On Wednesday, I blogged about the calm before the storm in the morning. Little did I know then just how turbulant and exuberant our lives were about to come. The rollercoaster of life's ups and downs was nearing a huge mountain.
I felt incredible anxiety waking up with sick girls knowing that we might have been exposed to H1N1 and I was nearing the end of my pregnancy with a doctor planned c-section in order to avoid the chance of a ruptured uterine wall.
After many prayers and finally feeling peaceful and calm I took the girls to the doctor where he put into words, "I wouldn't normally treat your family, however with a birth of a baby a week a way, we are going to overkill this one and just be safe." I got a prescription from my ob/gyn for tamiflu and the girls each got one also.
In the stress of the moment worrying about my sick little peanuts and my little peanut on the way I started seeking out the girls' tamiflu, which most pharmacies seemed to be out of due to a back order. After hours we found a Walgreens that would have it ready in a couple of hours.
While sitting at the doctor's office I could feel the stress building and I started contracting pretty strongly, which has happened off and on throughout all of my pregnancies. I find once I relax, drink a ton of water and just lay down, they usually go away. However when we got home I did the normal steps and found that the contractions were getting closer together and very strong throughout my back and not just the normal tightening.
So after some tears and fighting with my stubborn self that kept saying, "I am not going to have this baby before 36 weeks." I asked Benjy what he thought I should do and he asked me, "Are you afraid of dying?" My response was, "No, but I am afraid to lose this little one." He said, "There you go, there is your answer, if you rupture, he doesn't have a chance." That was enough to get me to make the trip to the dreaded labor and deliver, in hopes that they would buy us both at least another week to the scheduled c-section.
So after some tears and fighting with my stubborn self that kept saying, "I am not going to have this baby before 36 weeks." I asked Benjy what he thought I should do and he asked me, "Are you afraid of dying?" My response was, "No, but I am afraid to lose this little one." He said, "There you go, there is your answer, if you rupture, he doesn't have a chance." That was enough to get me to make the trip to the dreaded labor and deliver, in hopes that they would buy us both at least another week to the scheduled c-section.
Upon arriving, they put me into a back room with a mask (noted in the computer, H1N1 exposure) and hooked me up to the monitors and saw that the contractions taking place were very regular, about every 5 minutes, my blood pressures were coming in at 190/88-90, the babies heart rate took a big long dip and so they kept telling me for two hours...we are going to test this and that and hook you up to an IV in hopes to slow the contractions and buy you some more time. They didn't want to give me a shot of turbutaline to stop it because they didn't like the way my contrations were coming down. (words that were told to me 5 years ago with Karsyn) Benjy stayed with the girls, because who were we going to ask to subject themselves to possible exposure to H1N1, plus Benjy was waiting to be able to go the drive-thru with sick kiddos at Walgreens to get their tamiflu. We didn't want to subject anyone else to this unless absolutely necessary.
I kept asking them for 2 hours, "Should I call my husband?" They kept reassuring me that they were just watching me to see what would happend and that they would let me know.
I kept asking them for 2 hours, "Should I call my husband?" They kept reassuring me that they were just watching me to see what would happend and that they would let me know.
All of the sudden, in what seems like a blur right now, the doctor came in and informed me that he didn't like the way things were looking and that we couldn't let this go any longer and that we were going to do a c-section. I was invisioning myself getting up and walking out and saying, "Nope, I'll see you next week because I AM NOT HAVING THIS BABY BEFORE 36 WEEKS!" However... I thought, "If I walk out of this hospital and I rupture, I would never forgive myself." So I said, "okay, when? I will call my husband." He said, "NOW. We are doing the c-section now." In walks an anesthesiologist, a nurse anesthetist, someone with a lot of papers, a couple of nurses and someone to draw more blood. As I am on the phone calling Benjy telling him, "you have to get here now," the nurse says, "we can't wait for him, do you have a camera, I can take pictures, we are here for you."
AHHHHHH .... slow down, way too fast. I am not having this baby without my husband here...
So Benjy thought I was kind of kidding and wasn't really sensing the panic in my voice until I hung up on him so that they could start prepping me to leave for the surgery.
Thank goodness, thank goodness for friends like JoDell and others who willingly told us to call, no matter what! Benjy called her and she ran out the door maybe in her slippers and was at our house within minutes because her mom, Judy, was already there to keep her children. She gave Benjy some quick tips on how to get here fast and how to park and RUN... (which I still get teary eyed to think that JoDell herself has a 2 year old with asthma and a 4 month old baby to worry about getting H1N1 and yet she came without hesitation)
The whole team waited about 5 minutes and said," we have to move for the sake of this baby, when your husband gets here, we will bring him in."
As they finished giving me the spinal tap, in walked Benjy and instantly I knew everything would be okay!
