Let's start from the beginning-
I was due Sunday January 27th. On the Monday prior, I had my 39 week appointment and was not dilated at all. So i figured she would not be born that week, and i was right.
So after i passed my due date on sunday, I had my 40 week appointment the next day and was not expecting any change since i hadn't really felt any different from the week before.
Fortunately I was dilated to a 1.5, (I know it's not much, but hey, progress!) And my Dr. said "well things have definitely progressed since last week, her head is way down there and you are definitely thinning out!" So that made me feel really good an excited!! The rest of monday I just worked on cleaning up the house and getting groceries all stocked up.
One of the Maltese dogs had her puppies on Sunday (my due date) and i'll admit, i was jealous haha but its okay, i'm glad i'm only having one, instead of 4 like her!
Tuesday morning I woke up at 2:10 am (like I normally do for my routine potty break) but this time I woke up because I was having a contraction! This was the first one I had experienced so I figured today was the day! I got up to go potty and when I finished I stood up and more kept coming! My water broke! So I told Jon, who was already up because when I told him I was having a contraction he was like, already ready to go haha so we grabbed our bag and headed to the hospital!
We probably arrived about 2:30am. Reminder- we live in a small town with a small hospital, there are only 2 labor and delivery suites and 24 total patient rooms. As we walked through the doors I said, "hi, I think I'm having a baby!" The nurse laughed- not like a "haha you're funny" laugh, but like a "haha of COURSE you are, since all the rooms are full!" My worst nightmare. Butttt fortunately she misspoke and one of the labor and delivery had just opened about an hour earlier because a woman was not actually in labor. So we got all settled in, and when the nurse checked me i was at a 2.5, and contractions were about 20 min apart, not too painful. About an hour later I had already progressed to a 4 and the contractions were getting stronger, at this point the nurse called in the anesthesiologist and he showed up pretty quick and I got my epidural, which was literally no big deal at all, I have no idea why people make such a big about them. Literally the IV in my arm was more noticeable than the epidural haha
So moving on, I was at a 4, and the epidural kicked in pretty quick and i was completely numb haha I was like, this is going to be great! I can't feel a thing! and by 6:30 am (2 hours later) I was at a 9! I was still feeling pretty good but the nurse said we needed to turn the epidural down a little because I had to be able to feel SOMETHING to know when the contractions were coming so I would know when to push. They turned the epidural down and I still couldn't feel anything in my belly but my tailbone started to hurt during each contraction. I was progressing very fast and the nurse started making comments about hoping the Dr would make it in time, she called him but he wasn't there yet, and when she checked me she was like, well you are ready to go! I hope he gets here soon!! And i was pretty out of it and not too concerned, but apparently thats when Jon started to get stressed haha she was telling us she had delivered babies before because the Dr didn't make in time and jon went into GO MODE like, he was ready to help deliver this baby! haha but the Dr got there and checked me and baby was still a little high so he gave me a few min to labor down and I did some practice pushes with the nurse. My contractions started getting a lot more powerful in my back and pushing was the only thing that brought relief. After about 30 min of pushing I was already exhausted haha at this point my tailbone was hurting so bad it was almost unbearable. The Dr came in and started coaching me a little more and helping me gain more strength with my pushes. Every few pushes the nurse and the Dr would say "that was an excellent push! do it just like that again!" So in my mind the positive tone in their voices made me think, "okay just a couple more and she'll be here!" (Jon was doing great this whole time, cheering me on right by my side) The pain in my back was so bad i asked if we could put the epidural back to where it was before, which honestly I don't remember if they did or not haha but even they did it didn't help. My lung capacity was not very strong so while i was trying to push for 10 seconds during each set I would only make it to about a 6, and have to exhale, which meant my 3 pushes finished before my contraction finished so after the 3 pushes I would be in a lot of pain because I still felt the contraction but couldn't push to alleviate any of the pain. Ah good times..
So we're still pushing and the Dr can see her head but she is not coming through my pelvis. Long story short he decides my pelvic bones are just too small and the opening was shaped a little different than what is ideal, so yeah, she wasn't coming out down there. Unfortunately that realization didn't come until I pushed for almost 2 hours (giving poor Lydia a massive cone head 😂😂😂) at the hour and a half mark of pushing I was so miserable I was asking if we could be done haha like, I knew at that point i was not going to get her out vaginally. SO. change of plans, I was getting a C-section.Pause right here for a brief intermission- I knew NOTHING about C-sections. I had done absolutely no research or preparing for one because I just figured I would deliver vaginally. Not that i was against having one if necessary, I just didn't think i would have one so I didnt bother looking at any info about them online or anything, and the Dr only mentioned them very briefly at one of my appointments because he also figured we wouldnt have to worry about it. BUT little tender mercy from the Lord here- normally the "unknown" gives me major anxiety when it comes to medical things especially (fun fact about how much of a pansy I am- when m Dr first checked my dilation at my 39 week appointment i was basically hyperventilating because I was so stressed out, but at my 40 week it was no big deal because i knew what to expect, so that's kinda how my brain works) SO normally this situation wouldve probably caused a huge panic attack but 1. I was in so much exhausted pain i was like "please slice me open right now" 😂 and 2. this tender mercy- So this was Tuesday, Monday, the day before, I was on my computer just looking at pinterest and a friend of mine from high school popped into my head. I hadn't seen or heard from her in a couple years but i knew she had been pregnant so I tried to see if I could find her and see how she was doing. I didn't have her phone #, I deleted my facebook and instagram so I wasn't following her anymore but I went to Instagram.com and just searched her name and was able to find her! Her profile was on private though so I couldn't see anything but she had a video link her in Bio so I clicked on it and it was her daughters Birth story video (yay for excessive stalking!) anyway it was a beautiful video, and she had a C-Section! I totally bawled during the whole thing haha but the thing that stood out to me was that she was smiling the whole time! ( at least during that parts of the video of her face while she was having the procedure) so anyway- back to the story, i'm so grateful i watched that video just the day before because then I just had this positive image in mind of C-sections.
