Kalea Lynn

Welcome to the world Kalea Lynn!

Now to rewind & fill you in on the last two weeks or so...

Saturday, 9/19
We spent the weekend doing things around the house. Michael began a plumbing project to replace the really leaky bathtub fixtures upstairs which ended up being much more problematic than we expected. At one point every time the water to the house was turned on, the faucet in the tub shot out water horizontally as hard as it could possibly go. With the help of a good friend, Michael got it under control, but called a plumber to come finish the job on what he found out were extremely old & nonstandard pipes. Jackie & Cassidy did their best to stay out of the way. This was a feat at times considering the curiosity of a toddler & the enormity of Jackie's belly! The rest of the week went by quickly with work & play & doing last minute things to get ready for baby. Cassidy discovered that showering was a new & preferred way of bathing since the upstairs bathtub was still inoperable & we had to use the downstairs bathroom all week. Finally the plumber came to take a look on Friday afternoon & said he'd be back on Monday first thing to make the repairs.
Monday, 9/28
Michael headed to work, Jackie dropped off Cassidy at Jen's house & headed home to work until the plumber finished with the bathroom. He confirmed that, in order to do the work, he must saw out part of the wall at the head of the tub to get to the pipes - this wall just happens to be inside the closet of the nursery...awesome! Lots of dust & dirt in the room where there would soon be a new baby. Jackie jokingly emailed one of her co-workers, "I certainly hope I don't go into labor today!" Michael came home around 2 to relieve Jackie since she had to go into the office for a meeting.

During the meeting Jackie started feeling pretty uncomfortable but kept thinking that these were the practice/Braxton Hicks contractions - until they started being relatively painful & coming less than 10 minutes apart! Right before 5:00 pm she called Michael on the way out to the car to let him know she was on the way home & pretty sure baby was going to come tonight - much to his surprise! Thankfully the plumber had just gotten done & although there was a huge mess left, he headed over to Jen's to pick up Cassidy & called a friend who was going to watch Cassidy. Jackie headed home - stopping to get gas in the car since it was totally on empty & she was afraid that they'd run out of gas on the way to the hospital!

By 6:30 pm our friend was at the house, Michael was loading the car, Cassidy - a little freaked out that Mommy didn't feel good, but doing ok - was playing & Jackie's contractions were coming less than 4 minutes apart. Time to head to the hospital!

We checked into Labor & Delivery a little after 7:00 pm & the nurse asked how dilated Jackie had been at her last check. The nurse looked a little astounded when Jackie answered that she hadn't yet been checked at 39 weeks. So they whisked us off to a room to find Jackie already at 6.5 cm, fully effaced & the baby at a 0 station. Clearly they were not sending her home! Baby on the way!

The midwife arrived a short while later. Jackie labored mostly in the bed, but tried moving around the room a little bit, sitting on the birthing ball, etc. (The birthing ball was a much better experience this time around than with Cassidy. If you remember, when she tried that 2 years ago, she immediately threw up her entire breakfast. Ah, the fond memories!) Not long after that the midwife said that she was sure that, if she broke Jackie's water, that the baby would come very, very soon. We decided to get the show on the road & break the water. Not more than a few minutes after the gush, Jackie pushed 3 times & Kalea was born!
Kalea entered the world on Monday, September 28th at 8:28 pm, weighing 7 lbs 9 oz & 20.5 inches long. It was much faster labor than her big sister & Jackie remembers things much more clearly. The midwife & pediatrician released us to go home less than 24 hours later. What an experience!

Grandma Betty arrived the Tuesday & stayed to help through the weekend. (Thank you!!!) Big sister Cassidy is adjusting pretty well & calls her new little sister "my baby." She likes to mimic Mommy taking care of her dolls while Jackie takes care of & nurses Kalea. It'll be a big adjustment for her (& Mommy & Daddy too!) but we're excited to be a family of four.
More pictures are on our Picasa page if you'd like to see them!