Lyndi is here... and she is huge! :) For a quick look I will just spat out her stats and then I will continue on with the labor story for journalistic purposes.
Born February 9th at 10:26 pm. 9 lbs. 12 oz's. and 21.75 inches long. My biggest bubba yet! (More pictures at bottom!)
***************** (This is the child birthing story... so don't read if "blood" offends!)
At my 41'ish week appointment we thought for sure that I had progressed further along towards labor. The week before my doctor had told me that I was now 2 cm and 80% efaced. Woo hoo! So when I came in ready to pop with our bags all packed and my OB said that I was 2 cm and 50% efaced I was completely and utterly disappointed. So we scheduled our induction date and walked out of the office frustrated and exhausted.
Boy had I forgotten what REAL labor felt like, and let me tell you! This was the worst labor experience I have ever had! My big bubba made me work for her, and work hard I did.
Thursday morning at 1:30 a.m. I woke up to horrible cramp like contractions. With my other two children, whenever I had a contraction it was in my upper stomach. I never experienced cramps like this before. I also never bled before that I am aware of. (You know, before it "counts.") When I got up to use the bathroom for the zillionth time that night/ morning I turned on the bathroom light and freaked out. Apparently I was witnessing "bloody show" but in my mind I was bleeding to death. Another contraction happened and the wind was knocked completely out of me. I woke Josh up and ordered him to load the kids up in the van.
You know that expression: running around like a chicken with it's head chopped off? This was me. I ran up and down the hall way at least four times scrambling and forgetting what I was trying to do. Finally I remembered to grab the phone and called triage. She said that I should come in and get checked since it was my third delivery. I then called several women (each of them several times since it was 1:15 in the morning!) and didn't have any luck. I started to freak out and shake a little but then- ta da! One of my new friends in our new community called me back! And so we headed out.
We dropped Aiden and Shaylee off with Terrance and Jacki Keenan. They were such huge blessings to us in more ways then one that morning/ day. Not only did they open their home to our children, but they just had their third child as well. I'm sure they were exhausted.
We got to the hospital after 2 in the morning and they kept me for two hours. I was still 2 cm's and still only 50% efaced. My contractions were hitting HARD but only 10 minutes apart so they sent me home. I was miserable and angry because we live almost an hour away from the hospital, but nothing was happening labor wise other then HORRID contractions.
We arrived at the Keenan's house just after 5 a.m. to pick our kiddo's back up and Jacki brought up having a priesthood blessing. I was 5 days over due, huge, the baby was still posterior, and still hadn't moved down at all. Terrance and Josh gave me a blessing and it gave me a lot of peace. I was so worried about Lyndi going into distress. My labor with my son was fairly similar (except for how strong the contractions were) and he had gone into distress, passing meconium inside me twice.
After the blessing we continued home.
Around 10 a.m. I called my OB's office and talked to the on call nurse. The contractions had gotten even harder however weren't any more consistent. I had one while on the phone and she said that she was going to call me back in an hour to see how I was doing. When she did call back I was in tears- however not any more consistent. She told me to come on in.
Annoyed with the entire situation and stressed out about the prospect of being sent home AGAIN I decided to take my time. I took a long HOT bath and just soaked. Then we slowly got the kid's things together again and made our way back over to Jackie's house. Between the chaos of the contractions and the excitement of the kids we forgot to give Jackie their backpacks with clothes and diapers (for Shaylee). DOH! haha!
Around 1:30 pm. we were sent back into triage where a new nurse set us up in bed to be monitored. After a quick internal check she told me I was 3 cm and 80% efaced.
THE WORST WORDS EVER.
I told her that we lived far away and that I was concerned about the baby since she still hadn't engaged at all. I also asked if there was anything we can do so that I don't get sent home again. I was BEGGING for pitocin at this point. She told me that she'd keep me another hour and check me again. By the time she came back my contractions were hitting every 3 minutes and were 2 minutes long. The were so hard I was struggling to keep my composure. I had already been up for about 14 hours and was exhausted. Josh was an amazing birthing partner and worked really hard at making sure I continued to breath. When she checked me between the contractions (and actually right through the middle of one!) she said that I was now a 5 and that she would call the patient delivery/ maternity ward and have me admitted.
