Surprise!

Saying hello to their new princess

The many faces of Kensington

God is good, all the time! Even when He works in very unexpected ways! Saturday morning I woke up to find that my water had broken sometime while I was sleeping! I was BEYOND shock. I have had to be induced with both of the boys and had set in my head that we would be having our baby on the 23rd when our c-section was scheduled! God had other plans. After a frantic call to my mom to confirm what I suspected, I woke Matt up (who also just stared at me in disbelief for a moment or two), and then we went to wake Oma up (Praise the Lord for His perfect timing in having her here!), called the doctor and the hospital, called Anna, panicked over not having the baby clothes washed yet...that was on my to do list for Tuesday!..., panicked over not having bags packed or anything at all remotely ready for going in to the hospital, threw a couple of things into a bag, kissed the boys goodbye, got them settled, and rushed to the hospital.

Once at the hospital we were quickly admited, undressed, gowned, monitered, and then ...we waited...and waited...for the doctor on call to show up. At this point I was beginning to panic thinking maybe I had just imagined my water breaking but then the contractions started :). Dr. Hansen arrived at the hospital and confirmed that I was not crazy, my water had broken, and I was 3 cm. dialted and 50% effaced! She also confirmed that our baby was still breech! :) I had to laugh at the irony of finally having the surprise labor, going into labor on my own, it was progressing flawlessly...and I was going in for a c-section. :) We got all scrubbed up and ready for the c-section when another patient went into the last stages of labor so we had to wait until Dr. Hansen delivered that baby before we could begin. At this point, my contractions were beginning to get stronger and closer together but nothing unbearable. Finally, it was our turn to go in to the OR. The procedure itself went really, really well and went just like all the books said...spairing you all the gruesom details...it really does feel like you're being unzipped, the baby is lifted out, and then there's a lot of pushing and pulling while they put you back together. :) Kensington Eleanor Rose came in weighing 6 lbs 3 oz and was about 19 1/2 ins. long although it was hard to get a good estimate since she kept pulling her feet up to her ears...makes sense since that's the position she had been in for the last 2 months.

One of the biggest blessings, was that they brough our beauitful new baby girl to me while I was in the recovery room so we could begin bonding and nursing right away. So amazing and so hard to comprehend how this beautiful vibrant life on the outside was just moments before kicking and moving on the inside...what a miracle. After that the next 2 days are pretty much a medicated blur!!! :) Highlights being, an amazing husband who stood by me and supported me, getting to watch Kaden and Caleb oooh and awww over their new sister, the blessing of an amazing nursing staff, and doctors who really took an interest in our situation and did their utmost to ensure the best care. Kensie was having a difficult time with breathing. After running a gammet of blood tests, x-rays and such, they concluded that she has a syndrome caused by being born some early and via c-section. She was kept under careful watch in the nursery for a couple days and we are just so thankful that she was able to be released to come home with us today. Matt's done a great job giving her lots of tummy to tummy time which has really helped her with her breathing. What a great dadddy! The nurses were also great at helping us get nursing started since she was having a hard time eating due to the breathing. I guess overall, we're just so impressed and so grateful for the way in which God provided.

And so here we are four days later, it's after midnight, I'm almost due for another pain pill, I haven't slept much in 5 days and I'm still trying to process everything through by writing it out on the blog! I just keep looking at her in awe and confusion. Not quite sure how she got here, how everything is going to ajust into a new "normal", thankful to be on this side of the c-section instead of still waiting for it to happen, and amazed at God's provision through it all.

So anyways, there's my rambling brief on the last couple of days...I'll update again soon with some family of five pictures and a new name for the blog...better come up with that when I've had more sleep. :) Jesus loves you!