Our Little Princess

My pregnancy with Shyann was pretty normal through the first two trimesters. I did have morning sickness for about a month and half but then magically one day it was just gone (it was a good day!)

The second trimester was great but going into my third trimester I started having some issues. I got really bad sciatica in my back, to the point where I almost couldn’t walk. (My in-laws even rented a wheelchair for me so I could go to the Pumpkin Walk at Halloween!) I also had marginal placenta abruption and frequent (and very painful) contractions.

I was starting to worry about pre-term labor at this point so I was also stressing myself out so much that I couldn’t sleep and would be frequently really sick to my stomach. It was pretty rough for a while but I had a lot of help from my both sets of parents. My mom came to help many different times and eventually things started to get better.

My due date was December 13th but I thought for sure I would go into labor during Thanksgiving. Since I couldn’t travel, my parents and my sister, Lacey’s family came to my house. My mom had already been there for over a week, helping get everything ready (including putting up tons of Christmas decorations!) We had a great Thanksgiving (even though at this point I was huge pregnant and extremely uncomfortable) but I didn’t go into labor even though I was having frequent contractions.

For the next week, we all just sort of waited to see what would happen. On December 1st, I started having contractions every 10 minutes or so (which was how Jaxon’s birth went). These were pretty consistent for about 6 hours straight so I finally woke up Shane at around 2:00 in the morning and we headed to the hospital.

I got all checked into the hospital and had the doctor come check me. My contractions were still progressing at frequent intervals throughout the night until about 8:00 in the morning at which point I pretty much stopped having them. The doctor told me that he would induce me or I could go home and wait for natural labor to start (again!). I really did not want to be induced so I went home . . . and waited some more.

Over the next few days, I had two more false alarms (thankfully, we didn’t end up in the hospital again!) But I was pretty worn out and overly stressed at this point. I had planned on having another natural labor—no induction or epidural. However, I was getting nervous that I didn’t have the physical or emotional strength to get through a natural labor.

On December 7th, I had a doctor’s appointment. My doctor told me he was amazed that I had gone a whole week without having the baby. He said that my body was acting like a first time mom’s instead of one that already knew what it was doing! (That wasn’t very comforting!) I also found out at that point that I was only dilated to a 2, when I had been a 4 at my hospital visit!

I was beyond frustrated at that point and finally decided to be induced. They scheduled me in right away and the next morning on December 8th at 7:00 AM we were checked into the hospital again.

They started me on pitocin and after a couple of hours, I decided to have an epidural. My labor went very smoothly (much easier than with Jaxon!) and by 1:30 PM I was ready to deliver. I only had to push for about 10 minutes and she was finally here!!

The doctor put her on my belly first thing and my first thought was how tiny she looked. She ended up weighing only 6 lbs. 14 oz. The doctors and nurses also commented on how long her toes were and what a tiny nose she had. She was perfect and we fell in love with her right away!

After we were transferred to the mothers and babies room, they took Shyann to do a couple of tests. When the nurse came back (without my baby!) she said that Shyann had low blood sugar and was being transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). That’s probably the scariest thing for a parent to hear about their newborn!

We went to see her as soon as we were able to. It broke my heart to see her with a huge (for her) IV in her arm! She looked so tiny and fragile. They had to poke her in the foot every couple of hours to test her blood sugar levels. Sometimes they couldn’t get the blood to come out and had to prick her multiple times. Poor thing will have a fear of people touching her feet for the rest of her life!

Only family members over the age of 14 were allowed in the NICU so unfortunately Jaxon could not come visit his new baby sister. The Hogans were watching him so they brought him to the hospital and he got to see her through the glass. She got to meet her grandparents and her Grandpa Hogan and Daddy gave her a blessing.

I recovered quickly and was released from the hospital the next day. However, Shyann’s blood sugar levels were having trouble stabilizing so we stayed in the hospital for three more nights in the “hotel” rooms in the hospital.

I was still trying to nurse Shyann so nights were quite an ordeal. I would get up every 3 hours, go down to the NICU, wait for someone to unlock the door to let me in, sanitize my hands, and finally get to her room to feed her. This whole process took at least an hour. And then I would do it all over again 2 hours later! Needless to say, I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep those first few nights! (Shane gave up coming after the first night!)

Even though those days in the NICU were hard, we had a ton of support. My Dad came down to visit and meet his new granddaughter and both sets of grandparents took turns watching Jaxon and Kaysley. This was such a relief for us so we could concentrate on our new little princess.

Finally, after 3 days in the hospital, Shyann was released from the NICU and we got to bring her home. We are so grateful that she recovered so well. She is such a special little angel and we love having her as a part of our family!