Levi Lincoln Kellar

He's here!!!!! Levi Lincoln Kellar was born last Friday, January 20, at 11:43PM. He was 7lb, 12 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. We here at the Kellar household are madly in love already.

Levi has an exciting birth story! Once again, God showed his strength and protection over our family and particularly this little guy (see the Lyme Disease blog post). Levi is now 5 days old, so I better write his story down soon before the details slowly swirl down the tired mommy-brain abyss. Even now, I am needing to use some green tea to keep my eyelids open just a little longer so that I can type this out. Levi is lying next to me for inspiration. Want a peek at his sweetness?

Levi, 5 days old, inspiring Mommy to write his story.

I'll start by giving you a quick recap of Ben and Sam's births' (with the ultimate goal of writing their entire birth stories on here...). Ben was born about 4 hours after I arrived at the hospital. When I arrived at SWMC, I was only 3 cm dilated (after a few hours of pretty good contractions at my in-laws). They didn't admit me into a room yet, but did allow me to labor in the pool for an hour. Within that hour, I dilated from a 3 to a 9! The contractions were extremely intense, so much so that I couldn't walk to my room that they now frantically rushed to prepare. I just remember my mom running down the hall with me in a wheel chair grimacing through each contraction. I had even told myself in the pool that I would have to have an epidural to get through to the end. "Too late for that, honey!" said my nurse Debbie, who was incredibly supportive of my "natural ways" from the beginning. By the time I got to the room, I had maybe 30 more minutes of contractions, then about 20 minutes of pushing. Benjamin Nathan was born into the world, in all of his purple, bruised, beautiful, splendid glory!

Benjamin Nathan - April 23, 2007 - 7lb 5 oz.

As the day neared when we would meet our Samuel, Nate and I knew we would need to be on our toes. Knowing his delivery could also come quickly, yet still fearing any natural child birther's worst nightmare - arriving at the hospital too early - I labored at home until the contractions were too intense to walk and talk through. We left for the hospital at 8:30PM, drove 25 minutes to get there, getting through the check-in at 9:00. They filled up the tub in my room this time and my sister helped me climb in between the very intense contractions. There is just something magical about warm water that helps my body instantly relax and lets the uterus do the work of dilation. Within 15 minutes of being in the tub, my sister could see that I was starting to have the urge to push. She helped me out of the water (Kaiser doesn't cover water births - darn them) and I had two pushes on my way to the bed. Once on the bed, it only took a couple more pushes before meeting our Samuel Alvin! He was born at 9:42PM (just 42 min. after checking in!). I still get teary-eyed thinking about the first moments I met my boys!

Samuel Alvin - April 15, 2009 - 8 lb 1 oz - 20 in.

Which brings us to the present. Would baby come extremely fast? I made Nate put a tarp in the car just in case. Or would baby follow the infamous 3rd baby pattern and do his own thing? We had no clue.

Self-portrait, 9 months pregnant

Last Friday morning, I woke up at 2AM with some small contractions, which continued off and on, very mildly. Nate came home from work at lunchtime and we quadruple-checked our bags, had time to wash/fold laundry, clean the house and glanced thankfully at our well-stocked fridge (which I'd shopped for a couple days before). We were ready and hoping to meet our man today! "What would it be like to have a baby in daylight hours?" I joked with my sister over the phone.

Alas, it wasn't to be daylight. Eventually, knowing baby would probably come fast, yet still dreading the don't-get-to-the-hospital-too-early-or-a-natural-birth-could-be-compromised thing, Nate and I decided to go to the Starbuck's, about 5 min. from the hospital to wait. Mike and Candy came and got the boys about 7PM (thank you, thank you, thank you!!!) and mom met us at Starbuck's so that she wouldn't miss this birth (like she had with Sam's, even though we'd called her on the way to the hospital!). It was a bit surreal, sipping on a vanilla creme frappacino, reading my Bradley Method birth workbook, pretending like the 3 of us always meet at a Starbuck's at 8:30 on Friday nights. Pretending that I wasn't experiencing contractions and just about to meet our new little guy. Finally at 9:15, even though I was still walking and talking through contractions, mom and Nate convinced me to head to the hospital.

