We are thrilled to announce the safe arrival of...
Keenan Duane Schulz
Monday, August 24th, 9:44am
7lb 13oz; 21.5 inches
He is so precious and worth every bit of the long wait!
Labor Story (if you don't like these details, skip to next section): Twelve days late, I was quite thrilled when contractions started on their own (without my water being broken as it always has in the past)! They started 3-5 minutes apart at midnight on Monday morning. I wasn't really sure how fast or slow it would go since I've never been in labor at home before, so we made our way to the hospital after an hour and a half and arrived at the hospital at 2am. I had been dilated to a 3-4 on Friday and was at a 4 when we arrived. The midwife on call said we could probably go home for a few hours, but my husband didn't think that sounded appealing so we decided to hang out there. He laid down and got some sleep while I power-walked the halls until 5am. At that point I was dilated to a 5, and again we were given the option to go home, hang out there for what may be a long time, or get my water broken. Since I had already lost a night's sleep and wouldn't be getting any rest until the baby was born, I agreed to have my water broken. Contractions were still five minutes apart, but were getting longer and more intense by 7:30 when I decided it was time to wake up my husband so he could kick into gear and help me through the last couple hours. At 8:15, my regular midwife came on call (she was quite thrilled that I had waited for her shift to have my baby!) and I was dilated to a 7-8. I labored in the whirlpool tub for the next hour. Around 9:15 I was dilated to 9 cm and started pushing shortly thereafter. Contractions were still spaced about five minutes apart, which was great because I got some nice breaks, but it also meant the final hurrah took a little longer than the past couple babies. Keenan Duane arrived at 9:44am! Many prayers were answered as everything went quite seamlessly, all praise and thanks to God!
The Pandemic Experience: I've had several people ask how Covid-19 affected our hospital experience. Since we weren't suspected to have Covid-19 (no symptoms, exposure, or positive tests), we had a fairly normal experience. Worrying about exposure to Covid had really been a major stress factor for the last month of my pregnancy because I couldn't imagine having a baby without Matt by my side and being confined to the operating room during labor. Again, thanks be to God for His providence. As far as our time at the hospital, we were expected to wear face masks any time we left our room. We were not allowed to leave the labor and delivery unit when I was in labor (in the past we have been allowed to go up and down stairs and walk all the hospital halls). No visitors were allowed, not even our parents or children. Matt was only supposed to leave and return once a day, which made him a little stir crazy after awhile. And many mothers are choosing to be discharged after 24 hours rather than two days, an option we were happy to accept! That way we could see our children sooner, enjoy the comforts of our own home, and stop getting our naps interrupted by vital checks! :)
The Name: Keenan Duane. Simplest explanations first, Duane is Matt's dad's middle name! The idea for Keenan originated from the Bible name "Kenan" in I Chronicles 1 which is just another spelling for Cainan/Canaan, Adam's great-grandson. So far all our children have Bible names, which wasn't necessarily a criteria of ours, but it would keep up the pattern if we found one we liked. At one point we mentioned that we had a J, L, and M name, but no K. A couple days later, I came across the name Kenan and we both loved it! The main issue we struggled with was whether we should spell it in its original form of "Kenan" or add an "e" to make the pronunciation obvious (though the new spelling would turn it from a Hebrew name to an Irish name with a completely different meaning). An hour after he was born, we settled on giving him an easy-to-pronounce name rather than a meaningful one. ;)
And we love him. :)
 |
We were discharged at 7:30pm on Tuesday!
|
We made a couple stops on the way home to visit the ones who would have normally visited us in the hospital...
 |
Grandpa and Grandma Schulz
|
 |
Our shirts from Mom Schulz!
|
 |
The children's first meeting with Keenan! (And the Best. Dad. Ever.)
|
 |
They were SO excited and in love!
|
 |
| Micah is the sweet, affectionate one. |
 |
Joanna is a baby lover. She loves to take care of her little brother!
|
 |
And then there is Levi...who also is also infatuated! Levi is the playful one who can't stop waving Keenan's arms, wiggling his legs, picking him up and bouncing him and flopping him back down. Keenan does surprisingly well at tolerating him...he must admire his big brother!
|
 |
Our first picture as a family of six! We are so blessed with such a handful!
|
 |
| Grandpa and Grandma Massner |
 |
Our first visitors at home...Camille and Shelby spent a day with us before they headed back to school!
|
 |
Hannah and Rebecca stopped by!
|
 |
Bill, Vienna, and Russell meet Keenan!
|
 |
| The Massner cousins:) |
 |
| More visitors...Justin and Jesse! |
 |
Uncle Johnny and Uncle Travis
|
The first week home was kind of overwhelming, as normal. Thankfully I have a very helpful husband! And also thankfully, he is still working from home so he is right downstairs if I need him. The second week went very well. Keenan was a very good baby the first two weeks! He took on to nursing right away and his nights have been great (he has been giving us six hour stretches at night this week!). The third week, he has become quite high maintenance when he's not sleeping. I'm hoping it's just a growth spurt and not the new normal.
The rest of the children have adjusted well. Sometimes they have too much love to give their baby brother, but we can't blame them for that! The biggest win for Mommy has been getting all four kids to nap simultaneously THREE times now...WAHOO!!
Oh, we are in love! Welcome to the world, sweet baby!
