This one time, I had a baby...

Hey all. I'm going to type this up quick (which means it will read like I would talk and have many errors...) before my head hits the keyboard. I want to thank you all for your endless encouragement and support and also send you an update... I want to call every one of you but haven't figured out how to make time to do things like sleep and brush my teeth yet so I hope you are ok with a giant update :)

The story: Kieran Taylor Ickes was born on October 5th at 12:12pm. He was 8lb 3 ounces (I know, right???) and 20.5 inches long. As you all know, I went beyond my due date and went MIA because I was so... pregnant. Monday the 3rd we had an appointment with my OB where we were told we should check into the hospital on Tuesday where they would try some sort of cervix ripening meds that would hopefully kick start labor. It would take a whole different post to tell you how crazy it was to be told that this was it, they were going to go in and smoke 'em out if he wouldn't come himself. I remember going home in a daze and going to Applebee's for our last dinner out together before becoming a family of 3. The next day we checked into the hospital, got all set and comfy, and about 3 hours in they were about to administer the drug when they decided to do a quick sono... and found out that Kieran was in fact breech. That was probably one of the biggest shocks ever. My doctor was certain that he was head down, had dropped and was in position (though I can tell you nothing ever felt different like it's supposed to when a baby drops). We were told to go home and come back Wednesday at 6am for a c section.

Again, It would take another post to describe how I felt at that point. I was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. I couldn't believe how things had changed so quickly. We went home, shocked, hungry, and a little stunned to know that no matter what, we'd be parents in the morning. What to do? Go to Olive Garden of course. The funniest thing about that night was when our waiter told us he'd had a pretty rough day... as I sat there bandaged up where they had put an IV into me earlier. Later on he asked me when the baby was coming and we told him the next morning and that we were supposed to be in the hospital, he was pretty shocked... it was pretty fun : P

The next morning we went to the hospital at 6am... since we weren't on the schedule officially I had to go last, and didn't get taken back until about noon. Which wouldn't have been too bad, but I was fasting, and my body had decided to start real labor contractions which were coming about every 4 minutes. That way I guess I got a little taste of both worlds. It was pretty crazy to see all the mothers get wheeled away, and then they all got wheeled back with babies and continued to their rooms. Eventually there was no one left but us. Our doctor did another sono and was sure that the baby had flipped since Monday... yeah, no. Definitely not. Thankfully the team at the new Women's hospital was awesome and made me feel as comfortable as possible. I will spare you the details of the c section, but holy moly, what a strange feeling to hear your baby crying for the first time. I thought to myself, how in the world can someone hear that and not believe in our amazing God? And there he was suddenly, Kieran... who at that point was just Baby Ickes.

The following hours were amazing and awful. I was, to say the least, in a lot of pain and trying to figure out how to be a mom and recover from surgery. Funny how before this, I didn't really think about the fact that a c section is major surgery. I think about 100 people flowed in and out of the room that evening and night, checking on the baby and I. Thank God for Mike, and an absolutely amazing team of nurses who made me feel as comfortable as possible and were at my beck and call. At some point that evening the task fell upon Mike to make the announcement of Kieran's birth. We never made it to our room until dinner time and of course took a long time to get settled... and unfortunately our phones that have to hook up to the internet were not doing so, and he was unable to send text messages. Thankfully our parents spread the news to family, and Mike hacked my Facebook account in an attempt to let all of my friends know. I sincerely hope you were all able to see that quickly, I know some were left to wonder and I apologize for that, but I am very thankful to Mike that he got the word out somehow because in my state, I was not even able to sit up on my own. Good news: we have real phones now! haha!

We were in the hospital until Saturday late afternoon. The time went quickly and the hospital (and it's view) was so amazing that I wanted to continue our stay! I mean hey- free food at any time, view of the bay, nurses at the press of a button, a nursery for Kieran to sleep in for a little while at night, and a room that looked like it belonged in a hotel... can you blame me?? Last week I looked at Mike and said, can we just maybe pay to go back for a couple of days? ha!

Things are going as well as can be expected. The first week was very difficult between healing (and developing a hematoma under the incision which has made recovery even longer) and trying to figure out what to do and when to do it. I've been an Aunt since first grade and read all the books while pregnant... and can honestly say not one bit of that mattered once we got home, it was a WHOLE new ball game. We had an appointment about every day last week and I had one today, and have appointments Thursday and Friday too. It's amazing how one appointment can completely wipe you out until the next day.

I feel like i'm healing but am still not getting enough sleep (obviously) and haven't been great at napping while he sleeps, especially because he likes to talk (which is really cute) when I want to nap. Praise God for all the help we are receiving from family and friends, and the endless supply of food coming from Mike's parents house! Tomorrow is an incision check, and Friday is a weight check for Kieran- please pray that there are no further problems with the incision (i'm scared to death to go back to the OR) and that Kieran's mild case of Jaundice is cleared up so that we won't have to worry about that anymore. I am so looking forward to the day when Mike, Kieran and I can just hang out and stare at each other, completely healed up and just spending time enjoying each others company.

Whew. 2 weeks old today, and I feel like I had him 3 days ago. I've gotta go, I need to go take a quick nap before he eats again! I hope you enjoy the Facebook pics that are added once in a while (I get on my iPod when I feed him sometimes but have not been on the computer until now... as you can tell technology is the first to go when my world becomes hectic). I love you all so much and Kieran is amazing... I hope that you each get to meet him soon if you haven't already :)

Love to all!
- Tired in Erie PA  : P