home.sweet.hustad

***please understand that the title of this post is an accurate description of the events that took place on may 22-23. read only if you are interested in the details of keller's birth story.

__________

on tuesday evening, may 22nd, i said goodnight to my mom. i bitterly told her "see you tomorrow when i'm still pregnant." errr...just a short time later...around 9:40pm, i noticed that my contractions were coming quite often although they weren't very intense. they were 2-4 minutes apart and about 40 seconds long. that first hour went quickly but the pressure and intensity started to pick up. around 11pm, i encouraged erik to go take a shower. i did the same. after that, i noticed that the time between contractions slowed down, but the intensity continued to strengthen.

by 1am, i thought i should call the hospital to check in with them. they told me to listen to my body and come in when i was ready. erik fell asleep and so i was timing my contractions using our ipad. i was unable to sleep and kicked erik every time he would snore (which felt like i was kicking him every five seconds) out of bitterness and frustration due to my current state. i was able to ease the pain by walking around but by 4am i was in a pretty significant amount of pain during each contraction. so i woke erik up (i may or may not have hit him...i'm certain he was snoring) informed my parents, and then we were off to the hospital.

when i got to the hospital around 4:30am, i was scared to death. when i was in labor with evie, the hospital sent me home the first time we went because i hadn't progressed. so it was a huge relief (aka excruciating pain) when the nurse checked me and i was already dilated 4 cm. my contractions continued to strengthen and at one point, one left me in tears. at around 615 my nurse, christina, came in to check me again. eeeeek! why doesn't anyone warn women that having your cervix checked is awful!?! i hadn't progressed much (uber disappointing considering how much pain i was in) and christina warned me that the anesthesiologist had a scheduled c-section at 7:30. if i didn't get an epidural now, i'd have to wait until after that c-section. it didn't take me long to do the math to figure out i would have well over 60 contractions if i waited until after the anesthesiologist returned from surgery. so, at 7am dr. roberts (angel of the hour) gave me the drugs. amen.

just before 8am, my new nurse julie, started pitocin. although i couldn't feel the pain, i felt the pressure and could see the monitor...the pitocin appeared to be working because i was having contractions 1-2 minutes apart and the were very strong. i was so excited, i couldn't sleep let alone rest my eyes. so i spent the next hour texting most of my family and close friends keeping them updated on what was going on. erik was able to get a little bit of rest...and was once again snoring.

just after 9am i felt a really weird sensation and a TON of pressure. i knew i had either pee'd my pants, or my water had broken. sure enough, when julie responded to my call, she discovered that my water had broken and that i was completely dilated. in her words "whoa! baby is ready! she's right there!"

i hollered over to wake erik up and i frantically called ashley to let her know that i was complete and about to start pushing soon! we weren't expecting a baby until the afternoon, so ashley had to rush rush rush. julie had me give a quick "practice push" to see where we were at. she abruptly stopped me from pushing because the baby was immediately crowning. she called dr. placek and i sat there...with my legs in stirrups...NOT pushing. that was surreal. waiting for the doctor, feeling no pain but lots of pressure, legs up in the air...just waiting. julie and i got in some good laughs.

ashley bolted in the room at 9:35am. a few minutes later, at 9:41am, dr. placek arrived. after gowning up and getting ready, dr. placek sat down in front of me and instructed me to push. not even 5 seconds later, with a big smile on her face, she told me to stop and said "well that was the hardest thing you've ever done, right?" i looked down and there she was...keller grace was here!

keller grace hustad

may 23, 2012

9:44am

7lbs 4oz

20 inches

dr. placek, simply put...the best!

keller's birthday team!
dr. placek and nurse julie

awake and content as can be.

hi daddy!

introducing evie to keller was one of the sweetest moments of my life. i felt beyond blessed and overwhelmed with the children god has given us.

here she comes! big sister evie!

our sweet family of four. blessed.

anointing and prayer of thanksgiving

thankful for my beautiful sister.in.law, ashley!
thanks for cheering me on and being apart of such a precious moment!

what a blessing this week has been. my parents have been here with us and we couldn't be more grateful and thankful. i don't know how we'd be making it without them. and i know evie is loving all the wonderful time with mimi and papa!

this past tuesday we went in for a weight check at the pediatrician. when we left the hospital, keller had a lost a little bit of weight (down 4 oz). but at the checkup she was weighed and she had gained 8 oz! wow! the only concern we have run into has been the fact that keller's cord fell off a little early. it wasn't completely dried up, and so the doctor had to treat the remaining cord with silver nitrate. we had to go back in again today for another treatment which will hopefully do the trick!

keller is such an easy going baby. she cries only when hungry and is sleeping like a champ. evie is super protective of her, and has actually yelled at people who are visiting when they appear to be "threatening" her baby sister. such a good big sister!

i'm feeling awesome. i sleep better than i did when pregnant and my body feels much less beat up this time around. praise the lord!