Baby Kaylee Joy Routsong is here! She was born January 6, 2011 at 9:09am. She was 6 lbs 8 oz, and 19 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful! Here is her story:
On Tuesday Jan 4, I had a doctor's appointment and was dilated 1 cm. I was pretty discouraged. On Wednesday Jan 5, my Braxton Hicks contractions began to get stronger and a tiny bit painful. I actually had to stop moving till they passed. Throughout the day I had these, sporadically, random, and not consistent. As night came, they were becoming more and more consistent and we started to time them. About 10pm they were about 10 minutes apart. We called Stephanie, my midwife, to give her a heads up. We went to bed, but I couldn't sleep because the contractions were getting more and more painful. This is the first time that I have experienced labor on my own. The last 2 times, my water broke in the middle of the night without any painful contractions. So I went into the hospital both times without having any pain. So this was all very new! Finally, about 2:30 I told Nate that we may want to head in to the hospital. The contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart and we had a 20 minute drive to DeKalb Hospital ahead of us. We headed out and called Stephanie on our way.
Once we got to the hospital, I was still dilated to a one and a half! I couldn't believe all that pain had made no progress for me! Also, once we were there, my contractions slowed way down and were not as consistent aymore!! They were getting stronger and more painful, but were spread out like every 10 minutes or so. The nurse thought we would get sent home. So discouraging!!! So we walked the halls and I even hopped up and down and ran in the hallways hoping to induce contractions. By 6:30 or so, Stephanie ordered a pill for me, cytotec, a pill to ripen the cervix and induce contractions, similar to pitocin. She decided NOT to send us home! Yay! What a relief! We would have our baby today! So I took the pill, a tiny 1/4 of a pill, and almost immediately it took effect. I began having contractions closer and closer together and they progressively got stronger and more and mroe painful. I was in full blown labor then. The contractions would not hardly finish when another would start, and my pain worked its way up to a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10! I have never ever felt pain like I did then. I thought my body would explode! I told Nate that I felt like I might die! It was terrible, terrible pain. I didn't feel that much pain with my boys because I think I had an epidural sooner. About 8:00 Stephanie consented to have the epidural done. The anesthesiologist was very skilled and did a great job. And that took effect about 8:30 or so. Stephanie and her student, Brittany, came in then and checked my cervix. I was a 7! I couldn't believe I had gone frome 1 to 7 in 2 hours on that pill! No wonder I was in so much pain! With the epidural, all I could feel now was pressure. What a relief!
Just 20 relaxing minutes or so later, I began to feel tons of pressure. They checked my cervix and I was 10 cm already!! Stephanie and Brittany gathered all their supplies around. They even invited Nate to catch her when she came out of me! So he got some gloves and was told where to stand and was nervous but excited to be a part of the experience! I pushed maybe 5 times and Baby Kaylee was out! Nate caught her and they all helped put her on my chest all naked and fresh from the womb! What a sweet moment. My baby was here. She did not cry when she came out. Instead, she looked around at her surroundings, content, and just took it all in. How sweet! With her little body against my warm skin she was just cozy as ever and happy to be in Mommy's arms. It was precious to see how peaceful she was. I held her for a good 10 minutes before they had Nate cut the cord. Stephanie was very kind to let her just be with us right after delivery. After her cord was cut, they helped get her swaddled and then Nate and I just held her and got to know her. They didn't whisk her away to clean her, weigh her, measure her, etc, etc, like they did with the boys. They just let us be a family the very moment she was born and for the next couple hours. It was heaven.
About 10 minutes or so after she was born, I tried nursing her. She was rooting already and latched on to me with absolutely no problem! It was amazing to me that she already knew how to eat, how to survive! What a miracle! It strengthened our testimonies that there no doubt is a God. Heavenly Father and the plan of salvation is so real! Kaylee is a little miracle that grew inside me, and when she came out, she already knew how to survive by sucking. That to me is miraculous!. Even though we have science to explain every bit of it, the birth of a newborn baby is a miracle!
6 pounds 8 ounces
So Grandma arrived the day after Christmas, also worrying that she would miss baby's arrival. So Christmas came and went, Grandma arrived, New Year's came and went, and still no sign of baby!! But we were lucky to have about 2 full weeks of fun with Grandma. 
Grandma got to have a mini vacation with us and spend time with me and the boys before we put her to work when baby came! We had a lot of fun doing fun artsy crafts, going to the library, out to lunch, and the boys got to have one-on-one dates with Grandma to the movies and the mall. Then, when Kaylee came finally, she got straight to work. She was super helpful with the boys and Nate and I didn't even have to think or worry if the boys were ok. She just took care of them and they loved every minute. It was very nice to have extra hands so I could focus on my new baby girl, getting to know her, figuring out nursing again, and learning what she needed. Thank you mom for all your help. We all love and appreciate you so very much!
