Hospital to Home

Being in Kansas this time around lent itself to lots of visitors during our hospital stay. It was a little crazy but it was nice having people come by and seeing how excited they were about little Miss Jane. 

Grandma and cousin Hailie

Uncle Thomas

Cheese!

Cousin Adell and Aunt Serena

Uncle Scott

 Jane's head looks so tiny next to James' hand!

Uncle James

 Seth wasn't really interested in holding the baby but he was okay with Anna sitting next to him eating an apple. (He's typically worried that Anna is going to mess up his stuff :) )

Seth, Anna, and Hailie

Gama

 Anna was a little restless in the room but she had fun styling James' hair.

Both Grandma Paula and Gampa are pretty excited about a red headed grand baby. 

Gampa

 Carli stopped by after she got off of work one day. Carli delivered her daughter at this same hospital last year. 

On discharge day we sort of took our time getting out of there. We even watched a movie in between packing and staff stopping in. We figured it would be awhile before we could watch a movie again after going home. :)

 All ready to head home!

Kevin's parents were bringing Anna back over that evening but we had some time that afternoon to just relax which was really nice. I even managed to snag a nap. 

Anna was pretty excited to be back home and even more excited to see the baby again.  

We are so grateful that Kevin and Patti were able to take Anna while we were at the hospital. It was nice knowing she was taken care of and having fun while we were away from her. We were both pretty happy to have both our girls home under the same roof!

With all the rain we'd had our lawn had gotten a little long going into Jane's delivery. My parents had stopped by after visiting us at the hospital and my Dad knew he had to do something. He came by and got our yard cleaned up. We were very appreciative (our lawn mower was also temporarily out of commission so it was a huuuuge help). He managed to get a quick snuggle in before heading back to Topeka. 

The First Half of June

Right before Jane was born I was preparing to make a post of some of our summer fun. I didn't want to skip it so here we go!

This summer we had Anna signed up for swimming lessons. Nothing crazy...just a way to get her more comfortable in the water and start introducing a few basic skills. Anna has been into Nemo lately so she was getting excited about swimming. Here is a clip from right before the first lesson.

There were eight lessons over two weeks and Anna did really well. We couldn't really get her to use her arms in the water (although she does it all the time outside of the water as seen above). The instructors used her for demonstrations several times since she seemed pretty comfortable with things. Granted she was one of the older kids in the class (6 months to 2 years) but we were still proud of her. 

We're thinking of putting her in another class at the end of the summer with older kids (18 months to 3 years) to see if watching the older kids do things like blowing bubbles will rub off on her.

The pool that the lessons were at was right next to a park. Sometimes after lessons Kevin and Anna would go and play for a bit while I went home to get dinner ready. One evening I brought a picnic and we ate dinner there and then had playtime afterward. 

Anna absolutely loves being at the playground. She's a little daredevil with climbing on things. It causes me a little bit of stress sometimes since most of the playgrounds are better suited for older kids. 

We had Anna's 18 month check up at the beginning of last month and she's doing well. She weighed 24 lbs 6 oz (75%), was 31" long (25%), and her head was 20" (100%). Anna is still refusing to drink milk out of a sippy cup. She'll occasionally take a sip or two but she is definitely proving to be a stubborn little things. We've just been pushing other dairy and calcium rich foods as well as giving her some vitamins.

Anna is also talking up a storm. She has started putting two words together and it seems like new words are coming out left and right. It is so fun hearing her little voice and being able to communicate more with her. Last week the "I'm So Fancy" song came on the radio in the car and next thing we knew Anna was saying "I fancy" while doing a little shoulder dance. It was pretty darn cute but we changed the station after that. I guess we need to put more toddler music in the cars since she is soaking everything up that she hears!

She loves slides!

We had a few guests one weekend. Our friends Josh and Lauren who we know from Stanford were passing through town during their move from Indianapolis back out to California. They made a little time for us and had lunch over at our place before getting back on the road. I can't remember what they were doing in this picture but they were making fun of something.

Kevin and Josh

We couldn't really get Anna to look at the camera. She wasn't really sure about having these new people in her house and remained shy most of their visit.

Me, Anna, and Lauren

One weekend we were back in Topeka so that I could go to my friend Kara's sprinkle. She is expecting her second little girl any day now. It was fun doing the pregnant belly picture with such a great friend!

