8 years ago . . .

It's hard to believe it's been 8 years already . . .

but, it has.

My baby is 8 now.

8.

eight.

She's almost ready to move out on her own.

Or at least that's how she acts sometimes.

I think I'll take this special day to share her birth story.

Considering she was our third, I didn't get to tell it much. And, let's just say no one asks for the story. But, I'll tell it anyway.

Today.

On her birthday.

Did I mention that Kennedy was our third? She was also way overdue.

Really overdue.

That would be why Jason's parents weren't in town for her birth.

Or even the state. They were on vacation.

But, I've forgiven them for it. I've moved on. I really have.

I think her official due date was April 13th.

Yep. And today is April 22nd.

She was in no hurry to meet us.

I woke up on Sunday, got ready for church and went. I just wasn't feeling right. You know, a weird sort of strange. I was convinced that with my third baby, I was not. WAS NOT going to go to the hospital too early just to hear the nurse say, "Honey, you are in labor, you're just not far enough along to admit you. Go home and go for a looonnnggg walk, and we'll see you soon."

(I'll maybe post more about that on June 3rd or June 24th.)

So, I stuck it out not feeling any better, knowing I was in labor. I gave my mom a call later that night and had her and my stepdad come over to get Ky and Jax. They did.

And the labor continued.

Jason slept. I breathed.

He slept. I breathed.

After a few hours of he he ho, I woke my sleeping husband, and we were off for the hour drive to the hospital.

That hour seems way longer when you're in labor.

We arrived at the hospital shortly after midnight.

After all the birthing suites were full.

So, we had to check-in in a storage closet. The nurse asked me questions as I had contraction after contraction. I'm not quite sure why Jason didn't answer more for me.

Maybe he wasn't quite awake yet.

He would just watch me breath through my contraction. The nurse would too. They would smile at me as I'm in TOTAL PAIN, having been in TOTAL PAIN for hours now.

Finally, I answered all of the questions and moved into a birthing suite.

Yes, I got the epidural. Are you kidding?! After going through labor for so long, I was exhausted and ready for a break and only dilated to 5.

After the epidural, Jason was able to fall asleep in the chair beside me. Good thing my contractions weren't keeping him awake anymore!

Occasionally, the nurses would come in and check on me . . . and the baby.

They were in and out quite a bit which would wake me - I was only resting my eyes, not really sleeping. Ok, maybe I was dozing off . . .

They would say, "Oh honey, don't let me bother you. You just keep resting." And, they would leave.

Until. . .

One of the nurses came in to check on the baby's heartbeat.

She told me to turn on my side.

She checked the heartbeat again.

She told me to turn on my other side. She checked the heartbeat again.

I was completely awake then.

Jason was asleep.

The nurse left, then came back in with another nurse. She said I was dilated to a "stretchy 7." Seriously. What the world is a "stretchy 7"?! Is that like an 8 or a 9?

Apparently, it's close enough to 10 to start pushing, because that's what they told me to do.

Jason was asleep.

They started preparing the bed for delivery and went to wake the doctor up. Because, apparently, doctors have to sleep, too. Even if they are on duty.

Then they told me to wake up Jason because he was about to sleep right through the delivery of his third offspring.

So, as I'm trying to wake him up, the doctor comes in and says, "Dana, you better wake Coach up if he's going to see this."

You see he delivered my first two, so he knew Jason was a coach.

My loving, gentle voice wasn't enough to arise my husband, so the doctor and the nurses started yelling at him to wake him up.

As I'm pushing.

So, honestly, I think she was out in 4 pushes. Through a stretchy 7.

It all happened super fast. Like maybe 30 minutes fast. Really.

I never found out what was going on with Kennedy during her last few minutes in my womb. I just know that her heartbeat was dropping and she needed to get out fast. She was fine. And beautiful. And 9 pounds. YES!

For some reason, I take pride in knowing I carried and delivered a 9 pound baby. Of course she wasn't 9 pounds the WHOLE time, but she was for at least a week. :)

There's just something about holding that 3rd child in your arms. Something that made both Jason and I tear up. I am so thankful for our bug-a-boo.

Happy Birthday, Kennedy Clara.