Kennedy's Birth Story

It's been a while...but I felt that writing out Kennedy's birth story like we did with Annika was very much needed. She's 1 month old now so I'm already real behind but here we go!

Kennedy's story was MUCH different than Annika's, in almost every way. Which was a great thing most of the time. I was hoping she would come 2 weeks earlier, I didn't want to go to 40 weeks with her. I thought that my wish was coming true because at 38 weeks I started having contractions. Real ones, not just braxton hicks. They started on the day I turned 38 weeks so I already had a Dr's appointment scheduled that day. I went to work, figured I would be closer to the hospital that way anyway, and I only needed to make it to lunch before my appointment with my doctor. With Annika I was in labor for HOURS before so I knew there was time, and that my contractions weren't strong enough or close enough together for it to be time to go to the hospital. I started driving to the doctor and was having contractions 10 minutes apart for the last 2 hours. I called Curtis and told him to pack the car and meet me at my appointment...I called my mom and told her I thought this was it and to be ready to grab Annika if I needed her to. I walk in to my appointment and told my doctor I was worried I was in labor, I was excited and just needed him to confirm it. Well....he didn't. I was dilated to a 1 and 80% effaced and things were definitely progressing but not in active labor so he told me to get as much rest as I could and that baby could be coming that day or it could be a few more days. By the time I got home the contractions had died down a bit and the disappointment set in.

The next day was the same story, and the next, and the next. I had consistent painful contractions every day for the next week. They would get to the point where I would tell Curtis we needed to go to the hospital, and then by the time the car was ready to go they would start to die down. At this point my doctor was out of town so I was hoping that they would go away. I REALLY wanted my doctor to be at my labor because we had talked so much about my fears, and issues with Annika's, and in my head I felt like if he wasn't there I wasn't going to be able to give birth. I went to my 39 week check up and met with the doctor that would be delivering Kennedy if my doctor wasn't back in time. He confirmed that I was having contractions but that my body just wasn't ready yet. I was ok with that because I needed to wait 3 more days for my doctor to get back.

Then it was Thursday night, same thing with the contractions but this time they got closer and it was hard to talk through them. Finally, this was the real deal. Or so I thought. We were out getting food and I told Curtis I thought this was it, by this point I had said that 3 times already so I told him to take it with a grain of salt. He had plans to go to the movies that night with some friends already and I told him to still go but to have his phone on him in case I needed him to come home. I laid down after Annika was in bed and started timing my contractions. I was literally texting Curtis to come home when the contractions started to die down. My excited text turned into, "well they stopped again, she's never coming out."

So Friday came, and I went in to work. I was having contractions throughout the day again but by this point it had been almost 2 weeks so I was getting pretty used to it and didn't think anything of it. I got home and told Curtis we needed Mexican food because I needed something spicy. Well where we live there isn't anything like that within 30 minutes so we ended up at Taco Bell  (don't judge)...I was in so much pain, again didn't think much of it. We ordered the food and sat down and I couldn't eat any of it. I felt so sick and dizzy. I had morning sickness throughout my entire pregnancy so I just assumed this was that and told Curtis I needed to go home right then. I was timing my contractions the whole way home and they were following the same pattern as the previous night so I just assumed that it wasn't real. Curtis asked if we needed to go to the hospital and I told him I wasn't going anywhere unless my water broke, or I could feel the baby coming. We got home and I told him I was going to try and take a little nap because I felt so sick. He was getting Annika ready to go to bed and checked again if we needed to go to the hospital. I told him no. I had family and friends texting me and I told them it wasn't happening. My contractions were dying down again, went from 5-7 minutes apart to 13-19 minutes apart. I said goodnight to Annika while Curtis took her in her room to put her to bed. The second he closed the door to her room I had a contraction but this one was different. Right int he middle of it I heard a loud pop and the contraction got 10 times worse. I couldn't move, and started wondering if my water broke, I never heard a pop with Annika so I wasn't sure. The contraction ended and I sat up and there was NO denying that my water broke. I tried to call for Curtis but he couldn't hear me over Annika's white noise machine and then BAM another extremely painful contraction. I waited for it to end and ran into Annika's room saying "my water broke, let's go". I pulled out my phone and told my parents to meet us at the gas station to grab Annika because this was the real deal. Curtis' face looked terrified. Like I was playing some evil joke on him and then it hit him that this wasn't a joke and he sprung into action. We were in the car a couple minutes later and I felt like I was dying. My contractions went from 19 minutes apart to 2.5 minutes apart when my water broke. I was kind of worried I wouldn't make it to the hospital, but I did!

