Kyalo: a birth story

Let's get the important things out of the way first:

Kyalo Mutisya Mulandi

born April 3, 2011 12:01 am

8 pounds 1 ounce (3.7 kgs)

And now, I'd like to recap the experience we had to get him to this world.  This will serve as a good reminder for me in the years to come, so I apologize if it is a bit long. 

From fairly early on in the pregnancy I had decided that I wanted as natural a birth as possible -- no pain medications, no interventions of any kind, etc.  I would just let nature take the course.  While home in the US in November, we watched, The Business of Being Born, an interesting documentary about the history of the birthing industry in the US (I recommend it!), and I picked up a book about the Bradley Method of natural childbirth.  I read this book about breathing and relaxing and thought, I can do this!  I will do this! I exercised a lot. Walking at 7,500 feet I was sure would help to ease the pain of delivery.  And to top it off, we had a friend come two nights and teach us some Lamaze Breathing.  I was well prepared. I told my doctor I wanted to be as drug free as possible. I hoped and planned to be at the hospital just minutes before delivering, and heading home just hours later.

Yes, I was optimistic.

My contractions started early last week - Tuesday night, but they weren't so bad, and I thought, see, I can DO this.  But then they came again on Wednesday night, and Thursday night.  On Friday night they began in earnest, and I had Dexter helping me to breathe and time the contractions and how far apart they were.  All. Night. Long. I thought it might be a good idea at this point to be checked out by the doctor, so Saturday morning we headed down to the hospital.  As I walked in, my water broke, and my doctor said I was progressing nicely, and ordered me to stay put, assuming things would move along quickly.

They did not.

Several hours later, I was not progressing, so my doctor sent me out on a walk.  We walked all around Kijabe for over an hour.  But still, nothing changed.

{40 weeks. Trying to encourage baby to come}

At this point, my doctor put me on pitocin which is something to speed up the delivery.  It basically makes contractions harder and more frequent.  For whatever reason, it didn't seem to work for me, even though they increased it bit by bit every thirty minutes.  Around 7 PM (12 hours after arriving in the hospital) my doctor checked me again and assured me that I would deliver in the next two hours.  Oh the relief in that knowledge!  I thought I could push through the pain and the frustration for another two hours.

Two hours came and went, and no baby.  And after another hour, I thought I just couldn't do it any more. So about 10:30 or 11:00 I decided I should get a C-Section.  All my hopes for the natural delivery at this point had been thrown out the window, and I wasn't that disappointed. I had tried and then tried longer and harder. I honestly don't know if there could have been a different outcome.

And so, at 12:01 am Sunday April 3 (2 minutes after my Dad's birthday had come to an end!) Kyalo entered this world in a way I never would have imagined.  But he's so wonderful and beautiful that it just doesn't matter to me.

Now I'd like to take a minute to praise on Dexter.  He was a superstar throughout my whole ordeal.  I really could not have made it as long as I did without him.  It was especially surprising to me to see so many women in the labor ward alone.  No husband, mother, sister, friend, to help them through the most awful/wonderful ordeal of their lives. The isolation they must have felt!  Dexter was with me throughout -- holding my hands, rubbing my back, getting me to breathe, bringing me water, taking care of paperwork, etc.  And then, when he wasn't there, my friend Evelyn came to sit with me (she also made food for him to go eat at her house) and to ensure that I didn't go insane.  I feel exceedingly blessed by the love and support I got throughout the day.

In the end, when I needed to have a c-section at midnight, Francis and Evelyn came to be with us. They weren't in during the operation, but came in as soon as Kyalo was born.

where would I be without friends like these?

We were in the hospital three nights, and are now back home, slowly settling into life as a family of three!

 {sleeping guys}

I will leave you with my new favorite photo, taken yesterday - four days old.  Thanks to my sister-in-law Noelle for the great outfit!

last bump?

