Keeton Jay Ledbetter

Awww…the day has come. March 23, 2012.  We had to be at the hospital at 9:30 that morning so we get the ball rolling.

Aaron and Miles had breakfast (not me…no eating after midnight.  Don’t worry, I couldn’t really sleep the night before, so at 11:55, I ate) Mom came to get Miles, and we left for the hospital.

The whole is experience with a scheduled c-section is so much different.  You go to the post partum wing of the hospital, so we already knew what hospital room we would be in.  They came in started my IV, met my nurses, filled out paper work and then just waited. 

11:35 came around and here walks in my nurse with a wheel chair…its time to go to labor and delivery.  So I say my goodbyes to Miles and my parents and I hop in for a ride.  Get out the door and here comes to my Dr.  He had been waiting on us. Guess he was ready to start his weekend.  So now this is where Kasey starts freaking out.  They wheel us down to the operating rooms and there are 2 chairs just hanging out in the hallway right before you go back to the operating room.  Aaron and I sit there for what seemed like HOURS.  I start freaking out and telling Aaron that I’m not ready and I can’t do this.  The anesthesiologist comes and gives me the low down of how the spinal is going to be done (I really could have gone without knowing any of that).  Then they finally take me back to the room.  Aaron has to sit and wait.

So I get my spinal, 20 seconds later you are numb, they tie you down, they put the sheet up in front of you, they bring in your husband, they cut, they tell you to take a deep breathe, then you have a baby.  Really…its that fast.  The spinal (which is why I was freaking out.  Who really wants a needle going in their back) wasn’t that bad.

So…Keeton Jay Ledbetter was here.  March 23, 2012 @ 12:22pm 6lbs 11oz, 20 1/2” long.  He was SCREAMING.  He was PERFECT.

Aaron leaves me to go see the baby.  (My sad mommy moment…for anyone that has a c-section.  I mean, you carry them for 9 months, you go through the delivery, and then your husband gets to see him and do all the cool things.  I am just a little jealous and it is now off my chest)

I really love this picture (sorry my nails are not painted)  Aaron held my hand then entire time.

And he watched the whole thing.  It was gross (he said) but he said he couldn’t stop watching.

Doctors

And then here is my little man.

Daddy’s first look

Makes me smile…you can see the love in Aaron’s eyes.

Here he is

Daddy getting to hold him.

Momma’s first kiss

Our family is complete

I have waited 9 months for this day.

Getting to hold my baby…only lasted 30 seconds I am sure of it.

So while mommy is in recovery, daddy takes KJ down to the nursery and to meet the family. 

Big brother finally gets to meet his little brother.  I don’t think he was that impressed.

Daddy and his boys.

Once in the nursery, Keeton was having problems breathing.  So they put him under the tent.

So while in recovery, my nurse told me that he was under the tent.  I was prepared for that.  I think I was in recovery about 45 minutes.  On the way out, we were walking past the nurses station in L&D and a nurse called over my nurse.  She comes back and tells me, that KJ was having to many problems breathing on his own, so they were taking him down to NICU.  Seriously, I don’t even remember feeling anything at this point.  We get down to the nursery and the NICU Dr is in the nursery talking to Aaron.  He comes out to talk to me and then they wheel me into the nursery (not the easiest thing to do).  They tell us that they did an X-ray on him and that his lungs were cloudy and they were concerned about it.  So I briefly see my baby and then I have to go to my room.  Poor Aaron just looked at me like “What do I do?  Do I go with you to make sure you are ok or do I go with him? “ I just looked and said take care of him, I am fine.  So off to my room I go.

Here is what was going on with KJ while I was in my room.

A LONG 10 hours later, they wheel me down to NICU to see my baby.  I didn’t stay long.  I was in pain.  I was emotional. So we went back to the room.

But we did stay long enough for a quick pic

Sweet baby feet…He was doing the cutest things with is feet.

The next couple of days are spent going back and forth.  I had to take care of myself but I wanted to be with my baby.  My room was on the 4th floor and NICU is on the 3rd floor.  Needless to say, I walked a lot.  Its amazing how motivated you are after a c-section when you have to go somewhere else to see your baby.

First time holding my baby

Mommy, Daddy and KJ

First time feeding.

Daddy’s turn

The stubborn boy had to get a feeding tube put back in because he refused to eat during a feeding.

{ Side note:

So while Aaron and I were at the hospital, mom and dad kept Miles.  Sunday morning mom called and said that Miles had fallen and had a pretty bad bruise on his head.  It didn’t really phase me, because he is a boy…he falls.  So when they get to the hospital, I saw it first hand.  It was BAD and the note was HUGE and it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.  Finally Aaron took him to my nurses station and they told Aaron to take him to the ER.  So Aaron, Miles and mom head off to the ER.  Lucky for me, my Aunt Cheri was there and Tara and the kids.  So I still had help getting down to NICU.  After about 3 hours passed, a CT scan on my 2 year old, no milk or food for him, just sitting in a ER room waiting on the results for a TWO year old, my charge nurse took me down to the ER.  Long story short…Miles was fine..CT scan came back clear other than a sinus infection and a huge bruise and black eye.

