Karsynn’s Birth Story
Trying to find the words to describe giving birth is super hard, but it was by far the most euphoric and empowering experience of my life. I will never forget the way I felt when I saw her sweet little face and heard that high pitched cry for the first time. The love I immediately felt for her in that moment was the purest feeling, and that love continues to grow every single day.
I never really knew what to expect with labor and delivery, Kyler was working a lot and I was in school full time so we never were both available for birthing/parenting classes, etc. (so yes were just winging this whole thing). It amazes me how our bodies and minds just know what its doing, and how to do things. At 29 weeks we had what we thought would be our last sonogram before we met our sweet girl. The sonogram tech just kept saying “wow big baby” over and over again. We laughed it off until she started taking measurements. Our precious little girl was measuring about 4 weeks ahead at this point, so my Dr. told me that the chances of me going a full 40 weeks were slim, which I had absolutely no problem with. The swelling... oh so real.
Since we had been measuring ahead, at 34 weeks my Dr. decided to check and see if I was showing any signs of labor. I had been having inconsistent contractions for weeks now, so she was just curious to see. I was at 1cm and about 50%, woohoo. I went home and ended up falling asleep for probably longer than I should admit. I woke up later that evening to what felt like awful cramps. They were kind of uncomfortable but not unbearable. At this point I didn’t really think they were or could be contractions so I went and grabbed something to eat, and when I got home I noticed that they were a bit more consistent and on and off like contractions. I called my sister and my mom and they told me to keep track of them and wait for a little while. I kept track of them on a contraction timer app, and after about 30 minutes of tracking the app told me that with how close my contractions were that I needed to start preparing, and let me tell you, I was STRESSING. Kyler was 90 miles away in Big Spring for work, and I was home alone. I had no hospital bag ready, I was so far behind on laundry it was ridiculous, and our apartment was in no shape to bring a baby home. I turned into super woman for about an hour. I was still contracting, and in quite a bit of pain, but it was manageable. My contractions at this time were about 4-5 minutes apart and lasting about 45-50 seconds. It was go time. I called Kyler’s mom and her and my father in law were on their way to pick me up and take me to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 11pm, I got checked in and hooked up to all the monitors and sure enough I was having contractions, weak contractions, but definitely contractions. They monitored them for about 45 minutes along with checking to see if I was progressing at all, and checking to see if my water had broken....wellllll FALSE ALARM. My contractions weren’t strong enough to help me progress so they sent me home, and they told me “it could be tomorrow or it could be 6 more weeks.” Incredibly comforting.
The next three weeks drug on, I was still having contractions, but had not progressed. What the point of those contractions were, I will never understand, aside from just being a MAJOR pain. I went in for my 37 week appointment hoping that maybe just maybe I had progressed. Because I had been so swollen for so long they always were very adamant about checking my blood pressure and such to make sure I wasn’t preeclamptic. They checked my blood pressure three times that appointment, and it was quite a bit higher than normal, so my Doctor and I decided that I would come back in two days (Thursday) and we would check it again, and if my blood pressure was still high we were going to go ahead and induce me. Wednesday I was not feeling to great, I was exhausted and felt like my swelling had gone from bad to worse in just 24 hours. I was miserable, and something in me just kept saying “your blood pressure is going to be fine tomorrow and you’ll just have to let her come on her own.” That night I kinda prepared a little but not as much as I probably should have. Kyler and I went to bed completely convinced that we were not going to get induced the next day. Kyler and I had told his sister that we would watch our niece the next day so I went to the Dr. alone that morning. I remember getting ready to leave and just thinking “I might be having a baby today”. The Momma intuition was real. I got to the drs office and the nurse checked my blood pressure and it was SKY HIGH. For those who are knowledgeable of blood pressure numbers and pregnancy, 155/99.. My OB wasn’t in office yet so I had to wait around for a bit for her to get there. I called Kyler, my mom, my sister, and my dad. I still was slightly convinced that she was going to get there and just send me home. I waited what felt like was forever. My OB finally got there and the nurse showed her my blood pressure reading and all she said was “you’re having a baby today”.