As they finished giving me the spinal tap, in walked Benjy and instantly I knew everything would be okay!
He grabbed my shaking hand, kissed me and said, "I love you and don't worry...it is going to be okay." 
Now...after what seemed like forever... out came baby Kyce at a whopping 6 pounds 8.6 ounces and screaming his head off, just like his sisters. 
Benjy said, "no gorey pictures." I think these are beautiful.
A little of Kaydree, a little of Karsyn and a whole lot of hair!
Just as I felt a sigh of relief that he looked and sounded good, they told me that he would still be an automatic admittance into the level 2 nursery because he was shy of 36 weeks by 2 days and that coupled with the possible exposure to H1N1 in our house. Little did I know that my world was about to come crashing down...more to come. (Don't worry everything is a-okay now.)
The storm has hit. I am trying to have faith that everything will be okay. I am maybe a week away from having this little one. In terms of pre-term labor this pregnancy has been so much better than with both of the girls. I will be 36 weeks on Friday and at the beginning of this pregnancy I kept hoping to make it at least to 36 weeks and best hopes for 38 weeks. We have experienced such blessings during this pregnancy and I am ecstatic that this little one is still cookin' and doing well. My doctor is always weighing the risk of a preterm baby versus a rupture of the uterine wall and has been monitoring me very closely. I have been trying to get the H1N1 vaccine but as of last week my doctor said they got 34 doses for 2000 pregnant women. Even with gestational diabetes and being considered high risk, I wasn't able to get a dose. They gave them to those pregnant women with Asthma and heart conditions first. Which is more than understandable. My doctor just kept saying, "Kristen do not get sick with H1N1." Which I would chuckle, thinking of course that is what I am trying not to get.
We went to put on her gloves that show the fingertips and most of the nails fell off. Everyone was ready to go and Benjy and I were trying to stick them back on while she cried because her beautiful spider nails fell off. Benjy has forbidden nails for next year..;-) Actually there probably is a hint of seriousness to his joking. I wonder if being a witch this year has transformed Karsyn? Yesterday she came to the doctor with me and they let her pick out a sticker and out of all the Barbie and Dora stickers, Karsyn picked a snake. My doctor was very surprised and he asked her, "Do you like snakes?" Karsyn said that she loved them!????
We also rode down to a local church to participate in their Trunk or Treating and Free games. They had 33 cars decorated and 1 boat. It was my favorite part of the night. The themes were so fun and it was like hitting 34 houses in 10 minutes.
My favorite was the boat with President Bush and President Obama fishing and they actually would throw out the bucket on their poles and then reel them up for the children to get their candy. It was so funny!
Then we went inside for the kids to play games and of course the girls wanted their faces painted right away.
When we realized it was getting late we were in a rush to get home since Benjy has a meeting on Sundays that starts at 7:30 and Kaydree started choir so we have to be there at 8:30. As we were trying to collect everything, someone said, "Don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour!" I didn't even realize it was happening Saturday night...so we were excited to stay longer and have some more fun! I love getting that extra hour of sleep. We were actually REALLY early to church! It was a busy week and a great weekend! 
Karsyn made incredible progress this year. She actually dug out the seeds herself. Actually I had to finally get her moving because she just kept playing with the insides. What a difference from last year. She about cried just thinking about touching it!
Kaydree's pumpkin.
Karsyn's pumpkin. I think Benjy added a little of his own creativity to her face. She didn't have it drawn exactly like that!
I have to say, walking into classroom still makes me a little nostalgic.
She loves her class!
Getting ready to go march in the parade.
You have to get there early to get a good spot and thanks to the Seamans, who set up chairs for us all, we got a great spot! Benjy wasn't too excited since, again, he missed the last half of the 4th quarter of his Notre Dame Game. Last week he missed it for the Fall Festival and he is calculating missing it again next week for Halloween.
We were all so thankful that it turned out to be a great night..the weather was perfect and the Parade was really neat!
Here is the baby bump picture some of you have been requesting.
Kaydree just loves inviting some of her friends to the Fall Festival. I tell you, I don't remember being that giggly as a child? Maybe I was...but these girls sure do have a GREAT time together. 
Karsyn invited her friend, Elizabeth, but she was sick and couldn't make it, so thank goodness at the last minute her friend from Kindergarten and neighbor, Jayden could come. Look at the height difference between these two girls....
Kaydree has finally caught up to some of her friends after having a huge growth spurt this summer!
I am always amazed at the costumes that Jessica makes. Unbelievable!
What a great activity for the whole family. Our girls were so excited all day long for the Fall Festival to start. Benjy even missed the last 20 minutes of his Notre Dame Game to go...Thank you to all of those who made it possible. 
