Lydia is Here!

Here is Lydia's birth story.

There were several events during the first half or so of January that I wanted to make it to. Lydia obeyed this request by coming less than 12 hours after all those commitments/events ended. First, I wanted to see Ashton sing a solo in church on Jan. 12. Then, I really wanted to be home to celebrate Tanner's birthday on the 16th. My sister and her husband came to visit us on the 16th and my sister ran the Houston Marathon on the 19th. I wanted to watch her run it without the stress of a newborn. And I didn't want to be hospitalized while they were visiting. They left our house around 4:30am on Jan. 20 and Lydia came less than 12 hours after that. It was perfect.

Additionally, 3 of our 4 kids have been born on the same of the month as that year. Ashton is 9/13/13. Tanner is 1/16/16. And now Lydia is 1/20/20. No inductions or planned interventions to make that happen. Gemma's birthday is a little different but she came on Pi Day so it is still easy to remember.

I woke up on the 20th around 12:30am to contractions. They were about 15-20 minutes apart but definitely more painful than the false labor I had been dealing with off and on for a few weeks. I was able to sleep between contractions. When the kids got up around 7:30am, they were still 15 or so minutes apart. Joseph stayed home as I thought it might be the day. By 10am, I was losing hope as they weren't getting much closer together and I was still able to function around the house.

By lunch time, I noticed the contractions were a little closer- about 7-8 minutes apart and I was slowly getting excited. All of a sudden, around 12:30, they started to be about 5 minutes apart. I figured I still had an hour of 5 minute contractions before heading up to the hospital. We put the kids down for naps. We started figuring out who would watch the kids. We decided to have our neighbor come over during nap time and then take them to a friend's home for the afternoon. She couldn't get to our house until about 2:15. I thought I still had plenty of time so wasn't rushed. About 2pm, the contractions moved to 3 minutes apart. We left for the hospital at 2:30 and arrived shortly after 2:45pm. They were still 3 minutes apart in the car so I thought I was golden.

I got to a L&D room and was 6cm dilated. I was so excited that it was real labor and I was staying. They started the IV fluids for an epidural. About 15 minutes later, my water broke. The nurse checked and said, "no time for medication, you're fully dilated. And baby girl is crowning." I was terrified. I have never aspired to give birth naturally and was not prepared for that. The doctor on call was already on the floor and stepped in just in case my doctor wasn't able to make it. All within about 10 minutes, the room was very chaotic with nurses everywhere and my doctor walked in. I kept telling the nurses and Joseph that I was not doing it naturally. There was no way. But they didn't agree. I had no idea what was happening other than the pain was intense and she was coming whether I was ready or not.

She came out with two pushes, thankfully. I kept telling my doctor that I didn't like him very much in the most polite way that I could. The birth experience for me was quite different than the others. I felt out of control as I was not prepared for natural birth. I couldn't really calm down or catch my breath as it was such a rush of activity and emotions. The pain was intense but it was over in 10 minutes or less probably. If I could go back, I'd still wait for the epidural in comparison. While the pain when she was born was rough, I also didn't like feeling all the after-birth and stitches stuff and no epidural. I feel I tore the worst with Lydia, which has been a rougher recovery physically.

Lydia was born at 3:21pm and was our biggest baby by a pound! She was a week early according to my dates but two weeks early according to my doctor. Once again, I don't know where I hide a 9 pound baby. She was also really long at 21.5 inches. She cried a bunch at the beginning but slowly hunkered down to sleep. Lydia nurses well so far and likes her sleep. Already, she seems to cluster feed and then sleep for several hours.

We will head home later today after a 48 hour stay. My other kids and the other hospital always discharged at 24 hours. The extra day has been alright. I slept decently both nights. We did confirm that Lydia's heart is okay. We weren't sure until she was born which way it would go based on ultrasounds during the pregnancy. But her heart sounds great so far.

The big kids came to visit Tuesday night after school. Tanner kept saying, "She is so cute." Ashton loved seeing her as well. It will be fun as I am guessing Ashton will remember baby Lydia. I am not sure she will remember meeting Gemma at the hospital. We had our traditional birthday cake for Lydia. Gemma actually really liked Lydia but hated the hospital. She doesn't do well with medical staff/doctor offices. A few minutes after the kids arrived, a nurse came in to take my vitals and that freaked Gemma out. It took her a while to calm down. But she loved seeing Lydia.