a baby delivery story

we are officially a family of four and it is officially insanity! i was scheduled for an induction on may 6th because i was over being pregnant, but heath had plans of his own and i got to experience going into labor naturally. yeah! i love that it happened that way! warning: this post is looooong. you might need to get a snack or take a power nap part way through. 

on may 4th (practically the 5th) at around 11:30pm i started having some contractions. i was downstairs (blogging!) and everybody else was in bed, sleeping. i had been having quite a few braxton hicks with this pregnancy, so i didn't think too much about it and decided to finish my blog post on the nursery. i locked up the house and headed upstairs at around 12:15am. when i got upstairs, i woke up matt and told him i was having some contractions and they were a little more intense than usual. at 12:45am matt called the hospital and told them about my contractions and where i was at in the pregnancy (39 weeks and 5 days and 4cm dilated) and they told us to get packed up and head on in. gah! i was terrified to be one of those women who rushes to the hospital in SO MUCH pain and then at the hospital they are like, "are you serious right now? you're not in labor... go home." i also did not want to wait too long and not make it in time for an epidural. i was praying for my water to break as a nice "i'm definitely in labor" sign, but no luck. we got dressed, packed up the car, woke up saige (who said, "are you joking right now?!") and headed to the hospital. 

we got to the hospital at around 2:15am and after two big breaks where i had to stop walking because of contractions, we got to labor and delivery. they took me to the triage area to check me out. my contractions were pretty consistent and i was 5cm dilated. the nurse (theresa) checked with the on-call doctor and then checked me into the hospital for delivery! yeah! we got to my delivery room at around 3:15am. once we knew that it was for sure go time, matt called natasha (to go to our house to be with beckett) and whitney (to come to the hospital to photograph). what super great friends we have, yes? theresa checked me at 4:15am and i was 6cm dilated aaaaannnnnd ready for the sweet joy that is the epidural. the anesthesiologist was headed to a c-section and my nurse pressured him to come and do my epidural first. theresa is my new best friend for getting junk done! my epidural was placed by 4:45am and it was a real goodie. right after i got the epidural, saige got to the hospital. at 5:45am, my water broke... and at 6:00am whitney got to the hospital. i pushed for five years with beckett, so i was really hoping this time was going to go faster, and saige and whitney wouldn't just have to sit and stare at me forever. at 6:30am i was 9cm dilated. 

at 7:00am my nurses switched. i said bye to theresa and hello to jennifer. at 7:30am my doctor got to the hospital and came by to check on me. i was 10cm dilated and ready to start pushing! yikes. i felt pretty tired, which was too bad because i hadn't even done any real work yet, but i luckily really wanted to meet my new baby, so that was motivating. i started pushing and tried different positions, and was weirdly the most productive flat on my back. i was more productive than my nurse anticipated, and after an hour of hearing "push harder...just a little harder!" i heard, "stop pushing right now!" um. yeah. that's easier said than done. literally every part of my body wanted to keep pushing. it's like i couldn't not push. the baby was seriously ready to come out, but my nurse did not want me to deliver without my doctor there so... are you ready... she pushed him right back in! ahhh! it was the weirdest feeling ever! and it made me stressed out about all the work i had done, but she assured me that at my next big push he would come right back out. my doctor rushed back in at about 9:00am and frantically got gloves on just in time to deliver heath. my doctor yelled at me to sit up on my elbows and then said, "grab him! pull your baby out!" uh... i didn't know how to feel about this. we hadn't discussed me doing that and everything felt really fast... so i just grabbed heath and pulled him onto my stomach and that was that! heath kos pennebaker was born! may 5th at 9:02am, weighing 7 pounds, 15 ounces and 19.5 inches long. he had a super short umbilical cord, that matt got to cut this time (things were too crazy with beckett) and saige and whitney got to see it all and everything felt weirdly calm and peaceful for being such an insane thing to have happen. i know babies are born every second, but it's still the most amazing and i cry every time somebody i know gives birth.

i'm so happy to have heath here, sweet and healthy, and to have another birth story to share. i'm especially happy to have an easier, faster story to share. yay for second babies being easier to get out. we are so blessed and excited to transition into a life with two boys. just like with beckett, i already can't imagine a world without baby heath in it. he is the best!  