The "pains" started about 1 AM on Wednesday morning.  So far, it isn't so bad! After Bible Study last night, I decided it might be a good idea to just get checked out, make sure that things were normal and that Baby was okay.  So I called my doctor, and off we went to the hospital at 10:30.  It was reassuring to hear the strong, steady heart beat, and to have both the nurse and doctor say that things are on the right path.  I still have a long way to go, though! I am grateful to live on the hospital compound and was able to come home to sleep in my own bed.  I'll go to the hospital at the last possible moment.

I thought it might be a good idea to get a few more bump photos today. What if today's the day?  I want to be sure to remember just how big I got!

I have about 3 shirts I can wear these days, so I'm looking forward to expanding the wardrobe again in a few days -- even if it just back to maternity clothes I wore earlier.

Here are a couple of bare belly photos. Hope it isn't too much!

{39 weeks, 5 days}

My doctor estimates Baby is about 7 pounds, 8 ounces (3.5 kgs) so, big and strong and healthy. 

In a fit of poor timing, Dexter got sick about the minute my contractions started (hmmm...), and has not yet really recovered.  I need him to be strong and able for the big moments ("PUSH!" "BREATHE!") so if you could say a prayer for him to recover quickly, we'd appreciate it!

Next post could have Baby in it!!!

bump and bike

We're in the home stretch now til Baby comes - just nine days to the April 2nd due date, which is very hard to believe. I saw my doctor this morning and he thinks I still do have at least a week to go, but that things seem to be progressing steadily and normally.  It is always fun to hear the baby's heart beat!

There won't be too many more opportunities to get baby bump photos, so here are the latest:

{the view from here: 38 weeks}

 {38 weeks, 4 days}

{there's always got to be at least one heart on the belly photo!}

To say I'm big is a slight understatement! We don't have a full length mirror in our house, so when I see my belly - either in photos or in mirrors elsewhere - I'm quite surprised.  Even though I'm so big, I still feel good, and am trying to remain as active as possible in the hopes of making labor and delivery as smooth as possible!

I had this great plan of making food and freezing it so that when Baby comes we can still eat.  I've frozen a few things, but found that cookies are more fun to prepare! I've made my new favorite cookie recipe and hope to try this easy looking bread recipe soon (today?). 

In other news, Dexter got a bike a couple of months ago!

He's been riding it a lot, and has been quite pleased with his purchase. His big goal is to ride the 5 or so kilometers uphill to the main road. I think he's made it about halfway!

{and he's off!}

Lastly, we've been getting a bit of rain for our parched land. It is a very welcome relief especially as water storage supplies were running very low here in Kijabe and elsewhere in Kenya.  Here's a photo from a month or so ago, when we had a random morning of rain and fog.  Just to give you a sense of what it looks like when rainy!

 

My parents arrive in Kenya on April 7, just five days after my due date.  Say a prayer for us that Baby comes before they do!

an afternoon tea

A few weeks ago, my friend Anna invited me to an afternoon tea at her house a few Sundays forward. I readily agreed, figuring there would be fewer and fewer times when I could spontaneously agree to invitations of any kind.

It turned out that this wasn't just any "afternoon tea" but a small baby shower for me! 

The conspirators: Anna, Nikki, Evelyn

The afternoon was great - bringing together friends I hadn't seen in a while, a chance for the mothers to give advice, and, of course for a few games.  (Husbands were there, too. We thought they might go somewhere together, but they sort of hung around on the sidelines).

One of the games was a relay race: men vs. women, to see which team could put a diaper on a doll fastest. Oh, and we were blindfolded.

Dexter should've won a prize for that blindfold job!

You'll be delighted to know that the men won. Guess who gets the late night diapering duty?

We also had a drinking game - Dexter and I had to drink water from a baby bottle.  It is much harder than one would think!

As usual, I didn't get enough photos of the people. But here are a few of the folks who were there:

Imma with daughter Tanya, who turns one on Saturday

Anna (the hostess) and her "bub" (as they say Down Under) Luka

Ryan and Luka

All in all, it was a great day. I left with a few new things for Baby, and words of advice and encouragement and prayer from my friends.  I am feeling exceedingly blessed -- more than I could have asked or imagined -- each day as I draw nearer to delivery.  I am grateful for the friends and family who are showering us and Baby with so much love even before his/her arrival.

nursery

I've been avoiding posting anything about the nursery, because even though Dexter painted it several weeks ago, it has been a catch-all place for the things we didn't know what to do with, and as such has looked like this:

Not exactly baby friendly!

