Kenzie Lee Morris

Born October 3rd 2011 @ 5:36am

7lbs 11oz

20 inches long

The birth story:

October 1st I decided to do stair steppers and curb hopping to help induce labor. I was so sick of being pregnant and was determined to get her out.

October 2nd @ 4am I bolted out of bed and thought I had peed on myself. I debated for 10mins whether it was my water breaking. We decided it would be best to just go in to Kaiser and be checked out by a doctor. So we frantically ran around making sure we had everything (in the craziness I actually put my pants on backwards). We drove over to Kaiser and waited to be checked by a doctor. He informed me that my water had in fact BROKE (remember this for later). I was barely dilated barely 1/2 a cm -- so I was in for a long wait for our little girl. We got situated in a room with IVs and such. They said if my contractions didn't become more regular they would hook me up to pitocin to get things going. After a few hours my contractions were still coming every 2 minutes then every 8 minutes then every 5 minutes, so as you guessed it I got hooked up to pitocin. My contractions started to come harder and were getting uncomfortable. They didn't want to check my progress until I was ready for an epidural because of the risk of infection due to my water breaking. However one of my lovely nurses (loved them all but one but we will come back to her) suggested since my contractions were becoming more regular and I was getting uncomfortable that she would check me for progress. After being in "labor" for almost 10 hours I was ONLY at 1.5cms AND my water was in fact STILL intact. Apparently you can have a small bag of waters up high or in front (not sure about that). I'm not exactly sure but it made me mad that the initial doctor who examined me did not mention this. Enter a very emotional Chelsea. I felt like a failure & cried & cried. After she checked me I opted to have another dose of fentanyl (I had already had one earlier to take the edge off) to avoid being pinned in my bed for the rest of the labor process. It didn't help much and I quickly told my nurse I was ready for my epidural. They got me hooked up and I was expecting to get relief within 30mins but that didn't quite happen. My left side was completely numb.. dead to the world. My right side was still pretty aware of feeling and there was a spot in the middle of my abdomen which still had FULL feeling.. and of course that's where I was feeling the contractions the most. I hated life at this point and thought for sure I was dying. Keep in mind I had gone a whole day and was only at 1.5cm and in the most pain I'd had in my entire life. I seriously commend anyone who goes through child birth without the help of drugs. I was hysterical with every contraction.. crying.. moaning.. groaning..making a spectacle of myself. Jason was so great the entire time. He held my hand, tried to help me get comfortable, got me ice when I needed it. I love him. Anyways.. then there was a shift change - Enter stupid new nurse. Who proceeded to basically relay that "these weren't big contractions" and that I needed to not give into the pain, blah blah blah. I did NOT like her. I kept calling in the anesthesiologist who I actually really liked telling him that I didn't think the epidural was working because I was still in the same amount of pain as BEFORE the epidural. He explained that sometimes when the epidural is threaded it veers off to one side. Usually flipping from one side of your body to the other can distribute the drugs but it wasn't working in my case. And if topping off the epidural drugs wasn't working that redoing the epidural would be the next step. Around 1am the doctor on duty came in to check me. I was still in my crazy uncomfortable stage. She checked me at I was dilated to 4cm - progress finally. She went ahead and ruptured my water and informed meany nurse that she needed to call anesthesiology because if I continued as I was I would be exhausted by the time delivery came along. Meany nurse said she would go ahead and call him. A few minutes later a new nurse walks in and says she is replacing meany nurse -- I was THRILLED. My anesthesiologist came back in and between my new nurse Lori and Jason they were able to prop me up over a table so that I wasn't shaking. After the second epidural I went numb on both sides EVENLY. I still felt the contractions but I was able to rest. My new nurse stayed with me because Meany nurse was helping with an emergency c-section. NO PROBLEM. Seriously, she was annoying. We figured I wouldn't be delivering on her shift that ended at 7am because of my slow progress but around 3am she checked me again and I was 8.5cm. And a little while after I was ready to push. I was so numb from the epidural that Lori decided that the "pushing" would be easier if she disconnected my epidural but reassured me that it would not go back to the pain I was in before. I pushed for about an hour (easier than I had thought) and then Kenzie joined our family. I was surprised that I didn't cry when they put her on my chest but it was just so surreal. I had carried her for 9 months and she was finally here. They took her over to clean her off and do their normal procedures. It was amazing seeing Jason and my Mom so touched by Kenzie and I know she will be nothing but a blessing to us all.

We love you Kenzie Lee. <3