Welcome, Dylan Kimura Burnett!!!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

My last day at work was Friday, and I had already planned to be off for Spring Break and the rest of the school year. On Sunday, Dan and I decided to take another belly picture in front of the house, in a similar pose as the first belly pictures we took.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Dan and I attended the Childbirth Tour Night at the hospital. As we were going through the Childbirth Classes throughout this past month, Dan noted that he had never seen a warming table or a birthing bar, and he was very curious to know what the birthing suites at the hospital would be like. I had seen warming tables and baby nurseries in hospitals, so it had not occured to me that it might be a novel idea to Dan. We spent the evening with many, many other couples learning about and viewing the various amenities available to birthing mothers and "coaches" at the hospital.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

I had a routine doctor's checkup, where it was determined I was 2cm dilated. Apparently pregnant women can walk around and be fine for weeks when they are "only" 2cm dilated. 4cm, on the other hand, would be a different story. So, the doctor calmly sent me home with a clean bill of health and said that if he were to guess, he'd guess the baby would be born within the week. But he couldn't be sure.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

12:00am - I couldn't sleep at all at night. I was restless and didn't feel right. I just couldn't get to sleep. I wasn't experiencing anything that I would call pain.

4:00am - I couldn't stand it anymore. I just couldn't stay in bed without making too much noise for Dan to sleep. He had a big meeting scheduled in San Diego that day. I told my sleepy husband that I was going to go out to the front room and read our childbirth literature we had gathered. I didn't think it was any big deal, because all the reading materials from our classes all said if it was contractions, then I wouldn't be able to walk or talk during the uncomfortable phase of the contractions. I obviously could talk to Dan and walk to the front room, and I had no problem reading through the childbirth education material.

5:00am - I had already made too much of a commotion for Dan to sleep. He came out to check on me. I told him that I was uncomfortable, but the intervals did not seem to be consistent. I continued to sit and read and be uncomfortable. I could still talk to Dan and walk around the house. We both decided to add to our hospital packing pile, just in case we might be leaving later that day or the next. So I was wandering around the house, picking up things and putting them in the pile. I didn't want to call the doctor, because I could still walk and talk and I physically, I felt the same as I did the day before. I did not want to have to go to the hospital, just to be sent home again.

6:00am - I decided that maybe the intervals of discomfort might be somewhat consistent. I went and found the stopwatch, got a notebook and pen from the office, sat down and started timing my own contractions. At the start of the uncomfortableness, I would jot down the time. Then I would wait for the discomfort to subside. I would check the stopwatch and write down how long the discomfort had lasted. I waited for the next round. Actually, Dan has video of me timing my own contractions. We all find this video to be very amusing, after the fact.

6:40am - I reviewed my times with Dan, and we both thought the times were pretty consistent, and that the uncomfortable times were lasting longer and getting stronger. Dan called the doctor, who casually asked us to go to the hospital and get it checked out, but he didn't seem certain that it was the Real Thing. Dan and I didn't really think it was, either. I kept telling Dan that I didn't want to get all the way over to the hospital, just to be sent home again. But I was feeling worse and worse, so we went to the hospital. I hated the car ride. That would be the time when I think I would consider what I felt as "pain." The movement of the car made the contractions feel worse.

7:00am - We arrived at the hospital. They brought me to the Labor Evaluation Room. They determined that I was still at 2cm, so they couldn't figure out why I was in such pain. I definitely was feeling pain with the contractions at that point, and I was very unhappy at the thought that they might send me home. The nurse said that she would monitor me for about a half hour, and then she would determine what we were going to do. At that point, I was certain I was going home.

about 7:30am - My water broke. I grabbed Dan's hand and told him happily, "They can't send me home now!" I was right. They admitted me and wheeled me to a birthing suite. They checked my dilation again, and were surprised that I was already at 7cm! That got everyone hopping. I still hadn't had any medication for the pain. The pain was getting worse and worse, but I could still communicate with Dan and the nurses. I was just really, really unhappy about it.

a fairly short time later - About now, my sense of time is all fuzzy, understandably. I finally got an epidural, and the pain slowly subsided. Dan watched the monitors in alarm and watched the lines move up and up as my body experienced the contractions. Fortunately at this point, I was medicated and therefore feeling less and screaming less. Then, the beeps from the baby heart monitor on my stomach strated to fade every time my body had a contraction. The nurse panicked, which of course did not help Dan, who was doing his best to stay calm to help me relax. She took out the internal fetal monitor probe that Dan and I had seen in one of our childbirth classes. It's essentially a small wire coil that is attached to a wire cable that goes to the computer. The wire coil is literally screwed into the top of the baby's head. Dan, understandably, asked if that was really necessary. The nurse tried to explain, but then she realized that I had already dilated to 10cm, and that the baby was in the birth canal and that was why she couldn't detect the heartbeat from my stomach. Now that I was at 10cm, everyone was hopping even faster! The nurse called the doctor to come up right away because the baby was coming. A short time later, the nurse called the doctor again.

9:36am - Baby Dylan was born. Yep, that's a 2 and a half hour labor and delivery. The people at the hospital said each subsequent child you have comes out more and more quickly. So, if we were to have another baby, if I sneeze or have a slight headache, Dan should get me to the hospital right away.

Dylan Kimura Burnett

Born April 8, 2009

at 9:36am

7 lbs. 6 oz.

20 inches long

First Family Picture

Happy Grandparents!

Going Home!!!

April 10, 2009

First Car Ride!!!

Welcome Home!!!

Check out Dan in the background! (I didn't know he was there.)

Look at that head of hair!!!