It's hard to believe that Lily is already over a week old. She is such a good baby and fits in perfectly with our family. I wanted to make sure that I wrote down the story of Lily's birth before I forgot any of the details.Lily's birth was short and sweet. It seemed like it was over before it even started. And I can now say that I have given birth completely natural- something I never planned on!
I started having contractions almost a week before I gave birth and even went to the hospital one time only to be sent home in false labor. The Friday before Lily was born, I had a 5 hour stretch of contractions that were 8-10 minutes apart. The next night I had another 5 hour stretch that were also 8-10 minutes apart. I never thought about going to the hospital during these stretches because I could never get the contractions closer than 8-10 minutes apart before they finally just stopped.
On the Tuesday before she was born, I woke up in the middle of the night with even more contractions. This time they got to be about 7-8 minutes apart, were much stronger than the previous ones, and lasted for 12 hours. At lunchtime, I finally decided to call my OB and see if I could come in and get checked out. After driving to the hospital with some pretty strong contractions, they suddenly stopped and I was sent home to wait it out again. I was getting really frustrated at this point, wondering if I was ever going to go into real labor.
On Thursday afternoon, I went in for my weekly OB appointment. My OB could tell how frustrated I was and decided to strip my membranes in hopes that it would start my labor. She did this when I was pregnant with Eden and it worked- Eden was born the next morning. My OB told me that she was on call that night and that if I could get my contractions to be between 5-7 minutes apart, I could come into the hospital and she would break my water. I left my appointment feeling optimistic that Lily would be arriving soon.
Around 6:30 Thursday evening, the contractions started. My mom came over to get Parker and Eden around 7:00 so that I could labor in peace. (It is not very fun to have a 3 1/2 and 2 year old climbing on you while you are having contractions!) I got in bed and started timing the contractions, but could not get them closer than 8-10 minutes apart. Frustrated, I told Cory that I was going to go walk. I put on one of the Project Runways that I needed to watch on DVR and started walking circles around my couches in hopes that it would speed up my contractions. Sure enough, they started getting stronger and closer together- about 5-7 minutes apart. At 10:30 pm we decided to leave for the hospital.
The hour long drive to the hospital was miserable. The contractions were still 4-6 minutes apart, but were VERY strong. I was even having to use some of my Lamaze breathing techniques to get through them. When we got to the hospital, Cory dropped my off at the door and went to park the car. By the time he got into the building, my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and were so strong I could barely walk.
I made it up to Labor and Delivery and we checked in at 11:35 pm. The tech put me in a room and we waited almost 10 minutes before a nurse came in to check on me. At this point the contractions were coming fast and furious and I was feeling a lot of pressure. When the nurse came in, she started getting all of the monitors ready and began asking me a lot of questions. I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure so she stopped and checked me to see how far I was dilated. Imagine every one's surprise when she told me I was dilated to 9 cm. She went to the door and called for the other nurses. Immediately, there was a swarm of nurses in my room- one was trying to hook me up to all of the monitors, one was drawing blood and putting in my IV, one was getting everything ready for the baby, and one was setting up for the delivery. My OB was 10 minutes away and the nurses just kept telling me "Don't push- Dr. Deem will be here in just a minute."
After what seemed like forever (but was really only 5-10 minutes), my OB arrived and broke my water and told me I could push when I was ready. Two pushes later, at 12:13 am and only 45 minutes after we arrived at the hospital, Lily Claire made her quick yet dramatic entrance into this world. It is still hard for me to believe that I gave birth without the help of an epidural or any local anesthetics. Looking back, it is definitely the way to go and if I ever had the chance to do it again, I would choose a natural delivery. It was difficult while I was in labor, but the after effects were minimal. My recovery has been so much quicker than my other two deliveries and I really feel like it is because I did not have any drugs in my system.
One funny thing that we found out after I delivered was that all of the nurses in Labor and Delivery thought that I was not in true labor at first because of how calmly I walked in that evening. They all assumed that I was going to be sent home with false labor and that is why it took my nurse 10 minutes before she initially came in to check on me. Little did they know that they would all be needed very shortly for a fast delivery!
