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FROM MOMMY & DADDY // On April 4th, 2017 at 6:11pm Kaynen Austin filled our hearts with more love then we could imagine. The saying “Making the decision to have a baby is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” could not be more true once your little one is born.

Throughout my whole pregnancy we were all betting on how big he would be since Michael was 9lbs and I was 9lbs 2oz. To say the least, I was petrified of delivering such a large baby. Yet, Kaynen entered the world weighing 7lbs 9oz and he was 21 inches long, thank goodness!

On April 3rd, all of Michael’s coworkers pushed him to come home since Kaynen was due April 7th and I could pop any day. That evening I started having contractions 3-6 mins apart at 8:30pm, we kept thinking is this the real thing or is this just false labor? Regardless, my goal was always to labor at home for as long as possible.

I bounced around the house on my exercise ball, did squats and curbs walks to make sure this little boy could drop down since he was still up so high. At 10:30pm my water broke at home and I had told myself all along I would shower, do my hair, make up and walk the neighborhood to ensure I labored at home for as long as possible before going to the hospital. YOU BETTER BELIEVE I ACCOMPLISHED IT ALL!

At 2:00 am after walking a few blocks as Michael drove next to me laughing and video-taping me, I got in his truck and we drove to the hospital. We both joked all the way there about how all the movies everyone was screaming and rushing and I was happy as a clam.

We got to the hospital and it felt like they didn’t believe my water had broken but sure enough just like the movies as soon as I undressed the last of it waterfall’d all over the floor haha.

Once that happened I was strictly put in bed and told not to get up or walk around to labor as the baby was up too high and his umbilical cord could come down first causing complications. So when you think you have a birth plan… think again, it will all go out the door. After 20 hours of labor and only 4 pushes later, Kaynen came into the world bright-eyed and screaming his little lungs out.

The day he was released from the hospital was very special to us. It meant that he was ours… just ours for the rest of our lives and it was so surreal. After a long drive home from the hospital, constantly looking back to make sure he was ok, Kaynen has been settling in at home better than we could have ever imagined. He loves how calming his room feels and is obsessed with his Dockatot (highly recommended to every Mom!).

He’s still very unsure about the licks from his furry sisters Hurlie and Chevie, as they were also a bit hesitant in the beginning but have now become protective of him when guests come over and have to be in the middle of them. Chevie gets very excited when he cries so she still has a bit of adjusting to do.

We are absolutely obsessed with our little man. It’s been 4 short weeks of sleepless nights, constant breastfeeding (he’s a porker), lots of cuddling, and starring…..lots and lots of starring at him. It’s been incredible watching him grow and change from looking just like Daddy when he was born, to now looking just like Mama.

We got 4 weeks of pretending he was still only a week old since his belly button just fell off, so we are still in dreamland with this little guy and couldn’t love him more. 39 weeks and 4 days of waiting to meet this little guy who made Michael a Father and Me a Mother was surely worth the wait.