Lucy's Birth Story

Where do I begin? I guess like any other birth story it begins with the frustrations and discomforts of being hugely pregnant and days away from your due date. I felt gigantic and everything hurt. It took at least ten minutes to roll over in bed, that's in between the insomnia episodes, being woken up by stretching ligament pains, and getting up every two hours to go to the bathroom. Getting down and up from the floor was very nearly impossible and I hadn't been able to see my feet while standing up in what seemed like months. Add to that being out of breath almost all the time, the bulging varicose veins all down my leg and the ever increasing numbers on the scale-- I was SO ready to have this baby!

To make it even worse, my doctor moved my due date back two days from the 23rd to the 25th. I was able to let that slide because he agreed to induce me on Friday the 15th. It was the perfect date. She would be born on a Saturday so we wouldn't have to worry about getting Juliann to and from school and Doug wouldn't have to take off work. Not to mention she would be born before the madness of our anniversary and my birthday. We were so excited! I made a final list of things to get done before Friday. I scrubbed bathrooms telling myself this was the last time I would have to do this with a huge boulder hanging from my mid-section. I did laundry knowing there was only one more laundry day before our sweet baby girl was here.. you get the idea. And then he did it again. The doctor basically said he didn't want to fight with the hospital on inducing me a few days before 39 weeks. So he moved my induction date to Tuesday the 19th. To say I was mad would be a huge understatement. I sulked out to my car trying to figure out if I could quickly gather the supplies to make one of those bricks with flaming fabric on it to throw through his office window while I laughed like a insane lady. Too much work though. I called Doug in tears on the way home and wanted to bash his teeth in too when he suggested we just wait until the next Friday. But when my Mom suggested the same thing I actually considered it and decided reluctantly that would be best. The weekend would just be so much more convenient. I was 99% sure I would not go into labor by myself before then. (I've been induced with everyone else so far, either past the due date or right at the due date). So I told myself I could do this for one more week. Anyone can do anything for just one week, right?

The original induction date came and passed with nothing. The following Monday was our anniversary. Doug and I left the kids with Mom and Dad and went out to dinner. While we were out I had a couple of good, strong contractions. This was new to me. I'd never had any real contractions before I was hooked up to Pitocin with my other babies. Although it was kind of exciting, I didn't let myself get too pumped up. I was just certain this baby was not coming before Friday. After dinner we went to the car dealership where we signed up to lease our fancy new electric car (I'll have to have Doug blog about this one). We were there for over three hours and I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. During the night though, I woke up probably 4 or 5 times with some strong contractions I had to really try to breathe through. The next day was Tuesday the 19th. I woke up and felt like crud. I mean even worse than usual. I tried to shake it off. My Mom told me she felt like that when she had my sister, Jenna, who ended up being born that night. I packed my hospital bag just so I could check it off my list and get Doug off my back. :) Jackson and I went to Walmart that morning for some groceries and once or twice I had to stop and breathe through a contraction. I saw a lady whisper to her friend about how low my belly looked, and another lady came right up and said something along the lines of how if the baby was any lower she'd be hanging out.

I made it to supper time with maybe one or two more contractions when Russell and Emilee came over and brought dinner. The original plan was for them to come watch the kids so we could go to the temple. We decided that might not be the best plan to drive all the way to Atlanta in the condition I had been in that day. Doug was working late that night. I gobbled down my food and all of a sudden, a whopper of a contraction hit me. I tried to be discreet since I was sitting at the dinner table with my kids and my brother and sister-in-law, but Emilee noticed and suggested I go lie down. I left the table in tears mostly because I was embarrassed and probably very tired and waddled to my bedroom. Doug got home around 6:30 and I was still hiding in the bedroom. I guess around the time he got home I started having more and more contractions. I started writing them down and timing them to see if they were regular. It would be 12 minutes and then 20 minutes and then 9 minutes and then another 20 minutes. They weren't regular at all. I googled when to go to the hospital and everything I saw talked about when your contractions were REGULAR. Every 5 to 10 minutes for an hour. Well, mine certainly weren't regular so this couldn't be the real thing. They were SO strong though- that should count for something, right?

A little more time passed, the contractions kept coming but they still weren't regular. I told Doug I was pretty sure something was going on. He called the hospital and they suggested I come in just to get checked. Then he called my doctor who said once I'd been having contractions every five minutes for an hour I should go in. While he was on the phone with the doctor, it was like all of a sudden something snapped. The contractions became super duper intense and I had basically no break in between them. I paced around the bedroom floor and back and forth into the bathroom trying not to scream so the kids wouldn't worry while I waited for Doug to get off the phone. Finally he hung up and we knew we needed to go. Doug ran around like a crazy man getting the last few things I hadn't checked off my list including burp cloths that he couldn't for the life of him find. He ran back and forth asking me over and over where they were and if I was sure we needed them. Finally, Juliann showed him. (I ended up forgetting my wallet. But hey, at least we had those burp cloths). Some time during this chaos, Russell and Emilee (who had just told us 20 minutes earlier that they were going to leave) realized what was going on. Russell cancelled his frisbee golf plans and they thankfully were able to stay with the kids until my mom got there. (HUGE thanks to them!)

