Kendell Rebecca Niepraschk

Kendell was born on December 19th, 2010-a Sunday-at 12:59 pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs and 0.6 ounces and was 20 inches long. I went to the hospital to get induced that day. Murray and Melissa kept the girls over night Saturday, since we had to be at the hospital at 7 am. I got there and it took a while for them to get me checked in. Dr. Kelly Lennon, my OBGYN, was there and broke my water at about 8:40 and then the nurse started me on my pitocin around 9 am. I was already having a few contractions when I got to the hospital, so things moved pretty quickly. My first mistake was not getting my epidural soon enough. I asked for it around 11:30ish, but she has just started someone else, so it was closer to noon or a little after that I finally got mine. At that point, I was in more pain than I ever wanted to feel. I figure I have been through enough pain in my life with gymnastics that I don't need anymore from here on out! Regardless, they had to do the epidural three times!!! Most of the time I didn't feel them threading it in because I was having a contraction, which was way more painful than the epidural. They were making me shake and sweat! The epidural finally got in, but wasn't working very well on the left side, so she fiddled with tube a little and said she'd come back and check on me in about 15-20 min. At this point it was enough less pain that I was going to try and take a nap. Kurt did not want to leave, but I told him to go and grab some lunch so he didn't get sick...no big deal, I was going to sleep. About 15 minutes later, I was feeling some pressure and called my nurse. She came to check and me and as I suspected, I was ready to push Kendell out. I quickly called Kurt to tell him he was going to miss the delivery if he didn't hurry. He sprinted up from the cafeteria, told me he had to throw most of his lunch away, since he had just started eating! The doctor was there and 3-4 pushes later Kendell was out. Since I had only had my epidural for about 45 minutes, I wasn't all the way numbed up and felt the pushing....I now have an even bigger desire to NEVER go natural!! Kuddos to all those who do and think it's OK. Not for me!! She is my biggest baby yet and just as beautiful as the other three girls. She had a low blood sugar count after she came out, but that was resolved by the next afternoon, so no big deal. She has dark hair, despite the fact that Alyse was certain she'd have yellow hair:) She has super long toes and fingers - just like her mom! She really is just perfect...
The girls came that night to visit us in the hospital and they were so excited to meet her. They all wanted to hold her and then hold her again. I definitely have three very helpful holders, kissers, singers and huggers for Kendell.