Raelyn Jean Good

We chose Raelyn's name on the way to visit family on Christmas Eve (we had just learned we were having a girl and I was putting Mounds candy bars in gift bags to give to everyone to share the news). There were several names we liked for a girl but we just hadn't found the perfect one (partially because we had our boy name nailed down and I thought we were probably going to have a boy). So, how did we come up with her name?

When Kip and I first started dating we used to talk about what we would name kids one day. My mom and I took a trip to the beach I think and we were talking about baby names (that's what girls do...daydream about the future and name their unborn children long before they are ready to actually have kids). The names I liked have changed so much through the years. On the trip, mom and I wrote down some ideas and one of them was Raegan. I came back home and Kip said he had thought of a name we could name a girl one day and guess what...it was Raegan! 8 years later, I realized Raegan was a pretty popular name and decided it wasn't my favorite. Kip still liked it better than the other names I liked.

We knew we wanted Jean as the middle name in honor of Kip's mom, Barbara Jean. I wanted to try to get Lynn in the name because that is my dad's name. I had always liked Rae as a middle name or some part of the name. On our car ride to Giles County I told Kip instead of Raegan maybe we could do Raelyn (there was a girl on The Voice names Rae-Lynn a couple of years ago and the main character of one of our favorite shows, Justified, is Raylan). I kept throwing out ideas and he said he had made his decision and knew what he liked but he wouldn't tell me. About a week later we were at Applebee's I told him that I liked the name Raelyn Jean the best (I had been writing all of the names down and typing them in different fonts to see what I liked) and he said that was also the name her liked. So, we had a name for our baby girl...Raelyn Jean Good.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am pretty open and keeping things private is not one of the easiest things for me to do. I told Cassidy the name but decided to keep it a secret from everyone else. I know plenty of people who have waited until the birth to share the name but you would have thought we were the first people to ever do this. Everyone kept asking what the name was! Kip wouldn't even tell a guy at the golf course who asked...it was our secret! I finally told the doctor the morning we went in the hospital but told her if she was delivering the baby she couldn't say her name because my mom didn't know. All mom knew was that the name had 6 letters and one of those was an E (I had put 3M strips on the wall to hang her name and needed mom's opinion about which style of letters to buy so I showed her the E because it was in all of the names we liked).

Finally, when she was born the secret was out...welcome to the world Raelyn Jean! (Pronounced RAY-lin not ray-LYNN)

Heading Home

After 2 long nights in Roanoke Memorial Hospital it was time to take our little girl home. They said we could stay another night but we were tired of hospital food, Kip was tired of sleeping on the couch, and I was tired of the uncomfortable bed. The weather was cool and rainy the entire time we were in the hospital and the day we took Raelyn home. The nurse reviewed the discharge paperwork with me and Kip went to move the car and get the car seat. Raelyn looked so small in her seat!

Visitors

We were so lucky to have so many people visit us while we were at the hospital. Although we were tired it was wonderful to visit with everyone!

May 18, 2013

18 seems to be a very common birthday for our families. Kip was born on October 18, his sister, Crystal, on August 18, and our nephew, Tejaun, on April 18. My great-grandfather was born on the 18th and my Papa was born on January 18. Apparently our baby girl wanted to be like everyone else and have her birthday on the 18th. At 12:15 a.m. miss Raelyn Jean Good was born. I will never forget what it felt like to see her for the first time, she was wide awake looking right back at me and held onto my finger as tight as she could. I will also never forget looking at Kip and seeing how happy he was to see his baby girl. I wasn't crying until I looked at him! When he held Raelyn she looked right in his eyes like she was telling him a story. May 18, 2013 will forever be one of the best days of my life!

 

Raelyn weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 1/2" long. Kip went to the waiting room to tell my dad, Stephanie, Gerald, and Sylvia the good news and could barely talk (they thought something went wrong but he was just so overwhelmed that he couldn't get the words out). Once she got cleaned up everyone was able to hold her and we got moved into our room. Mom went to the nursery and took pictures of Raelyn's first bath and Kip and I snacked on a turkey sandwich (not one of my favorite things but it was so good after eating nothing but Jello all day). 