For the first time, I calmly and collectively filled out the admit papers on my own two feet. I was dilated to 2.5 cm, so they didn't want to admit me yet. Nate and I walked the corridors of the birth center for about an hour. By the end of the hour, I was needing to stop and breath through the contractions. They checked me again and I was only at a 3 (note to self: never trust the centimeters), but they decided to go ahead and prepare a room. They had the tub all ready for me and I hopped in. Nate stayed with me, faithful coach and partner that he is (he truly is amazing!). For about 30 or so minutes I labored in the magical warm water.

Now at this point, you're going to start reading about 4 people with eventual regrets. Let's start with me. Lying in the tub, completely focused on relaxing and not wanting to lose control, I didn't want to talk. Not even when I started feeling the urge to push. Not even when Nate and my mom noticed and the nurse noticed and told me to get out. I didn't tell them what my instincts were telling me - don't get out - he's coming!!

Nate regrets telling me to get out of the tub. Even though my nurse was telling me, even though that's what I did with Sam, even though he shouldn't regret anything because he's such an awesome coach. But, he did tell me to stand up. I listened, stood up and was just about to step out...

At this point, my incredible sister and labor and delivery nurse, Sarah, walked into the room and noticed the other nurse and Nate telling me to get out. She immediately told them, "Stop!!! She's not going to make it!" Sarah took over and told me to wait where I was (standing above the water, arms around Nate's neck, ready to put my foot over the edge of the tub). Sarah starts pulling down my shorts, which for some crazy reason I am still wearing. She tugs once, I have a pushing contraction, she tugs again. She told us later that she wanted to have me squat down in the water so she could catch Levi. She told us later that she regrets not being ready for what came next.

On that next contraction, Levi took a two-foot swan dive into our world. I hardly remember it. I regret to say that I did not instinctively reach down to catch him. All I remember is looking down and seeing Sarah scoop up our beautiful boy into her arms, perfectly healthy, not a bump or scratch! The cord was wrapped under my basketball shorts and up to Sarah's arms. Levi was not breathing for a few seconds, but soon let out the most splendid squeal! Nate, myself, Sarah and Levi all crowded around a magical 3-foot space in our universe. He was going to be okay! He was perfect!

Next, I'll mention the 4th person with regrets - our doctor. He had become our doctor about 2 hours prior, since Kaiser has docs on call for the weekends. I found out later that Dr. Haugen is not only one of my sister's favorite doctors, but he is also a favorite of one of my home-birthing friends. Dr. Haugen told us at the beginning of the night that he was in complete support of our natural desires. He was in the hallway when all of the pushing started. My birth was only the second in his 15-year career that he ever missed! He told us that, had he been in there, he would have would have said, "Screw the Kaiser rules, it is not safe to get out, so lay down and have your baby!" Okay, he didn't exactly say that, but he did tell us that I could have laid in the water and if there is a next time, that that's exactly what I should do. He told us that there are essentially two older Kaiser docs that refuse to budge on the water birth rule, and so the rest of the doctors must wait for them to retire. I like Dr. Haugen.

So, I'm standing there with Nate, Sarah is holding Levi and still we have the cord wrapped around my shorts to deal with. They decided to have the other nurse clamp and cut the cord and they suctioned out the rest of the gunk in Levi's throat. I don't remember getting to the bed, but somehow I did while they got Levi wrapped up and into my arms. I just now realized it was not skin to skin right away, but at the time was a bit too shaken up to care. Also, because of the craziness of it all, nobody remembered to pick up their camera, although I think this photo is pretty much the first time I held Levi.

Holding precious Levi for the first time.

After that we all just heaved a huge sigh of relief. I nursed him, delivered the placenta, etc. We all oohed and aahed. Nate and I told Mom and Sarah his name, which we had kept a secret up until that point. We decided to let him have his bath the next morning because we were all exhausted and I wanted Sarah and I to do the honors the next day, when she was scheduled to work a 12 hour postpartum shift (after getting to sleep at 2:30am!). (Pictures of Day 1 to come - this post is already too long!).

As I dozed off to sleep, I remember thanking God for something I never had before. Something Sarah had brought up. The fact that when an object hits water, it is deflected rapidly. In other words, it doesn't keep moving in the same direction with the same speed. Levi hit the water pretty fast, but was quickly turned and slowed. He did not hit the bottom and Sarah quickly picked him up, safe and sound. Actually, I thanked God for a lot of things as I dozed off: another healthy boy, my supportive family, an amazing husband. He is so good to me!