The Next Big Adventure by Kenny & Kristen

Its been a long nine months but here we are at the hospital. We are having our first baby together - and its a little boy! The build up to this moment has had every sense of emotion you could think of. We have been happy, excited, scared, terrified, and just plain impatient to some extents. For our family and friends who cant be here to experience this with us, we thought we would try to share our experience here with you. Ill do my best to keep a time frame of events of the process so everyone can be up-to-date. #### 7:00PM August 11th, 2022 We have checked in to the hospital and Kristen is hooked up to all the baby monitoring devices. Everything is reading OK, the baby is moving and squirming like nobodies business. and Kristen is feeling good (so far). #### 8:00PM August 11th, 2022 Kristen is not dilated and her cervix is closed. The plan is to take Cytotec every 4 hours (~ 3 doses) and then see where things get. Potentially we may also need a Foley bulb to start labor (tomorrow). The goal tonight is to get a good nights sleep and relax as best as she can. We will update at the next sign of movement. #### 10:00PM August 11th, 2022 Mom and Baby are still doing well. Kristen is having some types of contractions that she just discovered she has been having for a while. She had been think that the baby was just digging his feet into her lungs and under her rib cage - but it turns out those were contractions. The measurements don't show the degree ( or how strong) the contraction is, just that they are there and they are coming at about on every 8 or so minutes. They are very small (and barely noticeable to Kristen though). Next does of Cytotec is at midnight. #### 12:00AM August 12th, 2022 We found out why Kristen has not been able to lay on her side while pregnant. It turns out that when she rolls on her side, pressure is being applied to the baby's umbilical chord ( which causes the heartbeat to drop as well) and is also painful to her. She received the second pill of cytotec and "LR"'s (something similar to saline). We are now trying to sleep while the IV machine is just a churning (which is a bit hard) baby is happy again and next update will be around 4am. #### 4:00AM August 12th, 2022 Its been a long night for Kristen. She received the third dose of Cytotec, but no real changes at this point. Its been hard to get much sleep just being in the hospital, hooked up to IV's and having the hustle and bustle of the nurses. We expect to have the DR/Nurse come back around 8AM or so to do another check on things and determine where we go from here. Everyone is still doing well though and we are still excited! #### 10:00AM August 12th, 2022 Kristen received another check to see if the Cytotec has made any headway in softening her cervix. It had done a little work but not enough to proceed with the foley balloon. She is on some more fluids now and will be receiving another type of softening agent which can be in place for up to 12 hours if the baby doesn't hate it/cause it any distress. She is feeling good and hopeful and contractions seem to be increasing in intensity. She wants everyone to know that she appreciates all the positive vibes and nice messages that she has been receiving. We are very thankful for all the love and support! we should have another update around noon time. #### 1:00PM August 12th, 2022 We had to wait a bit longer than expected to proceed to the next step because Kristen was starting to have contractions rather close (though they were not very intense) and this prevented us from moving forward. This also helped let the Cytotec finish leaving her body. Upon being checked at this stage she is one centimeter dilated and 50% effacing. So we are able to proceed with a Cook Catheter which will help with cervix ripening and likely (dr's words) starting the labor process. Next update will come when we know more - we appreciate all the well wishes! #### 2:30PM August 12th, 2022 They placed the Cook Catheter and after about 5-10 minutes Kristen's water broke so we are in the process of eating lunch (Kristen hasn't ate since early this AM and we all know Kristen needs some food to not be grumpy!) and then moving until we get into active labor. Things are looking good so far! #### 6:00PM August 12th, 2022 Its been a rough couple hours. Kristen has been having more intense contractions and it looks to be pretty painful. The Doc came in to check the cervix once again and it was only 3 centimeters so far. She also tried sweeping the cervix to help move along the induction. After this the contractions really started picking up and Kristen received some nausea medicine as she was getting a bit sick. She also received some pain medication to tie her over for the time being. Once it wears off and the pain increases, we may be moving towards the epidural. Ill tell you from my perspective, I knew it was hard but I didn't know what to expect. I've got a bit teary eyed because I can see how much pain its causing Kristen and it really hurts to not be able to help her when she is clearly near a breaking point. We both appreciate any and all good thoughts our way!! You got this Kristen!! #### 8:00PM August 12th, 2022 The first pain medication caused a lot of nausea and after an hour or so the contractions were causing just as much pain as before. So We opted to get an epidural - which was just set. So Kristen is feeling much better now. At the moment though, Kristen says that her right side is pretty numb but still feeling a lot of pain on the left side, so we will see what we can do on that in the next hour or so. All the Nurses are very positive that we will have a baby tonight but we are waiting now on getting fully dilated. We cant wait to meet you baby!! #### 9:00PM August 12th, 2022 Kristen is 5 CM dilated, 90% effacing and a 0 for station. She is feeling good at the moment. We had a node placed on the baby in utero to monitor his heartbeat as the external monitors were not giving great readings and things look to be good. He seems to be working his way down farther and we are hoping to have some more news in a bit. Thank you everyone for all the continued love and support! #### 1:30AM August 13th, 2022 Kristen and baby are getting some rest. We are fully dilated and we are starting to push in the next few minutes. as Kristen would say "THUNDERCATS ARE GO!" (Movie reference from Juno) #### 2:52AM August 13th, 2022 Baby K5 has arrived looking very healthy and strong. He has already been trying to move his head and look around at everything. Mom is doing great and did a great job pushing. Baby came out with no issues though the unbiblical cord was around his neck when his head popped out but the DR moved it around pretty easy and he came out nice and smooth after that. Kristen and I are super excited and happy and feeling great. K5 is making all sorts of cooing and cute squeaky noises. We are so thankful for all our friends and family who have been wishing us well and good thoughts from home. We are super excited to introduce everyone! #### 8:00AM August 13th, 2022 Mom and Baby are doing great, Mom is just tired. K5 cam in at 8lbs and 4oz and was 21.5 inches long. Thank you again to everyone's kind messages! 

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