11 Weeks, 3 days

Kendal is getting big. She is almost 3 months old now! Her 0-3 month clothing is getting too little and she is now eating cereal and carrots. Ususally she eats half a container of carrots but on Saturday at her Nana house she ate the entire container in one sitting! She can also drink a full 8 oz bottle in one sitting. Pa Pa need a 2nd job to feed his little girl! Here are a few pics of her sleeping.

Suga Booga is a wild sleeper. Saturday morning after her 6am feeding I put her to bed in her crib. I went back later to check on her and this is how she was sleeping.

I initially moved the bumper back because once she had her nose up to the bumper while she was asleep. Now she is hanging out, feet first!

She went to sleep in the middle of the bed then rolled up under her Pa Pa. He is on the edge of a king size bed and she is right up under him!

2 months, 2 weeks old

My onesies are getting tiiiiiiiiiiiigggghhttttttt!

Mama, what u doing???

My cheeks so big I can't close my mouth.

Cheeks Malone!!

I smile when I sleep....dreaming of milk.

Check me out!

1 Week Down.....

We made it through our first week of work and daycare. I really think it helped that she started daycare a week before I had to go back to work. That made the transition easier for me at least.
It's getting a little easier to drop her off at daycare. One day last week when I dropped her off, Ms. Barbara came up to her and said "Good Morning Kendal" and she smiled. Suga Booga is getting used to the ladies up there. Ms. Barbara is trying to spoil her anyway.
Last night Suga Booga and Paw Paw was watching TV....BET of all channels and Suga was laughing. It was 11pm and she was up like "whatcha you wanna do tonight?" She wanted to talk and look around. Luckily she fell asleep about 30 minutes later. Suga can't hang with the big dogs!

7 weeks old

What's uuuuuuuuuupppppp?!?

I will knock you upside yo head!

Mama, my head aint in the picture!!!

Happy 4th of July!

I don't like my hair!!!!!

As of today's date, Kendal is 2 months, 1 day old. She now weighs 10 lbs 6oz and is 22 inches long. Suga Booga is getting big! She prefers to lay on her tummy and she can hold her head up for about 2 minutes before she gets tired. She cries when she farts and smiles if I touch her nose. She started daycare on July 2nd and now she rarely sleeps during the day. On a good night she will sleep 5 hours straight. She hates being awaken in the mornings but after she has her breakfast she is playful and talkative. Kendal is offically out of her newborn clothes and she should be wearing size 2 diapers. (we still have a few size ones to go through)

Kendal Janay was born on May 10, 2007 at 2:28am. After over 10 hours of easy labor for Pam, Kendal came into the world to very proud parents. Here is an update of her birth story as told by her mother, Pam.

I had very irregular contractions on Wednesday morning starting at about 4am. They were not very strong and they only lasted about 30 to 45 seconds each. I debated on whether or not to go to work but I didn't want to sit home and waste a day off. I was trying to save as much time as I could for after her birth AND I didn't think I was in labor anyway. Darrio had the day off so I didn't wake him to tell him about my pains. I have a dr appt the next day so I think I can just wait it out til then. I get to work and everyone is telling me that I don't look good. I have a stop watch and I start to time my contractions at around 9am. They were still very irregular and not strong at all. I read on the internet that if you could talk through the contractions, they were probably braxton hicks. Plus I still had 2 weeks to go.

I get VERY hungry around 11am so I leave for lunch. I go to Chic Fil A and get a nugget meal. As I am leaving I pass a McDonalds and make a u turn and get me 2 cheeseburgers and some fries. I sit in the car back at work and eat my meal. I had a meeting that I was facilitating at 3pm so I decided I would go home after the meeting. While in the meeting I feel a little trickle...kinda like pee that I couldn't stop. Still didn't think anything of it. I finished the meeting then went to tell my boss that I am leaving for the day. He also said that I didn't look good. He joked about me going into labor at work. So I leave. I had a hard time climbing in my truck but I finally got settled. Stop watch in hand....still timing what I thought was my false contractions.

Half way home I feel a GUSH. Still in denial...thinking "did my water just break?!?" Refering again to my many googling days....only 10 to 15% of women's water breaks. Maybe I just couldn't stop my pee. I am one exit away from the hospital and 15 minutes away from home. I decide to go home. Should I call Darrio? I decide to call him and tell him I think my water broke and I am on my way home.

As soon as I turn into my driveway, Darrio comes running out the house with bags and opens the driver side door. As soon as my feet hit the ground, another gush of water. Now I am SURE my water broke. I camly tell Darrio to clean out the seats...(thank God for leater seats!) while I go and take a shower. He is looking at me like I am crazy. So I go inside and turn the shower on. I never completly packed my bag so I go look in my closet for something to wear. Darrio tells me he has already packed the rest of my clothes.
Me: What did you pack for me to wear home?
Darrio: These jeans and shirt.
Me: I don't wanna wear that. (I go looking in the closet for something else to wear)
Darrio: Pam....we need to get to the hospital.
Me: Ok, ok....just iron this and this and let me take a quick shower.

As soon as I get in the shower, I have a contraction. A REAL CONTRACTION. I yell out and Darrio comes in and pulls back the shower curtain asking what's wrong. I am leaning against the shower wall waiting for the contraction to pass so I can talk. So now I can feel the difference. I cannot talk through these contractions. I tell Darrio to let me finish and to time my contractions. As I am getting out of the shower, I have another one. They are now 7 minutes apart. I sit down at my vanity and turn on my steam rollers and start to roll my hair. Darrio is REALLY trippin now.