The Waiting Game

May 17th I was supposed to be working while my colleagues were at commencement. Instead, I was sitting in a hospital bed waiting on the baby to arrive. The day went by very quickly. We were in a room by 10:30 a.m. or so and my mom arrived soon after that. I had a fabulous nurse named Denise who spent the entire day with us. I told her I wanted to use the exercise ball and practice some of the techniques we learned in prepared childbirth class. She asked if I wanted any pain medication or an epidural and I said I would go ahead and try some medicine because the contractions were hurting and I had been dealing with them for almost 12 hours at that point.

I got my IV with some pain meds (they didn't really help my pain, just made me feel drunk...I pretended I was having some margaritas at Cheddars). After about 30 minutes and a text from my friend Katie who has 3 kids that said "Get your epidural now!" I decided to go for the epidural so I could have some relief. EPIDURALS are the best!! The anesthesiologist was awesome...he kept me laughing the entire time (which was a little rough since I had to remain completely still while he put the needle in). Denise told me that it could make my blood pressure drop and I was worried because I have a low blood pressure anyway.

Our friend, Travis, stopped by because his wife, Jessica, and his newborn son, Toby, were being released the day we were being admitted. While he was there the nurse kept trying to get a blood pressure reading on me and wasn't having any luck, she even tried my leg. The next thing I knew nurses and doctors were running into the room and I had an oxygen mask on. I was crying and looking at mom and Kip trying to figure out what was happening. The anesthesiologist came back in put medicine in my epidural to increase my heart rate and made a joke about how his epidurals don't do that to people. Apparently my blood pressure had dropped really low and the baby's heart rate had as well. Once we got the medicine we were both fine.

I spent most of the day/night watching tv (HGTV, The Cosby Show, Wheel of Fortune, and Shark Tank are what I remember). Dad and Stephanie came later in the day and so did Gerald, Sylvia, and Cheri. I got on the internet and posted updates on Facebook and just hung out...I had to ask if I was having contractions (like I said, epidurals are the best).

Labor and delivery was sooo busy that day (I think they had 12 births). At one point I had to wait 3 hours for the doctor to come check my progress because she was doing a c-section on someone. At that point I was fully dilated and effaced. Denise said I could either labor down (just wait for awhile) or start pushing. I chose to labor down, but after awhile we realized that unless I started to push there was no way the baby was coming before Denise left at 11. So we did some pushing and my contractions got farther apart. I ended up pushing for about 2 hours and unfortunately Denise had to go home.

I still remember the new nurse coming in and asking if we were watching the tv because she wanted to turn it off. Kip had been focused on the tv because he "didn't want to watch the business end" of the delivery. We told her we had to leave the tv on and Kip continued to watch tv during the pushing. He and mom were in the room. At one point mom had to sit down and drink a Coke because she felt like she was going to pass out. So, in between pushes I was checking on mom to make sure she was ok. At least she didn't pass out and was back up and able to see the delivery. Kip was wonderful, he kept me breathing the entire time. Labor is definitely painful (even with an epidural) but I think mine went very well.

Honey, I think I'm having contractions!

On Thursday, May 16, Kip and I headed to bed and my stomach wasn't feeling very well. Of course at 39 weeks pregnant no matter how easy your pregnancy has been you just don't feel so great, you are carrying around a big belly and everything hurts! We went on to bed and I ended up getting up constantly throughout the night because of stomach pains. This is TMI but it's my blog so I can write what I want...I felt like I had to use the bathroom constantly throughout the night. So, I finally slept on the couch, getting up about every 20 minutes to use the bathroom. Finally, around 6 a.m. I decided a bath might help me feel better (I practically lived in the bathtub the last few months of my pregnancy...it really helped me relax and helped with the aches and pains of pregnancy). I sent Hunter a text and told her that I knew we had joked about me not coming to work but I really didn't think I was going to be able to because my stomach was upset. She said "FYI - a lot of people mistake labor with an upset stomach."

I had a feeling that my stomach ache was actually contractions but I just wasn't sure. I went ahead and took my bath, washed my hair, and got ready (if I was in labor I might as well look decent since there would be visitors and photos etc. and who knows when I would get to bathe again). After my bath I woke Kip up to tell him that I thought I was having contractions. His response..."have you used the bathroom?" and he rolled back over and went to sleep. About an hour later I decided that my "stomach pains" were now about 5 minutes apart so I decided to try to wake Kip up again (he was really tired because he hadn't slept much since working his 12 hour shift on Wednesday night). The 5 minute description got him out of bed! He ate some cereal and we hung out for awhile, still not 100% sure I was in labor.

