What an adventure: Violet Louise is here!

WE HAVE A BABY! 

Just...wow.  That is exactly all I have to say after a month of having this incredibly amazing little girl in our lives.

I've been meaning to write down her birth story for quite some time. Not that I'll ever forget even a second of that experience for as long as I live, things may get fuzzy and I want to preserve this memory as perfectly as possible.

If you aren't prepared for slight moments of TMI - just scroll through and enjoy the photos. I'll start from the beginning...

Wednesday, January 8th:  I got home from a long day at work and 3rd day training in my replacement for maternity leave. I was feeling pretty good that he would handle things nicely while I was away, and actually starting to feel a little worn out. It was the first day that I was genuinely excited for some time away from work before the baby came. I was truly wiped from the day, swollen, and ready to kick my heels up for the remainder of the evening.

7 hours before Violet was born

I took Kunu for a nice little walk, came in and took my weekly photo for the blog [38 weeks] and then propped my feet up on the couch. I put something on TV [this, I didn't even remember when I woke up the next morning!] and not even 5 minutes later I felt an intense POP that felt like a kick, a jiggle and a whoosh that I swore I could hear. I kept laying there for a second, befuddled and in complete shock of what I was certain I just felt... MY WATER BROKE! It was about 7:00PM.

Belly button POPPED

 I text Adam a series of messages: "Ummm,"  "Umm...." "Adam I think my water broke." All about 30 seconds apart. Looking back I don't know why I even questioned myself about this- there is nothing else that could have possibly been.

Then I called Steph to troubleshoot- clearly this was more important than calling Kaiser right away. She very joyfully exclaimed after concurring that there really is nothing else that could have been, "There's going to be a baby tonight!!"  I then called Kaiser and they very nonchalantly said, after confirming it was my first baby and that I could "just take my time, shower, have dinner and head up here sometime this evening." I talked to a few people on the phone and they all said that since I was able to talk through my contractions, I had a long night ahead of me.

Daddy cut the cord!

When we got to the hospital it took some time to figure out what entrance to go into- but with contractions getting stronger by the minute, we settled on going in the ER since the regular entrance looked dark and not open. Once we got processed and up to L&D, the adventure began.

When they got me hooked up to all of the monitors they discovered a few things: #1- my contractions never fully went down between each #2- this baby was a trooper, the heartrate never fluctuated during contractions, which meant they didn't need to hook me up to anything until much closer to delivery.  The most interesting thing was that they never checked to see how far dilated I was or anything- they just said they would let me labor on my own until the baby came or 7AM, whichever came first.

Hot mess of a mommy and her perfect GIRL

In order to have a med-free delivery, the nurse and midwife advised me to keep moving. Walk, bounce, roll, shower...whatever I had to do to keep my body from figuring out what was happening, essentially. This worked great for a few hours. It was now close to midnight and the pain was getting more intense so she suggested I hop in the shower now. While the water felt nice, the increasing pain was making it hard to relax the way they hoped it would. 


**side note: this whole time, Adam was the most incredible partner I could have ever dreamed. He was talking to me (trying to make jokes, of course), holding my hand when I wanted, even rubbing my back and shoulders--for anyone who knows us, this was big! ;) sorry, babe, it's true**

Hearing those screams in all their glory

After the shower- things got real intense. They hooked my IV up for fluids, and at that point I asked if there was anything to just take the edge off, since my contractions were still never fully coming down, so I quite literally got no break between- to which they responded they could give me something that would make me feel like I had a couple cocktails. Hell to the yes, was my answer to that. Unfortunately, while it did take the edge off, it sure made the contractions a lot more intense since I got to relax in between- and it only lasted an hour.

Daddy's first time holding Violet

Once it wore off, my body was telling me... IT'S GO TIME!  Of course, I didn't think it would actually be time, but I asked Adam to get the midwife and nurse because the pressure was getting quite unbearable.

Midwife Mary came in, and ever so sweetly, with her Irish accent [who Adam thought sounded like Mrs Doubtfire --all I knew is that her calming, positive voice seemed to make everything better all night!] told me she'd check how far along I was, now that I was saying I thought it was time. To my surprise, she smiles big and says, "Wow, you're 9 1/2... how about you give me a little push on the next contraction and lets see what happens." 