Hearing those words was one of the most exciting, and scary moments of my 22 years on this Earth. I quickly called Kyler to let him know that they were sending me straight to Labor and Delivery, and that I would be waiting for him to get there. I got there and got checked in, and honestly I was a whole lot calmer than I expected to be. I went in, got changed and just as they were about to get me hooked up, Kyler got there. I can’t explain the breath of fresh air I had seeing my husband walk in the room. My entire pregnancy I was convinced that Kyler was going to be gone to work when I went into labor and that he was going to miss the birth of our daughter, so seeing him walk into the delivery room alleviated so much stress, even if it was slightly unnecessary. They started me on pitocin around 10am, I had already been having some contractions so they told me that hopefully things would go pretty quickly. The morning seemed to fly by, my contractions were going strong, but thankfully they were not hurting me, and quite honestly I wasn’t really feeling them. On more than one occasion my best friend Demi and Kyler would be watching the monitor seeing that I was clearly having a contraction and I wasn’t feeling a thing. The afternoon drug on and on just waiting for my Dr. to get out of clinic and come to the hospital. My dr arrived at around 5 pm to break my water. That was were things started to turn around. My contractions got really strong and really painful. I wanted so badly to do things as naturally as I could, but at around 8pm I was still only at 4cm and I was HURTING. I finally had had enough and opted for the epidural. My contractions were super close together so getting the epidural was pretty tough. It seemed to have lasted forever to get it in and get it going, but when it finally kicked in, it was bliss. Not being able to move or control your legs is such a strange feeling but not feeling my contractions anymore and finally being able to relax was great. I hadn’t gotten any rest all day and now that my body was finally able to relax, I convinced Kyler to crawl in that tiny hospital bed with me and hold me while I took a nap. I remember waking up a few hours later and I had this incredible amount of pressure. My nurse came in to check me and I was at 9cm, thank you epidural. She sat me up in the bed kind of in an Indian style to help Karsynn fall a little further into the birth canal.
At around 1:30am I had finally gotten to 10cm so my nurse had me start doing some practice pushes. For those that have given birth you know that delivery is kind of like a train that’s not going to stop. After about 10 minutes of “practicing”my nurse tells me I need to stop pushing so that we can get my doctor there. The next 25 minutes of waiting for my doctor to get to the hospital seemed like an eternity. She finally got there and was dressed and ready, and it was baby time. The whole time I was pushing, my mom and Kyler were so incredible. Aside from the fact that my loving husband kept cracking jokes, which looking back I know most definitely helped me relax but at the time it wasn’t very funny. I looked over at Kyler at one point and he kissed my head and said “this is it”. One last push and at 2:14am we welcomed our sweet Karsynn into the world.
If you read my last blog I mentioned the date April 5, 2017... two years to the day was when our sweet baby girl was born.
The next few moments after Karsynn arrived were pure bliss. Her sweet chunky cheeks, her long fingers an toes, and that head full of hair. So much perfection in such a small body. The chaos died down and I couldn’t help but just cry staring at that girl. Our little chunk weighed in at 8lbs 9oz, and 21.5 inches long. I think God really knew what he was doing when I got induced that morning. Three more weeks cooking that girl and she would have been well over 10lbs and our labor and delivery would have been so much different. I most definitely count it as such a blessing, and am so thankful we got to love on and snuggle our girl a little earlier.
I never really knew what to expect with labor and delivery, Kyler was working a lot and I was in school full time so we never were both available for birthing/parenting classes, etc. (so yes were just winging this whole thing). It amazes me how our bodies and minds just know what its doing, and how to do things. At 29 weeks we had what we thought would be our last sonogram before we met our sweet girl. The sonogram tech just kept saying “wow big baby” over and over again. We laughed it off until she started taking measurements. Our precious little girl was measuring about 4 weeks ahead at this point, so my Dr. told me that the chances of me going a full 40 weeks were slim, which I had absolutely no problem with. The swelling... oh so real.
Since we had been measuring ahead, at 34 weeks my Dr. decided to check and see if I was showing any signs of labor. I had been having inconsistent contractions for weeks now, so she was just curious to see. I was at 1cm and about 50%, woohoo. I went home and ended up falling asleep for probably longer than I should admit. I woke up later that evening to what felt like awful cramps. They were kind of uncomfortable but not unbearable. At this point I didn’t really think they were or could be contractions so I went and grabbed something to eat, and when I got home I noticed that they were a bit more consistent and on and off like contractions. I called my sister and my mom and they told me to keep track of them and wait for a little while. I kept track of them on a contraction timer app, and after about 30 minutes of tracking the app told me that with how close my contractions were that I needed to start preparing, and let me tell you, I was STRESSING. Kyler was 90 miles away in Big Spring for work, and I was home alone. I had no hospital bag ready, I was so far behind on laundry it was ridiculous, and our apartment was in no shape to bring a baby home. I turned into super woman for about an hour. I was still contracting, and in quite a bit of pain, but it was manageable. My contractions at this time were about 4-5 minutes apart and lasting about 45-50 seconds. It was go time. I called Kyler’s mom and her and my father in law were on their way to pick me up and take me to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 11pm, I got checked in and hooked up to all the monitors and sure enough I was having contractions, weak contractions, but definitely contractions. They monitored them for about 45 minutes along with checking to see if I was progressing at all, and checking to see if my water had broken....wellllll FALSE ALARM. My contractions weren’t strong enough to help me progress so they sent me home, and they told me “it could be tomorrow or it could be 6 more weeks.” Incredibly comforting.