Amazingly there was zero traffic on that Friday night, an answer to all my prayers. We made it to the hospital in 30 minutes - usually a 40-45 minute drive. It was about 9 PM when we walked in and they walked us right back. They checked me and said I was dilated to a 4 and things were moving fast. They were a little worried because everytime I had a contraction, Kennedy's heart would slow way down.It was scary to listen to it while trying my best to breathe through the contractions. An hour later the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural, at that point I was dilated to a 5. By the time he left it was around 10:30. An hour later they checked me again because my contractions were doing weird things, I honestly can't remember what they said. The nurse was surprised when she saw that I was dilated to a 10 and ready to go! She left the room to call my doctor (who was actually the on call doctor because my doctor was still out of town). He got there about 20 minutes later and started to suit up. The exciting thing was that Curtis was going to help deliver Kennedy so for the next little bit I got to watch him put on all the gear and get lessons from the doctor. I started pushing and was told that the baby was posterior. I instantly felt terrified that this was going to go the same way as Annika's birth. The doctor immediately asked for a vacuum to be pulled out just in case, which I was eager to remind him that we didn't need it with Annika and I pushed for 3 hours with her and would do it again now if I needed to. It became very clear with the next push that we wouldn't need the vacuum because Kennedy was coming. The doctor quickly told Curtis he better hurry getting his glove on because this baby was coming. A few more pushes and we realized that the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck so the next pushes needed to be strong so we could get her out. Made sense why her heart was struggling during contractions! A couple more pushes and she was there, with the cord around her neck 3 times (scared me!). But I loved seeing Curtis catch her. The nurses and the doctor were able to pull the cord off and I instantly calmed down when her face went from blue to pink and she could breathe. Kennedy Rae Lowe was born at 12:23 AM on August 11th, weighing 6 pounds 8 ounces and 19 inches long.

Everything was so much smoother and quicker than it was with Annika, she had definitely forged the path for her siblings. I was so happy when she was born and definitely on a high, which I was NOT after Annika. It was nice to be able to enjoy holding my little girl and doing skin to skin with her.

Annika 6 Months

6 Months. Where to begin. Annika has been in our lives for the past 6 months! I know people say this a lot but it's so true. Being a parent is the most rewarding yet hardest thing I've done. I can't believe how quickly she has grown up! I look at her every day and say, "aww my baby!!!" Literally, I say that everyday. I try not to but I can't help it. I look at her and want to cry because I feel so overwhelmingly in love with her. I want to cuddle her sweet little self ALL DAY LONG! 

I think what's even crazier to see change, is who I am and who Curtis is. For 6 months now we have been parents. And to be a parent, we have found, you have to sacrifice A LOT. More so than I think either of us were really prepared to do, but it is 100% worth it. We have both had our moments of sheer panic wondering what we got ourselves into, but in the end we have started our little family and it's amazing. We may not sleep anymore (at all), or go out as much, or spend as much time on our hobbies, but right now we are doing exactly what we want to be doing. And that's spending time with our beautiful little girl as much as possible, and watching her grow and learn! 

Annika is truly the perfect baby in my humble opinion. Ok not perfect, she doesn't sleep much, BUT she is getting better. So here's what is going on with Annika at 6 months old!

* All Smiles - she is the happiest baby, and loves people and getting out and doing things, seriously she's all smiles

* Eating Solids - she starting showing signs of wanting food around 3 months so we started her at 4 months and she LOVES food. Maybe even more than me, which is saying something. She's so good at chewing, or gumming, whatever you want to call it. I'm so proud

* Sitting up on her own - this one is newer and it's crazy! She will sit up and just look around and play with her toys and it blows my mind. It's causing problems with her eating though - she can't get the bottle right when she's sitting up, she's learning

* Talking - she just baby babbles all day, and will laugh randomly. I can only assume she's telling us some great jokes

* Spitting - I always said I would never teach my child to spit, but.....it's so cute!!! and she thinks she's hilarious. You can tell how proud she is of herself everytime. I love it. 

* Dancing - this girl LOVES it when you dance with her or sit her down and dance around her, I hope she's always like that

* Sleeping better - She goes down for naps really well, they usually last about 45 minutes and then she's ready to go! Bedtime is getting better, she now sleeps for 4 hour stretches which was way better than the 1.5 hour stretches she was doing until about two weeks ago!

