McKenna Grace Swanson came into this big world on May 14, 2012 at 8:25pm weighing 5 lbs and 7 1/2 oz. Her arrival was quite the surprise as she was 3 weeks and two days before her due date! We ended up at Northside Hospital Mother's Day evening with a suspected slow amniotic fluid leak but we weren't sure. Even the on call doctor wasn't sure and allowed me to make the decision to come into the hospital for testing. We really thought the test would come back negative. We were shocked when the nurse came back twenty minutes later and said it's positive so we're starting you on pitocin in the morning and you'll have your baby tomorrow. Thankfully on the way out the door for the hospital, I remembered to grab our bags just in case. We both just stared at each other for a few minutes when the nurse said the test came back positive. I started having contractions that night after giving me some initial meds and by the morning I was having pretty intense contractions before the pitocin was started. Right when they started the pitocin, I had a contraction that lasted 4 minutes and McKenna's heart rate dropped for a period of time. The next thing we knew, four nurses were huddled around me shaking me from side to side, putting oxygen on me, and working to get her heart rate back up. Thankfully she improved and we continued to labor for hours. Because of the pitocin, I ended up having contractions, one of top of the other without any breaks, which is not natural. They finally turned the pitocin down but only momentarily. My OB, happened to be the doctor on call, so he ended up being the doctor that delivered McKenna. About halfway through Monday, he told the nurses to keep increasing the pitocin. Once I hit transition, I could no longer tolerate the contractions as I hadn't had a break in hours from them. You would see them peak on the monitor and come down slightly and go right back up. I finally gave in and begged for an epidural. Deric did such a great job keeping me focused and really I was surprised that I could get through a contraction just using the rocking chair in the room until I wasn't getting a break. Dr. Marcus told us earlier in the day that McKenna was already struggling to come down into the birth canal. She seemed to be stuck trying to get through my pelvic bones. After more than 24 hrs. of labor, being fully dilated, she still hadn't even made it into the birth canal. I pushed for an hour and after that we decided a c section was the only way that she was coming out. All went well with the cesarean delivery and we were thrilled to welcome our baby girl into the world Monday evening at 8:25pm. She shares a birthday with her Auntie Tyler! I've posted pictures we took of our beautiful girl when she arrived. Enjoy!
 |
| McKenna showed what a strong girl she is right away! |
 |
| So cute! |
 |
| Showing her fiesty personality! |
 |
| Meeting Mommy for the first time! |
 |
| Meeting Daddy! |
 |
| Her first bath |
 |
| Holding Daddy's hand:) |
 |
| Being held by Mommy for the first time |
 |
Proud Grandaddy!
Enjoying Grandaddy's song and dance routine already
|
 |
| Cuddles with GranDavid |
 |
Meeting Grandma for the first time!
|
 |
Showing off her take home outfit that swallowed her whole!
Finally headed home!
|
 |
| First car ride |
Girl.... pitocin and labor.... yeah - it's hard to do without an epidural. That's amazing you were able to labor so long without medicinal help. I can't wait to meet McKenna and catch up with you!!!
ReplyDeletederic and ashley,
ReplyDeletecongrats and thanks for the blogspot. it is essential for the connected grammas in your life :)
can you post some of the finished bedroom? i never got to see all the handiwork the two of you did (dresser, tree, linens on the bed).
love and kisses,
kerry