Lily's Birth Story

I was so surprised...Childbirth was really not that bad. (Though maybe it only seems that way since I'm writing this two weeks later...)

I wanted to write out Lily's birth story for myself more than anyone else, since I tend to have a terrible memory, but I figured this way anyone else who's curious can feel like they were there! Because you were all wishing you could've been, right? 

Anyway, Lily's story starts with a reminder that I was diagnosed with preeclampsia at 24 weeks pregnant, which is pretty early on--leaving 16 weeks of worrying about blood pressure, if you go the full 40. This prompted my doctors to decide it would be best to induce me at 39 weeks...or, actually, at 37, I found out when I was 35 weeks and 4 days pregnant...So, all of a sudden, Russ and I found out we would be having a baby in a week, instead of three.

Fast forward to July 2, the date I was to be induced. My mom and Lance had flown up and arrived late the night before, and we were all anxious for a call from the hospital that would tell us it was time to come in. The day ticked by and we were eventually told it was too busy and to possibly expect a call late that night or the next morning. 

Well, noon, July 3, came and went and we were told, again, it was too busy and possibly to expect a call late that night. And, again, found out it wouldn't be that night. Finally, the call nurse asked us to come in the next morning, July 4.

7 am, July 4, I got strapped to the monitors, and we began the wait for the doctor to start my meds...I was dilated to 2 cm and 50% effaced. Finally, at about 12:30, he broke free from the ER and started me on Cervidil.

My contractions started strong and close together after about an hour, and I spent 14 hours with them, during which time Mom and Lance came and went a few times, Russ and I watched a lot of Drunk History (thank you, History Channel), and I started having back labor near the end of my 14ish hours of Cervidil. 

I was getting anxious for my epidural, and was extremely upset when the nurse checked me out and found I was still only at 3-4 cm, and not far enough along for the meds. So she started me on some sort of IV narcotic (I didn't really care to remember the name...), which was so much nicer, but which made me feel about as drunk and sleepy as the historians we'd been watching all night. Russ had fun walking my IV stand to the bathroom for me while I wobbled all around and tried to outrun him. 

Finally, sometime around 3 am, Dr. Cohen came back to take out the Cervidil and decided to break my water right then and there. 

The contractions became extremely painful from there, and very close together--damn back labor. I was shaking from the hormones, pretty well crying and moaning (and, yes, I was crying, "owie," Russell), and begging for the anesthesiologist to bring me my epidural. 

The hormones running through me had me shaking and puking, when he finally arrived to hook me up. I was very upset to be forced to sit up while he poked around at my back trying to get the right spot--and Russ says he was getting pretty angry--but, obviously, I'd rather he take his time and not further hurt me. haha 

Life was great after the epidural, and I was exhausted--oddly enough, it's hard to sleep when you're in labor. But I didn't have time to sleep any more--after rolling to my side to flip Lily over (sunny-side-up baby was giving me back labor, darn it), I was fully dilated and almost ready to start pushing. 

I pushed for somewhere between half an hour and an hour, and out came Lily! She was born at 6:48 am on July 5th, weighing 6 pounds, and measuring 19.5 inches. 

She was absolutely perfect, and I was exhausted. Russ and I cried when she let out her first cry, and we cried again when they walked us to the maternity room, playing a lullaby to let the whole hospital know she'd been born. 

And, that, my friends, is the story of Lillian's first moments on the outside.