thirtysix weeks

maternity photos

the dunne family came up for a visit to photograph a wedding (that i helped with day of and it was beautiful) and it was just oh so convenient to have nick take some maternity pictures. i was a big, huge butt head during the session. i am way more uncomfortable at the end of this second pregnancy, and we were wrangling a toddler for pictures, and the weather was really not cooperating. i really wanted spring like photos...outside, somewhere in a flower field or meadow or some other ridiculous place and it was just raining and raining. and i just moped around complaining about my hair frizzing and the weather being the worst and how disappointed i was in everything... including a rainbow that came out. yes. i hated the rainbow. anyways, i apologize to my family and nick for being a monster. luckily, nick is really very talented and the pictures still turned out great and you can't even tell how grouchy i was. so... you should be even more impressed with these photos. here are some of them... i had trouble picking, that's how much i liked them. thanks for the pictures and for not punching me in the face, nick!

nicholas dunne photography

thirtytwo weeks

a nursery sneak peek

sometimes i look at the calendar and see months and months left of this pregnancy and i think, "will it never end?!" and the next moment i think... "i am going to blink and this new baby is going to be here! what am i doing with my time?!" we were definitely more prepared for beckett by this point in the pregnancy... with a pretty much complete nursery. this time, not so much. the nursery still looks a whole heck of a lot like saige's room. as in, we've done nothing. BUT that doesn't mean i'm not planning! it's just hard to be motivated this time around. especially since i know that nursery probably won't get any use for another six months. where is my nesting instinct, kick in you little jerk! at least i have been hoarding baby clothes, so our new guy won't be roomless AND nakie. anyway, i do have a color theme and a small registry and i do think this is going to be a very adorable room. when it gets done. 

we are doing the nursery grey, navy, and white. with a loose (let's not get crazy over it) starry night theme. grey is such a popular decor color right now and i appreciate it. i have a lot of options. i made chalkboard looking prints for above the crib, and we are using metal wire baskets for storage, and some fun prints on the bedding and curtains. i think this room will be more modern than beckett's maybe? we'll see. here is a little sneaky peek.

twentyeight weeks

twentyfour weeks

we're expecting a...

beckett is getting a little brother! and for once in my life, i predicted a baby gender correctly! we are too excited to meet our newest family member in about 5 months! that seems faaaar and cloooose. weird! grow baby, grow... we'll see you soon!

(if you're wondering, i did make and bring a girl arrow and a pink shirt with me... i wasn't that confident in my prediction. we threw that waste of time girl arrow right in the garbage. i kept my pink shirt.)

twenty weeks

guess what?!

hurray! a new baby is joining our family on or around may 7th! we are so, so excited... even though i have been so, so sick so far. beckett can hardly handle the anticipation of becoming a big brother, he asks every single day if the baby is ready to come out. pregnancy is a true test of patience for everybody! beckett is also very sure the baby is a boy and that we should name him pickles. matt and i don't care about the gender... just hoping for healthy and much to my favorite tiny person's dismay... boy or girl, this baby won't be named pickles.

here are were some other pics we considered using for the announcement...

and outakes... 

a bakers half dozen

our very dear friends, brian and misty baker have some very exciting news. like the most exciting. like i might pass out. 


brian and misty have been married for over 14 years and have been trying to have a baby for over 10 of those years. well, baby time is here for them and when God decided to deliver on the parenthood thing he did not mess around!


misty is pregnant with twins! AND misty's best best (obviously) friend, amber is also pregnant with brian and misty's second set of twins! holy cow! that's a lot of wee babies! the four babies are due in june and this is THE most magical, incredible story in the history of stories. 


follow the baker blog... and pray pray pray for misty, brian, amber, amber's family, baby 1, baby 2, baby 3, and baby 4. congrats bakers! we are SO happy for you and your extreme baby making abilities. go babies, go!!!

the baker's blog

something is different...

we just got our family pictures back from nick (a better post is coming on them) and we love them! check out our copycat picture from our maternity shoot. what a difference a year makes. how lucky are matt and i? the most lucky.

a baby delivery story

beckett is here! he is pretty much perfect in every way and delivering him was easy peasy... kind of. matt was amazing in the room with me and beckett had a whole cheering team that sat in the waiting room all night long, BUT this post is about my delivery. more to come on all the magical support i had in later posts. 

