I've seen a lot of my blogging mommy friends telling the birth stories of their little ones, so I decided to follow suit.
BABY SHOWERS!!
Korbin was due January 9, 2009. Everyone I worked with, talked to, etc. just knew she would come early. Thanksgiving rolled around and my best friend in the whole world since Kindergarten, threw me a baby shower at my parents' house in Independence. I was surprised at the turnout as some drove all the way from Western Kansas!! I don't think they all realized how grateful I was that they were able to come. I remember that day and how the termperature went from 60 degrees to below 30 in less than 12 hours. No baby then.
That same weekend, Shannon's family threw me another fabulous shower in Oklahoma at my personal photographer/super amazing "sister-in-law," Destiny's. Again, I was just beyond grateful at how everyone came. However, I was not super pumped about having to be blindfolded and touch and smell a "dirty diaper," filled with smashed bananas and chocolate. Thanks Des! No baby then.
BIG 12 BABY!!
Early in December, we got to go to the last Big 12 Championship Game held at Arrowhead Stadium in KC. Guess who was playing!! Yep, you know it! BOOMER SOONER BABY! This was Korbin's second Sooner game that season as we went to the KSU vs. OU game earlier in October. She was very active, and loved the loud "BOOMER SOONER" fight song. She danced all night in my belly as the Sooners stomped the Missouri Tigers. I don't even remember the score but it might as well have been an exhibition game for OU. It was sooooooo cold that night and I was already coming down with illness. I ended up losing my voice that whole week after that. My boss made me stay home a couple days and I wasn't allowed to talk. No baby then.
Christmas rolled around and people came and went from my mom and dad's house. We had a great Christmas morning. Korbin was so active in my belly. (Korbin was always the most active during celebrations, holidays and sporting events.) Shannon got me her travel system for Christmas. That was the final thing we needed. We were set. We were ready. No baby then.
GNC BABY
I worked 50-60 hours a week up until I was about 36 weeks pregnant. Then I scaled back to about 30-40 hours a week, but still was able to do the physical part of my job- putting away shipments, lugging cases of Isopure RTD's across the store, resetting merchandise. I was determined to stay active and earn my keep. My last day of work was December 31, 2008. Shannon got to open our new Downtown Kansas City GNC that day too. No baby then.
NEW YEAR'S BABY
Since New Year's Eve was my last day of work and I knew I wouldn't be back for eight weeks, I was really hoping to hurry this process along. I could NOT wait to meet this beautiful baby girl of mine. Since I was having Korbin at Claremore Indian Hospital in Oklahoma (4 hours from where I live,) I decided to stay with my parents in Independence, KS (1.5 hours from the hospital.) I "moved in" January 2nd, Dad's birthday. January 3, I decided to start downing Red Raspberry Tea three times per day to strengthen the baby contractions I was having.....
3 DAYS LATER....BABY??
On January 5 (Shannon's mom Nancy's birthday,) after three days, and nine cups of Red Raspberry tea, I started having some pretty rockin' contractions. My dad had taken a week's vacation for the main event and my mom was at work. I didn't want to say anything to my dad because he was dealing with his own emotional roller coaster. His mom, my beloved Grandma Betty Kersey who past away last October, was in the hospital after having a stroke. I was in a lot of pain and kept tensing up but I didn't want to cry wolf incase it wasn't the real thing. I coudln't wait for my mom to come home, and I was super anxious, so I started packing a suitcase for the hospital.
When Mom got home, I told her we needed to venture out to Wal-Mart to get some T-shirts for the Korbster and a few other odds and ends. I called the hospital to let them know I was coming later. We grabbed everything we needed from Wally World, then headed South to the hospital. I nervously called Shannon and texted Haley, telling them the news. I didn't want to tell anyone else because I was afraid it wasn't the real thing.