* Grabbing things - She is one wiggly baby! Always reaching and grunting trying to get her arms to reach a little bit farther. She wants to grab anything and everything and often zones out just starring at something and then starts laughing and reaching for it. 

Here's to learning new things and growing like a weed! Love you little miss Annika Jan!

Please stop growing up.

Easter

We had a great Easter this year, I was excited to make Annika her first Easter basket knowing she was probably too young to care. Come to find out she was VERY excited for it adn really enjoyed pulling out each thing. I may have teared up a bit, because she's my baby and was just so dang cute! I also didn't know what breakfast to do for Easter so we did the classic bunny shaped pancakes :) 

 

We went to church and then off to my parents house for a very delicious Easter dinner! I truly love being able to spend my Sunday's with family, and was especially reminded of this blessing while sitting in Church that Easter Sunday. I'm so grateful for the gospel, and their emphasis on strong families. 

Annika also got to enjoy a little Easter photo shoot taken by her wonderful Anna Harrison of course! Here were the adorable results. And yes, we did take these at her bedtime so she has very sleepy eyes :)  

And of course we had to take to take pictures of her with her cousins because they all matched! The amazing dresses were handmade by Anna's Sister Erin. It was so sweet of her to think of Annika and make one for her too. Truly I'm surrounded by amazing family. 

Curtis' Graduation

Guys, Curtis Graduated!!! This is VERY exciting news for our little family. Having Curtis in school has not been the easiest on anyone, especially him. When we got married he had the hard decision of going to online school, switching his major, and losing a bunch of credits. It added almost another year I believe of school for him. Working, going to school, and a new born baby was a lot to balance and i'm so proud of him! He has learned A LOT, and I can tell that he actually enjoys doing what he studied (even if he didn't enjoy the homework :))

Even little Annika missed her daddy. There were some nights where she just wanted him so she got to sit on his lap while he did homework.

But those days are finally over, and we are beyond thrilled! He didn't want to walk, mostly because we would have to go to Rexburg, and he didn't even know his teachers or classmates since it was all online. I still wanted to celebrate and show him how proud of him we all were. I will admit that I failed a little and the weekend really snuck up on me! But I still think we had some fun with family :) 

Curtis' parents and his brother and his family were able to come down for the weekend. It was fun hosting them in our little apartment :) For real though, I really enjoyed that! Friday night was just dinner and games, Curtis' dream come true. Then Saturday was our day of fun! His mom had brought down this amazing cinnamon bread so we started out with a great breakfast! Then it was off to top golf. 

I had never been and it was a lot of fun! I want to go back now that I have a better feel for the place. Poor Annika was SO sick, she had a fever of about 101-103 for the two days leading up to Saturday and all day Saturday. She was a champ though and enjoyed the extra cuddles she got from the family :)

After golf we went back to my parents house for games, again Curtis' dream. We made burgers and hot dogs and some cheesecake. Curtis was lucky enough to have his Mom bring down some huckleberries she had so that we could have a huckleberry topping. It was delicious!

We played all sorts of games and our neices all helped me make and decorate a graduation hat for Curtis out of construction paper. I know, we are so fancy :) 

In the end it felt like a perfect day. The entire week after both Annika and I were sick so poor Curtis had to take care of us, but I'm really glad that we had that day to celebrate his hard work! Now, let the job hunt begin!

Welcome Warm(er) Weather!

Despite the dreary rain that has been happening the past few days, I'm still getting so excited that it's been warm out! I decided that having a baby right when it starts getting too cold to go outside is the absolute worst. My poor baby didn't know what warm sun light felt like! Until recently :) We took her outside to play on a blanket, and she loved it, but was also sick at the time so she was grumpy. anyway here are some pictures of her (one day I'll learn how to edit my photos so the dark ones aren't so dark :)) Mainly I'm obsessed with my baby, and I just want to take pictures of her all the time because she changes so much every single day! 

The "why are you crying??" face

And then Curtis' family came down for a visit, so we spent some time at Antelope Island :) Annika DID NOT like sitting in the sand. I think it was mainly because she was tired from waking up too early from a nap but man, she was very unsure about the whole experience. I did manage to get a good one of her laughing while in her daddy's lap though :) 

She could easily be a model

Don't you dare put me back down there!

Her life is pulling the bow out of her eyes

You can kiss me all you want, I'm not going to be happy