So into the operation room i went! Luckily the anesthesiologist had to jack up my epidural so while they wheeled me in i was feelin pretty good haha I don't remember a whole lot from the operating room, just that i felt great and there were a lot of people in there. I do remember my shoulders and jaw being extremely tense the entire time, and i had the shakes so at one point i asked Jon if he could massage my jaw but then when i turned my head to look at him it was the anesthesiologist, named Brian, so i was like haha woops! sorry, you're not jon! My Dr said, Brian can massage your jaw if you need, so he did and I said Brian, you have really soft hands. Apparently everyone in there thought that was funny because that got a good laugh, so then I called him "Soft hands Brian" and I remember the nurses saying, "that one is going to stick!!!" so I may have caused some emotional damage to a guy named Brian's man card, but... it was worth it because his jaw massages weren't that great.
ANYWAY When Lydia came out everyone got excited and I heard her little cry and was so happy! Then I heard everyone say how big she was, and the Dr said, "yeah there was NO way you were getting her out vaginally." Her whole body was pretty swollen from me pushing hand her poor little head was pretty coney, haha but she was super healthy and doing great! 8lbs 5oz 21in long! None of us were expecting that! haha I had a goal to hit 150lbs during this pregnancy but I think I only hit 145, and so my total pregnancy weight gain was 38lbs, but the only place that grew was my belly, and it still wasn't very huge so no one thought she'd be over like 7lbs. I was hoping for like a 6 pounder cuz they're just so teeenie and cute!! But what can I say, I grow healthy babies!
Anyway they put her in the bassinet and i could only see her belly sticking up, Soft hands Brian and Jon helped me turn my head, and and moved the bassinet a tiny bit closer so I could see and she was turned looking over at me and I just remember saying "oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh she's real, look at her!" haha it was exciting but I was very loopy. Anyway they took her off to the nursery to get her cleaned up and vitals and stuff while i got stapled up. Jon went with her and mine and his parents hung out with her while I was finishing up and getting moved to a recovery room.
I don't remember much in there, no idea how long i was there but eventually they brought her to me for some skin to skin which was pretty precious.
She had a hat on so i had yet to see her cone head, but she was pretty dang cute!! still pretty swollen so she looked a little Asian, but i will say,
i made a pretty cute asian baby!
it's funny because when they brought her to me i just remember thinking, "who is this?" haha she doesnt look distinctly like either of us (my personal opinion) but probably a little more LaRue😉
Once they brought me back to my room a was still feeling pretty good but my shoulders and jaw were still super tense, so then i had "Rough hands Jon" give me a massage and it was much better!😂
Finally my parents walked in and I got to see them for the first time, i cried a little when i saw my mom, it was just a neat experience haha I don't remember if Lydia was in there or not, i was still really out of it and i started to get reallllllyyy tired. They had been checking my vitals frequently and my blood pressure was really low which is why i crashed pretty fast, but the nurse gave me some meds and eventually i got my color and alertness back. Well sorta, I don't remember any of the rest of that day haha but it was great and i was so happy to not be pushing anymore! Because Lydia was born via C-Section apparently that makes them a little more tired at first than regular babies, so she basically slept the rest of the day and so did I.
On wednesday the lactation consultant came and talked with me and we got Lydia to nurse but you could tell she was struggling a little, turns out she had tongue tie so we had the Dr. snip her really quick and she latched right on after and has done great ever since! I honestly don't remember much from the hospital stay haha pain killers really do it for me. Everyone was super nice and took great care of me, my blood pressure got back under control and i felt really good the whole time. Both Lydia and I were able to get good amounts of sleep, and all the nurses swooned over her the entire time (of course) 😉
We were discharged Thursday morning but stayed until later in the afternoon because Jon had some repairs at the house he wanted to finish before we brought her home. We were blessed to have his dad come help him with farm chores while Seth was gone (they are in Hawaii, did I mention that already?) and grateful to have my parents here to help with Lydia, even though she really has been so chill and good, eats like a champ, and is beautiful and precious. We all love her very much and are so happy to have her home!
As for recovery on my part, i would say i'm doing great. My incision hurts, as expected, and i'm pretty slow moving around but overall it was great experience and i'm honestly so happy to know that from now on i'll just have C-sections and not have to push (or, try to push) babies out ever again haha
Welp, there you have it! Lydia's birth story. It's been an exciting few days and i can't believe we have a baby! haha never really thought this day would come but we love it! Thanks for reading!
She's so beautiful! Congrats!
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