Lucy's Birth Story

Friday June 13th, 2014.

I was awoken at 3am by a strong contraction, I laid in bed for a couple of minutes waiting to see if another one would come thinking "this is it, she's finally decided to come on her own!". Another one came about 3 minutes later. I got up to use the bathroom and walk around a bit. The contractions were strong, but not strong enough for me to feel like I needed to wake up Andrew, only coming every 3-5 minutes. I went ahead and decided to get up for the day and jumped in the shower.

After a long talk with my doctor the previous evening, we had made the difficult decision to come in the next day to have my water broken due to several different factors. I was, and still am, very adamant about letting nature take its course and allowing things to happen on their own, but felt extreme peace about my decision (and have absolutely no regrets, either). We were to arrive at the hospital at 6am the next morning for some monitoring and then I would have my water broken at 7, and from there just pray that was all that was needed to convince our girl to make her appearance.

After my shower, the contractions seemed to have tapered off a bit. I was disappointed because I really was hoping that I wouldn't have to take the intervention of getting my water broken, but wasn't able to get too sad about it because we were still going to get to meet our girl today. It was a strange feeling, getting ready for the day, leisurely blow drying my hair at 4am, and packing the remaining items in my hospital bag without rushing. Andrew and I had a nice, relaxing drive to the hospital in a light drizzle (much more relaxing than the monsoon we had to drive through to get to the hospital when I went into labor with Ruby), we chatted about random things, and made it to the hospital with time to spare.
We got checked in, and my wonderful OB, Dr. P, came by around 7:15, checked me (I was dilated to 4, 80% effaced, basically the same that I was that past Monday), and broke my water. She told me that she wanted to monitor the baby for 15 minutes, then I would be unhooked and allowed to walk, walk, walk. So, that's what we did. Andrew and I walked those halls more than I ever wish to walk. At noon, I was having some stronger contractions, but deep down I knew it wasn't enough to have made much, if any, progress. Sure enough, not much progress had been made at all. I was dilated to a 5. My nurse Diana (who I am SO thankful for...she was such a great asset to our labor experience) made a phone call to Dr. P, who said she could start me on the lowest dose of pitocin. I knew this was coming. I had talked to my doctor the day before about what would happen if I didn't progress enough on my own after my water was broken, and told her that I really wanted to avoid pitocin if possible. At this point, I was open to trying the 3mg of pitocin, and seeing what happened.

After about 30 minutes of the pitocin my contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes apart and were getting quite strong. My doc came by to check on me around 1:00, and I asked her if we could discontinue the pitocin. She asked if I thought I was ready to do this on my own and I said YES, so my IV got heplocked, pitocin got put away, and I got in the tub immediately after that. I'm so thankful that 30 minutes of pitocin was all that it took to kick my body into gear...and especially thankful for a doctor that was open to stopping interventions and letting my body do the rest.

Things really picked up the pace from here on out. I got in and out of the tub a couple of times, hung on Andrew, swayed, walked a little, and changed positions several times. I was much more mobile with this labor than I was with Ruby's. I was more comfortable moving and changing positions this time, with Ruby's labor I literally hung out in the tub for 6 hours straight. I spent most of my time reminding myself over and over again that I can do this, that my body was made for this, and that I was completely capable of having this baby.

 I only doubted myself once, and verbalized that to Andrew and Diana, who were both extremely encouraging and helped me get passed that self doubt. I got back in the tub after getting out to use the bathroom, and almost immediately felt the urge to push. Diana checked me and said that I had a pretty thick piece of cervix on the right side that still needed to thin out before Lucy's head could fully come out and if I kept bearing down it could possibly swell and make things more difficult in the long run. She recommended that I turn around and get on my knees in the tub to encourage her to come down and thin that piece of cervix out some more. These were by far the most intense moments of my labor. Diana noticed that I was blowing out during the most intense part of the contraction and told me to try moaning, or growling instead. I did, and I have to admit that I felt a little bit silly doing it, but it really did help! Andrew used the sprayer that is attached to the tub and sprayed hot water on my back and that really helped me relax some too.

I think Diana must have called Dr. P at some point during this time, because she showed up not long after I started laboring on my knees in the tub. She had me turn over and said if I felt like I needed to push, I could go ahead and start. So, I did! Dr. P is a great encourager when it comes to pushing. It's funny, because before I started pushing I felt like my contractions were right on top of each other, but once I started bearing down during the contractions, they seemed to spread out a little more. It was a little annoying at the time because I was just SO ready to get Lucy OUT and was getting impatient waiting for the contractions to be able to push. I think I only pushed 3-5 really intense times, and our beautiful Lucy Joy made her appearance.

I don't know that any mother can fully describe the moment that you meet your sweet baby after so much hard work to get her here. The swell of emotions is so intense. So much joy, relief, instant LOVE. I didn't pull her out like I did with Ruby, I don't think I had the presence of mind to reach down because I was holding my own legs and things went so fast. I grabbed her pretty quickly and held her on my chest while she was still connected through the cord. I couldn't believe how tiny and perfect she was! I just kept kissing her and saying "hi, Lucy!" over and over again.

 Such an amazing feeling. Lucy was gurgling a little bit with her breathing, so Diana took her over to the warmer to suction her out really well. Andrew and Dr. P helped me out of the tub after I birthed the placenta, and moved to the bed to get a few stitches and feed Lucy for the first time. Having Lucy nurse for the first time was such a sweet, peaceful moment for us. She latched on immediately and has never looked back...this child LOVES to eat. I felt so relieved and a huge amount of pride about the fact that I! DID! IT!

After Lucy was done eating (for that moment), Ruby came in to meet her little sister. We really weren't sure what to expect out of Rubes in this moment, but she was so incredibly sweet and excited. She hugged, kissed, asked lots of questions ("hat?" "nose?" "finger?" "blankie?" "mommy's milk?"), and helped "shhhh" Lucy when she started crying. My heart has never felt so full as it did sitting on that hospital bed with both of my baby girls in my arms. Sweet moments I will never forget.
The nursery nurse came after we had let Ruby have plenty of bonding time with Lucy, and she was so nice. She let Ruby "help" with everything. Ruby helped give Lucy her first bath, and was very concerned when Lucy started crying when the nurse was checking all of her reflexes. I'm so thankful for the caring, compassionate nurses we were blessed with that day.

Oh, what a beautiful day it was! I am so happy that we had Angelle, NOLA Birth Photographer there with us to capture all the moments of the day. She did an amazing job, and now we will have these wonderful photos to cherish forever.

Our Precious Lucy, 

Your birthday will forever be filed under the "one of my most favorite days" folder in my heart. Laboring to bring you into the world was such a gift. A painful, beautiful, challenging, amazing gift. Your daddy and I have loved you from the second we learned that you were growing in my tummy, but getting the chance to hold you, kiss you, and see your beautiful face for the first time made that love grow and multiply x a million. You are one loved little girl. We are so lucky to have you in our lives, sweet little one. 

Here's to many more wonderful adventures together. 

Love you forever, 

Mama