Kinlee Joy

Well it is official we are now a family of four (well five if you count Auntie Sam).

Kinlee Joy Dufour
Born-Wednesday May 11th 1:34am
7 pounds and a half and ounce.
19.5 inches long

On Tuesday, late afternoon, I had a prenatal doctors appointment. I was planning to go by myself but at the last minute Chris told me he really wanted to go to this appointment. So we asked Auntie if she minded watching Ethan for an hour or so (or so we thought). Once they removed my stitch (about two weeks before Kinlee was born) I started having some random signs and symptoms of preclampsia: off and on high blood pressure, a headache, and a few other symptoms. However since it was only ever one symptom at a time, the doctors were never really concerned. Well on Tuesday I again had high blood pressure at my appointment, by the end of the appointment though it was gone. But I had also been feeling pretty crummy the whole day. I thought I might have been in early labor but didn't want to get my hopes up. The doctor told me she thought I would have Kinlee within 24 hours but that she wanted to send me to the lab to have some blood work done to test for preclampsia and then she wanted me to head over to triage to be monitored while we waited for the lab results. So we called Auntie and told her we would be a bit later and head out to the lab and then triage. Once we got to triage my contractions started to become pretty rhythmic (I had been having braxton hicks since my surgery in November), and over the course of two hours they started to get stronger. Still I didn't want to get my hopes up. The nurse was certain I was in early labor but that I would be sent home to wait. Then my labs came back. I didn't have preclampsia yet, but my liver enzymes were high and showing that at any moment I could become preclampsic and she felt that it was safer for me to have Kinlee as soon as possible. The nurse started to lay out a plan...I was going to be taken up to labor and delivery and put on magnesium (to treat the impending preclampsia), I would have to have my blood pressure monitored every 10 minutes (both of these things meant I was now strapped to a hospital bed by an IV and blood pressure cuff, not my favorite thing when I am in labor. I like to walk), I was also going to be given pitocin to start labor. I was almost in tears. I really didn't want it to go this way (again with me trying to control things). I didn't want her to come unless it was God's timing and being given pitocin to induce labor, I just wasn't sure if it was God's timing (I am not knocking those who have been induced and done the pitocin thing, for me it is just fear). So we prayed, I asked my parents (who were on there way down to SD) to pray. Well in the hour it took them to get me up to Labor and Delivery my contractions had intensified a lot and I had progressed a lot on my own. Yea God! So my doctor felt that since I was progressing nicely, she would forget the magnesium and the pitocin. She wanted to see what would happen if she popped my water and just monitored my blood pressure. And then my body did the rest, with the help of an epidural. Those contractions are way stronger when you have to stay in a bed; at least that was my experience. So at 1:34 in the morning little Kinlee Joy was born in God's timing without actually being induced. God really does answer prayers.
My parents were able to make it down in time and when they arrived at my house to watch Ethan they were surprised to find a very hyper and excited boy. After trying to get him to go to bed, they eventually just brought him to the hospital. So shortly after Kinlee was born he got to meet his baby sister. He adores her. He had been telling us for weeks that "Kinlee is taking a long day to get here." When he walked in to meet her he looked so much older to me and as days have gone on I can't help but think how tall he suddenly looks. He is going to be a great big brother to her as they grow up.
So now we are trying to adjust to life as a family of four. It is an adjustment. It takes us so much time to get out of the house. Tomorrow our goal is for all four of us to make it to church, which for us is both first and second service. Hopefully we can make that happen.
Kinlee is such a wonderful addition to our family. She looks a lot like her brother. She is extremely mellow and laidback and Chris and I are so curious to see how her personality develops over the years.

If you read this entire post and are now here to the end I would like to ask for prayer for a couple things. First Kinlee is not breastfeeding as well as we all would like and she is not gaining weight well. We have had to supplement and are really struggling. Also a couple days after she was born I developed a hormonal/pregnancy related rash called PUPPS. It is usually a third trimester sort of thing, but there are rare cases where you can get it post partum. It is extremely itchy and all over. There is no telling how long it can last and there is no real treatment for it since I am breastfeeding. And then finally for Ethan. He adores Kinlee but we are seeing some regression in some behaviors. We are trying to be sensitive to his needs and at the same time not let certain behaviors go.

Well that is all. I am sure I will blog more soon. I have the whole summer off, so hopefully I will have more time.