All of my deliveries have been very unique. Parker's was long and hard, Eden's was a breeze, and Lily's was very quick. I am so thankful that all of my deliveries ended with healthy babies and I now have 3 very different stories to share with each of them when they get older!
I started having contractions almost a week before I gave birth and even went to the hospital one time only to be sent home in false labor. The Friday before Lily was born, I had a 5 hour stretch of contractions that were 8-10 minutes apart. The next night I had another 5 hour stretch that were also 8-10 minutes apart. I never thought about going to the hospital during these stretches because I could never get the contractions closer than 8-10 minutes apart before they finally just stopped.
On the Tuesday before she was born, I woke up in the middle of the night with even more contractions. This time they got to be about 7-8 minutes apart, were much stronger than the previous ones, and lasted for 12 hours. At lunchtime, I finally decided to call my OB and see if I could come in and get checked out. After driving to the hospital with some pretty strong contractions, they suddenly stopped and I was sent home to wait it out again. I was getting really frustrated at this point, wondering if I was ever going to go into real labor.
On Thursday afternoon, I went in for my weekly OB appointment. My OB could tell how frustrated I was and decided to strip my membranes in hopes that it would start my labor. She did this when I was pregnant with Eden and it worked- Eden was born the next morning. My OB told me that she was on call that night and that if I could get my contractions to be between 5-7 minutes apart, I could come into the hospital and she would break my water. I left my appointment feeling optimistic that Lily would be arriving soon.
Around 6:30 Thursday evening, the contractions started. My mom came over to get Parker and Eden around 7:00 so that I could labor in peace. (It is not very fun to have a 3 1/2 and 2 year old climbing on you while you are having contractions!) I got in bed and started timing the contractions, but could not get them closer than 8-10 minutes apart. Frustrated, I told Cory that I was going to go walk. I put on one of the Project Runways that I needed to watch on DVR and started walking circles around my couches in hopes that it would speed up my contractions. Sure enough, they started getting stronger and closer together- about 5-7 minutes apart. At 10:30 pm we decided to leave for the hospital.
The hour long drive to the hospital was miserable. The contractions were still 4-6 minutes apart, but were VERY strong. I was even having to use some of my Lamaze breathing techniques to get through them. When we got to the hospital, Cory dropped my off at the door and went to park the car. By the time he got into the building, my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and were so strong I could barely walk.
I made it up to Labor and Delivery and we checked in at 11:35 pm. The tech put me in a room and we waited almost 10 minutes before a nurse came in to check on me. At this point the contractions were coming fast and furious and I was feeling a lot of pressure. When the nurse came in, she started getting all of the monitors ready and began asking me a lot of questions. I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure so she stopped and checked me to see how far I was dilated. Imagine every one's surprise when she told me I was dilated to 9 cm. She went to the door and called for the other nurses. Immediately, there was a swarm of nurses in my room- one was trying to hook me up to all of the monitors, one was drawing blood and putting in my IV, one was getting everything ready for the baby, and one was setting up for the delivery. My OB was 10 minutes away and the nurses just kept telling me "Don't push- Dr. Deem will be here in just a minute."
After what seemed like forever (but was really only 5-10 minutes), my OB arrived and broke my water and told me I could push when I was ready. Two pushes later, at 12:13 am and only 45 minutes after we arrived at the hospital, Lily Claire made her quick yet dramatic entrance into this world. It is still hard for me to believe that I gave birth without the help of an epidural or any local anesthetics. Looking back, it is definitely the way to go and if I ever had the chance to do it again, I would choose a natural delivery. It was difficult while I was in labor, but the after effects were minimal. My recovery has been so much quicker than my other two deliveries and I really feel like it is because I did not have any drugs in my system.
One funny thing that we found out after I delivered was that all of the nurses in Labor and Delivery thought that I was not in true labor at first because of how calmly I walked in that evening. They all assumed that I was going to be sent home with false labor and that is why it took my nurse 10 minutes before she initially came in to check on me. Little did they know that they would all be needed very shortly for a fast delivery!
All of my deliveries have been very unique. Parker's was long and hard, Eden's was a breeze, and Lily's was very quick. I am so thankful that all of my deliveries ended with healthy babies and I now have 3 very different stories to share with each of them when they get older!
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