Almost a week!

Miss Kenzington is almost a week old and things at the Burns house have been fabulous!! Kenzi is (knock on wood!) an extremely easy baby! She very rarely gets riled up and she is happy and content. When she wants to eat, we get a tiny little squeak and that's about it! There's no major wails during the night, just minor squeaks. She's a great eater and has been working on gaining her weight back. Today, she was 5 lbs 2 oz and we're anxious for her to get back to her birth weight!

Jackson has done a great job at being a big brother!! He is loving it and is doing awesome. Today, we went to the doctor's office and he was super helpful and a great listener while we were there. Our favorite time of day is bedtime. Jack wants Kenzi laid next to him on the bed to read books. It's so adorable to see both of our beautiful children laying there, listening to books, reading devotions and saying prayers. Almost every night, Kenzi has been sleepy and Jack starts talking to her and her eyes open wide and she just listens to him. It's amazing!! It's my favorite time of day to just sit and watch the two of them together!

Anyway...here are a few new pictures! We're hoping our days continue as well as they have been!

All swaddled up for bedtime!

The Burns kiddos

Silly faces

Our first headband!!

All dressed up and ready to go!!

Introducing...

Kenzington Jolee Burns

Born: July 22, 2011 at 4:15 p.m.

Weight: 5 lbs 5 oz

Length: 19"

Friday was an exciting day at the Burns house...although none of us knew that starting out! I was woken up around 4:30 with some contractions but didn't really think a whole lot about it. Didn't think much of it because they weren't anything more than I had already had. I had fallen asleep for periods of time so figured it was nothing.

 (On a side note, it was as if Jack knew something was going to happen because he was super duper sweet that morning! He was looking out the window to our backyard and said, "Mommy, come look at these pretty white flowers. They're just for you!" And lots of sweet hugs and snuggles)

I went to work and just didn't quite feel right, but couldn't really say that yes, it was labor. By 9:30, I decided maybe I should call Dr. Kemper's office to see if I should just wait for my 1:45 appt or go to triage. They said triage, so I walked on over. I was dilated to 3 cm, which was an increase but not a  lot. So they suggested walking. I felt like a single mom, walking the halls by myself, as I had told him to sit tight until we knew more. So I walked and walked and walked for a while. Jon got there and Dr. Hermanson had decided that yes, I was in labor since my cervix was continuing to change, although I didn't look or act like it. They admitted me at 1:00 and by that time, I was dilated to 6 cm. At 2:00, they broke my water and then contractions started picking up by 3:00. Around 3:50, I was ready to push, but no one else was! :) My nurse was shocked when she checked and I was 10 cm dilated and even more shocked when she felt a head! She made a very urgent phone call to get everything ready, since things were moving fast! And then to top it off, Dr. Hermanson had gotten called for an emergency C-section, so there was no doctor either!! They paged Dr. Kemper twice and were about ready to page the next doctor, when she rounded the corner. By this time it was 4:05, Dr. Kemper was telling me to slow down so she could get gowned up and by the time that happened, Kenzington made her arrival at 4:15!! Talk about fast action delivery!.! I'm not sure who was most surprised that it was a girl...myself, Jon, or Dr. Kemper! She was convinced my whole pregnancy that this was a boy...enough that when I was pushing, she kept saying, "Let's get this little guy out and see his face." She was just as shocked as we were!! That and we were all surprised by how much dark hair she has!

I really couldn't have asked for anything better. It went much better than expected...painful, yes, but not long! I'm grateful that Dr. Kemper was the doctor that was there (although, at that point in time, I wouldn't have cared who was there) since she has gotten us through so much during this pregnancy! Jon was an awesome coach and got me through the worst of it with ease. I had an awesome nurse, whom I had had on High Risk OB (she had gotten me through a few meltdowns), and was relieved to have someone I knew who had already gotten me through bedrest!

Kenzington is a wonderful baby...she is calm, content and beautiful! Our first few nights were a bit rough, but last night at home was great! She has picked up on nursing fairly well and we're waiting for her to gain some weight back. None of us know quite who she looks like though! When she's asleep, she looks like Jack, but when she opens her eyes, she doesn't quite look exactly like him. We're loving getting to know her and ohh and ahh over her!

Jackson is an awesome big brother!! He's doing a great job and is amazing with Kenzi. He talks to her and sings songs to her. It's so adorable seeing him with her. We are definitely adjusting and loving our family of four! 

Still waiting!

So I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow and we're still waiting! Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would get to 38 weeks!!! Wow...God certainly has some sort of crazy plan with all of this!! Like I've told lots of people...I've never worked so hard to keep this baby inside and now he/she won't come out!! We're just taking things day by day and hoping for a wonderfully healthy baby!

I went back to work on Monday and I'm not gonna lie...it's kinda tiring! I've only been working half days, but it still wears me out. On Tuesday, I came home and took quite the nap! Thursdays, Dr. Sanders doesn't have patients, so I stayed home today to rest. It was definitely needed. I slept like a rock last night and knew I needed the extra sleep.

