Kinley's birth

And now, I can finally do an update on our latest excitement. Kinley Reese McLaughlin joined our family on July 20th! She was delivered by c-section at 6:10pm, weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces, and measured 19 inches long. Our plan was to have labor induced on the 21st, but little Kinley decided to get things going on her own. It's been almost 6 weeks now, but things are still pretty fresh in my mind, so I wanted to document it...

I woke up with contractions around 6am, but they weren't that bad, so we thought Paul should go to work until things became exciting. The contractions eased up in the morning as I got distracted with stuff around the house and taking care of Gavin. Luckily, my babysitter was able to come over and play with him later in the morning while I packed my suitcase and made a bunch of phone calls. Since my doctor was going to be out of town until induction day, we were told that no other doctor in her office could fill in at St. Vincent's and they would have to perform a c-section (due to their schedules). I was really trying not to have another c-section because my last experience was so terrible.

I then called OHSU to see if they would admit a new patient who was in labor, and they said they'd be happy to. (I called them because they had recently been recognized in the news for strongly advocating VBAC deliveries.) Then, after 2 different calls to our health insurance, I was told OHSU was only semi-covered under our plan (first they had told me they were in-network), so it would cost much more to have a baby there. This was after I had told Paul he'd have to leave work early and swing by the OB's office to pick up my medical records so we could take them to OHSU. So, as you can see, it was a morning full of last-minute scrambling.

Anyway, around 1:00, my sitter left and Kristin came over to hang out until Paul got home. She put Gavin down for his nap and we sat on the couch chatting while we timed the contractions (which were becoming stronger and were coming every 5 minutes). When Paul got home at 3:00, we discussed our options and decided to go to St. Vincent's and have them check things out. We figured, if things had progressed enough, someone there could deliver a baby, whether or not they were from my OB's office.

Well, then we got to St. Vincent's. The entire city-wide computer system for Providence had just failed, and it turned out it wouldn't get fixed until the next day. Since they couldn't access my registration, they had to chart everything by hand, which meant 3 or 4 different nurses asking me detailed questions while I got settled into a room and the contractions were coming back to back. It was a good thing Paul had picked up my medical records after all.

My wonderful nurse took me aside and told me she would check me and if things had progressed enough, I should just refuse surgery. Because what could they do? I wasn't in a great state of mind at this point...the back labor was excruciating and my progress wasn't as far as we'd hoped. They gave me something for the pain then that made me feel incredibly drunk, but I also either needed an epidural or a spinal at that point or I was going to LOSE MY MIND. They had to call my doctor's office to let them know I was there, and the OB on call told them to prep me for surgery. End of discussion. I'm still upset about the fact that we didn't have a part in the decision-making, but it wasn't something I could have fought while I was in that much pain.

As they prepped me for surgery, the dialogue in the operating room was funny, but a little disconcerting. Everyone was very professional and comforting, but with the computers down, there was a lot of disorganization. Paul was outside the room waiting to be let in, and he told me later that the doctors and nurses didn't know which O.R.'s they were supposed to go to, and they were complaining about how hard it was to be charting everything by hand.

Anyway, after all of that, everyone got down to business and little Kinley came into the world. She didn't cry much, she just made some cute squeaks, and everyone in the O.R. gushed over how beautiful she was. They told us her position had been 'sunny side up' and that I could have been pushing for hours if we had continued to go through labor. So, I was grateful about that, and just crossed my fingers that my c-section recovery would go a lot better this time.

The next few days were great. My pain management was handled very well this time by the nurses, and we decided to let Kinley sleep in the nursery for those 3 nights in the hospital. Gavin was very excited to meet his "baby sissy", and gave her lots of hugs and kisses. My mom and Paul spent a lot of special time with Gavin over the next few days, so I spent a lot of time watching tv with my sleepy newborn and ordering room service. Aside from being confined to a hospital bed, it felt like vacation! :)

On the morning we were to check out of the hospital, I had a horrible headache and couldn't stand up or focus on anything. We learned this was a complication from the spinal they had given me in surgery, and I had to have an anesthetist do a spinal patch. I napped after that, and by noon, I felt good enough to check out. This time, I was actually kind of excited to leave. So many things about this birth were different than the last one. And I have to say the recovery and adjustment phase have been drastically better too.

Kinley is such a pretty little baby, and a real sweetheart. She has her fussy moments, but mostly cries when she's hungry. She's SUCH a snuggler, and so far, a great sleeper! And we are all so in love with her. The end ! :)

Our family of four!