Darrio: I KNOW you aint curling your damn hair!
Me: Just give me a few minutes. My curls fell in the rain today
Darrio: WHAT?!?
Me: Here comes another one.....(contraction)
Darrio: They are now 5 minutes apart

I place 8 big rollers in my hair and then I thought I was going to wash my face and redo my make up. As I was walking back to the bathroom, I have another one that stops me in my tracks.
Darrio: That's it! Put this on, we are leaving now.
Me: hee hee whooo hee hee whoo (I have NO idea what this is doing but it worked on TV)

I get dressed as Darrio grabs our stuff and we get in the truck. I still have rollers in my hair. When I am not having a contraction, I feel fine. I start to look in the mirror to fix my makeup. I have some nuggets left over from lunch that I start to munch on in between contractions. Darrio is driving crazy! I then realize its after 5pm and there is traffic! Usually the hospital is 10 minutes away, but in traffic....oh my. The contractions are now 4 minutes apart and I get scared. What if it takes 30 minutes to get to the hospital. I cannot take these pains for 30 minutes. I need drugs now.

We make it to the hospital in about 15 minutes. We go directly to the emergency part and Darrio runs in to get someone. A panicked nurse comes running out as I am sliding out of the truck. She tells me to lean against the wall until she can find a wheelchair. The contractions were kicking my butt now. She finally finds one and she wheels me to labor and delivery. Darrio parks the truck and catches up with us just as I am wheeled into a room. I go through the drill….get naked and put on one of those ugly gowns that show all the back end goods. I just step out of my clothes as Darrio gathers them up. Its amazing how all humility leaves you when you are in pain. I didn’t care who saw my ass. The nurse tells me she has to check to make sure my water broke. I can’t be admitted until it’s confirmed that I am actually in labor. She checks and yes indeed, my water broke.

Nurse: Yep, your membranes are ruptured. You are officially in labor.
Me: Can I have an epidural?
Nurse: We have to get you admitted first.

Now I can’t be admitted AFTER she asks me a million stupid ass questions. We did a hospital tour months ago and we pre-registered so why oh why is she asking me all these questions?!? A shift change, 2 failed IV attempts and 20 minutes later I am officially admitted. During the q&a period, I lost my nuggets. I called Earl and lost the entire contents of my stomach. Now I am going to be in pain and hungry. I finally get to my labor and delivery room. A new nurse comes in and checks me and tells me I am 4 cm. I just knew I had to be 10 cm due to the amount of pain I was having. The contractions were now about 2-3 minutes a part. I immediately ask for an epidural again. The nurse tells me the anesthesiologist is on the floor and she will let her know. About 5 minutes later she comes in to do my epidural. I assume the position and within 2-3 minutes, the pain lowers then ceases. I now only feel pressure when there is a contraction. The clock on the wall has 7:28pm.

By 8pm, our families are there. I am glad they did not get to see the contracting Pam because she was a bitch. I calmly look at the monitor over the next few hours to see the intensity of my contractions all the while thinking “How and why do women do this without drugs?!?”

8:00pm: 5 cm dilated, 100% effaced. The nurse tells me that they may have to give me pitocin because my contractions are not strong enough. We will give it another hour and then see. I get the shivers from the epidural. I am not cold but I can’t stop shaking. I start eating ice chips because I am hungry and thirsty.

9:30pm: 7 cm dilated. I may not need pitocin as long as I am dilating. I have to have a catheter to empty my bladder since I can’t feel my legs to go on my own. They also insert and internal monitor on Kendal.

10:00: My doctor comes in to check on me. Yet another hand up my hoo haw to tell me I am 7cm dilated. I can’t feel my legs so every time someone checks me, the nurse and Darrio has to push my legs open. How lady like is that! The doctor tells me that he has other patients in labor tonight also and we should race to see who delivers first. I didn't find this amusing.

10:15 – 12:45: Sleeping on and off in between visitors.

1:00am: Nurse checks me again and I am 9cm.

1:30am: Nurse checks me and I am 10cm and its time to push

1:45 – 2:15: Pushing…pushing…..and more pushing. This is harder than it looks on TV. They said to push like you are having a bowel movement but its hard to do if you don't really have to do #2.

2:15: The nurse runs to go get the doctor as she sees the head is crowning

2:16: Kendal decides to retreat back up into her temporary home. My doctor and about 4 other people come into the room and everyone is looking up my hoo haw. The doctor tells the nurse that his other patient is ready to deliver and he is going to deliver her first then come back to me.

2:20: Everyone leaves the room except two nurses. They tell me to push again just once. They can now see the head again. The nurse tells me to hold tight and not push. Even with an epidural, I could still feel her head crowning.

2:22: Kendal decides she wants to come and not wait. At first all you could see is the top of her head. She then decides to come out some more and the nurse yells, Go get the doctor!

2:23: One nurse leaves the room running

2:24: My doctor and 3 other nurses come running into my room. He washes his hands and then gets dressed in gloves etc.

2:26: He tells me to push once. Her head is out.

2:27: He tells me to push again slightly. She comes sliding out into the world.

2:28: Kendal Janay Thorbs is born!

I ask the doctor “Is it still a girl?” I then tell Darrio to watch Kendal…go count her fingers and toes. Look at her face and make sure they put the right hospital bands on her. All the while Darrio is holding the camera/camcorder looking from me to Kendal. I have to tell him to take a picture of her. I am still numb from the epi but the doctor delivers the placenta and I have no tears. All looks well with the hoo haw. He says I should heal easily and quickly. (Thanks Kendal for being a small girl ) My doctor then tells me he just delivered the other patients’ baby boy 1 minute before he ran into my room. 2 babies delivered by the same doctor in 5 minutes!!! I got to hold my little angel for about an hour then they took her off to the nursery.