AMAZING! AWESOME! Tears immediately sprung to my eyes... and then another contraction hit.
I have always been against any type of mind altering drug to relieve pain. Not for any other reason other than I know me, and know that I would lose control if I wasn't completely in control of my own mind. The nurse asked me twice if I wanted something to take the edge off before my new nurse could bring me to our delivery room. Both times I said no. The third time she asked- I said, "BRING IT ON!"
Talk about mind bending. Immediately I fell asleep. But was rudely woken up to another contraction. I did this for a little under an hour and then the contractions were so fast between each other I became the screaming lady in the other room.
So... a little side note that I forgot to mention! When we were first brought into our monitoring room another laboring mama was wheeled into a room next to me. She was screaming and hollering so much that I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing. She sounded ridiculous. She was quickly taken away and probably had her baby pretty quick.
So what goes around comes around. I became the VERY woman I was making fun of. But when it was MY turn... it wasn't funny anymore! When I labored with my first two, it hurt, but I was able to breath through the contractions and then laugh about it afterward. This time everything was so different. I was ready to hyperventilate and I thought my body was tearing in half.
By the time they wheeled me to the elevator to be brought upstairs I was so overwhelmed I was a sobbing mess. I didn't have time to stand or sit before another contraction would hit. Once I was in my room they checked me again and I was a solid 8 cm's. The anesthesiologist came in ready to go but because of how often my contractions were she had to try two times to get it in. And even then it only numbed my right leg and stomach. But that's okay. I took WHAT EVER pain relief I could get.
The doctor came in once I was settled back into bed and checked me again. I was 9 cm's with my water still intact. Baby still was posterior and still hadn't moved down. The doctor then decided to do an emergency C-section on someone else and said he would be back in 30 minutes. Apparently the lady that had to have the C-section was in the same situation I was in concerning the baby. No movement down. This scared me but I remembered my blessing from earlier and felt comforted.
He came back in at around 10 pm and broke my water. The nurse had me push just for the fun of it and guess what. Lyndi turned the way she needed to so that she could move down. She was no longer posterior! And that one push brought her ALL the way down! The nurse ran and grabbed the doctor and the fun began!
I wasn't really prepared to feel the pushing and crowning. I had assumed that the epidural would all of a sudden numb my pelvic floor even though I still felt the really hard contractions. However that was not the case. I can honestly say that the only thing that helped me through those lousy 5 minutes was the fact that I had watched my sister give birth only 6 weeks before and had helped coach her through the pushing/ crowning of her daughter. That gave me the confidence to know that if I tried my hardest- it would end faster! And so I did. Lyndi Marie was born after less than 5 minutes of pushing. In my mind I was screaming as I was pushing, like an insane woman! But Josh told me he was so proud of me. He said I didn't scream ever. Talk about going to my "happy" place, eh?
As she was starting to crown the doctor kind of let out a little bit of a whistle as he announced that she was NOT going to be an 8 pound baby! Josh then started to laugh as he yelled out that she was "ALL CHEEKS AND NO FOREHEAD!!!"
And then the pain was no more.
She was out!
They immediately handed me her blue body, for she hadn't even cried yet. I grabbed her up and remember asking the doctor several times why she wasn't crying. Slowly she would yelp here and there and her coloring started to come in. My HUGE baby, Lyndi Marie came out just as lazy has she did living inside me. She does things on HER time and her time alone. :)
We have video and pictures of the entire experience. I look back at them and smile ear to ear. It was such a traumatic process from start to finish- but was SO amazing afterward. Not even my amazing delivery of Shaylee was this good at the end. I was euphoric and proud... and in love.
^All pictures above were taken at the hospital...
v One week birthday....
She is such an amazing baby. She eats a TON and then sleeps for hours for the most part. She's still my lazy baby but is so cute. She has such a sweet little cry when you pick her up from one of her raging screams. It's like a little whimper sigh of relief that only I can incite.
Shaylee calls Lyndi, her baby doll. And Aiden calls her baby Lyndi.
Several people have mentioned how different she looks from my other two, and I giggle a little bit. The truth is, she is a spitting image of Aiden AND Shaylee...
Today is Lyndi's 2 week birthday... and I am still enamored by her and her spirit. I am so grateful to finally have her in my arms and thank the Lord every day for the opportunity to be her mommy!
