January 15, 2010

So, I didn't get on the computer last night before bed but, Kennedy had a couple of firsts yesterday. Thursday night she spent her first night sleeping at home. She did fine however, Mommy had a bit of a breakdown when it was time to put her down for the night and go to sleep herself. For some reason I just thought that the room next to mine with a monitor right by her was still to far away from me. After some convincing from Tom, I let her stay there and she was fine after all, I just cried myself to sleep and got over it. When we got up we had a typical morning and then it was off to her first doctor's appointment. Her pediatrician thought that Friday may be a little too early for an appointment but didn't want to wait all the way through the weekend. It ended up being okay because we did have a few questions. I didn't think she was peeing enough so she gave us some advice and even followed up in the evening by calling us at home to make sure everything was okay. We were very impressed with her.




When we were at the doctor's office, we of course had to take all her clothes and her diaper off of her and when the diaper came off Daddy found a nice surprise. She had a major bowel movement and made a mess of herself. We cleaned her up with wipes as much as we could but when we got home I decided she needed a little sponge bath.

She ended up not being a big fan, actually. I should have known; she really doesn't like being naked. I did a pretty good job of getting it done quick for her but we have some practice to do. It will be nicer when the cord falls off and she is able to be in a bath. I think that she will like it better when she can soak in a little bit of warm water instead of having it just poured over her. :)

After her bath she was so soft and cuddly and oh so tired. We tried to play a little on the floor but she really didn't want anything to do with that. She ended up just cuddling with her Grandpa until she went to bed.

Home, Sweet Home

It's been a long week so far. We got to the hospital Monday morning and it is finally time for us to take our little Kennedy home, Thursday morning. Kennedy slept great last night. We went to bed around midnight and I expected to be up a lot over night because she slept a lot during the day. The next thing I knew, I woke up and had to use the bathroom, I looked at the clock on the wall and it was almost 5 in the morning! I had to wake Kennedy up to feed her and even then she didn't even want to wake up. We had a good morning. All the nurses and doctors came in to check out Kennedy and me and before we knew it, they said we could go home! We were more than ready!

The family all dressed and ready to go home!

Kennedy in her going home outfit.

We got her bundled in the car seat, after only a little struggle and we were ready to go!

All buckled up and ready for Daddy to drive us home.

Daddy was so happy to finally be able to cuddle with his little girl at home.

Another day in the hospital...

We actually got a good nights sleep, at least for having a new born. Between waking up for the nurses checks and the feedings, she really only fussed for about a half hour once and it really wasn't that bad. Today we had a lot more visitors but she slept most of the day so we will see how tonight's sleep goes. We will be getting discharged tomorrow morning and should be home by lunch if all goes well. We are really looking forward to getting Kennedy home and getting back to "normal".

She's even cuter today. Her swelling is going down and her features are coming out. We are still not quite sure which one of us she looks like. She is just a good mix of both for now.

Happy Birthday Kennedy!!!

Introducing... Kennedy Ann Donohoe! She finally made her arrival at 3:55am this morning after a 15 hour labor with 3 hours of pushing. The version went well yesterday and they started me on the petocin shortly after the flip. It took a while to start to feel contractions but I was having regular contractions before I even had the version. I got to 4 cm very quickly however 4-6 took forever. I was at 4cm at 3:30pm and didn't get to 6cm until around 10pm or so. I got to 9.5 cm in less than an hour and then to fully dilated just before midnight. I did a little pushing before midnight but nothing major. I started the non stop pushing at 1:00am and finished at 3:55. She ended up head up so that is why it took so long to push her out and also ended up being so painful. However, it is all worth it!

Here she is right after she was born getting the quick wipe down.

Her weight was 7 lb 6 oz.

Kennedy with her Grandma Kaufman just minutes after she was born.

And with Grandpa Kaufman...

After all of my post delivery "stuff" which by the way no one tells you how fun that is; I finally got to hold my daughter. What a little princess! I love her!

Daddy went with her to the nursery for her first bath with the nurses.

