McKinley Maren

Welcome McKinley Maren!! Born August 2nd at 6:02pm 9 pounds, 21 inches. We are so excited to have McKinley here. She is too precious. She is such a wonderful baby so far. She sleeps and eats so peacefully. She came a week late, I wonder if the extra week in the belly helped her systems develop well, because she is such a happy baby. The delivery went well and my recovery is a hundred times better then with Anderson. Pushing for two hours and having a c-section is not fun!! This delivery I was trying for a v-bac. I really didn't want to recover from surgery again. I found a wonderful Doctor here in Alaska that offers v-bac, which isn't all that common any more. Hospitals also have very strict rules, so being in Alaska for this baby has been a blessing.

Since you can't get induced as a v-bac, going a week late was a little annoying since I either had to wait to go into labor naturally or schedule a c-section. The morning of the 2nd I started contracting at 10:00. Yay, being late is like Christmas morning every morning, with Christmas never there! The contractions weren't painful at all and I was going about the day as normal, calling family and just relaxing. Chris came home at 1 or 2 and the contractions started getting more painful. I went into my room and contracted for a few hours and then we called the babysitter to come at 4:30. It was heaven to contract at home. I contracted in the hospital with my other two kids and since my water broke prematurely with them I was induced and the contractions hurt. It was so nice to be at home with this baby and contract here. We got to the hospital at 5:00. I was in triage getting checked in when my water broke. The next contraction after my water braking was HORRIBLE. I asked for an epidural. The nurse went to call for my doctor and the anesthesiologist. While she was gone I had another contraction and started screaming, "help me, I'm going to throw up, I need to push". I knew I was toast. No epidural! So they RAN me to the delivery room and I was screaming my head off. I couldn't look at Chris. He looked liked I felt, terrified!! They helped me onto the bed and some random doctor came in. Between a contraction the doctor looked at me and said, "Screaming isn't pushing, it's not going to help your baby to come out!" I had to ask how to push again because I couldn't concentrate. I started pushing and my doctor came and a resident. The resident delivered the baby. I pushed for a half an hour, and had to push hard because the baby, like Anderson, was positioned the wrong direction. She came out face up instead of face down. Since she was 9 pounds and the wrong direction, the doctor said if I did have an epidural I most likely would have had to have a c-section again since you can't feel enough to push hard with an epidural. So, it was crazy to have a natural birth and it was hard, but I am so grateful everything went well. Having had epidurals, a c-section, and natural birth I don't really know what I prefer. They are all hard and wonderful!! Recovery has been peachy after this baby though and that is worth an hour of torture!!

We are so in love with our new addition to the family. It looks like she will have red hair!! Christiana is feeling out-numbered!!