On our way to the hospital (in my stinky car...more on that in a later post...I had mice in my car) Kip said they were just going to send us home because he had heard that happens often. He had a golf tournament to play in that day and the idea of going to the hospital only to get sent home and him missing his golf tournament for no reason was not his idea of fun. I told him I wasn't sure but I knew I wasn't going to be able to stand this pain at home. We got to the hospital and a guard had to help us into the emergency parking garage. He asked where we were trying to go and Kip told him that I was pregnant and might be having a baby but he didn't know what was going on. It was quite funny...the man said that he hoped today was the day. We headed into the hospital and they sent me to triage and hooked me to a monitor. The doctor came in (it happened to be a doctor I had seen during my pregnancy which was nice). She checked me and said I was 4 cm and 90% and I would be staying with there. This led to a bunch of phone calls/texts... Kip had to find a replacement to play in the golf tournament and we had to let my parents and our other friends and family know that I WAS IN LABOR!!!! YIKES!

I tried to tell my mom but started crying because I knew she was going to freak out (I was right...she ran out of a meeting at work and headed to the hospital crying the whole way). Kip had to finish the conversation with mom and notify the rest of the family because I was so nervous and excited I just couldn't talk to people! I couldn't believe it was finally time for our little girl to arrive!!

Last Week of Work

My 39th week of pregnancy was also my last week of work before maternity leave. I had thought that I might work the following week if the baby hadn't come but I was struggling working 8 hours a day at 39 weeks pregnant. I was supposed to work an event on Thursday, May 16 but decided it probably wasn't a good idea for me to work a 14 hour day and drive home late at night just days before the bean was due. So, I helped set up for the event and headed home. It was funny to watch people's reactions at The Inn when they asked how far along I was...ummm...my baby is due in 4 days! On Friday, Hunter and I were going to be the only 2 people in the office the majority of the day because of commencement. We had joked that I may call in sick that day and it ended up happening...

38 Weeks

Well, here we are...tomorrow starts week 39. I have been hoping that the little one would make her appearance early but it is not looking like that is going to happen. I am a planner and not knowing when she is coming is driving me crazy. I am still feeling good most of the time. I have a little soreness and sometimes I don't sleep very well but overall I have been really lucky. I am still working and this week had dinner with my friend, Michelle, one night and did some shopping a couple of nights after work. Yesterday mom and I went to the Allstate flea market, out to lunch, the nursery to buy plants, and Wal-Mart. Then, we came to my house and replanted some ferns, mom planted the tomatoes and cucumbers we got at the nursery, and we cooked a yummy dinner for Mother's Day. I am staying as active as I can and so is the baby. At this point she is supposed to be out of room and isn't supposed to move around that much but our little bean moves all the time. I have had to take baths several nights this week just to get her to calm down. The water must relax her so when I am uncomfortable I just take a bath. 

This week Kip and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it has already been 5 years since we got married. We went to our traditional anniversary restaurant, Dickeys BBQ, a couple of weeks ago so on our actual anniversary we just went to Golden Corral (how romantic haha...it was good though). Kip got me flowers and had already gotten me an anniversary band to go with my wedding ring. 

The doctor's visit this week was pretty uneventful. My blood pressure was good, I have gained 22-23 pounds, and everything seems to be good. She said I was 70% effaced, had dilated around 2 cm., and the baby's head is VERY low. But, still no baby. Today was Mother's Day and everyone kept saying maybe she will come then but I think she wants her own day so she will come when she is ready. It won't be long now! I plan to take it easy this week as much as possible. I am still going to work and have an event to work on Thursday night if I am feeling up to it. I just hope the baby gives me some kind of warning that she is about to come either early one morning or at night. I am hoping for no dramatic water breakage or anything like that. It is funny how people look at you when you are 38 weeks pregnant. At Wal-Mart I felt like everyone was looking at me like I was going to pop any minute. :) 

37 Weeks

Week 37 was good...the belly is definitely getting bigger and it is getting more uncomfortable to sit at work everyday. Friday night we got to visit with Kip's family. His aunt Linda was in from Richmond and we all got together for pizza. It was great to see everyone since I am sure the next time we see them we will have a baby girl. On Sunday we had dinner at my aunt and uncle's house. I had mom take a few pictures of us before we went. Kip was his usual crazy self so some of them are funny!