Jackson has been enjoying Vacation Bible School this week and comes home with all sorts of stories! He really enjoys his outside time the best. The teachers he has had have been awesome and incorporate bible stories in the coolest way! Oma just said that he gets to be the leader for singing on Sunday. I asked how he got elected for that...the response, "Shortest to tallest". Oh...I thought maybe he had been extra good or something. Nope...he's just short! :)

We're hoping that Monkey makes his/her grand entrance into this world sometime this week!!! I've tried everything I can think of to rotate this picture, but it's not working! This is from last weekend when Jon and I went out for our last date. :)

Day 59

Currently: 36 6/7 weeks

Almost 37 weeks...WOOO HOOO!!! And the plus to all of this...still feeling good! I have one litle nerve in my back hip that is kinda pestering me, but overall, I feel really good. Still don't have a whole lot of stamina for activity, but I'm getting there. Jon and I went for a walk twice last night and I wasn't completely wiped, whereas earlier this week, I was! So the plan from here is to just keep hanging out. I had an appointment with Dr. Kemper on Tuesday and things are pretty much the same...although maybe 2 cm instead of 1 cm. Still having a lot of contractions when I'm up and about, but they're not doing anything yet. Dr. Kemper is very excited that we made it this long and her goal is to have to induce...not my idea of cool!! Hopeing that things will just happen and we'll be good!

I'm going to go back to work half days next week. We'll see how it goes. If it is too much, then I'll cut back to a few days a week instead of all 5. I was worried on Monday because after being up Friday and Saturday, I really needed Sunday to just sit. I didn't feel right and it took all day to feel normal again. That worried me a bit, wondering how I was going to work 5 days/week when I could barely handle two days of being up. Today is better, so cross our fingers that I'll have enough stamina to get through the week...or we could just have a baby and not worry about it at all. I'd prefer that scenario rather than working the next few weeks, but have come to figure out that our requests aren't always granted!!

Jackson headed down to Nebraska with Oma yesterday. We signed him up for VBS at church next week and they'll come back up and Oma will take him to VBS next week. Nikki is going to be out of town this weekend, so it'll be a nice weekend for Jon and I to just spend some time together and get Monkey's room as ready as can be! I'm looking forward to having some "us" time, as it has been quite a long time since we've had time for just us!!

Can't believe that we can finally see the right end in sight! As much as I'm ready for Monkey to arrive, I know that I'll miss all of these kicks and movements. I'll miss watching my belly dance around. But at the same time, I can't WAIT to see if Monkey is a boy or a girl!! Hopefully I won't be typing about an induction and this babe will be here in the next 15 days on his/her own time!

Day 54

FREEDOM DAY!!!

Currently: 36 weeks

We have officially made it!!!! Today marks 36 weeks...a true blessing for us! We no longer HAVE to go to the NICU (although, I'm not gonna lie...at 36 weeks, babies still end up there because they kind of cop-out on feedings and then blood sugars drop...but some do fine!) My dream of watching Jack round the corner in his big brother t-shirt may actually come true!! I know I've said it a million times, but who would have ever thought we'd get this far?!? I certainly did not!! And I am so thankful, grateful, ecstatic, thrilled, pleased and feeling very accomplished that it did happen. Now we're down to what regular pregnancies deal with...the waiting game! Wondering if that one contraction is the start or if it was just another braxton-hicks tease. I finally get to experience what other women feel and have a "normal" end to my pregnancy.

Now that I'm officially off bedrest, I have one more week until I can go back to work. Dr. Kemper wanted me up and around (and make sure that doesn't put me into labor) for at least a week before heading back. And boy do I have plans for this week! My mom is still here so we are going to paint Jack's room. Something I've wanted done before the baby arrived, so here we go!! We're heading to Menard's today to get paint and get things started. Let the nesting begin! (Even if it is Jack's room and not the baby's! That'll come after!).

Thank you for all of the prayers and support and everything else that went with these last 54 days! Hopefully there won't be too many more posts before Monkey arrives!!



Day 51

3 more days until 36 weeks

  

Currently: 35 4/7 weeks

Here we are...almost 36 weeks!! I never thought in my right mind that I would get this far. And now...who knows how long it will be!! Last Wednesday, we went in because I was having contractions every 6-7 minutes apart, majorly uncomfortable...similar to Jack's start. Yeah...nothing...contractions weren't doing anything. So continue on the Procardia and keep plugging away! Fast forward to today and I'm off the Procardia. I wasn't having contractions at all by Friday so took myself off on Saturday (yeah, yeah...bad patient, I know!). Haven't had anything since then either. Sigh...this baby definitely has his/her own ideas about his/her arrival!! I'm completely ecstatic about making it to 36 weeks because now Jack is even closer to getting to meet his brother/sister rather than waiting for him/her to get out of the NICU. But all at the same time, it's been a really long 7 weeks staying in bed with nothing. I assumed that I'd go off the Procardia and boom, things would happen...nope! I've been getting up a bit more, just to get my stamina back up. I can't wait to get to Friday so I can be up more! As of 36 weeks, I will be off bedrest!! Dr. Kemper wants me up and about for 1 week and then if I'm still pregnant, at 37 weeks, I get to go back to work. Dr. Sanders (the doc I work for) will be VERY excited about that...even if it's only for a few days/weeks.

I had an appointment with Dr. McNamara (perionatologist) today and everything looks good. We had an ultrasound to check Monkey's growth and it looked good. They measured baby's head a tad bit on the small side, but the head was hard to measure because Monkey is head down and down fairly far. (My mom feels like I've dropped a bit...as do I...it doesn't take as much effort to get out of bed like it did before!). They measured him/her at around 4 lbs 11 oz, which is surprisingly smaller than Jack! Although, I always measured a few weeks ahead with Jack and this baby measures a bit behind. My next appointment with Dr. Kemper is next Tuesday. There's a lot that can happen...and a lot that may not happen in the next week! We'll see!! As long as I make it to 36 weeks, I'd be A-OK for this babe to make his/her grand entrance into the world at any time! All of the docs keep joking that I'll have to be induced...not my idea of a funny joke! Although, my cervix is already thinned out, so it may not take much to go into labor. Who knows...God certainly has a plan for this babe and isn't giving us any sort of clue what that is! Here's to making it 3 more days and no NICU!!!