Meet Keira Ann Hill

We welcomed baby girl, Keira, into our family on Thursday, December 13th.

I went into the doctor on Wednesday and was told I was dilated to 4 cm. This was great news! I had been at 2 cm for the past few weeks, so progress was happening. That evening after dinner my mom and I walked around the mall for 2 hours. The next morning I woke up and thought I was feeling slightly crampy. Two hours later I was definitely having minor contractions. The contractions weren’t very strong and spanned 10-15 minutes apart. That went on for the rest of the day as they slowly got stronger and stronger. By 5:00 they became rather painful, but still manageable, although I would have welcomed pain relief. I thought baby girl would come late that night or early the next morning. The contractions weren’t very consistent, so I continued to labor through them. After dinner (6-ish) the contractions were strong enough that it took all of my concentration to manage them. I was definitely ready for an epidural, but they were still inconsistent, from 5 minutes, to 7 to 10 minutes apart. I was waiting for them to even out a little bit before heading to the hospital. I had been meaning to take a belly picture for a few weeks, so at the last minute Kyle grabbed the camera and shot. The picture was taken in between contractions- I definitely wasn’t smiling through the contractions at this point. 

Close to 7:00 I decided to use the bathroom and then things got crazy. Suddenly, the contractions became super strong and only 2 minutes apart. I could hardly stand through them and was shaky. We quickly realized that we were short on time, so Kyle and I grabbed the bag I had packed, jumped in the car and headed for the hospital. (Thank goodness my parents were here to watch Hailey for us!) The contractions continued to be just 2 minutes apart and incredibly painful. I really struggled to talk through them. Kyle tried to lighten the mood and joke with me- I didn’t take it too well. We arrived at the hospital around 7:20 and I definitely couldn’t walk through a contraction and was still shaky. Our nurse escorted us to a room and began getting me hooked up on monitors. She asked if I wanted an epidural, I said yes, but in my head I didn’t think there would be time for one, which ended up being true. I couldn’t handle the contractions without holding onto the bed and yelling out something (mostly owwww!). The nurse checked my cervix and couldn’t find anything. She finally said she thought I was 8 cm dilated- but she definitely wasn’t completely convinced (I’m pretty sure I was fully dilated at this point). A few minutes later she left the room saying she would be right back. In that short time period she was gone I suddenly felt the urge to push. I started yelling at Kyle to get her back in the room. I was a bit frantic, I didn’t want the baby to come with just the two of us in the room. That would not have gone over well at all. Luckily she came back right then with another nurse. She came over and checked me and said she was going to deliver a baby. I pushed and yelled and moaned. A few minutes later at 7:54 pm out came our baby girl and I felt a tremendous amount of relief. Keira was born just 30 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. Dr. Ward showed up 5 or 10 minutes later. He walked in, saw Keira under the heat lamp getting cleaned off and suctioned (poor baby pooped before she was born and had meconium in her nose and mouth), and just shook his head.  

That was the most painful thing I have ever gone through. And I don’t want to do it ever again. Wow! Women who elect to deliver naturally are crazy strong. I am super weak. If I’m ever pregnant again, I definitely want an epidural. But now I can say I have delivered naturally, even if it wasn’t on purpose.

I survived and Keira made it safe and sound. She is absolutely adorable. Actually, she looks just like Hailey did at birth. When I very first saw her I immediately thought of Hailey.

Despite the above picture (she wasn’t so fond of getting her hair washed), she has been an extremely mild mannered baby. She is so calm and content. She doesn’t cry. She occasionally squeals, but we have yet to hear full on crying out of her.

Hailey is a very excited big sister. She was unsure and hesitant when we were in the hospital, but since being home she has only wanted to be helpful.

It is definitely going to try my patience to contain her eagerness to help. But I am so glad she is so happy and excited to have her baby sister here with us.

I love this little baby so much already. It was super painful getting her here, but of course it was worth it. The pain was only temporary. We get to have her in our family for forever.

Welcome to the world Keira Ann!