Lily Grace's Birth Story

I have been working on this post for weeks now! Weeks! Hard to type when my hands are always so busy. But, oh, how much I love it!! This is our first picture with all three of us!

After praying all week to go into labor naturally, my water broke at 2:15am Friday June 18. Even though I kept telling people all week that I was going to have my baby on Friday, I did not have my bag packed, her bag packed or the car seat ready to go. Thankfully, even though my water broke I was not experiencing contractions or other problems. By 3:30am we were walking out the door.

One last picture before we go. See, I told you I was getting huge! Roy was so excited. I was just nervous. Of course it was also at this moment that I realized my plan was to do laundry all day on Friday so the kids would have clothes to wear while I was in the hospital. Thanks to my wonderful friends and mom who put together outfits for them all.

Oh yeah.. I forgot to put gas in the car after running all of my errands on Thursday. Roy was so nervous he pressed the buttons to fast and actually had to go in and pay. He was not happy. I was just walking around the car. Still no contractions.

This picture is just for posterity. This was right after she was born. Lovely picture.LOL

At the hospital we were informed that our birth plan had been completely changed. I would be on a glucose and insulin drip during labor, I would be on pitocin, and fluids. We finally agreed to a low dose of pitocin because contractions were still very very mild.

This was the next day. Roy was beat. He stayed with me the whole time.

I did manage to labor with no epidural until about 1pm. I was at 6cm and they wanted to up the Pitocin some more because of the slow progression. I knew if they upped the Pitocin I would pass out. The contractions were already so bad that I spent ALL of my energy trying to relax. Plus, the contractions were in a weird place. I felt them in the very tops of my legs. No matter what position I tried I could not relax that part of my body enough to deal with the pain.

The look of pure relief on Roy's face when I consented to the epidural made it worth it.

My blood sugar stayed pretty stable throughout labor. I think it went to 148 once while I was pushing. If it stayed between 80 and 100 they did not have to do insulin or glucose. I think they only administered the insulin twice and the glucose three times.

I labored well for another five or six hours. When my nurse came into to check me I was at 8cm and then she said something horrible. I was swelling on one side. She said if she told Dr. B then he would start prepping me for a c-section. She finally decided to tell him that I was progressed another 1/2cm. She then laid the bed flat and turned me on my right side.

I remember tears pouring down my face as I cried out to God. Friends came in a prayed. The pain was becoming unbearable but I welcomed it because I was praying that the contractions were working.

Nurse Kim, then brought in her replacement Nurse Becky and told me she'd hand picked her just for me. When Nurse Becky checked me a little later I was at 9 1/2 and ready to push. It was 8pm.

The first few pushes weren't so bad. Although, the epidural was only working in my legs at that point. The anesthesiologist was called in at one point and asked to administer some morphine. I remember that all very vaguely. I do remember staring at him and thanking him. LOL

I pushed and pushed and pushed. I remember Dr. B finally coming in. I looked at him and said, "Hi!"

Here's where the story gets funny.

I'd been pushing and only grunting a few times. I thought I was doing pretty good. Dr. B does not do episiotomies. At the time he told us that we thought that was amazing. So shocked that we did not ask him how he avoids them.

When he did the perinium massage I screamed and might have actually stood up on the bed.

Yeah, he thought I was more numb than I was.

He was so shocked that he actually got onto me. I missed a whole contraction while he explained very sternly that I needed to get control. (Just know he's still my fave!! He made up for it later)

This is Nurse Kim. The nurse I told you about earlier. Isn't she beautiful? I LOVE her.
I pushed some more and then, THEN! they told me to stop pushing b/c the Dr did not have his scrubs on yet. OH yeah, the top of my baby's head was sticking out and my contractions were constant! I remember begging Dr. B to help me. He kept telling me he was coming. The next thing I knew he was above me and my baby was slipping out. I felt the head, the shoulders, then she was on my stomach and he was beaming like a proud papa.

It was later described as a frantic birth. Once she started coming she was coming. LOL

Stuff was knocked over in the haste to get his scrubs on. His hat and shoe coverings were actually tossed to the other side of the room before he could get those on.

The best part was when they announced that my baby was 7 pounds 1oz. Dr. B turned slowly towards the nurse and in disbelief asked her to repeat. She did.

Then he turned back to me with a huge grin and kept saying, "Your my hero!" He then told everyone in the room about my diabetic journey. LOL

I asked him why he ever doubted me! :)

After the room was cleared out and Roy had gone to get our family waiting in the waiting room Dr. B came back in and gave me a hug as we admired my new baby. He then apologized for getting on to me and told me I was still his favorite patient. He waxed on admiringly for a few minutes about what a great job I'd done during the whole pregnancy. It was pretty sweet.

We had a pretty uneventful stay. Though the next day they informed me that they thought Lily had an infection and wanted to start antibiotics. They took her to the nursery to get the IV in and two hours later they were still trying to get a vein. When they brought her back in to me she looked at me wide eyed and breathed a little sigh before snuggling in and sleeping for three hours.

All in all I think it was a pretty positive experience. The hospital was great and my nurses were the BEST! I loved them. I ended up with a 2nd degree tear but it healed up nicely in just a couple of weeks. I was in some pain but I was able to get up and move around about an hour after birth with no problems.

Lily ended up with Jaundice. They started talking about all the treatment options, but I knew if I could just get out of the hospital and to my holistic pediatrician it would be ok. I knew she would just have me nurse, nurse, nurse.

Her levels continued to go up but they did discharge us because I had an appointment with her pediatrician the next day. And of course she had me nurse, nurse, nurse and her levels went straight down!

Breastfeeding went well and is still going great. I had some issues the day my milk came in. Bad enough that Roy went to Walmart at 11:3opm and got a manual pump. I pumped it out for a day and she ate from a medicine dropper. After that I only used the pump to get the milk started for one day and then after that she has been a pro.

She is a wonderful baby. A true gift from God. I just can't believe how blessed I am. I still get a little teary eyed when I look at her.

Thank you all for your prayers. I am convinced she is such a healthy, happy baby because of all of your prayers. Our God is an awesome God.

Here it all is finally! Sorry I have been away so long. She is a month old now. :)

Be Blessed!