All because two people fell in love...

I met a wonderful photographer who was trying to expand her portfolio to include hospital births, so she was going to meet us at the hospital and take pictures of Kolby being born, which I was super excited about. We called her as soon as we left for the hospital and she said she was in Denver and on her way. She ended up texting Kevin at 10:15 asking if she could come on over to the hospital and Kevin had to tell her that he was already here :( Since she missed the birth she offered to take some newborn pics at home for us. She came over and spent a good 2 hours taking some pictures and Kolby just refused to go to sleep for her. They were adorable pics but we couldn't really mold him into the positions that we were going for because he wouldn't go to sleep :) Of course right when she was leaving, he was out for the count! So since he was out, I figured he'd let me take some of my own pics :) I was really happy with how they turned out and over the next couple days we did lots of different little photo shoots :) I am absolutely obsessed with this baby :)

I think he knew that this was my last pregnancy so he tried his best to stay in there as long as possible, knowing that I would get sad and miss it :) And, I had never known what it felt like to get to my due date before, so he made that happen for me as well :) I drove myself crazy for about 2-3 weeks. At the beginning of May I remember turning the calendar and saying to the kids "Baby is coming this month!!" thinking that it would be anytime. I was having contractions daily that never seemed to amount to anything. There was one time around 36 weeks that I was really nervous something was happening and it was too early, but the consistent contractions bothered me every 5-10 min for a couple hours then went away. Then May came and I started to think it was any day and I should have a plan. Everyday I would wake up and think, "OK, if it happens today I will get so-n-so to pick up Bradley from school, and I will call so-n-so to come watch the kids at this time..." then that night I would think, "OK, nothing happened, tomorrow is a different day with different things going on, so new plan..." and it went on and on like that for weeks! When finally I realized that's what was making me go insane! I stopped trying to plan it all out and figured it would all work out when it happened. He was already super low and measuring big in mid April. On May 30th I was certain baby was coming and in the morning I was telling the kids how I was obviously wrong and Gracie said, "Wow Mom - it must be awesome in your tummy! I bet baby is going to stay in there until next Easter!"
At my dr apt right before 38 weeks McCreery checked me and I was 1 1/2 cm, she was going out of town that weekend so I was hoping to not go into labor so I tried to take it easy all weekend, thinking that something was going to happen any time. My next apt ended up being about a week and a half later on the 28th and I was certain that I would be further along because I had been having serious contractions daily and a lot of them. She checked me and I was 'maybe' 2. I asked her to strip my membranes - I remember she did that with Bradley and I went into labor that night and it was so easy - this was SO painful! Baby was super super low but my cervix was WAY far back, so trying to get to it was super difficult and SUPER painful. She said she did the best she could but she thought it would still be over a week. I remember leaving the apt and crying in the car :) I was trying my very hardest to enjoy every last second I had being pregnant because I was in the mindset that this was my last pregnancy and I would never again get to feel the miracle of a baby moving around in my tummy. But in my mind I was already weeks past due - which of course was my own fault! My sciatica was way worse this time and baby was so big that most movements were pretty painful.
So I made it to my due date - June 1st. That night we had taco bell for dinner and I remember talking to Kevin about the week ahead since it was a sunday and he was telling me his plans and I said, "It HAS to be SOMETIME this week, doesn't it?!?!" :) I was having contractions that night but didn't think anything of it since that happened every night. I woke up at 1 to go to the bathroom because my stomach felt like it was going to be sick, it was fine, so I went back to bed. Woke up again at 4 with the same feeling, went to the bathroom, it was fine, went back to bed. Didn't get fully back to sleep when I felt like it was going to be sick again and for the first time in my sleepy state I thought, "Wait a second... maybe it's contractions :)" so I stayed up and paid closer attention. They started getting harder and I was even scared to take a shower like I normally did because usually that made it way worse and I was a little scared of things going so fast that I didn't get to the hospital since it was fourth baby. I took a really quick shower and we called in help for the kiddos and took off. We got to the hospital about 6, I was checked at 6:20 and was already 5 cm. Then started the whole discussion of epidural. I had no faith in myself. Everyone else thought I could do it without, it was going fast enough and they give me such problems. But I was just too scared. Even though I have so many issues with them, eventually they did kick in enough to provide a tiny bit of relief. They offered me a tens (sp?) unit and said I'll know right away if that will be enough or not. I tried it for a while but it was not helping at all, it just added a weird, crazy vibrating feeling to all my pain. So I decided to go for the epidural. Once again - many many issues and one really stumped, confused anesthesiologist. My body just does not like it. All the nurses were telling him how it went in so great, that was the best one they've ever seen, and he came more and more annoyed at me with every passing contraction that I would say felt the same or worse, not getting better at all. So he kept pumping me full of medicine, waiting, more medicine, more waiting and it went on like that for a long time. I have never once in all my laboring shed a tear, not until my babies were layed on my chest. For the first time I cried, partly because of pain and partly because of frustration about it not working and feeling like I had made the wrong choice. So I just asked my dr if she could go ahead and break my water and make it go faster, so that's what we did. Looking back I wish that I had just skipped the epidural, it caused me more frustration than anything else. After we broke my water the epidural started to finally take effect (starting at my toes and working it's way up, so it was a while until it was where it needed to be). I pushed a couple times and took a little break, then it was a few more pushes and HE was here. The whole thing seemed to take forever, but it really did go by pretty quickly. I kept up with my pattern I had going - from the time we got to the hospital to baby being born - with Bradley it was 10 hours, Gracie was 8, Sammie was 6, and baby Kolby was only 4. This time seemed the hardest though, it might have had something to do with the fact that he is definitely my biggest baby! He layed on my chest for a long time before the nurses took him to clean him up and weigh him - 8 pounds 6 ounces! And he was also 'sunny side up' when he came out, just like Sammie, which makes everything harder. I am so blessed that I was able to have 4 great labor and deliveries and have 4 amazing, healthy children. I thank God everyday. All I ever wanted to be was a Mom, I feel like that's why I'm here. And to think back on those 2 1/2 years of trying before Bradley came along and how many times we thought we wouldn't be able to have any children - I count my blessings every day, over and over. I don't take any of it for granted.
We are so so blessed to welcome Kolby Scott Kerr to our family. Kolby - you have made us complete!! :)