The Harvey Family: Our Time At The Hospital!

Our time at the hospital

Friday-Sunday

December 21st-23rd, 2012

December 21st

I don't have very many pictures from my labor and deliver that we took since our photographer friend was there, but Ian did snap a few of his own. Here I am just waiting, I believe this was pre epidural so it must have been early enough on that I was still doing pretty good.

And here is our little angel!! This was within the first hour of her life. She looks huge doesn't she!! They took her over here to check her out and make sure everything was OK. They also gave her her first bath over here.

Brody and Grandpa Harvey came to see Miss Kinsley shortly after she was born. Brody was such a sweet big brother (notice his "light saber" he always Carry's around in his pants, just in case he has to protect someone).

Brody was right there next to her most of the time, it was the sweetest thing to watch. He just stared at her, making sure she was OK and being taken care of.

And when Brody wasn't right next to Kinsley he was right next to me, he was such a sweetheart taking care of girls :)

I seriously love these big water bottles they give you, and the ice aww I was in heaven!!

Unlike the hospital that I had Brody at, this hospital was quiet small, I believe they only had 9 delivery rooms. So a couple hours after I gave birth they moved us upstairs to a different room. We missed our big room and poor Ian had to sleep on a chair that folded out into a twin bed, but I was just happy to be in the hospital still and being taken care of!

I could and still cannot get enough of this little girl!! All I wanted to do was hold her, looks at her, just plain be around her. Ian called me the "baby hog" because I hardly ever put her down.

Once they had us in our room they told me that they would be checking her blood sugar level. Since she is such a big baby they had to make sure she was getting enough to eat. So they would pock her poor little foot and test the blood. To pass she had to get something like 40 or 45. Every time she was tested she passed thank goodness. She got 75 the first time I believe and then 80's and 90's after that. If she didn't pass they were going to strongly suggest giving her formula, which i really did not want to do so I was so happy she passed. I was a little worried because she wasn't eating extremely great, she especially had a hard time eating on my right side. Which I thought was strange because Brody favored my left side as well, weird. I was also completely shocked how painful nursing is for me! Almost right away it hurt, I am sore and chapped and it is just extremely uncomfortable. Also the uterus contractions were a complete shock to me, ever time I nursed her it feels like I'm in labor again. Lets just say I am taking lots of pain meds!! They also gave her her first hearing test, which she thankfully passed.

December 22nd

The nurses and Ian kept asking me if I wanted to send her to the nursery so I could get some sleep. HECK NO! I just wanted to cuddle and snuggle my little girl the whole time, I had such a hard time letting her go. The first night I ended up sending her for a couple hours and the second night about 3, but only from pure exhaustion!

The second day there the nurse was concerned about my bleeding being to heavy. She called my doctor and he told her a few pills that I could take, but to make sure I knew they would give me extremely bad cramping, um no thank you..I already have plenty of that! The next morning our doctor came and saw me and explained that since I had such a big baby I would bleed more then normally expected, lovely :)

Our chubby miss Kinsley on day two. It was very rare to see her with her eyes open so I quickly snapped this shot :) She looked so red the whole time we were there. We were a little worried but they said it was fine, that some babies are just more red then others. Just a fun side note, Kinsley peed and pooped on my bed, both times while Ian was changing her haha. And the poor same nurse had to change the sheets both times.

Like I said earlier I did not ever want to put this sweet little girl down. I could not believe how in love I was! Before I had her I was so nervous, I was scared for how my emotions would be after I had her. Would I be sad that it wasn't just Brody anymore? Would I love her the same? I did not know how it was possible to love two children so much, if it was possible to love her as much as I love Brody. A little bit before I had her I started wondering what we got ourselves into, if we could handle this, if we were ready? As soon as I had her all those worries and fears went away. We had our little girl with us and we loved her more then I could have ever thought possible, she fit right into our family and it just seemed right.

Daddy did manage to steal her away from me a few times :) She isn't too happy in this picture but she usually was when she was with her daddy. It was such a sweet and tender thing to watch these two, I knew Ian would be a wonderful father to her but seeing it was a whole different experience. He loves this little girl with all this heart, all you have to do is see them together and there's no denying that.

