McKenna Elise....she finally arrived

McKenna Elise Dowd

She finally arrived. She came into the world on Aug 23rd at 1:43am, weighing in at 8lbs, 9oz...20.5 inches long and with lots of hair! The labor was pretty good, the pushing was....umm..there really arn't any words that can describe that part. To say the least...she ripped me a new one! Literally..I'm really not joking.

So...when I went into the doctor on monday, Aug 18th, I was not dilated and my cervix was just a little thinned. I hadn't had any contractions prior to that. On Wednesday my plug came out, btw..that is way nasty! Still no contractions. Thursday not really much going on, some contractions but not really, Friday came along and I started to get back pains. Let me tell you, that is not fun. They were pretty spartic through out the day. About 4:00, when my mom arrived(I blame it on her) they started to come a little more often. I really didn't think about it the back pains, because I didn't think they were "contractions" because I thought I would feel them in the front and my belly would contract when they happened. Which it never did. So She thought that we should start to time them and sure enough they were about 5-7 minutes apart and only lasting about 30 seconds. Then the next hour they got a little more intense, lasting longer, but coming less often. My mom thought I was starting labor, but I was a little skeptical. So we went into the hospital at 7:30pm and got checked out. I was 4cm dilated! I was surprised , as well as the nurse who checked me out. Her words when she was examining me was, "is this your cervix!!" She didn't think I was that far along because I was so clam and not freaking out like the other women who are at 4cm. So I was admitted, Still having back contractions. I never had contractions in the front. Got an epidural about 1 hour later, let me tell you that was wonderful! The epidural lady was wonderful. I didn't feel a thing when she was poking me. Then after that I was joyous until the pressure came along. I got checked again at midnight and I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. This nurse was surprised about that as well. I guess I was just shocking all the nurses that night. A little after midnight I started, what the nurses call..practice pushes. Pretty good so far, the epidural made that part wonderful. When she started getting closer to coming out....oh my gosh...the pressure! I've never felt something so aweful before. Its a good thing I had an epidural, i'm sure it would have been really really aweful. I think the worst part was the shoulders, as I started pushing then out, I felt a little pain and I was like....um..I'm not going to push anymore. This is going to hurt! and sure enough it did. It literally felt like I was being torn in half! Anyway...as she was coming out she must have been holding on because I tore pretty badly. My doctor said this was the worst tearing she had ever seen. In tucker's words...it looked like hamburger in there. The Doctor was stitching me up for 1 hour!! I had one cut that was 4cm long, in the shape of a 'W' and up in my canel and there were probably about 5 other ones. Ohh and the hemis! I'm really afraid to poop! But all and all it was pretty good. Different than what I had expected. I still can't believe that I pushed her out of my body!
She is definitely a good baby. She is a wonderful sucker. Has made nursing really easy. All the nurses were really impressed with my nursing abilities, couldn't believe that I was a first timer! We got home today at about 11:30am and all is going well! She is a good baby and we love her!
After she made her appearance. She cried right away and came out trying to suck on her fingers.


This once again is a Tucker pictures. Thats why I don't look to pleasant. This was the next day and I was feeling good. Tucker just doesn't know how to re-take pictures!

Our little baby girl....little McKenna
Her again!

40 weeks...

Not sure why my face looks retarded in all of these pictures, but they do. Tucker doesn't like to take repeats of me, so this is what we all get. So...40 weeks have come and will probably go. I guess I'm the unlucky one that has the stubborn baby that doesn't want to make an appearance. I went to the doctor yesterday (monday) and there was no dilation and just a little thinning of the cervix! What is wrong with my body! I haven't been having any painful contractions...until this afternoon! Its about time. I've been having a little pain for the last 5 hours or so, but nothing to be rushing off to the hospital for and nothing I can't handle. Plus they seem to be stopping, dang-it! Maybe we get this baby out by the weekend. Wouldn't that be nice! Anyway, just wanted to post a little update. Hopefully there won't be anymore pregnancy pictures of me posted on here, unless tucker decides to take pictures of me at the hospital while in labor! We shall see! Wish me luck!

P.S. I never realize how big I am until I look at myself in a picture.