. she got into my room. My epidural was placed at 12:07 p.m. Relief was instant and I felt so much better.

At 12:26 my doctor came in. My usual doctor was not on call and I had a different doctor out of the practice. Her name was Dr. Larkin, I had seen her one time during my pregnancy and she was AWESOME!. She checked me again and I was 5-6 cm and 75%. Contractions were 2-3 minutes apart at this point. (Although I could not feel them) I was able to get a little rest .

My doctor came back in and checked me again at 2:30 p.m. I was 7 cm and 90 %. She decided to start Pitocin at this point to help speed things along.

Next time the doctor came to check me was 4:12 p.m. She said I was an 8 and she was willing to bet that within the next 15-20 min I would be ready to push! She told me to sit straight up in my bed to let gravity take its course. I called my mom and Desireè because they had just walked downstairs to grab a bite to eat and told them to hurry and get back upstairs. They started getting the room ready for delivery at this point.

At 16:40 p.m. I started to feel some pressure so she checked me again and I was 10 cm and 90% so I started pushing.

After 35 minutes of pushing, at 5:15 p.m. my princess entered this world with her Daddy, Grand mom, and Aunt Desireè watching! The cord was wrapped around her neck once, and once she was out we saw that she had her little hand holding tightly onto her umbilical cord. Her first apgar was 8/9. Daddy cut the umbilical cord and she was immediately placed on my chest. I got to hold her for a few minutes before they took her away to clean her up and check her out. She weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 19.75 inches long. A few minutes later the rest of the family got to come up and see her. My delivery was picture perfect. It couldn’t have gone any better!

Here are some pictures from her birth day and her first year!