Kinsley all ready for visitors. Brody and our friend who was babysitting him came to see her as well as Kirsten (our friend who photographed the birth) and her husband. It was so sweet that Kirsten wanted to come see her. I know that our family loves her and I am SO grateful for that, but there is just someone about a friend who loves your children. Family has to, but friends don't, so to see someone who isn't even family love her so much is such a special thing to witness.

Brody was so excited to come see his baby sister. There are two hospitals here in St George, they accidentally went to the wrong one and Brody was so sad. He remember what our hospital looked like so he thought they weren't coming to see us anymore, he waned to see us so bad! When he got here he wanted to hold her right away, it only lasted for a few minutes though then he asked us to take her because she was too heavy haha.

We ended up spending pretty much the full 48 hours after birth that they allow you to. We could have went home after the first night but I wanted to stay. Being at the hospital is so nice and so easy. You have nurses constantly taking care of you, bringing you everything you need. You have free food deliver right to your room, a nursery if you desperately need some sleep, and nothing else needing your attention. I felt a little bad staying so long since we had Brody at Grandma and Grandpas but he was OK and taking care of so I took advantage of the chance to stay, Ian was such a sweetheart and stayed with me the whole time. He was so supportive throughout the whole experience.

December 23rd

This picture cracks me up! We had our photographer there to take pictures of the birth, so of course we have wonderful pictures of all that. I made a comment along the lines of missing having a professional photographer around to take good pictures (neither Ian or I are all that amazing at taking pictures). Ian grabbed my camera and said that he could take just as good pictures as Kirsten, haha this is what he came up with. He made sure to note that he got the picture looking through the flowers haha.

The whole two days we were here our baby girl did not have a name, all her things say baby girl Harvey on them haha. We had two names picked out, Hadley Nicole and Kinsley Mae. Ian was fine with either one of them but really liked Hadley Nicole (mostly because Nicole is my middle name), I too liked both of course but for some reason was a little partial to Kinsley. The second I saw her the name Hadley immediately came into my mind. For some reason I was a little disappointed, I thought I would be fine with either name but when my mind told me Hadley I realized how much I wanted Kinsley. I kept putting off telling Ian about Hadley coming to my mind, our second day there I finally told him and he told me that he thought the same thing, that she was Hadley. So I kind of went with it but I could still tell I wasn't happy about it for some reason. I told him not to tell people yet because I wasn't 100% sure. He of course thought i was being ridiculous haha, its just a name right. He even told Kirsten and everyone when they came to see her. But I just didn't feel right about it. The day we were leaving, in fact a couple hours before we left I really had to decide. I made Ian say them both out loud about a million times, I even made him hold her up and say them so I could try and decide. It was so hard!! I knew I wanted Kinsley but I could not get it out of my head that when I first saw her Hadley came to mind. I mean wasn't that the reason why we waited to name her, so we could see which one fit her better. By this time Ian was about ready to strangle me haha, so I finally was forced to make a decision...and Kinsley Mae Harvey it was. I'm still not sure if we named her the right name. Sometimes I feel like she should have been Hadley, in fact sometimes I even call her Hadley! But Kinsley Mae she is :) Some people asked us if Kinsley was a family name or where we got it. We just found Kinsley online and liked it, I'm not one of those people where names have to have meanings. Mae on the other hand does have a meaning and reason though, It was my Grandma Straley's middle name. Grandma Straley passed away earlier this year, we loved her so very much, she was such an incredible woman. I wish that Kinsley could have met her, they would have loved each other.

Our last day at the hospital we finished filling out all our paperwork (since we finally had a name for her), watched the videos they had for us and packed up. I got miss Kinsley all ready in her going home outfit...isn't she adorable!! And I of course had to take a bunch of pictures of her before we left.

I once again could not get enough of my little girl!

Can you tell were both just a little bit tired, talk about puffy red eyes!!

When we were all ready to leave it fit me how nervous I was to leave. I was excited to be home with Brody and have our whole family together but also nervous. We were on our own now! No more nurses taking care of us, our doctor was going to check in on us anymore, we were completely on our own. Last time I had a baby I had my parents to help me. Most girls have their moms come stay with them, I had Ian but he also has a job to do, so I was a little nervous about that! I knew I could do it, I have been a single mom before so its very doable but I was still nervous.