on january 6th (my due date) i woke up early in the morning and felt weird. the constant pressure i had been feeling on my pelvic bone was gone and i couldn't feel the baby moving. i instantly started to stress out and push on my belly to try and get beckett to respond, but nothing. after about half an hour i woke up matt and started to tell him that something seemed not right. as soon as i said the words out loud, i threw myself into a total panic. we rushed to the doctor's office and she found his little heartbeat right away. she decided to monitor me just in case and after about an hour, was not totally happy with the results and decided it was baby time! yes, it was my due date and i knew that beckett's entrance into this world was quickly approaching, but hearing that i was not leaving the hospital without a baby was a little bit... um... terrifying. i was not in labor and still only 2cm dilated, so the doctor put a foley catheter in (a small balloon that forces your cervix to dilate to 4cm) as a way to try and naturally induce me. i checked into the hospital around 11am and then we waited. and waited. slowly i started having contractions and by 7pm they were getting a little intense. at 9pm my nurse checked me and my catheter fell out and my water broke. yea for my body going into labor without the use of drugs! i was 5.5cm dilated and was offered the epidural, but decided to labor as long as possible before having one. that lasted about two seconds. the contractions were so close together i could not get any relief and i wanted some help, like immediately! of course the anesthesiologist was busy with another patient and it was 11pm when he came to do the epidural... i was 7.5cm dilated. the epidural was magical and i was able to rest for a little bit until i started feeling seriously sick. as my hormones went kookoo bananas preparing me for labor, i started throwing up. at 3am i was fully dilated and i decided to "labor down" and rest before i started pushing. at 3:30am i was still sick, but tired of trying to rest and decided to start pushing. i pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed some more and by 6am i had made little progress and was exhausted. also, my epidural medication had worn off and the anesthesiologist was not able to get back to me. i'll just say going from feeling very little pain at 10cm to feeling everything was not my favorite... at all. the general ob doctor came in (my doctor was with another patient) and told me that my pelvis was just too small and the baby had been in the birth canal too long and it was time to prepare for a c-section. my nurse asked about a vacuum delivery and he said that he wouldn't do it. i was at a loss. i was tired and in pain and confused and i kept saying i didn't want the c-section and i was told i had no options. i signed the paperwork for the surgery and just then my doctor came in. she discussed things with the general doctor and came over and said as a last ditch effort, she would try the vacuum if it was really important to me. i said it was and she told me i had 3 tries to get him out. after my third push, i would be rushed immediately to the operating room for the c-section. ahh! too much pressure! i got my epidural refilled (thank goodness!!!) and pushed like i had never pushed before. after my third  push the doctor yelled, "cortney you are so close, i am giving you one more try... get him out!" and... drumroll... i did! WOO HOO! at 7:15am on january 7th, all 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 22 inches of beckett kol pennebaker was born! the doctor put him on my chest and matt cried while i stared in shock at the little person who had been inside me for 9 months. i still can't wrap my mind around it really. it is pretty cool though.

oh baby, it's shower time

it's raining baby items, hallelujah, it's raining baby items! on december 4th i had my baby shower and it was just glorious. everything was adorable and perfect (although i would expect nothing less from my hostesses). the party was thrown at jennifer sigl's home and it had a vintage toy theme. there was a milk and cookie bar, which was extra perfect for me because cookies are delicious and milk is pretty much the only thing that helps my heartburn. side note... i had never experienced heartburn until i got pregnant and i seriously thought i was having a heart attack. pregnancy symptoms are no joke, people. anyway, everything was fun and cute and personalized and i got lots of good baby gear. a big thanks to everyone who sent gifts and to the people who came to help celebrate beckett. an extra big thanks (that's right... extra big) to my hostesses, jenni, allie, misty, and lonnie for making my baby shower dreams a reality. is it weird that even after my own baby shower, i am still having trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that there is an actual human in my belly?! wowzas.

mmm... cookie bar... nom nom nom

are the prizes in cracker jacks still crazy? the answer is yes.

the food was delish. oh, lunch meat... how i miss you. soon we will reunite.

do you love the beckett balls? i do... they are in his room now. 

beckett soda. my baby is an entrepreneur from the womb. it's impressive.

oh, shooooooooot. maternity pictures

matt and i had the privilege of having our maternity pictures done by our good friend, nick dunne. we went to madison park in seattle (if we won the lottery we would immediately move there because it is so adorable i could just die). i was a little nervous about how the pictures would turn out because as well as gaining a huge amount of weight in my stomach, i am also starting to get pretty chubby in the face area. also, matt has not cut his hair since i got pregnant... check out his flowing locks! in the end, i thought they turned out amazing and i couldn't be happier. i haven't loved every second of this pregnancy (and i can not relate to the women that do), but the pictures will be a great way to remember this significant part of our lives. i highly, highly recommend nick (check out nicholas dunne photography on facebook) and i think you should probably use him for all your picture needs.