[Originally written one evening in the hospital in the post delivery fog of those first couple of days!]
Baby Sister was due August 25, 2014. We went to an appointment on the 25th and another on September 2nd. At the final office appointment we opted to give Baby Sister until the 42 week mark before we induced. After our final appointment (Tuesday) we went straight to the hospital for a non-stress test and ultrasound. The nurse/doctor team gave us the go ahead to keep waiting and scheduled another non-stress test for Friday.
Friday, September 5, 2014
6am Pappy and Gigi head home after spending two weeks with our family. Dave went back to sleep and I went to Panera for a little quiet time before the day began. Before heading home I started writing down regular back pain I was experiencing.
10:30 Our friend Kim came and picked up the kids for the morning so that I could go to a non-stress test at the hospital. Since I was having regular back pain, I asked Dave if he by any chance had anyone to visit that day. He did and was able to drive us.
11:00 The non-stress test started with an audible dip in Baby Sister’s heartbeat. The rest of the test was great, but the doctor wanted us to have another ultrasound to check the level of amniotic fluid. This was one of the neatest ultrasounds I have ever seen. The techs were very excited to have an OB patient and delighted in showing us our girl from every angle possible. We could even see her lips moving as she sucked her fingers!
Dave and I went back upstairs to the L&D triage nurse and waited to talk to the doctor. Dave ran out to pick up a quick KFC lunch and was back in time to hear the doctor say that fluid levels were on the low side of normal. Then he offered to induce us right then! One of our main goals with this delivery was to not get to the hospital too early and end up waiting for labor to really get going, so we gratefully declined. Dave took me back to the house and he went back to work.
3:00 By the time Sarah came down from nap time I was definitely calling my regular back pain contractions. I spent time sitting on the exercise ball and playing with Sarah. Contractions were about 10 minutes apart and painful enough that Sarah knew when I was having one. And not to touch me :)
5:00 My parents arrived just after Dave came home from work. Contractions were more like 7 minutes apart. As I sat and visited they got a little farther apart.
7:00 From past experience we knew that when I rested contractions spaced out and when I was on my feet they sped up. We put these contractions to the test by going for a walk around the neighborhood while my parents put the kids to bed. Sure enough, contractions dropped to 4-5 minutes apart and were painful enough that I needed to stop and lean over.
7:45 We went home and I laid down. Contractions did space out to 7-8 minutes apart, but were quite painful.
8:09 Made the call to call the doctor. We knew at this point we were ready to head to the hospital. (When we saw him the next morning he said that he checked on me with the nurses in the middle of the night and was quite surprised that I had already delivered. Based on my tone over the phone he thought it was going to be longer. I'm glad we didn't take our time getting to the hospital, as he kindly recommended!)
8:40 Arrived at the hospital and headed to triage. They hooked me up the monitors and we talked about how back labor would be a little different than traditional labor. After a long pep talk by a kind nurse about how I might not have progressed past the 3 cm dilation I was at my Tuesday appointment, they check me and said I was at 7-8 cm. Woo hoo! With that news they promptly found a room for us and we got started on paperwork.
At this point I can’t be sure of the timing of anything. I can only testify to the intensity of those contractions and the resilience and endurance of my husband, who pressed hard on my hips and my back with every contraction while helping me answer questions and sign forms during breaks. At one point the midwife checked me and I was at 9 cm. At another point I elbowed Dave in the face.
It wasn’t long before there weren’t really any breaks and I felt that the time to push was upon us, ready or not! Thankfully the midwife agreed and said to just go for it. In past deliveries there were practice pushes and counting to ten and such, even though both of the kids came in a just a push or two. With this delivery she just said push when you feel like pushing. Since that was pretty much the only option my body was giving me at that point, I did, and just kept pushing as her head, shoulders, and body were delivered quickly. It was
10:55pm. Dave helped to catch her as she was born. They broke my water as she was being delivered. The nurses guess it was in the 60 seconds before she was born, which was significant since I didn’t get my four hours of strep B antibiotic and Baby Sister was technically exposed, but only for the less than 60 seconds as she was delivered.
The nurses put her right on my chest and Dave took pictures. She cried right away and then was quiet and serene. She was born with her hand by her face just like the ultrasound showed us less than 12 hours earlier, and even had suck marks on her knuckles. They let her lay with me for more than an hour while they finished up their work and she worked on eating for the first time. She was so good at pacifying herself with her hand that she wasn’t very interested in eating right away. During this time Dave and I decided for sure that she was Lydia Elizabeth. When everything slowed down the final nurse weighed and measured her and declared her perfect in every way. We couldn’t agree more!
Lydia Elizabeth Cook
September 5, 2014
8 pounds, 15.5 ounces
22 inches
