Team Kelleher: Introducing . . . June Kay!

In case you didn't already know (but hopefully you did), we have a new member of our family! Our beautiful daughter, June Kay, joined our family on Friday, July 6th. It was a little bit of a shock as she came 11 days early and oh so quickly! We are so blessed to have her in our family, and we all have loved her dearly since the beginning.

It all started early in the morning on that Friday. It had been a not-so-great night. All of us had struggled to go to sleep (when does Ava not struggle with that?) due to the heat and who knows what else. I don't think Ava was asleep before 10pm (although she had gone to bed at 8, as usual), and it was even later than that before Tim and I got to sleep. Anything after 10pm is LATE for us early risers. :) On top of that I just wasn't sleeping well in those late stages of pregnancy. For some reason Ava woke up around 3:30am. I don't know why; she didn't cry or anything, I could just hear her up. Of course, Tim kept on sleeping. Finally at a little after 4am I went upstairs to try to get Ava back to sleep. She was sitting on her floor reading books. She laid back down quite easily and I tucked her in and left. I think it still took her another 20 minutes or so to fall back asleep. I went back to bed and laid there awake . . . and then I started having some contractions. At first I assumed they were no big deal, Braxton-Hicks and all that. After a couple contractions I thought I might as well time them, since I was awake anyway. I half-heartedly watched the clock and saw that they were about 7 minutes apart. I finally got up a little before 5am, unable to sleep, and came out to pace around in the kitchen and living room, timing the contractions with my Baby Bump iPhone app (such an amazing tool, by the way!). The contractions were now around 5 minutes apart, getting stronger and lasting longer. Tim got up a little after 5am to go to work and came out to see what I was up to. He figured it wasn't a big deal and went to take a shower. I sat down to see if the contractions would go away with rest . . . instead they just got stronger and closer together. Tim came back out and we decided we probably should at least go in to the doctor's office. Tim encouraged me to take a shower (I didn't get to take one before Ava was born and felt gross all day!) and I thought that maybe that would help relax me. Quite the opposite--by the time I got out of the shower I could hardly stand through the contractions! I did my best to put a little make-up on, put in my contacts and get dressed, but it took me FOREVER. Meanwhile Tim was starting to sense the urgency and went and got Ava up and gave her some breakfast. He tried to call Grandpa--our plan for who was going to watch Ava--but had to leave a message. He then sprinted around the house packing up our clothes, my cosmetics and all of Ava's stuff to keep her occupied and--somewhere in there--got Ava dressed. We called the doctor and were told to go to the hospital. At this point I was in a LOT of pain and not a very happy camper. It had become quite apparent to me that our little baby was coming.

We got to the hospital at about 7:15am and Tim and Ava (we had no choice but to take her to the hospital with us) dropped me off at the ER. I was wheeled up to the birthing floor and taken to a room. Both the nurse and doctor did an exam to check my progress shortly after we got to the room, and discovered that I was already at 10cm (!), although my water hadn't broken yet. I was hoping for an epidural . . . but this meant that there wasn't much point. I could have had one, but we would have had to wait for them to come administer it and wait for it to take effect, or I could just have the baby. I opted to start pushing and have the baby. The nurse hurried to get my IV in and get me somewhat admitted and then--just like that--it was time to push. Right about then Grandpa and Gigi arrived and took Ava out of the room (She was such a trooper! Reading her books and eating her goldfish quietly in the hospital chair while Daddy tried to keep an eye on her AND help Mama. They both were amazing). About a half hour later, at 9:05am, June Kay was born! Grandpa, Gigi and Big Sister Ava got to come in and meet her right away, before heading back to Commerce City.

In retrospect the shower may not have been a good idea. :) We knew labor would probably be faster with the second one, but I never guessed it would only be 4.5 hours! It was intense and very painful, but the Lord was merciful in making it fast. June actually came out face up, which typically makes labor take longer and is the reason for all the back labor I was having. Dr. Cloyd commented that if she had been face down, who knows what would have happened. We might have had her in the car. :)

I can only praise God for His timing. I had hoped to go closer to full-term so that I could have a couple of weeks home with Ava before Baby came . . . until I started having all the trouble with the blood clot in my leg. I had to go off Ibuprofen the day before June was born and didn't know what the pain would be like without it. My doctor had mentioned they could induce me if I decided it was necessary because of the clot. I didn't want to be induced . . . but was suffering with the clot. God took care of all that. Although the clot is still there and I will be having surgery on it (possibly two surgeries) in the next couple months, it is no longer painful. His timing was also perfect in that we had just gotten our couch and bed for the basement delivered the day before I went into labor. I had managed to get the bed made that day and cleaned the new bathroom to make it usable. Otherwise Nana and Papa Ernie wouldn't have had anywhere to stay when they came that night!

Three weeks later I still sometimes can't believe that our little "surprise" baby is here. :) After 9 months of anticipation, it all happened so quickly. But she is such a joy to the three of us. So far she seems to have a sweet, quiet personality, and has been a very easy baby. Ava has had some trouble adjusting to all of the recent changes in her life, but I think she does genuinely like June (it's Mom and Dad she doesn't always like!). This week has been much better with Ava and I think we are turning a corner. I look forward to the days when the girls will be playmates; although I wish neither of them would get bigger! It all just happens too fast. I am doing my best to enjoy each day with these two little blessings, no matter how challenging they might be sometimes.

And that is June's birth story, in a nutshell. Here are some pictures of our sweet baby for you to enjoy.