Lily- Your Birth Story

I love reading birth stories. And I love being able to look back at my birth stories to remember the little details. Here are my past birth stories:

Mitch's Birth Story

Nate's Birth Story

Every birth is so unique, but having a baby in the middle of a pandemic is completely different. With that- on to my 3rd birth story...

Lily Girl-

We were so excited to have you join our family. We were excited to have little pink socks and little dresses in our home. But let me tell you- your pregnancy was the absolute hardest for me compared to the boys. Let me start at the beginning...

We found out we were pregnant in January. We were so excited. The week that I found out that I was pregnant, I started experiencing severe cramps on one side. I was so worried for a ectopic pregnancy or another miscarriage. I called the doctor and was asked to come in for some blood tests. I went in and found out my numbers were on the lower normal end. They sent me in for a ultrasound to rule out an ectopic pregnancy. There was no baby seen- which was expected because I was only 4 weeks pregnant. More blood tests showed that my numbers were going up. This was a very promising sign. A couple of weeks later I went in for another ultrasound. I saw a little blob on the screen and a little heart beating. You were really there and you were okay. My heart was so relieved. 

At 12 weeks, I had severe abdominal pain. I was throwing up. I thought that I was dying (a little exaggerated, but it was awful!) I thought I had appendicitis or was having a miscarriage. I was so worried about you. This also happened a week  into the pandemic. It was right as everything had shut down. I didn't want to go to the hospital because of COVID, but the pain became so unbearable that I needed to go find out what was wrong. We got a friend to watch your older brothers while Dad and I went to the hospital. We had just told the boys that we were having a baby that week and I was so worried that we would be coming up with bad news. The hospital was oddly quiet. Masks were required. It was such a surreal feeling. We got to see another ultrasound. You were perfect. That is the only ultrasound that your dad got to see in person during your pregnancy. After all the tests were done, it was concluded that I had a cyst that burst- which we had seen on the ultrasound at 6 weeks so it really wasn't a huge surprise. But you were okay and that is what mattered.

Speaking of the pandemic...

Being pregnant and giving birth in the middle of a pandemic is no joke!

We were still in the first trimester and hadn't told anyone (even family) we were pregnant when the country shut down in March. I remember deceiving myself...saying "I'm so glad that baby is due in October. This will all be over by then..." Boy was I wrong!

Besides the scares at the beginning, I had a fairly normal pregnancy. The worst part was the anxiety and uncertainty of everything. I went to all of my doctor's appointments by myself. I found out your gender by myself. I bought a doppler to help ease some of my anxiety in between appointments. I just needed to know that you were still there to make myself a little less anxious. 

My anxiety got worse the closer to your due date. The unknown was literally killing my anxiety. I had a hard time sleeping. I had a hard time eating. I just so desperately wanted you here so that I could stop worrying about COVID 19, case counts, city restrictions, and the ever changing hospital policies. 

With everything going on, my doctor and I decided it would be best for me to be induced. This way, I would get a COVID test prior to going into the hospital.  I wouldn't have to worry about getting a fever during labor and then being considered "positive". I knew being negative would make a lot of my worries go away, but what if I wasn't negative? What if the test came back positive? I prayed every night to go into labor so that I could just get you here. Then I would be able to breath again.

 

We decided on September 29th to evict you from your cozy 9 month home. Why did we decide on that date? Granny and Grandpa came in on the 28th and I wanted a September baby (since Granny didn't have any September birthdays on her calendar). The date was set.

The Sunday before, I went in for a COVID test. I had to spit 3mL into a test tube (my mouth has never been drier). I handed in my sample and prayed for a negative result. I check the results religiously the next day- finally showing up on my account. Negative. I was able to finally breath a little bit. Everything was working out how we had planned. 

I called the hospital at 5:30 in the morning to find out what time they wanted me to come in to be induced. I fully expected them to tell me that I could come in that EVENING. But they asked if I could be there at 6:45 am. Since we live about 30-45 minutes away from the hospital, we had to hurry and get everything together. Granny and Grandpa had to rush over to be with the boys. We were off to have a baby.

We got to the hospital. We were asked to wear masks whenever a caregiver was in the room. We had fun putting our masks on and off every time a nurse, doctor, or other person came in the room. Honestly, we forgot sometimes. But we tried our best.

I got started on pitocin around 8 am. At that point, I was 3 cm.  It wasn't too bad. I felt the contractions, but they weren't hurting yet- just inconvenient. 

At 11:30, Dr Harrison came and broke my water. I was still at a 3 at this point. She joked that I was still smiling and we needed to up the pitocin so that I would hurt and progress. We upped the pictocin and I started really feeling contractions. 

To kill some time, Gariet and I played 5 games of Monopoly Deal. I won every game. You were my luck. Dad was a gracious loser (probably because of the pain that I was starting to feel by the end of the 5th game). 

I got checked around 1:00 and was at 4.5. By this point, the contractions were really starting to pick up. I could hardly breath. Gariet was pushing on pressure points during contractions because that was the only way I would feel any sort of relief. Contractions were coming about every 2 minutes. I hardly had a break. I wanted to go naturally- just like I had with Nate- but since I was progressing so slowly I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it. I gave myself an hour before calling "Uncle" and getting an epidural. 

Around 2:00 I got checked again. I was still at a 4.5. The last hour had felt like a waste. I was so exhausted already and had to much longer to go. So I called in for an epidural. I was so grateful for the break. I was able to take some naps. 

Then the pain started to come back in my right side. The contractions reached the point of being unbearable again. The anesthesiologist came back in and gave me a bigger dose. The pain went away. I couldn't feel anything from my lower back down. My legs were useless. This was very different than my epidural with Mitch. 

At 3:50, I was at 6 cm and 90% effaced. I was still progressing slowly, but I was able to rest. We decided to put the peanut ball between my legs for a bit (I absolutely despised that ball from Mitch's labor). They let me have clear liquids during this time and I was getting hungry. I ordered some chicken broth to be sent up- which I never even got to enjoy because it took to long to come...

At 4:17, the nurse came in to check to see how things were going after the peanut ball. In 30 minutes, I went from a 6 to a 9. She called Dr. Harrison to tell her where I was and have her start heading over. 

I was starting to feel some pressure between my legs, but figured it was useless to call the nurse in or try to get the doctor to come any faster. When Heather came in around 4:35, she came to check me to see if I was at a 10. "Woah- that's a head...let's get ready" Gowns and gloves were quickly put on. Jokes were made about having to catch babies without gloves on. The nurse called in for the "baby nurse" to come in. The baby nurse asked "already?" and my nurse said that she needed to come quick because this baby was almost here. I was so excited to hear this because I was just so ready to have a baby in my arms. 

I pushed for only a few minutes (Dr. Harrison had to tell me to STOP pushing more than she told me to push). You were here at 4:46 pm. You were perfect. 8 lbs 2 oz and 19 inches long. You were my smallest baby.

I finally could breath again. 

  

 

Lily- your brothers love you so much. We absolutely love having your sweet spirit in our home. I am very grateful for my ability to get and stay pregnant, but I am so grateful that right now I am not pregnant. I am grateful that your delivery was fairly easy. You are such a good eater, a fairly good sleeper, and such a sweet little girl. We love you so much and are so happy you are in our family.