I was only dilated to 2cm when we got to the hospital. I walked around the hospital a million times it seemed like for an hour then went back to get checked. I was still at a 2!! I had two absolutely wonderful nurses during my experience. My bedside nurse noticed that I kept wincing at each contraction and told me to just relax. I never took a childbirth class so I wasn't really sure what to expect, how to breathe etc. I think if I had, I would have thrown it all out the window because this nurse taught me everything I needed to know in 2 short minutes. Among all the chaos and excitement, the doctor on call came in to check the heart monitor. She noticed that each time I had a contraction, Korbin's heart rate would decrease significantly. Even though I wasn't quite dilated enough to stay, she decided to admit me to keep an eye on the heart rate. They also gave me what I call Morphine's sister, to ease the pain a bit in hopes that me relaxing would aid in dilation.
Shannon arrived around midnight from Kansas City and I slept for about four hours. When I woke up at 5am, the pain was constant and the contractions were extreme!! I kept using the breathing and relaxation techniques that my nurse taught me, and after about five or six hours, I finally got myself dilated to an 8cm. This was a big deal!! This meant I could get some meds!! Since the Claremore Indian Hospital didn't do epidurals, I got an intrathecal. After that, everything was gravy. By this time, my midwife had shown up and I was comfortable again. She came in and said, "Let's prepare for labor and deliver," to which I responded, "what the hell was all that before?"
As you mommies may know, preparing for delivery means evacuation of fluids. The midwife filled an entire bag!! Shannon informed her that she probably should have filled two since I had been noshing on ice chips the whole day. Let's just say he was right. She soon found out when it was time to push. I pushed for about 45 minutes, working very hard to finally get to see my baby, three sets of counting to ten, push, push, push. I kept thinking, "Shouldn't this be over by now? Why haven't I met my baby yet?" And then the meds wore off.....
It seemed my mom, Shannon, the midwife, the nurse, and the midwife intern all kept looking at each other strangely, but I just thought it was because I was so quiet and diligent. Instead of pushing for three sets of ten seconds, I decided to go for four, then five. I was not going to give up, but that little girl still hadn't come out yet!! Mom kept saying, "Oh Sarah, she's got a lot of hair. I see it. Wow! Look at all that black hair she has!!" Finally, I snapped. I informed my mom that I knew she had black hair after the umpteenth time she told me and that she needed to just be quiet about the black hair. Do you know how frustrating it is to work so hard, and put your body through all that, and someone else is seeing your reward before you???
Finally, after 23 hours of hard labor and 2 hours of pushing, my little girl was here....but she was purple...really purple. Both Mom and Shannon looked at each other and both looked as if they were going to throw up. As the midwife swiftly unraveled the cord that was wrapped tightly around my baby's neck, I heard the cries. *RELIEF* She gently placed her on my abdomen and I was just astonished. I had done it!! WE had done it!! I broke down in the happiest tears I've ever cried. The LOVE I immediately felt for this child was overwhelming me.
I have to say that the most terrific accomplishment I've ever achieved in my life is being able to carry this little life inside my body, then go through the most painful process I've ever felt to get the sweetest reward at the end. I am also blessed with the greatest father for her. Shannon is the best dad I've ever seen with a child. She has him wrapped around her little finger and I know she's taught him just as much as she has taught me. He loves his little girl more than anything and let me tell ya, she's a DADDY'S GIRL through and through.
I can't wait to see what the next year will bring us. I hate seeing Korbin grow up fast, but I love watching her develop, explore and learn new things daily. She truly is my little LIGHT from above. I look forward to getting off work everyday just to see what she has learned at daycare or picked up from her environment. She is a very fast learner. This is a great thing but also very bad, because now she knows where we hide the treats, and how to unroll an entire roll of toilet paper in a matter of seconds without us knowing. That's when we just turn off the TV, sit back, and enjoy the show.
Korbin MaKenna
Born January 6, 2009
4:27pm
7lbs, 2oz
19.5 inches
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