We headed out for the garage to take off to the hospital while Emilee ran the kids out to say bye bye to mommy. I was bent over the hood of the car trying so hard to be brave and act like everything was okay- but I don't think I fooled anybody. I yelled bye and probably did something rude like wave them back inside (sorry, guys), and we sped off to the hospital. Doug said later he took a second to tell Jackson and Juliann each that they don't need to be afraid since this is just how it is when the baby is about to arrive and each of them were very content with that explanation.  This is where I entered out-of-body mode. My Mom called as we were pulling out of the driveway at about 8:32 pm, wondering if she needed to come. The answer was Yes! I had my eyes shut almost the entire ride because every time I opened them I looked at the speedometer and could have sworn it said something like 15 mph. I screamed at Doug the whole way to the hospital. I mean SCREAMED at him. Mostly telling him to "go faster!" and "pass that guy!" and "just swerve around!" I know I was yelling about how I couldn't have the baby in the car, and I didn't want to do all this with out an epidural, and some time during the ride there I started feeling pressure- like it was time to push. 

We finally got to the hospital and I did not care what anyone thought of me. I usually prefer not to be the center of attention and to just kind of hide on the sidelines, but this was the exception. Doug parked the car right in the emergency entrance and wheeled me through the emergency room while I yelled my head off. I flashed my eyes open long enough to notice that the emergency waiting room was packed full of people. I couldn't have cared less what they thought of my craziness.

Instead of sending us to labor and delivery, they sent us to OB-ED to get checked. Doug followed the tiny blue footprints all the way to the far opposite corner of the hospital. I kept yelling at the nurses that I felt like I needed to push. I'm pretty sure they just thought I was being dramatic. They told me to get my pants off so they could check me. I waited for a contraction to pass so I could move enough to get them off. The nurse immediately says, "She's complete and the bag is bulging!" Finally- some proof! They ran my bed down the hallway over what felt like at least 12 huge bumps in the floor as Doug ran ahead of them swinging open all the double doors. They finally got me into labor and delivery and there were several nurses running around getting things ready in the room I was being wheeled into. Someone told me they were going to put an IV in. I didn't care and I barely felt it. Another nurse was holding a monitor on my belly. I wanted to kick her because I swear she was making the contractions worse. They told me a couple of times that my doctor was on his way and he would be there any minute. I kept telling them I needed to push and they wouldn't say anything. Finally, after a few contractions passed, I demanded to know what we were waiting on- Why couldn't I push yet?!?! They said we were waiting on the doctor and I couldn't push until he got here. I was so exasperated I yelled at the nurses, "Aren't there any other doctors here!?!?" Someone said "Yes, there are but they are only here for emergencies..." I was pretty sure I was ready to say some choice words here but just before I could say anything else my doctor came flying in. He broke my water just as the two nurses on the side of each of my legs peered in to watch. The fluid exploded all over the nurses. They looked at each other and said, "I don't know why we looked like that. Like we didn't know what was going to happen."  Someone said, okay, push! But I told them I wasn't ready. For a brief minute, I was calm. I could breathe, even relax for a second. I read that the water breaking can bring a sense of relief, and that must have been what happened here. I laid there quietly and calmly for just a quick minute until I felt another contraction coming. And then I pushed as hard as I could while I screamed just like the ladies in the movies. Doug says it was the kind of screams he had never heard before and uses the word, "primal" to describe them.  It seemed like it was about one and a half pushes and little Lucy was here! Just like that at 9:09 pm. (That's exactly 37 minutes after we left the house).  I had my eyes squeezed shut so tight, it seemed like they were stuck. But then I heard her cry. I opened my eyes and saw our beautiful little baby. They laid a towel over my shirt (since I hadn't had time to get into the hospital gown) and laid her on me. She was beautiful and perfect. She didn't cry anymore, she just laid there, looking around calmly. I couldn't help but think of Olivia, cheering her on, telling her "Good job little sis, you did it!"

We noticed right away that she looked almost exactly like Juliann when she was born. Juliann's cheeks were probably a little bit bigger than Lucy's are, but they definitely look very similar. The kids were so excited to meet their baby sister. They came the next day, which was my birthday to visit. They are in love with her. They love to see her with her eyes open looking at them. They love brushing her hair and playing music for her. Juliann especially can't seem to keep her hands off of her and is always asking to hold her. Jackson is more of the type to sit back and just look. She's a great nurser and most of the time a great sleeper. We love watching her big yawns and tiny sneezes. Her cute little cheerio mouth and funny faces she makes as she's waking up. We laugh at her screeching car brake noises she makes as she stretches. And we adore every inch of her sweet, tiny little body. We love her so much.

Juliann

                           Lucy
 

Juliann

Lucy

 

Juliann

Lucy

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for a healthy, happy baby. In some ways, it's made me miss Olivia even more and wish I had had these sweet little newborn moments with her, but I've felt a strong sense of support from her. I feel like she is maybe a guardian angel for her siblings. Like she's watching over them and helping them. What a blessing it is to know where she is and that she's safe and so, so happy. And we have the greatest reason ever to be the best we can be-- So we can be with her again some day. I'm so incredibly grateful for that knowledge.