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

The Birth Story

Here is the story of how our precious Ruby came into the world. (It is long and includes the words cervix and placenta. If that makes you uncomfortable, maybe skip to the pictures at the end).
I've debated on whether or not to write it out on the blog, mostly because I'm not sure how many people really want to read about me giving birth, but then I remembered how I loved reading birth stories when I was pregnant, and also how I'm sure these memories that are so fresh and new will soon start to fade. Although I know I will never forget the moments that led up to our daughter coming into the world, I think it will be really neat to have the story written out to refresh my memory and hopefully share with her someday if she wants to know.
As many of you know, my labor technically began almost 2 weeks prior to Ruby's birthday. I began having stronger, more regular contractions on Wednesday the 22nd. I was timing them and they were regular but still not "toe curling" like my doctor had described to me. I  went to bed that night hopeful that labor was right around the corner. I woke up around 3am, surprised that I had slept so well for almost 4 hours. I decided to get up and walk around a little and noticed that my contractions had stopped. I was bummed to say the least and went back to bed feeling dejected and convinced that I would indeed be the first person to be pregnant forever.
The next day after sleeping until 11am (SO grateful for this now), I had let go of any expectations about when I was going to go into labor and had decided to enjoy a relaxing day at home. I took the pup on a long walk, went to target, the mall, and got a chick-fil-a lemonade. Around 3 that afternoon I started having consistent contractions again, I kind of ignored them for a while, chalking it up to the same thing that had been happening for days and days. Andrew got home around 4 and I mentioned it to him in a nonchalant way. Around 5:30 he was getting ready to go to the boy's football practice when I said to him "maybe you shouldn't go..." my contractions were getting a little harder to work through. Not even 15 minutes later I felt like I was about to pass out from the pain..."we need to get ready to go to the hospital". It was POURING DOWN rain, I mean, flooding in our backyard and street kind of rain. I laughed at Ruby's timing. Andrew did great, I told him not to rush and to drive safe, to which he replied that he couldn't rush even if he wanted to because of the weather. He avoided the major pot-holes on the way and got us there in under 20 minutes. I thought I could walk from the parking garage to labor and delivery. I ended up needing to make several stops along the way to breathe through the contractions, but we made it there.
The labor floor was so busy. Nurses were running around like crazy and the lady at the desk that was supposed to check me in ignored us for what felt like a good 5 minutes. I was leaning up against the counter huffing and puffing thinking "I seriously might have this child right here at this desk". Finally the charge nurse saw me and I think realized that I was in real labor, and took me into labor room one (the one big, beautiful rooms with big windows and the hydrotherapy tub, which is what I was really hoping for). She told me how busy they were and that she, or another nurse would be back in shortly. My doctor was already on the floor and said she saw Andrew's hair from down the hall so came to check out what was going on. She checked me and told me I was almost 8 cm dilated and that it was time to "get this show on the road". Because I was strep b positive I had to receive a dose of IV antibiotics before my water broke. The nurse came in and got that started and hooked me up to be monitored for 15 minutes. Ruby was looking great, so we got the go-ahead to get into the hydrotherapy tub. Oh my goodness, I cannot even say how much of a relief it was to get into the water. Don't get me wrong, it still hurt like no other pain I've ever experienced, but being in the hot water and feeling weightless was just amazing. About 3 hours after getting into the tub my doctor came back to check me again. I was almost at 9cm at that point, but my water still hadn't broken. My doctor then gave me the option for her to break my water or just labor and wait for it break. I was terrified how much harder breaking my water was going to make my labor and contractions, but knew that eventually I was going to feel that pain regardless if it happened with or without intervention, so I went ahead and asked her to break it. About 2 hours later (I'm still in the tub at this point), I asked Andrew to call the nurse in because I felt like I really needed to push. She came in and helped me out of the tub and into the bed to check me. I was still at 9cm, but she said the only thing that was keeping Ruby in was a small amount of cervix that still hadn't thinned out completely. Ruby's head was pressing more on the left side and because of that wasn't thinning out the entire cervix. She had me turn on my side and rock back and forth through the next 5-6 contractions. This was by far the most intense contractions I had throughout the entire labor. I was completely swallowed by the pain. All I could do was grab on the side of the bed and breathe and moan. I think this is when I said to Andrew "I cannot do this!!!" I also vaguely remember slapping myself in the face a few times....strange! Ha. My amazing nurse was rubbing my back and speaking encouragement through that whole transition phase, I look back and am so grateful that the Lord blessed me with a soft spoken, laid back nurse who just let me deal with the pain on my own without trying too hard to comfort me. It was exactly what I needed, to just get in my zone and deal with it by myself.
She checked me after those contractions and I was ready to push.
The nurse went to get my doctor and while she was gone I started pushing on my own. It felt so good to push through the pain of the contractions. When my doctor arrived she helped me out by showing me where to focus the push, and stretched me out a little while I was pushing. She was such a great encouragement through the whole thing...we really were blessed to have such an amazing doctor and nurse by our sides during the whole experience. Andrew was also so supportive and encouraging during the entire process, he kept reminding me to breathe and telling me that I was doing such a good job.
I started pushing at 11:30. I remember looking at the clock and wondering if Ruby would be born on the 23rd or the 24th. 35 minutes later, our beautiful girl made her grand entrance after some of the craziest pain ever. I don't think anyone can fully describe what it feels like to have a babies head partially inside of you and partially outside of you. The fact that I had to wait for the next contraction to push her head out once she was already crowning was just completely insane to me. My doctor kept saying "just breathe, she'll be here soon...just breathe, breathe, breathe" and I can remember saying "okay, *breath*, okay, *breath*, okay" over and over again. Finally I felt the next contraction coming and I pushed her head out. My doctor told me to reach down and pull her out, so I did. Andrew told me later that seeing the instant switch in my emotions from agony to pure joy was so neat. I don't remember even caring about the pain anymore, I just remember saying "hi baby girl, hi Ruby!" over and over again and feeling more love in my heart than ever before.
I looked up at Andrew who was laughing and staring down at us, he leaned down and kissed me and I felt so complete. Our girl was finally in our arms, and I cannot even begin to describe how amazing it felt.
They took Ruby to get cleaned up and suctioned out because she was having just a little trouble catching her breath. Andrew stayed with me, but I said "go with the girl! and take your camera!" I'm glad he did, because these are the only pictures we got right after the delivery.

First family photo

It's hard to believe how much my sweet, wrinkly little newborn has changed in just 2 and a half weeks! 

Precious Ruby, 

There really aren't words to describe how happy your dad and I are to finally have you here with us. Your birth was truly an experience that I will never forget. The moment I became a mom, your mom, will be forever etched in my heart as one of the most special, remarkable, and meaningful moments in my life. Our love for you is one that neither one of us can fully explain, because it is just that big and marvelous. You've stolen our hearts, and we will never get them back. That's just how we want it to be too. Thank you for making us parents, and for being easy on us when we have absolutely no idea what we are doing. You're gracious already, and I'm grateful for that. I'm excited that we get to experience life with you and so thankful that we get to spend the rest of life loving you. 

To the moon and back ten thousand times, 

Mom