The next three weeks drug on, I was still having contractions, but had not progressed. What the point of those contractions were, I will never understand, aside from just being a MAJOR pain. I went in for my 37 week appointment hoping that maybe just maybe I had progressed. Because I had been so swollen for so long they always were very adamant about checking my blood pressure and such to make sure I wasn’t preeclamptic. They checked my blood pressure three times that appointment, and it was quite a bit higher than normal, so my Doctor and I decided that I would come back in two days (Thursday) and we would check it again, and if my blood pressure was still high we were going to go ahead and induce me. Wednesday I was not feeling to great, I was exhausted and felt like my swelling had gone from bad to worse in just 24 hours. I was miserable, and something in me just kept saying “your blood pressure is going to be fine tomorrow and you’ll just have to let her come on her own.” That night I kinda prepared a little but not as much as I probably should have. Kyler and I went to bed completely convinced that we were not going to get induced the next day. Kyler and I had told his sister that we would watch our niece the next day so I went to the Dr. alone that morning. I remember getting ready to leave and just thinking “I might be having a baby today”. The Momma intuition was real. I got to the drs office and the nurse checked my blood pressure and it was SKY HIGH. For those who are knowledgeable of blood pressure numbers and pregnancy, 155/99.. My OB wasn’t in office yet so I had to wait around for a bit for her to get there. I called Kyler, my mom, my sister, and my dad. I still was slightly convinced that she was going to get there and just send me home. I waited what felt like was forever. My OB finally got there and the nurse showed her my blood pressure reading and all she said was “you’re having a baby today”.
Hearing those words was one of the most exciting, and scary moments of my 22 years on this Earth. I quickly called Kyler to let him know that they were sending me straight to Labor and Delivery, and that I would be waiting for him to get there. I got there and got checked in, and honestly I was a whole lot calmer than I expected to be. I went in, got changed and just as they were about to get me hooked up, Kyler got there. I can’t explain the breath of fresh air I had seeing my husband walk in the room. My entire pregnancy I was convinced that Kyler was going to be gone to work when I went into labor and that he was going to miss the birth of our daughter, so seeing him walk into the delivery room alleviated so much stress, even if it was slightly unnecessary. They started me on pitocin around 10am, I had already been having some contractions so they told me that hopefully things would go pretty quickly. The morning seemed to fly by, my contractions were going strong, but thankfully they were not hurting me, and quite honestly I wasn’t really feeling them. On more than one occasion my best friend Demi and Kyler would be watching the monitor seeing that I was clearly having a contraction and I wasn’t feeling a thing. The afternoon drug on and on just waiting for my Dr. to get out of clinic and come to the hospital. My dr arrived at around 5 pm to break my water. That was were things started to turn around. My contractions got really strong and really painful. I wanted so badly to do things as naturally as I could, but at around 8pm I was still only at 4cm and I was HURTING. I finally had had enough and opted for the epidural. My contractions were super close together so getting the epidural was pretty tough. It seemed to have lasted forever to get it in and get it going, but when it finally kicked in, it was bliss. Not being able to move or control your legs is such a strange feeling but not feeling my contractions anymore and finally being able to relax was great. I hadn’t gotten any rest all day and now that my body was finally able to relax, I convinced Kyler to crawl in that tiny hospital bed with me and hold me while I took a nap. I remember waking up a few hours later and I had this incredible amount of pressure. My nurse came in to check me and I was at 9cm, thank you epidural. She sat me up in the bed kind of in an Indian style to help Karsynn fall a little further into the birth canal.
At around 1:30am I had finally gotten to 10cm so my nurse had me start doing some practice pushes. For those that have given birth you know that delivery is kind of like a train that’s not going to stop. After about 10 minutes of “practicing”my nurse tells me I need to stop pushing so that we can get my doctor there. The next 25 minutes of waiting for my doctor to get to the hospital seemed like an eternity. She finally got there and was dressed and ready, and it was baby time. The whole time I was pushing, my mom and Kyler were so incredible. Aside from the fact that my loving husband kept cracking jokes, which looking back I know most definitely helped me relax but at the time it wasn’t very funny. I looked over at Kyler at one point and he kissed my head and said “this is it”. One last push and at 2:14am we welcomed our sweet Karsynn into the world.
If you read my last blog I mentioned the date April 5, 2017... two years to the day was when our sweet baby girl was born.
The next few moments after Karsynn arrived were pure bliss. Her sweet chunky cheeks, her long fingers an toes, and that head full of hair. So much perfection in such a small body. The chaos died down and I couldn’t help but just cry staring at that girl. Our little chunk weighed in at 8lbs 9oz, and 21.5 inches long. I think God really knew what he was doing when I got induced that morning. Three more weeks cooking that girl and she would have been well over 10lbs and our labor and delivery would have been so much different. I most definitely count it as such a blessing, and am so thankful we got to love on and snuggle our girl a little earlier.
Karsynn Justyce Edwards
April 5, 2019
2:14 a.m.
8lbs 9oz
21.5 in
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