Our Beautiful Boy

Oct 27, 2011 at 6:30 pm our beautiful little Samuel was born.  He weighed 5 lbs 10 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. 

The day started out as any normal Thursday, at ten o'clock I arrived at my Dr.'s office for an ultrasound and weekly appointment.  The week before I had measured a little small, which has happened with each of my babies. Just to be on the safe side, my doctor wanted me to have an ultrasound each week.  Jon had been with me, and we joked about how he was leaving to go back East for work and so I had to do what ever it took to wait until he got home before going into labor.    

OK so back to that Thursday. I checked in at the imaging department and it wasn't long before they called me back.  It is always exciting each time you get to see your little one. I was not nervous, just annoyed that I had to have an ultrasound to tell me what I already knew.  It was not long before my sweet boy appeared on the TV screen.  The technician took all of his measurements and everything looked great, his weight was estimated at 6 lbs.  I am not sure if it was out of instinct or just routine but she decided to measure the fluid around the baby.  She started at his head and then worked her way around his little body.  A few short minutes later she turned to me in a very calm voice and explained to me that she could not find any fluid around my baby.  The technician then explained that she would check with my doctor first, but that I should plan on having my baby today.  It took a few minutes for the news to register.  I think I was still in shock as I walked into Dr. Barney's office and was ushered back into a room.  I sat in the room looking at my phone for a few minutes knowing I could not call Jon but would have to deliver this news to him by text.  I think I typed the text three times before sending it, to let Jon know we were having a baby today.  My Dr. arrived and explained that he would be leaving to go out of town in the evening and so we needed to get me started right now.  All I could think is, "OH MY HELL THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING". Then Dr. Barney looked at me and said, "you are in so much trouble, not only are you having a baby today but your blood pressure is really high." I laughed and in my most sarcastic voice told him that of course my blood pressure was high, who wouldn't have high blood pressure after receiving the news I just did.  

 I sat at the nurses station while she called over to get me checked in at the hospital.  I quickly started making a checklist in my head of what arrangements I was going to need to make for my other children.  First on the list was to call my mom who was babysitting Olivia to let her know I would not be coming to pick her up and then I would need to find someone to pick up the older children from the bus stop after school.  I then sent another text to Jon to tell him that I was checking into the hospital and that I would keep him updated as often as I could.   Thank goodness for my mom because it only took one call to her and she was quickly helping me make arrangements.  She called my in-laws to pick up Olivia and then go to my house and meet the other children when they got off the bus.  My in-laws agreed to keep all the kids for the rest of the day and that night so my mom headed to the hospital to sit with me.  I was hoping my in-laws were well rested because after school is always insane at my house.

I checked into the hospital and they didn't waste anytime getting the my iv started.  My blood pressure was still quite high so they had a really hard time getting the iv started.  After several attempts and lots of bruises the pitocin started flowing. Dr. Barney then placed a monitor right on Sam's head. The poor little guy still has the scab.  They needed to monitor him internally because if he started to show any stress they would have to take him C-section.  It was now time to call piano students to cancel their lessons, which was received with much joy and celebrating.  Then another text to Jon with the most recent updates.  Time seemed to fly until I really started to feel those pesky contractions.  Around 2:30pm I decided that enough was enough and it was time to get an epidural.  I had been started with 3 out of my 4 children and never had a negative experience however we had all day for baby to arrive, this was not the case with Sam. Every time the nurse walked into my room it was to up the pitocin and also my pain. This was turning out to be my most difficult labor as of yet.  Finally an hour and half later the anesthesiologist showed up, lucky for him I was in so much pain at that point that I opted not to give him a peace of my mind and just wanted relief.  It was at this point my mom exited stage left because the sight of needles is about the only thing she can't handle.  I think my poor nurse still has bruises on her hands from me trying to hold still through each contraction while the anesthesiologist, who I have now nicknamed, "Mr. Turtle", tried to get my epidural started.  Finally relieve started to flow into my back and it was time to update Jon again..  It was about 6 o'clock when they informed me that my doctor had to leave and the on-call doctor was on his way to deliver my son.  A few pushes later I was looking at my sweet son laying on my chest and he was so beautiful.  I few quick pictures to send to Jon to let him know that his son was here and the nurses whisked him away to be cleaned and have his vitals taken.  After things settled down I was holding Sam and finally got to call Jon and talk to him for the first time.  It was so comforting and great to hear his voice as he told me how beautiful our son was and how excited he was to get home and meet him.  We also discussed Sam's name, you see we really hadn't decided on a name yet.  Jon really liked the name Levi and I liked Samuel.  After seeing my son I just knew his name was Samuel and Jon felt the same way, so Samuel  Levi Kenworthy it was.  Sam's name has a very special meaning.  Samuel is a Hebrew name that means asked of God.  Levi means to unite and bring together.  I have no doubt that Sam was sent or more or less asked of God to come to our family at this time to unite us and bring us even closer as a family.  Sam has brought such peace into our lives with his calm nature and tender smile.
After talking to Jon the kids arrived to see their little brother, however they were only allowed to look at him through the nursery window. See about an hour after Sam was born he started having difficulty maintaining his body temperature and as a result his blood glucose level had dropped extremely low.  My sweet Josh stood forever looking at his little brother through the window.  After awhile I sent the kids home because they had school the next day.  Josh refused to leave until he could hold his little brother.  In order to get Josh to go home I had to promise that Grandma would bring him back up to the hospital the next day right after school. It took about 3 hours under the warmer in the nursery to get his body temp up and almost 24 hours to stabilize his blood glucose levels.  Sam and I spent a quite evening together.  The nurses really don't bother you much when they find out you are on your fifth child. 

I would say Josh is one proud big brother.

We now call Izzy our, "middlest" child because she has an older brother and sister and a younger brother and sister.

Olivia immediately called Sam her baby and was very protective of him.

Lexi is amazing with her little brother and is such a big help.  There are many days I really count on her and I am thankful she is there to help.

I took this picture to show Jon how long Sam's toes are.  His skin was very dry and wrinkly due to the lack of fluid.  You can see the bandaid on his foot where they continually had to draw blood to monitor his glucose levels.

Jon meet Sam for the first time on Nov 4.  Jon walked in the door around 10pm that night to all of the older children asleep on the couch and baby Sam sleeping in my arms.  There are no words to describe what we both felt as he took Sam in his arms.  Jon has always had an amazing connection with our children right from birth and Sam is no exception. 

In just a short amount of time Sam has touched so many hearts with his little half grin and soft cry.  I can't wait to see what he becomes as the months and years go by.