A few weeks ago, we ordered a crib to be handmade out of podo wood (I'd never heard of that before), and it finally arrived on Friday.  We spent Saturday morning organizing the room a bit.  Now I feel we can breathe a bit easier as things are really coming along.  The walls still need decorations and we could use a dresser and bookshelf, but those are all things that can happen after baby comes.

Here's the crib!  It can be converted into a toddler bed when the time is right.  I like the drawer of storage at the bottom for extra sheets & blankets, etc.

"Zero the Zebra"

 

There's a funny story to the giraffe above.  He was a gift from my mom at the baby shower I had in the States in November.  She decided he looked like "zero the zebra," even tho, of course, he is a giraffe!  We all had a good laugh at this slight oversight.  :) Even so, I think we'll stick with Zero for his name.   I think Baby will love him.

 

In case you can't tell, we're going with a safari-ish theme for the nursery.  I was fortunate to get these great sheets at Target (oh, how I wish there was one in Kenya!) while home.

And here's the quilt we'll hang eventually:

elephants!

In addition to organizing the nursery a bit, we also worked on installing the car seat.  Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a leading cause of death in Kenya, and we frequently pass horrific looking accidents as we travel to and from Nairobi.  As such, I wanted to get the safest option for our baby.  That turned out to be something from the US which my parents kindly lugged with them to Kenya when they visited in January.  It took Dexter an hour to get it (mostly) installed, but now we're ready to go!  I think it needs a bit more tweaking.  

 

 

I know it must look funny to see Dexter working in the back of the car, but that's because there are some extra fancy safety features (security straps) that attach into hooks in the back.  This car seat isn't going anywhere!  (Really, since it took so long to install it may just stay there forever).  We know, of course, our ultimate safety and security comes from God alone, and we never take for granted the smooth trips we've had so far. 

It was a productive Saturday!

19 days to go . . .

garden update

Probably you could do without an update on the garden(s) but I can't resist.  Our gardener, Daniel, has been doing an amazing job.  We get out there occasionally and water everything on the days he's not here, but can take no credit for it otherwise.

We have the flower garden beds surrounding the house.  It is fun to see it grow and change. And the color! Oh, the color! It has been very dry here in Kijabe lately. Even with all the watering that is done, we could use a good soaking to make things really flourish.

The best part of this is that I can walk around Kijabe with Daniel and point out the flowers blooming that I like, and I know in the next day or two they'll appear in our garden!

We have also begun to get some things into our vegetable garden. The other day, I was pleasantly surprised to go out and discover this:

Ok, it doesn't look like much, but these little green shoots are the beginnings of our first crop of sweet corn! I happen to love sweet corn, and am not above scheduling my time in the US to take advantage of when it is freshest in MA.  When we were in Long Island last summer visiting Matt & Erica, we picked up some seeds and thought we'd give it a go here.  Maize, which is a staple here in Kenya, is tougher and (obviously) not as sweet.  We have no idea how well this will do here, but we're excited to find out -- in about 60 or so more days.  I'm also hoping to get other standard things in here soon: zucchini, tomatoes, watermelon, etc.  Any one have other suggestions?

In other news, we're hoping to pick up our crib this weekend, which means we'll finally get moving on the nursery.  Nothing like waiting til crunch time! 26 more days to go!

the other baby Mulandi

My sister-in-law Jackie was pregnant at the same time as me, due just about a month prior.  It was nice to have someone else in Kenya to talk baby stuff with. As I mentioned in a previous post, they had a boy on February 22.  Dexter and I went to visit them at home on that Saturday, since we were unable to make it to the hospital.

I think Andrew, at four days old, was the smallest baby I've ever held. . . but not for long!

 getting in some practice

I'm not sure if holding a baby this tiny made us more prepared for our own baby or not, but it was nice to have a little bit of practice, and to hear about Jackie's experience in labor. 

I still think we should have a girl just to mix things up a bit!