Lucy's Birth

Our sweet little Lucy blessed our lives by joining us on Wednesday, September 22 at 6:06 pm. It was the best day ever. We were instantly in love.

Tuesday night I went to bed, frustrated that my due date had come and gone. I woke up an hour later to more contractions. I had been having them for a month now and consistently for the past 5 days. I was not happy to spend another sleepless night, having contractions that seemed to be getting me nowhere closer to having my baby. I contracted every five minutes throughout the night. They were stronger than they had ever been but weren't getting stronger throughout the night, or closer together. I thought it was definitely false labor once again. I didn't sleep a wink all night. At 4:30 I just started crying. I was so frustrated, in pain, and was completely exhausted which is a sorry combination for me. I was having quite the pity party for myself. When I was finally able to calm myself down, around 5:45, I felt a little trickle. I stood up out of bed to go to the bathroom, when bam, a gush of amniotic fluid came splashing out. My water had broken! I was shocked and was pleasantly surprised. I immediately woke Josh up. We showered, grabbed our bags, and headed to the hospital.

We got to the hospital just before 7:00 am. We were admitted, I changed into a hospital gown, and was hooked up to an IV. It took them 3 or 4 tries to get the IV in. I have teeny tiny little veins and it is always an issue when I need an IV. Eventually they got it to work, but my arms are still so bruised I look like a drug addict. They are pretty much brown, blue and purple from my wrist to elbow and don't seem to be getting any better. They started pumping me full of saline, and an antibiotic because I tested positive for the strep B bacteria.

I was having contractions and was slightly dilated, the baby was extremely low and I was completely effaced. I stayed like that for a few hours with no progression in the dilation department. The Dr ordered some pitocin to get me to dilate, which I wasn't thrilled about but it did the trick. It took me about 4 hours to go from a 1 to a 3, 2 hours to go from a 3 to a 6 (at which point I got my epidural, hallelujah!), and under an hour to go from a 6 to a 10. I was in shock when they told me it was time to start pushing! Everything suddenly became very real.

I pushed for an hour total. It was a really amazing and fun experience. I had my sister, my mom, my dad and Josh's mom all in the room with me. We were able to joke and laugh and enjoy the entire experience together and it was awesome. Josh and Lindsay each held one of my legs while I pushed. My mom and Bonnie helped support my head and back and my dad was on camera duty above my head. Since I couldn't feel a thing, I had them bring a mirror over a few times throughout the delivery so I could see the progress I was making. It was a fascinating thing to watch and I would recommend it to anyone giving birth. It was really encouraging to see all my work paying off. About 45 minutes into my pushing my doctor came in to check on things. She discovered that Lucy was facing the wrong direction. She quickly flipped her right around. I didn't realize how quickly things would move after she had rotated the baby and didn't know I was on my last push when I was. It was amazing. She said that if she had been facing the right way, I would have only had to push for about 20 minutes. I didn't mind the hour of pushing and actually kind of enjoyed it. With 3 pushes after she was rotated, Lucy was born. It was love at first sight for all of us. She was gorgeous, pink and round with tons of long dark hair.
Our lives changed forever, we were overjoyed.

Just arrived at the hospital

40 weeks 1 day pregnant

Contractions getting a wee bit stronger

The awesome anesthesiologist. After he helped me I was able to fully enjoy the birth of our daughter.

Trying to rest up before the delivery.

Lindsay was my official ice chip feeder.

Josh's mom and my mom

My daddy

Welcome to the world Sweet Lucy.

Our blue little baby. The cord had been wrapped around her neck 2 times.

First contact

I did it!

Our gorgeous little babe.

6 lbs 12 oz

After her birth, Lucy had to have fluid drained from her lungs. She was breathing alright, she was just grunting instead of letting out wailing cries. She had inhaled gunk on her way out, luckily no miconium though, just some goop. While I was being stitched up and taken care of (I had a level 2 tear), they took her to the NICU for about an hour to watch her and make sure everything was perfect before they brought her back to us. She is perfectly healthy and we are so grateful she is so. We missed her so much while she was gone.

So in love.

Our family of 3.

Lucy with Grandma Bonnie.

Grandma Linda

Grandpa Steve

Aunt Lindsay

Cuddling with my precious little babe.

Daddy is already smitten.

With Brooke

Matt and Dr Brock

Aunt Rachel

Tori

Rebecca

Grandpa Steve

Joe

Aunt Becca

Proud Uncle Luke

Brett and Heather

Dusty and Carly

Grandma Linda

Aunt Lindsay

Giving birth was the best experience I've had in my life. I loved every minute of it and can not wait to do it again. I am so thankful I'm a woman and that I have the ability to bare children. It is a true blessing.

We are living in Lala Land right now. We couldn't be happier or more in love with our precious daughter. Words can not possibly describe the joy she has brought to our home. We are so very blessed.