 Me (38 weeks) and Kara ( 34 weeks)

Jane's Birth Story

We've been home from the over a hospital a week now so I suppose it is time for Jane's birth story to get posted so here it goes...

I actually went into labor on Miss Jane's due date (June 14th). I was on the couch since I'd woken earlier, was uncomfortable, and couldn't go back to sleep. I was just started to drift off when I felt a little something and I suspected it could possibly be my water but it wasn't very much so I couldn't be sure. A little bit later I felt more of the same but still wasn't 100% certain. I headed back up to bed and proceeded to get caught up on my journal entries. I was finishing up and getting out of bed when I felt something that I was fairly confident was my water. 

It was almost 7am at this point so I woke Kevin up and told him I was suspicious and that we should get started on some things around the house just in case. I wasn't having contractions...only mild cramping, and the amount of liquid wasn't crazy huge so I wanted to wait a little longer before paging the on-call doctor. A little after 8am I felt a much more substantial gush so I decided to go ahead and call the doctor. When I spoke to her she wanted me to go ahead and head into Labor and Delivery. I asked her how quickly and she said I didn't need to hurry but not to wait until afternoon. I was happy because this gave us time to get things finished up.

We notified our parents as to what was going on and finished packing our hospital bags and Anna's bag. Anna would be staying with Kevin's Mom and Dad for a few days while we were at the hospital. We were finally ready to head into the hospital and we arrived just before noon. 

On the way to the hospital!

 By 1pm I was in triage and they went ahead and did a test to confirm it was amniotic fluid. At that point I was only 1-2cm, 70% effaced, and still not feeling much contraction-wise. The test came back positive for amniotic fluid so I was admitted and hooked up to a portable monitor so I could walk the hallways. Kevin's parents were there and I got to say bye to Anna before they left with her.

Feeling great since contractions hadn't begun.

 Around 4pm I was examined again and had only dilated slightly more. I was feeling a little discouraged at that point. I knew they would want her delivered not much later than 5am (24 hours from water breaking) due to the increased risk of infection and I was feeling like I would be having another cesarean. 

At 6pm I still hadn't changed much so they started me on the pitocin at the lowest dose they use. It didn't take long before I started feeling some real contractions. About an hour later they increased the dose slightly and the contractions were picking up and hurting more. Another hour later they did another slight increase in pitocin and things were getting tougher for me. My nurse was going to check my progress at 9pm and that was my goal before deciding on an epidural. I wasn't set on drug free or anything but I wanted to make sure I was progressing before confining myself to the bed. Getting from 8 to 9pm was not an easy task. I relied on the birthing ball, gripping Kevin's hand, and really focusing on my breathing. My nurse was fantastic and helping me get through those contractions 

At 9pm I was 4-5cm, 90% effaced, and ready for some pain relief. Luckily the anesthesiologist was just next door so I didn't have to wait to long. By 9:30pm I had the epidural and in the next 15 minutes I was comfortable. Kevin and I were then able to get some much needed rest. At 11:40pm my nurse checked me and I was 10cm and 100% effaced. She went to page the doctor and then things started happening fast. People were coming in the room preparing things until the doctor arrived just after midnight. At 12:22pm I was on the stirrups and started pushing. I pushed for only 26 minutes when our beautiful Jane Everly was born!

Jane Everly Kent
6/15/2014 12:48am

 They put Jane on me right away but I only got to hold her a minute when they took her over to the table. She was crying but not as much as they would have liked and they wanted to get her suctioned out since there was a lot of mucus still left in her little lungs. I was looking over and they kept telling me "She's okay, she's okay". This only made me more worried. Jane was making a grunting noise as she was breathing and they were a little concerned...especially since it had been so long since my water had broken.

She was improving though as they got more mucus out and I was able to hold her more. They did mention taking her to the NICU for observation if the grunting stayed but luckily a bath helped her scream and get more junk out.  I did have to wait a little longer to nurse her but eventually I was able to.

A happy Mommy

Sometime in the middle of the night we finally were moved to recovery. Early that morning they took Jane for blood work. They wanted to check for signs of infection. The number came back slightly elevated but they redrew her blood four hours later and the number had gone down. By the next morning it had gone down even more and she was showing no signs of infection. We were pretty pleased about that!