All cuddled up after her first bath.

They also measured her in the nursery. She was 19.5 in. long. She has beautiful dark brown hair with just a hint of curl and she has super long fingers and toes.

39 Week Belly Picture...

Well, I guess this is going to be the last belly picture... We are going in tomorrow for the version and the induction. Mom and Dad got here around 11 am this morning and we spent the day hanging out and catching up. We also got to have our Christmas with them too. We got the Wii Fit Plus and a cargo rack for the hitch of the Mazda. Just what we asked Santa for!!! I am excited to start the reverse belly pictures!


So there has been less kicking over all and a lot of her trying to roll around and stretch out. She is still kicking me in the bladder though so I am pretty sure that she is still breech.

The stretch marks really haven't gotten much worse this week. But I am proud to say that I broke the 40 pound weight gain mark and I officially out weigh Tom now!

I really didn't think that I could get much bigger without popping but this definately looks like I am really going to pop any minute! We are going in at 8 am tomorrow with them most likely doing the version around 9am and then hopefully straight into being induced. We probably won't be getting much sleep tonight because we will be up thinking about this all night. I can't believe tomorrow I get to meet my daughter! Whoa!

Belly Pictures...

Just got the belly pictures in the mail today. Thought I would share a few of them... There were over 70 of them and I thought that they were all really good so it was hard just to pick a few to put up!

"Snowy" Day

Last night the forecast was calling for 1-4" on snow so the whole state of TN starts getting scared and cancels all of the schools around here. We wake up this morning and there was not a speck of snow on the ground. I made it to work just fine and then around 9am it hit us!!! Man those flurries were intense, thank goodness they closed the schools!!!

After snowing ALL day this is what we got. Barely a dusting!! Now this is the first snow Shirley and Riley have seen all year so they were pretty excited. They act like little kids. They want to spend all day outside. I spent a little time out with them when I got home from the clinic this afternoon but I was too tired to do to much. And besides... the snowballs that I was making were pretty pathetic!

Riley found a chunk of ice out of one of their water bowls so she was pretty content just hanging out by herself gnawing on ice! She loves the cold.

This is when I was balling up the golf ball size snow balls from the porch snow and throwing them to them.

Shirley begs by the back door to go outside and then just sits there by herself shivering, waiting for someone to come out and play in the snow with her. How pathetic! I only let her sit there for a couple of minutes then I have to call her in. I think she would stay out all day just like that if I let her...

Anyway. Since nothing sticks to the roads here, they are still pretty wet and we are supposed to be getting some record lows on cold here. It's going to be like -3 with the wind chill in the morning so understandably there will be ice on the roads. Schools are already closed for tomorrow too. SO, I only had to work a 1/2 day today and I don't have to work at all tomorrow. The next time I go to work will be 8 weeks from Monday!! I will have a whole extra day to prepare for the baby and to rest up!

38 Week Doctor's Appointment

So, I went to the doctor yesterday and everything is still pretty much the same. Kennedy is still in the breech position and our doctor does not feel that she is going to do any flipping any time soon. Tom was not able to make it to the appointment this time because he had to go to work but he really didn't miss much. They have been pretty much the same for a while now. I got to hear the heart beat which is normal and he measured my belly which is normal and he checked for dilation and I am 1cm dilated and nearly all the way thinned.

We have a scheduled version for Monday, January 11 at 8am. The doctor's will give me an epidural and they are thinking that they will be able to start the version around 9am. If she flips which Dr. Lotshaw doesn't see why she won't then they will start the induction process. He also feels that since I am already dilating and my cervix is very thin that the induction should go smoothly. If they are not able to flip her then I will go right from the version into get a c-section. There are risks involved with the version although minimal if they should occur I will need to have a very time sensitive c-section so through the version and through my labor I will have a c-section room on hold for me that no one else will be able to use. A little scary, but at least I know that the doctors are taking precautions and making sure that I am given the best care possible.

