Kellen's Birth Story

It was kind of bitter-sweet that we knew Kellen's birthday ahead of time; bitter in the sense that we wouldn't get to experience the excitement of going into labor at any time, and sweet in the sense that we knew exactly when our little blessing was going to be arriving, allowing us to make sure everything was as ready as it could be. When we found out we would be having him on August 4th, we were pleased with the date. 8/4/10 - all even numbers, which I for some reason believe to be good luck. This is also the same birthday as President Obama, which has me feeling that Kellen will be an amazing leader someday (Aaron also looked up other famous people who had the same birthday and sent me the list - he was pretty excited about this)!

The days leading up to my baby's birthday were pretty exciting and very anxiety-inducing. There were 2 separate occasions when I thought my water broke - once on the Sunday before right before we went to church, and once the next day following my last official OB appointment. Turns out it was just increased discharge (I know, TMI). I decided about a week before 8/4 that I was going to treat myself to a nice Dairy Queen Blizzard the night before my c-section as a reward for not being able to eat 8 hours prior to surgery (for those of you who are wondering, I got Reeses Peanut Butter Cup) medium). Can you believe they expect a 9 months pregnant woman to go that long without eating? My surgery was at 11:50, which meant the last I could eat was 3:50 - clearly, I was not going to get up at 3:30 to make myself something to eat. However, when I got up around 1 to go to the bathroom, I had a few peanut butter crackers. Anywho, onto the story.

I didn't fall asleep as easily as I would've liked the night before Kellen came, but that was something I expected. We were due to be at the hospital 2 hours before surgery, so we needed to be out the door by 9:30 at the latest. I woke up at about 8:30 and took the time to straighten my hair since I knew it would probably be weeks, if not months, before taking the extra time to make myself look nice. I was ready to go by 9 since I had everything packed and ready to go the night before. I also promised myself and Reesie that I'd take her for a walk that morning just so we could get some extra bonding time. Aaron came with us on our walk at about 9:15. We didn't have as much time for the walk as we would've liked, but considering it was already super humid out and I was unable to drink water to hydrate myself after the walk, we just did a quick one to the park and ran around on the playground equipment with Reesie for 5 minutes. When we got back I sat on the floor with her for 5 minutes and found myself extremely emotional. Reesie had suspected something was up for the past few weeks, but at this point I was pretty sure she knew something was about to change BIG time. Even though I was so excited for the change that was about to happen, I still felt a little bit of guilt and was sad for the changes that she was going to be going through. I gave her lots of kisses, said goodbye, and cried as we pulled out of the driveway.

We took my car to the hospital since the car seat was already installed in my car. I refused to let Aaron drive because this was going to be the last time I'd be able to drive for a few weeks. Silly me, always needing to be in control! We made it to the hospital in good time and walked through the front doors at exactly 9:50 so we were feeling pretty good. We got up to the baby floor and told the people at the main desk that we were there to have our baby, and it turns out our nurse was standing there waiting for us! I can't recall her name right now, but she was very nice and seemed pretty young. However, it turns out she was the same age as us and had a child of her own, which made me feel a little bit more confident for some reason. We lugged our stuff down to labor room #5 to get the i.v. and all of the paperwork prepped. I got to put on a gorgeous hospital gown and was given control of the television remote. About 5 minutes later I found out that our surgery might be delayed by an hour or so, which kind of pissed me off, but I decided to be optimistic because I knew I'd be meeting my baby that day (turns out we were only delayed by about 30 minutes). I couldn't find anything on the t.v. so we ended up watching The Price is Right. The paperwork was annoying, as is to be expected, and I was a little peeved that I was asked all of the same questions that I was asked 1 1/2 weeks prior at my appointment for the external version. Couldn't they just look at the forms that were filled out the last time I was there?? I was given my i.v. at this time as well, which wasn't as bad of an experience as it was at my external version and didn't leave a swollen bruise that lasted for 2+ weeks. When the nurse was done with the paperwork, Dr. Kremer, our awesome OB, came in to do a last minute check to see if baby Pierce was still breech...and he was (which was not a surprise to me because I still felt his head at the top of my belly and his little tootsies swimming around at the bottom of my belly). The c-section would still be happening. Our nurse then informed us that they weren't sure what time I'd be going in for the surgery, but that it would still be at least another 15 minutes. Five minutes later, our nurse came in and said "I was wrong, its time to go now!" I kind of panicked at this moment because I thought I still had another 10 minutes! She brought in some scrubs for Aaron, helped me get up and out of the very comfy bed (totally not comfy), and led us on our way. It was very surreal, walking down the hall in my little blue gown, blue booties on my feet, i.v. bag in hand, husband decked out in scrubs (he looked like he was on Grey's Anatomy, which I never watch, but I imagine that this is what the characters look like), on my way to have our baby. We took the elevator down to the first floor, which is where all the surgeries took place, and went into the patient waiting room. It was a little room right outside of the surgery door entrance with just a couple chairs and computer for the nurse. This was officially happening. My anesthesiologist came in to explain what was going to be happening, and then one of his assistants came in, and then another person, and then Dr. Kremer, and then we were told it would be a couple more minutes and they'd be taking me in to get prepped for surgery. I could tell at this point that Aaron was very anxious. He kept messing around with his scrub hat and everyone kept joking about how nervous and pale he looked. Our nurse even got him some juice to help calm his nerves. I didn't know how he would manage waiting for 15 - 20 minutes outside of the operating room while they prepped me. I was a little worried that he was going to pass out in the waiting room and that I'd have to go through the experience by myself. Before I knew it, one of the nurses came in and told me it was time. Aaron walked out of the room with us and they showed him where he would be waiting while they got me ready. We gave each other a kiss and said "I love you."

