Happy Birthday Holly McKenna

Holly McKenna Bauer 

was born at 9:45am on January 3rd, 2016. She weighed 7lbs. 2 oz and was 20.5 inches long. 

On January 2nd, around 11:30pm I felt very nauseous. I laid down trying to go to sleep but just couldn't get comfortable. Deep down, I knew something was going to happen. I had the little contractions that I normally have when I lay down but when I wasn't able to fall asleep by 1am - I got up to walk around. By then, my contractions were actually hurting me more and I decided to really keep track. Aaron went to bed around that time - I didn't want to say anything to him because I knew he needed his sleep. I stayed up for awhile -- prayed to Heavenly Father to help in any way possible and stayed in Brinnley's room. Around 3am I had a very intense contraction and knew it wasn't normal or even out of the blue. I laid down and somehow managed to fall asleep for what I felt like was a long time but it was only 30-45 minutes. My contractions got more intense and I tried my best to manage them at home by walking around and being distracted. I finished packing some items and finally woke Aaron up at 4:45ish. We got Brinnley ready and called the Condie's -- it was baby time.  Of course, we get to the hospital and they need to monitor me first for a bit before making any decisions on what to do. I was lucky that my doctor was the doctor on call and that definitely eased my stress. After I was monitored for about 1.5 hours the decision was made to do my c-section. The only catch was that another lady was ahead of my to get hers. I was told I could go home if I wanted and come back but there was no way I was going to do that. we had to wait our turn and just try to stay focused. Both of us were just plain exhausted and ready to go. About 9:15am rolled around and we got word that they were cleaning the OR and we would be next - or I would be!

I got hooked up to an IC and got consent forms signed. They wheeled me on the bed into the OR. This was the worse part of it all. I immediately started to contract and my emotions got the best of me. The lights were so bright and everything was coming into perspective. I was about to have my 2nd child!! Nothing can prepare you for that feeling -- I had to sit on the operating table while they gave me my spinal -- not like the epidural -- all while I tried not to ball my eyes out. I was scared, nervous, and excited PLUS it hurt! 

The doctor and nurses were so nice and really tried to calm me down and talk to me about what was going on and about my family (Brinnley mostly) and about Holly. Aaron wasn't in there yet and couldn't be for awhile. Finally, the spinal was in and I had to lie down on the operating table -- exposed to everyone while not being able to do anything while they prepped everything around me. My legs were slowly going numb and tingly and it was so strange because the epidural with Brinnley felt nothing like this.  My emotions came out and my eyes were filled with tears. The doctor asked me if I was ok -- my heart rate had slowed down and they gave me some oxygen.  Eventually, Aaron was let into the OR and I got even more emotional. He sat right next to me holding my hand as I squeezed it as hard as I could. He was all smiles but I know that it was his way of coping -- he always laughs through anything and everything. The doctors were talking and doing their thing while I felt a lot of random pressure throughout my abdomen. It was exactly as I remembered it. Very uncomfortable. It seemed like eternity as they were working and at one point, when they broke my water, they yelled, "It's a Holly geiser!" I guess it was a pretty big fountain that shot up. When it was time for Holly to get pulled out they actually had to try twice for some reason.  I felt the most intense pressure and then hear her gargiling cries. As soon as that happened I was flooded with tears and so much relief that she was finally here.  They brought her to the side of the curtain so I could look at her and it was amazing. I couldn't believe how much she looked like Brinnley! Aaron got up and went to do his dad thing and take pictures. It felt like forever before I got to see her up close and then even longer until I was closed up. The pain of pressure from them putting everything back got to be a little too much that the dr. has to give me something else.  FINALLY -- they were done and I was wheeled out to the recovery area. I had to wait for my spinal to wear off quite a bit before we could go to our room. We were able to spend some time just the 3 of us. I'm not sure how long we were there..