So happy to finally see our beautiful little girl

 As Kevin wrote previously Jane Everly Kent weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. We are all ecstatic about her red hair too. Right now her eyes are looking blue but we'll have to see for sure on that one. 

We were both pretty tired by mid morning but between nursing, nurses coming in every hour to check vitals on both me and Jane, the birth certificate lady, my doctor, the pediatrician, and the horrid hearing test lady (this is a whole other story) a nap was out of the question. We also had family stop by to meet Miss Jane. It was fun being able to show her off to everyone and we were excited to have Anna with us and watch her meet her sister for the first time. We managed one family photo before everyone left for the day.

Naps did finally happen that evening and  felt pretty amazing. We are so in love with this little lady.

Announcing Jane Everly Kent!

Jane Everly Kent was born on the 15th of June 48 minutes past midnight.  She weighed 8 lb 3 oz, measured 20.5" tall, and had a full head of red hair!  Cara and Jane are both recovering from the whole ordeal right now, and both are happy and healthy except for the time I tried to comfort Jane by swaddling her when she had a dirty diaper... rookie mistake from a father of two... :).

Picture 1.  This is my favorite picture of Jane right now.  She was a little over 12 hours old here.

We are all really excited to have Jane here happy and healthy, but the red hair has us all going crazy over her especially the Grandmas and Granpdas.  Her eyes haven't been open very often, and they were dark greyish yesterday, but now they are getting really blue.  Grandpa on my side of the family and Grandma on Cara's side of the family have red hair.  I got an amazing Father's Day present from Cara, and now Jane and I will share our special day (the first 48 minutes of the day was pretty scary for me though...).

Picture 3.  This is a picture of a very happy Daddy reading to his two beautiful daughters.

Cara was up from 5 am on the 14th until we got ~30 min. of sleep after the epidural kicked in, and then we got about an hour of sleep after 5 am on the 15th of June.  Cara and I were pretty wrecked yesterday but Jane stayed in the nursery last night and we all got good sleep.  Cara and Jane are recovering well, and both are actually asleep on the hospital bed together right now.

Picture 3. A happy and relaxing recovery for Jane and Cara.

Baby #2 Update!

As promised here is a pregnancy update for Baby K #2 (aka BK2). Things have been remarkably uneventful which is nice considering last time had plenty of drama. I'm definitely showing more this time around with it being my second and also having normal fluid levels. 

32 weeks

 The doctor has continued to monitor me a little more closely the second half of this pregnancy and I had another growth ultrasound just before turning 36 weeks. At that time the baby was estimated to be about 6lbs 13oz (74%). There is always error in these estimates and she thinks the baby isn't quite as big but one of the head measurements (which of course is big) is pushing that up. Regardless I'm pretty sure this baby is going to be significantly bigger than Anna was at birth!

36 weeks

 Since that appointment I've been on weekly visits and they have just been checking my fluid levels. They have all been fantastic. Basically all have been double what I averaged with Anna. I'm not sure how much you want to hear about my cervix but I'm going to share anyway. If you are not wanting to hear about it then I suggest skipping the next paragraph :)

At my most recent appointment I was about 60% effaced and 1 cm dilated. It's crazy getting to go through this part of pregnancy since I didn't experience it last time. Even though it's my second baby it's sort of like my first when it comes to the whole labor thing. Exciting stuff!

 The baby is also head down and very very low. When I was first checked a couple of appointments ago the Dr asked me..."Do you have any bladder capacity at all?". The answer to that is NO! Although this is not new to pregnant women it felt good to have my doctor (who sees pregnant women daily) comment on the fact that I am probably in the bathroom a lot. 

38 weeks

I'm often asked how I'm feeling and overall I guess you could say pretty good...considering. I definitely feel PREGNANT and I am increasingly more uncomfortable every day. The last week sleep has gotten a lot worse for me so I've been trying to take at least short naps during Anna's nap time. It's hard since there is always something to be done but sometimes I just have to. BK2 has her bottom and legs/feet on more of my right side and that is where I hurt the most. She's definitely running out of room in there! Although things are getting tough it is sooooo much better than being on bed rest.