In the ER

The eye a couple of days later

So I had been the mother of 2 boys for 2 days and one was in the ER and the other was in the hospital…does that mean anything??? }

After the ER with Miles, Memaw came down to see KJ. 

I was discharged on Monday, and we had hoped that KJ was going to be discharged, but nope.  He was now jaundice and had to be under the photo lamp for 24 hours.  So then I start freaking out about what are we suppose to do…I am not leaving my baby here.  I talked to my nurses and they decided to discharge me but let me stay in my room.  It was like a hotel at that point.  No more pain meds and no more nurses coming in to check on you.  Just a room and I could leave if I needed. 

Baby boy tanning.

KJ was going to get to go home Wednesday, so Tuesday, we packed up our bags and we moved rooms.  Down to the 3rd floor.  NICU has rooms parents can stay in and we got to have KJ in the room with us.  But the nurses where right there in case we needed them.  So after 5 days, we finally got to spend the night with our baby.  It was awesome and exhausting and overwhelming, but still AWESOME.

Our first night together with KJ

6 days after being born..KJ got to come home. 

  Buckled up and ready to go

So that is how sweet Keeton Jay made his entrance into the world.   Needless to say we were all ready to get home!!!!

Leading up to the big day

So lets back up a little before we get to the main event. (more for me, so I can remember things)

So the Saturday before KJ was born, 3-17-12, we had a girls day out. Me, mom, Tara and Em all went to Lubbock to get Pedi's and do some last minute shopping before the big day. All ways great and we had a wonderful time. When we finally got home, I was exhausted and we really didn’t do that much. So I check my blood pressure like I had been doing since the end of November (that is when my BP problems started). And to my surprise, when I checked it, it was 100/94. Oh my that’s high. So I freak out a little, check it again in 15 minutes…still high, check again in another 15 minutes and it is better. KJ really wasn’t moving much, but he was moving so we went to bed. For the next couple of days, my BP continued to be a little higher than normal. I had cut back on work and was waiting for my Dr. appointment on Thursday. Wednesday night came and KJ was hardly moving, and he was always active at night, so I was a little concerned. Thursday came, I went to work and waited for my appointment at 3:45. Well KJ still hadn't moved at all that day and it was already 9:00. So I call my dr office, tell them I couldn’t feel him move (which is the worse feeling ever) and that my BP had been higher than normal. So they suggested that I come in immediately. So I call Aaron, tell him to come home and we headed to the dr office. We get there, they do a no stress on the baby and guess what??? He starts moving like crazy and my BP was ok. Go figure, right? So then we had a decision to make. Bed rest or have a baby. At this point I was exactly 37 weeks, still early, but considered full term. After tears, not knowing what was the right decision, calling my mom and trying to have her tell me what to do and Aaron just telling me its up to me, we decided that we would have the baby the next day. C-section was set. This was a very hard decision for us me. We knew that there would be risks with having a baby that early, even though he would be considered full terms. The biggest concern with having him that early would be his lungs. But we were also concerned with me carrying him any longer. I had been stressing about my BP since November, and we knew that was not good on him either. Once I decided to go ahead with having him, I knew that if it was the wrong decision, my Dr would tell me. When he didn’t tell me that I should wait, I knew he was confident that everything would be fine too. So with that being said and our C-section scheduled for 12:00 on March 23, 2012, Aaron and I went out to eat one last time.

To this day, I am unsure if we made the right decision.  But he is here and he is healthy and in the end, that is all that matters.

KJ’s Room

KJ’s room was one of the rooms in our house that we had not painted since we moved in.  Lets just say, it was not meant for a little boy.  I didn’t take any before pictures, but one wall was light pink, one wall was lilac, one wall was lime green and the other wall was hunter green.  So we Aaron had to prime first, then he had to paint all the walls their base color.

He had a ton of “help” painting.  Miles was excited to “help” daddy paint his play room Keeton’s room.

Such a good helper.

Then it was time for Aunt T to do here thing.  So for KJ’s room, we decided on airplanes.  KJ is named after my dad (pop) and his original due date was my papa’s birthday (pop’s dad), who are both pilots and love airplanes…so it seemed very fitting that lil KJ’s room be airplanes.  Aunt T had it pretty easy compared to Miles’ first room.  Click Here to see what all Aunt T did for Miles’ first room (she is awesome).

Anyways, she came over to paint horizontal stripes on 3 of the walls, then the airplane/name on the other wall.

Then she went shopping to finish up decorating.  She did a wonderful job and I we are so lucky to have Aunt T in our lives.  She made KJ’s room perfect and he will love spending time in there.

Thanks Aunt T for EVERYTHING that you did for us!!! Not just KJ’s room, but EVERYTHING.  I could not have asked for anything more.  It looks better than I could have ever imagined.  Now I want to redo Miles’ room. 

We love you!

Aaron, Kasey, Miles and Keeton