Our brand new baby girl, Violet Lou

I could not believe it. There was absolutely no turning back now (As if there was before? No.). I looked at Adam and he knew exactly what I was thinking, "Holy #*$&@#!" It was just about 2AM and I was about to push a baby out!

Auntie Becca holding Violet

Pushing was hard. Absolutely the most physically challenging thing I've ever done- even just figuring out how to do it correctly. I did know, however, when I figured it out...because, well... not only could I feel the baby coming down and out, there were lots of other things coming out.

Although, I will say, I did not care, not even one tiny little bit. The only thing on my mind was gripping down and getting this baby OUT!
 

Auntie/Gramma Steph with Violet & me

After about 30 minutes of pushing, legs to my chest, sweating like I just did an EC workout followed by Bikram Yoga on the hottest day of the year... I heard the most incredible words I have ever heard in my whole life to this point, and they came out of my wonderful husband's mouth, "It's a GIRL!"




As her gorgeous, crying little self was laid on my chest, Adam and I met eyes and I said, "Violet Louise." He smiled SO huge, and kissed my forehead. After they got me all cleaned up, Adam cut the cord, and we got to lay there for nearly 2 hours with our perfect baby girl.

Our gorgeous little girl

She naturally latched on to nurse after about 30 minutes, as Adam and I just kept staring at her trying to grasp the incredible adventure that was about to begin. I've never been more in love with my husband than knowing the love we now share with our new baby girl. Having this night and those moments shared just the two of us (well, now 3), was exactly how I always pictured having my first baby. It was perfect. Just perfect.

Daddy and Violet quality time

Then it was time to clean her up and get all her measurements: Violet Louise Keck, born at 2:32AM on Thursday, January 9th, 2014, weighing 6 pounds, 15 ounces, and 18.5 inches long, with a head full of brown hair, gray/blue eyes, long fingernails, and an olive complexion. She was ours. We made her. Wow.





 The hospital stay was wonderful. The care we were provided with at Kaiser was exceptional. I absolutely loved that she never left the room. She stayed on my chest (or Adam's) or in her bassinet next to my bed the entire hospital stay. We had a few visitors to the hospital to meet our gorgeous new addition, and it was so wonderful to share our joy with them.

The Keck FAMILY

Bringing her home with us was so surreal. No, this whole experience was surreal. I'd waited almost my whole entire life to be a mommy, and it was HERE. Ever since Miranda was a baby, and my absolute favorite time was taking care of her, I knew mommyhood was exactly what I was made for. My 12 year old self was not wrong.

Unforgettable blissful mommy-daughter moments

Violet's first day of life

The last month has been an absolute joy. Sure, I have had some moments where Violet and I cry together, some long nights wishing she would just go to sleep already, but through every single moment I am thankful. I would not trade her cuddles for anything else. If she wants me to snuggle instead of do the dishes...the dishes can wait.






Adam is the most incredible daddy, too. We got 2 blissful weeks of him not at work, which meant family snuggles all the time, and some real quality time that he and I haven't gotten in a long time since we had been so busy before she came along. When she was eating, he'd get up and get me a refill on my water and get us a snack. When she wasn't eating. he enjoyed many hours of daddy snuggle time.


Now, the moment he arrives home from school or work- he changes and washes his hands, then says, "Gimme my baby!" I try to always make sure she's freshly fed and changed when he gets home so he can have as much time as possible before they've got to do anything but enjoy each other. Plus, then I can do some cleaning or make dinner... or shower. I never thought I'd appreciate a shower the way I do now.

First beach walk! Violet is one month old!

After a month she's already grown so much. She's gone from newborn clothes being quite baggy on her, to fitting very nicely into 0-3 outfits. She was already up 1 pound 5 ounces from her birth weight at her 2 week appointment (and that was after getting down to 6 pounds 4 ounces two days after birth), and 2 1/2 inches longer! I am excited to see what she'll be at next month at her checkup.

Violet with her elephant at 1 month

If you made it to the end, I commend you for getting through my novel! (& forgive the formatting, it was giving me a hard time so I hope it isn't too jambled).


Until next time,

Violet's mommy.