Austin Reay is finally here!

I don't know if any of you care to know the full (and lengthy) story of Austin's birth, but I wanted to get it written down somewhere, so if you don't want to read, just go ahead and skip to the pictures. Let's be honest, that's the best part anyway :)

I was scheduled to go to the hospital the night of Wednesday the 14th to be induced the morning of the 15th. So on Tuesday, Chris and I were finishing up some things around the house and planning for the next night. When he got off work, we went to Sugarhouse Park and walked for a little bit, then had to drop off some things at the Weissmans. On our way there, around 8:30, a nurse from Labor & Delivery called to confirm that I would come in at 6:30 the next night. When I got off the phone with her, I joked to Chris that I should have told her that I would possibly see her tonight cause of the cramps I was starting to get. We got home around 9:00 and the "cramps" were different than I had felt before and I soon realized that these were finally real contractions, in all their glory! They were lasting about 45 seconds-1 minute long and were about 3-5 minutes apart. So, we ate dinner, packed our last-minute things, straightened up the house and headed to L&D around 11:30 pm.

When we arrived, they hooked me up to the monitors and checked me to find out that I was only at a 1.5 cm, but after an hour, went to a 3. So, they had me walk the halls for another hour to see if I would progress any more. I remember looking at the clock and that meant we would be walking until 3:45 am. We were so tired and an hour seemed so far away, especially with the pain I was in. So, at 4, the nurse checked me again and I was still only at a 3, but my urine sample had found a high white blood cell count that meant there was possibly an infection. After sending 4 pages to the on-call doctor with no response, the nurse finally decided that she would just admit me and give me pitocin if need be rather than send me home with contractions and a possible infection only to come back in about 12 hours for the induction. Finally, I could get my own room!!

So, we got to our room around 6:00 a.m. Wednesday morning and made phone calls to our family to let them know that today was the day and to be on alert. At 7:00 I got my epidural which was HEAVEN!! I really had no idea how wonderful this simple little dose of anesthesia would be. I loved it and it didn't hurt a single bit! All that worry for nothing... My doctor also broke my water after I got the epidural (such a weird feeling!) and was checked to be a 4 at this point.

After sleeping for an hour, (thank you epi!) they checked me again and I was at a 9! The nurse said that we were getting close and started getting the room prepared. Chris and I were stunned. We could not believe that we were going to have our baby this quickly, or so we thought. They then came in to tell us that the baby was face up and that they wanted me to lay on my stomach for a while to see if he would turn on his own, so two and a half hours later, they checked to find that sure enough, he had turned around, but now he was aimed to come out ear first, which would not work. So, at 2:00, I started pushing while the doctor tried turning his little head with each contraction. I had so much energy knowing that we were getting close to seeing the little man. Well, he finally fixed his head, but was still pretty high, so after about 2 hours, my doctor told me that we would need to start talking about other options once I had been pushing for 3 hours and that she recomended turning off the epidural to let me get a better sense of how and where to push. I was so scared to turn it off, but it helped a ton! So, 3 hours into pushing, my doctor told me that normally we would start talking other options at this point, but he was getting so close and we were both doing fine, so she let me keep going. It was so exhausting to push for 4 hours and by the last hour, Chris had to literally help me lift my head and shoulders cause I was so tired. The baby was finally crowning and 40 minutes later, sweet little Austin Reay Kennedy was born at 6:01 pm. He weighed 7 pounds and 3 ounces, measured 20 inches in length and was sporting quite an impressive cone-head.

We are so in love with the little guy and could never have imagined the way he would capture our hearts! We got home on Friday the 16th and were lucky enough to have my parents stay with us to help with dinners, cleaning and just basic moral support. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family who have been visiting and calling almost everyday. We are still trying to get the hang of having a little one in the house, but loving every minute of it!

Seeing our baby for the first time was the most amazing experience I have ever had! The feelings are truly indescribable!

Chris holding Austin for the first time. Our doctor was laughing that she had never seen a patient taking pictures from the bed after giving birth. Ha!

The hospital had a great photographer that came to our room the first morning to take pictures for us.

This was our first morning in the hospital...

...and our second night.

Leaving the hospital was such a crazy feeling. I cried the whole way home (yes, I'm still an emotional, hormonal wreck).

Austin pulled this cute little smile right as we pulled into our complex. I think he was happy to be home :)

It is so hard not to be snapping pictures of him all day! I seriously can't stop staring at him.