Lydia is here!!!

Wow! Things sure can change in an instant. I went home from my 39 week appointment on Tuesday thinking I was going to be induced next week and then woke up at 1 am to my water breaking! I sure didn't expect to have a baby so fast after that appointment.

So, here are the details......

I had my 39 week appointment on Tuesday, August 11th. She checked my cervix and gave what I thought was bad news.....1cm dilated, baby's head is high and we would talk about an induction the following week. So, Eric and I left thinking Lydia was probably going to be here next week. When I got home, I realized I had some spotting. I called the doctor and her office informed me she could of irritated my cervix, but that it was normal and to call back if it turned into more than spotting. The spotting stopped about 7pm that day.

Well, I woke up in the middle of that night. It was about 1am. I felt pressure in my uterus, stood up and felt a small gush. I went to the bathroom and inspected things. Nope, it wasn't pee! ( Hey, peeing your pants would not be that uncommon at 39 1/2 weeks pregnant!) I called labor and delivery. The nurse thought this was still from the exam I had earlier. She told me to lay down for an hour and if I had more gushing when standing up, to call back. Well, I never had another gush. Just constant spotting. I also thought that if it was my water breaking, I'd be getting some strong, constant contractions. I was getting contractions that were way stronger than anything I'd had in the weeks before, but they were still not regular. The were anywhere from 10-45 minutes apart. I decided to see what would happen that day.

All day I continued to have discharge/spotting and strong contractions. A few of them brought tears to my eyes. At about 5:30 pm I decided I'd call again. This nurse was way more concerned. She said I needed to head in immediately and be checked to see if I was ruptured. I called Eric and we got to the hospital at 7pm. The nurse did a swab and found out that I was ruptured. They figured I'd had a small leak. Once your amniotic fluid starts leaking, they want you to deliver with in 18-24 hours. After that you risk getting an infection in your uterus and passing one to the baby. Bad news for me.

By 8:30 pm I was hooked up to pitocin. The contractions immediately got strong and regular. I asked for the epidural and was informed he was on his way to the room next door and would be sent to me next. I kept having really strong and sharp contractions. A really strong one caused my water to fully break. That was interesting! Thank goodness it happened on the hospital bed and not my own!

By 11:30pm I thought I was going to die. The contractions were coming right on top of each other. I couldn't breathe and seriously thought I wasn't going to make it! The anesthesiologist finally walked in around midnight. It was also around that time I started running a fever and was shaking from it. Sitting still on the edge of the bed while having contractions and the shakes was not easy! Eric was a great support though and got me through it.

By 1 am I was finally numb. It was heavenly!!!! The nurse checked my cervix and I was about 7cm. All of those contractions apparently worked!

The bad news was that by this time, I had been ruptured for 24 hours. I was running a fever and my white blood cell count was up.

The nurse checked me again at about 2:30am and I was 9cm and nearly 100% effaced. The doctor got there at about 3am. She was not happy at all that a previous nurse had told me to stay home the night before. She said baby needed to be out by 5:30am or I was having a c-section. I really did not want that at all. She knew that, so I'm sure that's why she let me labor some more. They turned the pitocin way up. I could feel the contractions through my epidural! They were not unbearable, but I was amazed by that. At 5:30 my nurse was back to check me. She said Lydia was much lower and I should try to push and see if I could get her to come down. Well, apparently I'm a great pusher! She said she'd get the doctor and I should continue practice pushing during contractions. The doctor said things looked good and my awesome pushes should have Lydia out in no time. She was right! About 5 pushes later, at 5:59am Lydia Jule was born! She weighed 8lbs, 6oz and was 21 inches long. The first thing I said when I had her was, "Wow, she's a giant baby!" Next I said, "She looks like her daddy!"

Eric and I are so thrilled to finally have our little girl here! After trying to conceive for 2 years and going through 2 miscarriages, it often felt like this day would never come. Lydia truly completes our family. We love her so much and can not imagine our life with out her. Caitlyn has been walking on cloud nine and it has been so fun to watch her with her long awaited sister!

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us through the journey of bringing a child into this world! It was a long road for us and we couldn't have done it without you.