This is a bit long and detailed. I wrote it and will put it in Lucy's journal to remember, and am just cutting and pasting for anyone who is interested.
Contractions started almost two weeks before Lucy was born.
They would often come in the evening, 10-20 minutes apart for an hour or two
then subside once I relaxed into bed. Ty was almost two weeks early, so I was
hoping Lucy would be a little early as well. At my 38 week appointment, my
stomach was measuring only 35 weeks, so I was sent into a special room for more
monitoring. I had an ultrasound to measure the fluid, which ended up okay, but
then the nurse was worried about her heart rate. I was supposed to push a button
every time I felt Lucy move. Lucy must have been really tired, because I really
had a hard time feeling her move, but if I did push the button, her heart rate
wasn’t going up. The nurse also told me I was having contractions, but I couldn’t
feel anything. The doctor came to look at the results and ended up saying they
were fine. I went home.
The whole week before Lucy’s due date, I was quite
frustrated because Diney, Tim’s mom came and I didn’t want to “waste” the time
she was here, plus I still felt contractions somewhat regularly, and somewhat
painful in the evenings.
Finally, Thursday evening, February 26th I was
having more contractions, about 10-15 minutes apart. I watched the clock for a
few hours, but they didn’t get any stronger or more regular. I finally went to
sleep and vaguely remember waking up about every half hour, then from
1:30am-2:30am, I woke up every 10 minutes with contractions. I got up at 2:30
to take a shower, move around, and see if it changed how I felt. The
contractions became less regular, but a little closer together. I finally
called the nurse at 3am. She said we could go in if we wanted. I was nervous about a short labor, and snow had been
falling for several days, so we were worried about the roads, so Tim and I went
ahead and headed to the Exempla Good Samaritan hospital in Lafayette, Colorado (about 15 minutes away).
After a little waiting (and the security guard asking how
far along I was because he said I wasn’t very big (I took this as a
compliment!) we got up to the labor and delivery room and got hooked up. I was
dilated to a 4 and was glad to actually be in labor. Once I laid down, the
contraction immediately became stronger and more uncomfortable, but they kept
me down to continue monitoring Lucy’s heart rate.
Though I didn’t have a written “birth plan,” Tim and I had
gone to a Labor Lab class to practice ways to cope with pain through contractions.
I was mentally prepared in case my labor was progressing too quickly to get an
epidural. I also wanted to be able to enjoy the birth, and not look back at it
as being too traumatic (Ty’s was very quick). I decided to labor naturally for
a while longer to see how quickly I was progressing. One hour later, the
contractions were stronger, and I was still stuck in the bed hooked up to
several cords. I was dilated to a 6, but decided to go ahead and get the
epidural since I was stuck in bed anyway and unable to move around to cope with
the pain. One thing I am grateful for was time to relax between contractions.
My water had already broken with Ty, and I had very little rest between
contractions with him.
The anesthesiologist came in a while later, and I was
comfortable just a few minutes after that. As I was moving back into the bed, I
suddenly got very lightheaded and sleepy. My heart rate had dropped to 41 and
blood pressure lowered. The nurses kept asking if I was a runner because my
heart rate had only risen to 60 with contractions when most women’s rises to
100 bpm. I took something for my heart rate and then felt itchy all over my
stomach, but figured I could manage.
Contractions slowed way down once I had the epidural. They
went from as close together as three minutes apart back to ten minutes apart,
so I had some time to relax. I can’t remember now if I was given Pitocin or
not. I kept thinking to myself, I can’t believe this is real and I’ll have a
baby in my arms soon!
At one point, I asked the nurse if I needed to move around
to break my water. She replied that it would most likely break on its own and I
would feel or hear a popping sound, then she left the room. Immediately, I felt
the pop and a gush of water. They checked my cervix, which was still dilated to
a 6, cleaned me up, and left the room. I heard a code blue called and felt
worried for whoever was having the code until a few nurses rushed in and I
realized it was for me. The nurse checked me again (literally a two minutes
later) and I was at a 9 ½ and almost ready to push. The baby’s heart rate had
dropped, so I turned over to my side. I was so worried about Lucy, I just said
a panicked prayer that she would be okay.
It was almost 8:00am and the doctors were in transition. The
first doctor came in and got suited up to deliver for my first push, then the
second doctor, Dr. Weatherway, came in and got suited up for my last few
pushes. I pushed for 8 minutes before she was out. The cord was around her neck
twice, but my little Lucy was here and healthy!
I got to hold and feed her skin to skin for an hour before
they took her to weigh and measure her. She weighed a tiny 5lb, 4.5ozs and was
20 inches long. Her fingers and toes were extremely long and skinny, and she
had really long nails. She also had dark pretty hair, and Ty’s nose, mouth, and
chin. She was beautiful and perfect. I kept thinking (and maybe saying out
loud), “I can’t believe it! I love you so much!”
Because of her small size, the nurses had to check Lucy’s
blood sugar before feedings. She ended up having one low number which lead to supplementation.
This meant the nurses had to stay with me every feeding for almost 24 hours and
stick a tube of donor milk into the corner of Lucy’s mouth while I also tried
to feed her, then I had to pump. It made for an annoying time in the hospital,
especially throughout the first night. I had to call the nurse, wait for them
to get the donor milk ready, and have them in with me the whole feeding. Lucy
was a good eater the whole time, and once her blood sugar was high enough,
feeding her seemed like a breeze compared to what we had been doing!
Ty and Grandma Diney were able to come visit the afternoon
after Lucy was born. Ty was excited to see his baby sister, and immediately
asked to hold her once they met. He is a great big brother already. He showed
so much interest in her right away and hasn’t been jealous (yet). He also
showed concern for his mommy in the hospital, asking if I was feeling better. When
leaving the hospital, Ty asked if we could bring Lucy home. When Tim told him
the doctor said she needed to stay the night, Ty replied, “I’m so mad mad mad
at that doctor!”
The hospital was amazing. Before checking out, I received a free 20 minute massage and they sent me home with a card signed by all of my nurses, and a full meal from the food services. All of the doctors and nurses were nice (one even held Lucy while I had my massage because Tim was out installing the car seat).
We took Lucy home the next day, and she has been an
excellent eater and sleeper since. She’s only waken up at night to eat, then
goes back to sleep, and at her 3 day visit (the nurse practitioner came to us),
she was up to 5lb, 3oz, only 1.5 oz below birth weight. Her other tests also
went well.
So far, I’ve enjoyed getting Lucy dressed in cute (mostly
hand-me-down) outfits and matching bows. We already had some girl time when I gave
her a “pedicure” by filing her long nails down. I thought it would be different
having a girl instead of a boy, but it’s been fun, and I love her so much just
the same.