The operating room wasn't quite what I'd imagined. It was very neon-bright and not very large. There was equipment all over the place and already a few people in the room getting things ready. I think there were 8 people in the room during the surgery, not counting Aaron, myself, and baby Kellen. It felt very cramped, but that could've also just been my nerves acting up. Believe it or not, I was not a wee bit nervous the entire morning until this very moment. One of the nurses brought me to the side of the hospital bed and undid the back of my gown to prep me for the spinal block. The anesthesiologist gave me 2 little numbing shots on each side of my lower back, and then told me he was going to be inserting the block at this time. I held onto the nurse's hand and took deep breaths while he completed this process - I knew my breathing techniques would come in handy! Even though the numbing shots did help, I still felt a moderate amount of pain when he gave me the block. I was very relieved when that was over. The nurses then helped me lay on the hospital bed, and within minutes I couldn't feel anything going on down there. Things moved really fast at this point and I can't quite remember the sequence of events other than Aaron being brought into the room. I was so happy that he didn't faint and that he'd be in there with me after all!! I knew he could do it :) We talked for a little bit - he asked how I was doing, he asked how I was doing, I started getting really anxious and my teeth began chattering. The nurses thought I was cold so they put a blanket over me - but the teeth chattering was more my nerves than anything else. I told Aaron I needed a few seconds to go to my "happy place" and closed my eyes, imagining myself on a grassy hill with a huge oak tree, all by myself. This was calming to me. I don't know what I was so nervous about - I wasn't nervous about the surgery, but maybe it was that my whole life was going to be changing within a matter of minutes. Aaron was holding my hand and I was officially ready (to do what, I'm not sure, but I just had this overwhelming sense of "okay, I can do this"). At this time I asked Dr. Kremer when they were going to start, and she said "We already did - your child will be out within 2 minutes!" I couldn't believe that I hadn't felt a thing and they were already so far along. This was really happening! It seemed like not even seconds later, Aaron was standing up with the video camera and everyone was shouting out "It's a boy! It's a boy!" Aaron probably repeated this excitedly about 10 times. I heard his loud, powerful cry and knew he was okay. I was so happy I started crying - I can't recall if I actually had any tears or not, but I remember just sobbing and being so excited! Our nurse then asked "What's his name?" and Aaron said "Kellen, Kellen Otto" - that's when it became real. Only seconds later Dr. Kremer brought him over to the side to give me a quick view...and there he was! Our beautiful baby boy, covered in all the fluids he'd been surviving off of for the past 9 months, was finally here. They took him to the back of the operating room to wipe him off and Aaron followed so he could cut the remaining part of the umbilical cord. This seemed to take forever because I just wanted to see him so badly! Aaron came and sat next to me and Kellen was placed on my chest with Aaron supporting him. We just stared at our son, so overjoyed. Aaron was beaming with pride and was so excited for me to get to see Kellen. I asked if he had hair, Aaron said he had lots. Kellen snorted quite a bit, we giggled. It was the best feeling in the world. We didn't even know it, but our nurse was recording this moment from behind, and I'm so thankful she did. I've watched this video so many times, along with the birth video, and I feel so blessed to have this moment on tape.

Within a few minutes Aaron went up to labor room #5 with Kellen and our nurse. I was sad I was going to have to be apart from him, but so excited to get the surgery over with so I could get up there and be with him. The rest of the surgery actually flew by, but I distinctly remember my nose getting really stuffed up and I had a really hard time breathing. I kind of went into a mini-panic until Dr. Kremer told me that it was a common reaction to the medication I'd been given. After they were done, Dr. Kremer called up to the room to see how much Kellen weighed and how long he was (for some reason they didn't do that down in the operating room). 6 lbs, 12 oz, 20 1/2 inches long. I was happy that he was within the normal range, but was shocked that he was so much smaller than I'd expected. I thought he would be at least 7 1/2 lbs. At this point, I just wanted to get upstairs to be with my new little family. They carted me up, and when I rolled into the room, Aaron was sitting with Kellen, skin-to-skin, under a heat lamp. It was so precious and I'm so happy Aaron got to experience that. Within a couple minutes, after they'd taken my blood pressure, Kellen was brought to me and I did some skin-to-skin with him before trying to breast feed. I needed some help from the nurse, but he latched and we were on our way!

The rest of that day was pretty blurry. I remember getting really nausious, being carted down to the "post partum" room with Kellen and Aaron, watching his first bath groggily (was so sad after the fact that I didn't get to participate), my mom and Aaron's mom visiting, and snuggling with my little man. This had been my best day. Ever. Welcome to the world, baby Kellen!