John Burke Henderson

Well, I have been overwhelmed at the sight of the computer. But I want to update the blog before I forget everything. Thinking this birth story is going to be long...

Last Tuesday (4/27) we went to the doctor. I blogged right before that, and found out at the doctor that day that I was 3 plus cm dilated and 80-90 percent effaced. Definite progress. He told me that we would come back the 4th (tomorrow!) early in the morning, and if everything still looked good, we would have a baby. Great with me! With an end in sight, I chilled out, but Dr. A and I both thought there was a good chance it could happen before with the progress made.

We had a good dinner with good friends. Went to bed and woke up at 4:08 a.m. I rolled on my stomach, and felt some pain. I couldn't tell if I had just rolled too hard, or if something was going on. I waited and it continued. I felt one contraction with Turner, so I wasn't sure what was up. I decided to wake Heath up and take a shower. It continued, so I called the doctor. My doctor happened to be on call, and he told me to mosey on to Labor and Delivery, they would be waiting. I called my mom and asked her to come watch Turner and take him to school.

Heath and I went to the hospital. We walked in and I heard "It's Kelly." It was Marie, a friend from Auburn, who I actually saw in Turner's birth. God provides - it is so calming to know someone! She introduced me to Courtney, my nurse.

Courtney, Dr. A and us

We went in to the room and got situated. She told me that they may just watch me and send me home. Sometimes contractions like this can last 3 weeks. WHAT?! Dr. R. (another doctor in the practice) came in to see me and said the same thing. I was fine, just prayed that God would send something definitive either way. Then I started having contractions every 3-4 minutes. The doctor came by the next hour - I thought he was going to say I was going home, but he said we were going to have a baby!

My doctor came by a few minutes later (Dr. A) and said he was going to be taking care of me. Another answer to prayer! The second time around I was a lot less nervous/kind of excited/worried about what Turner was up to. They gave me a little pitocin, and an epidural and got started.

Sidenote - I am writing all of these details so I don't forget. Sorry if boring you.

I fully dilated by 10 something. By 11:45 we started pushing. They felt like it would happen fast because it was my second baby. I ended up pushing 2 and a half hours and we found out during the process that John Burke was face up. So, his head was stuck in my pelvis. Awesome.

Fast forward, Dr. A determines we are going to need to use forceps. A bunch of people come in the room - my nurse, doctor, Heath, Lindsey, NICU nurse, respiratory therapist, a couple of other L&D nurses. Again, nothing fazed me because God used Dr. A and Lindsey (in nurse mode) to keep me calm. My sweet nurse said "We have a bigger birthday party when we use forceps." Fine with me - I was so tired at this point, just do it!

The forceps weren't working - he was really stuck. Lindsey looked at me and basically let me know how serious the situation was. His heart rate was dipping (I didn't know how scary that was at the time) and Dr. A told me he had one more push to get out before emergency c-section. He finally made it at 2:09 p.m. Stinker!! He was 6 pounds, 13 ounces and 20 inches long. Just the same measurements as Turner!! Weird.

They came and got him after a while - this was a more in-depth clean up, etc. than Turner's birth. We saw family (after what seemed like forever!), and made it upstairs.

When we had been upstairs for a couple of hours, we noticed he was grunting. Not consistently, but enough. And his temperature was low (a little below 97.8). Then they tested his blood sugar, and it was also low. It was determined that he should go to the NICU. God still calming my heart - that is where Lindsey worked for almost 5 years and they were very comforting.

I was a little sad, but knew it was the best thing for him and fully trusted they knew far more than I did!

Cousin Kate was very somber while she held him

So, he went. By the next morning, he was "growing up" and was able to come in our room all day Thursday and Friday. Just slept in the NICU. We left Friday night, but only after the birth of Derek's baby girl, Chloe. Stacy went into labor Friday morning and had Chloe around 5:20 p.m.

We went to pick him up on Saturday, but on the way we found out that his bilirubin was too high and he had to stay another day. Again, sad. But, we knew it was the best thing - especially after Turner's spiked crazy high when he was born. This is what we saw - love the sunglasses.

Finally, yesterday we were able to bring him home!! We left the hospital around 5:30, and have been snuggling with this little angel ever since.

His brother has been hanging out in Andalusia - praise God for the Hendersons for entertaining him! I am missing him, and will be really ready to see him. But it has been nice to have a little alone time with John Burke.

Sweet brother - but he slapped his head away after this picture (not too hard)

Whew. Enough for now - sinking back into my hole. There is just nothing as sweet as a newborn! Praise the Lord!

Good Night!