So, with this coming up so soon... just 5 days away... we are getting a little crazy over here. I really can't stop thinking about how my life is going to be turned upside down in such a short amount of time. It has been almost 2 years since we began trying for her and I can't believe we are finally going to meet her! There is such a whirlwind of emotions that I can't even begin to explain and I know that Tom is feeling the same way; I can see it in his eyes when he looks at me or when he is feeling my belly.

Mom and Dad are going to be here on Sunday morning in order to be here for Kennedy's birth and we are so excited that they will be able to make it. That is the good thing about this being scheduled. It will also be so nice to have them here to help us transition for the 1-2 weeks that they will be staying with us!

Tom also has some good news! Last night when he was at work they finally offered him the position. He is officially a Research Assistant II for BioVu Lab at Vanderbilt working with their DNA bank! YEAH!!! Although, he is already having to take a week off next week. It's a good thing that he has already been working there for several months as a temporary employee so they knew this was coming.

My Birthday Weekend

I turned 31 on January 1st!!! We had a pretty good weekend. It's been nice because I even took Thursday off to recover from my basketball tournament that I had last week. Thursday I had my belly pictures taken which I think I already wrote about and then we just hung out and Tom cooked a roast and carrots and potatoes for dinner and it was Yum, Yum, Yummy! We then went out and watched the TN vs. Virginia Tech game with some friends from Murfreesboro. I almost made it til 10:00pm before I got too tired! When we got home we stayed up for a little bit to try to make it to midnight to bring in the new year but at about 11:30 I called it quits. I was still somewhat awake at midnight when we heard all the fireworks around the neighborhood and we wished each other Happy New Year. How exciting are we.


Friday was my birthday. I actually had a great night's sleep on Thursday night and Tom let me sleep in until about 9:30 on Friday. We layed around the house and was lazy most of the day. We watched a great movie, My Sister's Keeper, and then got ready to go out to dinner. Tom took me to Maggiano's, an Italian restaurant and we had a great meal and a great time hanging out together. It was a last night out before baby and I am glad that we did it!

Here I am at home, showing off my big ole belly. The print I guess hides it a little but that is probably a good thing. I am definitely mastering the pregnant waddle now and I am trying not to arch my back much but it is hard holding up a 35 lb belly. That's right, at my visit on Wednesday I am a pound and a half from gaining 35lbs! YIKES! My next doctor's appointment is Tuesday afternoon so I will probably update then unless I happen to get my 38 week picture up tomorrow.

37 Week Belly Picture

So here I am at 37 weeks!!! The time is really starting to fly by now. I am big and uncomfortable. I don't sleep. I am really ready to meet the baby!


We had the 37 week doctor visit yesterday. Kennedy is still breech so we scheduled a version which is where there doctor will attempt to flip her over to avoid a c-section. We are going in on January 13, two weeks from yesterday, and they will give me an epidural and then attempt to flip her. If she flips they will then take me in to be induced. If the induction works and she stays head down, I will be able to have her by a natural vaginal delivery. If she doesn't flip or she flips back before I deliver her I will go straight in for a c-section. So it looks like right now, unless she flips over on her own or I go into labor before then, her birthday will be January 13th, 2010.

My belly is definitely getting bigger and tighter. There is really no where for her to go so this is why I really don't think that she is going to flip on her own. I think she is comfortable just the way that she is and that is that. You can see that my stretch marks are getting darker by the day, YUCK! The swelling in my hands has also given me carpal tunnel in my right hand, which I just had an injection for and am wearing a splint at night. It's helping a little but my middle and ring finger tips are still a little numb. Oh well, it will all be better in just under 2 weeks!

My belly looks like a balloon that is filled up with too much air and is just about to pop! According to the WebMD emails; she is about 6.5lbs and 21 in long. The doctor doesn't like to guess at the visits so he won't tell me what he thinks she is.

We got our belly pictures taken today. It was really fun. I can't wait to see what they look like. We will get to see them in about 2 weeks or so, I am hoping that we get to see them before Kennedy gets here. They lady that took the pictures is also coming back before Kennedy is 10 days old to take pictures of her too!