KAILYN KRUISES: About me

My name is Lindsay and this is my story...

I grew up in a small town in Central PA (near Altoona). I went to Penn State Altoona for a few years before a left to figure out what I wanted to do in life.

James and I began dating my senior year in high school, thanks to our friend Alan. We moved to Virginia in 2007 for work (I got a promotion with Sheetz). We dated for over 5 years and got engaged in November 2007. We got married in Altoona, PA in May of 2009.

Kailyn 20 months

In January of 2010, we found out that we were going to have a baby! We were so excited but scared at the same time, like most first time parents are. We found out that we were having a girl in April 2010 and decided to call her Kailyn. We both have liked that name for years. I had a normal pregnancy and didn't notice anything until the middle of July. I started to get bad back pains and thought it was just from standing all the time at work and Kailyn was always dancing around using me for a punching bag. On July 23rd, I went into my doctors for my first weekly exam. She told me that I was 2 cm and I needed to rest for a few days, since I was only 34 weeks. She told me to hang in there until that Monday (35 weeks). The next night, I started to get sick and my contractions were getting closer together (they had only been 15 minutes before). I tried to sleep as much as I could, but the contractions weren't having it. Late Sunday night, I had to call off work for Monday and called my doctor. I drove myself to the doctors. My husband asked if I wanted him to go and I said no since he was on call and had a trainee. I got to the doctors office and she said that I was 3 cm and had two contrations within 5 minutes. She wanted to get me an ambulance to take me to the hospital, but I said that I would drive, since it was just across the street. Within the 30 minutes I had been hooked up to the moniters, I had gone from 3 to 4 cm. I was being admitted. I called my husband and my mom. My mom and sister left their jobs and started the 2.5 hour drive from PA to VA. I was admitted at 11am and Kailyn was born at 5:21pm. I didn't want to have an epidural until I was ready to push. I didn't know that her head was right there and ready to go. I opted out. With the help from my mom, husband, and my younger sis (who had three kids of her own) we finally got to meet Kailyn. They let us see her but took her away to check on her since she was 5 weeks early. I still remember looking at her while my doctor was still working on me. Apparently my placenta had started to break down and that's why she came early. My doctor later told me that if she didn't come, I would have had problems of my own. So my baby, who we never planned on (at least for a few years), saved my life. She had a few breathing problems and was sent to the NICU. I told my husband to stay with her. Kailyn spent 13 days in the NICU. The day we left her was the hardest. I tried to stay strong for her and waited until we were in the car or home to cry. I knew that if we stayed positive she would be okay.