The Spies Family: Makenzie Ryann Spies

We are so very proud to announce the birth of our newest little girl Makenzie Ryann Spies. She was born on Monday, May 14th at 7:33 pm weighing 7 pounds 3.3 ounces and measuring 18.5 inches long. She is perfect in every way and makes our family complete!

   Here is the story of Makenzie's birth:

We made it through last week and Morgan's 5th birthday...I was so nervous that she would decide May 10th was a great day too. On Mother's day we went to Donna and Charley's for breakfast. The rest of the afternoon I spent resting. I was just feeling funny and was really tired. I just felt like she was going to be coming soon. Sunday night I was up off and on with contractions....but they didn't want to stick around so at about 2:45 am I went back to bed. By 6 Monday morning when I woke up they were back and were much stronger. I was also feeling lots of pressure down low. I was nervous that because she was already positioned so low if we didn't go to the hospital soon to be checked she might be born at home. We called Donna and she was at our house a little before 7. David and I then headed to the hospital. We were checked into triage around 7:30. As soon as we checked in David and I both recognized the nurse that day, her name was Holly. She was the same OB nurse that worked with us 5 years before when Morgan was born. We knew it was a good sign and meant to be. Holly checked us in and examined me. Unfortunately I was still where I had been a week before 4cm, 80% effaced, and a -1 station. I could hardly believe it with how I was feeling. After a little while of monitoring my contractions Holly talked with Dr. Weisert and they decided to have me try walking the halls for an hour to see if I would change. As soon as we walked into the hallway to start walking we ran into Dede and Karen, 2 of the NICU nurses who cared for Morgan that we have stayed in contact with (I had two of Dede's daughter's in class). We stopped to say hello to them and then started walking. Within a few minutes my contractions were picking up steam. By the time an hour had past they were only about 1-2 minutes apart, lasting 45 seconds to a minute and a half and were pretty strong. Again I was feeling intense pressure down low. We went back in and were checked again....again there wasn't much change. I was so frustrated. Holly called Dr. Weisert to see what she wanted to do. Dr. Weisert decided that it seemed liked I was in the early phase of labor and that it was just being slow to progress. She asked if we wanted to go home or stay since we were scheduled for Friday to be induced. David and I both said STAY! without hesitation. We were so ready to meet our new little girl. Dr. Weisert then asked Holly to admit us to the hospital and instructed her to begin pitocin. Holly decided that she really wanted to stay with us and be our nurse for the day so she arranged to leave triage and follow us to labor and delivery. Holly later told us that it was her very last day at work....she too was preparing to have a baby and would be a stay at home mom once he was born. It was so special that she was there to take care of us while we labored and that she was able to see both our girls be born.
          Around 12:30 we were finally settled in our labor and delivery room, hooked up to an IV and were about to start the pitocin. By 3:00 the contractions were getting pretty strong, around a 5 on the pain scale. Shortly after 4 when my contractions were about every 2 minutes Dr. Weisert came by to break my water. At that time I was still about 5 cm, 80% effaced and a -1 station. Almost instantly with the water breaking things began to change. As soon as the water broke my contractions hit it into high gear and I jumped from 5 cm to 7cm. Unfortunately the anethesiologist was in a c-section, so I was going to have to wait until about 5 pm to get an epidural. At first I thought it would be okay but the contractions got intense VERY fast. By 5 I was in a lot of pain. By 5:10 I was intense pain and wanting the epidural badly. The doctor was finally available around 5:20 at which time I was in the worst pain I have ever felt, but was being asked to hold still and not move so she could get the pain meds. A very hard feat. David was an amazing support and really helped me through it all. By the time they were finally ready to put in the epidural I was 8 cm and very close to being ready to push. The dr. decided to give me a spinal tap to help instantly relieve some pain and the epidural that would kick in in about 15 minutes. The spinal tap helped, but the contractions were still very strong. I was able to hold still through one and she got the epidural in, however, when she went to do the cathedar part of it, it fell out. I was so upset...I was hurting so bad. Another contraction later and she was able to redo the epidural. About 15 minutes later I was totally relaxed and in complete heaven. The epidural is completely magical.
          By that time it was almost 6 o'clock. They were calling dr. weisert to let her know how we had progressed and that we would be ready very soon to push. They wanted to let me "labor down" so that I wouldn't have to push very long and since I was now peacefully enjoying my contractions pain free I was fine with that. We were called Donna and Charley to let them know that we would probably be having our little girl soon and they should prepare to bring Morgan up. By a few minutes after 7 the doctor was in, we were ready to go. She asked me around 7:25 to give one practice push and as we quickly saw (I was using the mirror) it wasn't going to take much. Her head was right there. We could see the tiny amount of hair that she has and we were just so excited. On my next contraction close to 7:28 or so the dr. asked me to push. I pushed through 3 contractions and her little head was totally out. Dr. Weisert asked me to just breathe while she suctioned her mouth and helped remove the cord that was tangled once around her neck. On my next contraction she asked me to push again and with just one push her shoulders, arms, and legs came right out and before I knew it she was lying there on my tummy squirming all around. We were so happy to finally meet our little girl! We burst into tears and showered her with kisses. David then cut the cord, grabbed the video camera, and followed her over to the table where they would weighed her and did all the birth assessments. While they were doing that the dr. and other nurses took care of me. I watched Makenzie in complete awe as the dr. helped deliver my placenta. It made me nervous as it took a while to do that since the placenta was not wanting to detach from my uterus. But before long and with some help of the nurses and doctor pushing on my tummy it finally came out.
             Makenzie was officially born at 7:33 PM on May 14, 2012 weighing in at 7 pounds 3.3 ounces and measuring 18.5 inches long. She was completely adorable and perfect and completed our family! We couldn't wait to introduce her to her big sister and grandparents who were all anxiously waiting outside, but first we had to try to feed her. She instantly took to breastfeeding like a champ. By a few minutes after 8 David was ready to head out to the lobby to get the big sister. We told everyone that Morgan got to meet the baby first. When David brought Morgan in I was just finishing up feeding her. David placed Morgan down in her walker and she had the biggest smile on her face. She walked right over to the bed and looked at Makenzie in awe. She was so happy to finally meet her. David then helped Morgan into bed so she could hold Makenzie. It was the best moment ever seeing my two girls together for the first time. Morgan told her how much she loved her and gave her a kiss. Then she went to open her big sister present. She got a new backpack and lunch box for school. The backpack was full on fun presents including Meet the ....videos, a coloring book, a new kid tough digital camera, and a Baby and Me scrapbook.
        After a short while we decided that all the grandparents were being tortured and we should probably invite them in to meet our newest addition. David went out to get them. Morgan held Makenzie while she introduced her to everyone and then all the grandparents took turns holding her. Everyone stayed for a while taking all sorts of pictures and Morgan watched Makenzie get her first bath. Shortly before 10 it was time for them all to go home for the night. We were then transferred upstairs to our room. Around 11:00 Makenzie had her second feeding. She fed like a champ again. By midnight we were all settled down to bed. She slept amazingly well that first night. I woke up at 4 to feed her because the nurse said if she didn't eat they would poke her foot to do a sugar level test. I really had to work hard to wake her up. She then slept til about 8 and woke again to eat. She has been eating about every 3-4 hours since then. She seems to be on a great schedule already, but we will see how that changes over the days to come.
          We came home from the hospital on Wednesday and have been doing great. Both girls are adjusting so well and are so in love with each other. I am going to try my best over the next few days to post more pictures of all the wonderful changes happening in our family.