At 33 weeks I had some maternity pictures taken as well as a few updated pictures of Anna. The mini maternity session came free for booking my newborn session and I was excited to get to do them since they weren't an option with Anna. Here are a few of my favorites.....

 We've been talking to Anna a lot about how there is a baby in Mommy's belly and that she's going to have a sister. She will sometimes pull up my shirt and kiss my belly. Other times she will pull my shirt down and say "no". Just when we think she's starting to get an idea of what's going on she'll lift up her shirt and say "baby" while touching her belly. 

Anna was being a little camera shy but the photographer managed to catch her smiling a few times. 

I sure love my pretty girl.

A new family photo

 Anna didn't want to hold still for this picture...she just wanted to walk!

Anna doesn't spend as much time on Daddy's shoulders as she once did (since she wants to be on the move constantly) but she still enjoys it. I know Kevin loves it!

A big thank you to Elena from Glass Lantern Photography for taking our family pictures! I can't wait for our newborn session! With only a week and a half until my due date that could be very very soon!

End of May

Over Memorial Day Weekend Kevin's parents were very kind and agreed to take Anna for a few days to give us a chance to finish up some stuff around the house before Baby K#2's arrival. It was a busy weekend for us but we made some progress...especially on things that are tough to do with a toddler running around. Some of our fun activities included switching our car tags and driver's licenses over to Kansas, furniture shopping (we finally picked out a dining room table), and some decorating in the girls' rooms. There is still plenty to do but we made a nice dent in our 'list'. Thanks Gama and Gampa!

Anna had a blast at Gama and Gampa's house. We loved hearing all the stories of funny things she did and how she played with her cousin. We were pretty excited to see her by the time we got to Topeka on Sunday. The three of us just stayed the night so we could be there to help some with Memorial Day. Kevin's parents typically throw a party and we had such a lovely time. We were able to see many faces we don't see often and enjoyed yummy food all afternoon.  I didn't do a great job at taking pictures but I thought I'd include one that I liked. 

Anna with BOTH her girl cousins!

 That evening we drove out to Auburn for a second Memorial Day/May-June Birthday Celebration with the Copp side. It was a nice evening and Anna enjoyed all the free space and ran around with Jude (one of my cousins kids who is just a few months younger than Anna) I failed at taking many pictures here too but I thought this was a funny one. 

Eisley and Moorley wondering if they can have some water too!

 It took a couple days for us to recover some from the long weekend but by Thursday we were ready to head to Deanna Rose Farmstead and see some farm animals. Anna. Loved. This.  Not long after walking in we came across some chickens and the excitement in this child was priceless. She ran over and was 'clucking' like crazy. 

Although I think she would have been happy staying right there we ventured over to see some baby goats and calves. She was so cute running back and forth between both pins saying "moo" and "baa". 

Cute little goats. 

 A little stop by the pond to feed some fish was a big hit as well. 

 We even saw a crane that Kevin and Anna ran towards so we could see it fly off. 

 We took a snack break and let Anna run around an open field for a bit. 

We thought we'd seen the main stuff but then realized there was another part we'd  missed. It was late and we didn't have a ton of time left but we ventured over for a little bit. 

 We spotted a turtle and Anna was pretty excited to see him swimming in the water. I love this little cutie so much.

 Kevin caught this moment and it made me smile. Anna actually offered this kiss to me. She will give them when asked (if she feels like it) but doesn't typically hand them out freely. It was especially nice for Mommy since we had a rough afternoon with a major toddler meltdown. 

May ended with a fun morning of picking out a coffee table, end tables, and an entertainment stand, a family lunch, and a stop at Sam's Club. Kevin had a softball game but Anna and I enjoyed a delicious nap before heading out to watch the second game. We finally made it and Anna was pretty excited to see her Daddy!

There was another open field (which I'm finding is the most amazing thing for this active toddler) and Kevin "ran" her as we like to call it. Gotta get out all that energy somehow and Mommy doesn't have much these days. 

It was a great month and it's crazy that Anna is already 18 months old! We're excited for June and our new addition due in just 2 weeks! I plan to get a pregnancy update posted in the next few days which will include some maternity photos we had taken. Other than that I'm caught up on posts (until I get behind again of course but I'm going to try not to let that happen quite as badly as I did this time around).