Kinley Pearl Woodward

I thought it was about time that I share Miss Kinley's birth story.  It was surreal, to say the least! WARNING:  The is LONG, but I didn't want to forget ANYTHING!

Kinley Pearl Woodward

May 2, 2013 @ 12:23am

7.0lbs and 19in

At my previous appointments that week, I was already measuring 4cm and having some regular contractions (so we were pretty sure I wasn't going to make it to May 18!).  We were, however, confident that God would keep His promise to us to redeem the month of May!  And boy, did He!! :) Dr. Sellers told me to not wait to go to the hospital when my contractions started picking up.  With trying for a VBAC, he wanted me to be at the hospital as soon as possible.

So around 9:00am or so on May 1st, I woke up feeling super nauseous... and then I realized I was contracting quite a bit.  I timed them out for a little over an hour and they were every 2-4 minutes.  I texted the best nurse in the world to let her know.  She talked to Dr. Sellers, who told me to go in.  I told her that I wasn't super sure it was time because I was so nauseous that the contractions were hard to time out.  She said they would check me out, but that she thought I would be having a baby.  So I called Damon (he picked up after the 10th phone call...seriously... how do you not answer the phone when your 9 month pregnant wife is calling?!) and started to get my stuff ready.  I called my mom and sis to come and take care of Collins.  Damon was asking me how I felt... and I just said that I had so many emotions.  He asked me if I was excited and I said "yes", but the truth is, I was experiencing fear, nervousness, excitement, happiness, weariness... all at the same time, that I wasn't really showing any emotions.  I mean, the last time I delievered a baby at the hospital, was the hardest thing I have ever done, it was when I said hello and goodbye to my son, Grayson.  It was hard to think about delivering another baby.

We got to the hospital about 12:30 or so.  However, by the time we got there, my contractions literally stopped.  I texted my nurse (from the hospital parking garage) and told her and just said that I didn't want to go in if they were just going to send me home!  She talked with Dr. Sellers and he said that he still wanted me to go in... so in I went.

 They got me back to the triage area (not my favorite place to be- that's where I learned the news about Grayson last time) and got me on monitors.  Like I already knew, they confirmed that my contractions had stopped... I was having maybe one every 15 minutes!  Ugh.  So frustrating.  The nurse came in and said that Dr. Sellers would probably send me home, but that she was waiting to hear back from him.  He called and told me that he wanted me to take a walk to see if we could get contractions going again.  However, right as I was about to do that, my blood sugar dropped WAY low... like 37 (for no known reason- I was just sitting there!).  Definitely not doing any exercise at that #!  By the time we got it back up, the clinic had closed and Dr. Sellers was headed over.  He came into the triage area and began to tell me that he didn't want to send me home.  He said that he didn't like that my blood sugar dropped like that for no reason (and it had been doing that for weeks).  That is a sign of my placenta failing (a symptom for diabetics).  On top of that, at my last high risk ultrasound, Kinley looked great, but she had stopped growing at the same rate.  In 3 weeks time, she had only gained 4ounces (when she should have been gaining the most weight).  She went from being in the 80th percentile to the 50th.  He said there was more risk in letting me go home and waiting than there was in kick starting my contractions and letting me have a baby.  So he said that he was going to start me on pitocin.  (I let him go home for dinner before they started all of this because once he started it, he wanted to stay with me the whole time- and because I was trying for a VBAC, he was required to stay there they whole time.  So pitocin was started at about 7:30 and they broke my water at 8:00pm.  We were told to expect an early morning baby, much like Collins (at about 5:30am).  We talked about the epidural and I decided that I would get one because of the increased risk of needing a c-section.  I didn't want to have to worry about what would happen if I didn't have it and ended up needing a c-section.  I was going to wait, but I feel, much like Collins, that God whispered in my ear to go ahead and get one... even though I wasn't feeling ANY pain yet.  This was at about 8:15pm.  Well, it turns out to be a good thing I got it when I did because the next time they checked me, at about 9:45, I was fully dilated!!!  When the first nurse checked me, she didn't even tell me.  She made the other nurse tell me because she couldn't believe that I was fully dilated in about 2 hours!!  Kinley, however, still hadn't dropped so they sat me up to get her to drop as much as possible so I didn't have to push her all that way!

We were on track for having a May 1st baby, which surprised all of us!  Dr. Sellers came in and I began pushing. I pushed for a little over two hours (putting us past midnight).  All of the sudden, Kinley's heart rate plummeted.  I saw the fear flash in Dr. Sellers eyes.  He looked at me and said "we're done... I am going to get this baby out".  I have to admit that I was a little disappointed... I definitely cried, but more than anything, I just wanted to hear my baby cry.  (Again, a great thing I already had the epidural because they had to deliver her so quickly that had I not had it, I would have been knocked out.)  And literally, within about 15 minutes, at 12:23am on May 2, 2013 (we think... there has been a little confusion on what time she was actually born, but will find out from the doc officially), Kinley Pearl Woodward was born, weighing 7lbs even and 19inches long.  Hearing her cry, I LOST it.  I mean tears from the last year of my life and walls I had built up of protection, came crashing down.  I haven't cried that hard in months.  It was the sweetest cry and sound of hope and joy I had ever heard.

To say that Kinley's birth was healing, is an understatement.  I don't think I realized how many walls I still had up.  I was still harboring so much anger... anger that I thought I had moved past, but hadn't fully.  And holding my sweet girl... Jesus knew just what I needed and it was hope in the form of a little girl named Kinley.  My heart is bursting. I feel more alive than I have in MONTHS and my heart healed a whole bunch.  Man, it sure made me miss my sweet boy, but I do know that he was watching from heaven and so excited to present his little sister to us.  I know he was proud.

Thank you.  Thank you for the prayers over the last year.  Thank you for praying for Kinley and thank you for praying for my heart.  Kinley, your mommy and daddy love you dearly.  You will never know the hope that you have given us.  Thank you, Grayson for watching from above and keeping watch over your little sister.  You are missed and you are loved.  And my sweet Collins, the best big sister to two little siblings, thank you for the constant joy you bring.  You are the light of our lives!  And thank you most of all to my Savior, who breathed life back into my soul.