The Birth Story... for those who are interested

LYDIA'S BIRTH STORY:

I wanted to write down Lydia's birth story before I forget the details...

Before Lydia was born, both Adam and I had thought Lydia was going to come early, even though both Ethan and Emma hadn't been early arrivals. And sure enough, she was. Her actual due date was April 30th. But, early in the morning at 3:00 AM on April 20th, after hosting Bible study at our house the night before, I woke up with contractions. I was pretty sure that they were the real thing, but, at the same time, I was nervous that it might just be false labor. My contractions continued to come about every 20 minutes and were just mildly uncomfortable. Because Lydia was our 3rd, I had thought that my labor would go very quickly, but it actually progressed slowly in the beginning.

I know that you are encouraged to try to go back to sleep if your contractions start in the middle of the night. But, to me, that is a joke! :-) I would like to meet someone who is actually able to go back to sleep!! So, as I thought to myself, 'I should probably try to go back to sleep,' I got up and took a shower, straightened up downstairs, and started working on a printout of Ethan and Emma's schedule. Since it looked like Lydia was coming before my dad's scheduled flight the next week, that meant that we were going to have to have someone come and watch Ethan and Emma for us while we went to the hospital.

At about 5:00 am, Adam woke up and saw that I was awake and asked, "is everything okay?," to which I said, "yeah, I think I'm in labor, but my contractions are still far apart." Adam went back to sleep for a little while and then woke up around 6am. We got everything ready for going to the hospital, because we were still thinking that we might have to go to the hospital soon. The kids got up and we all hung out in the morning, just waiting to see what my contractions were going to do. Even though my contractions were still about every 20 minutes apart, they had continued to stay consistent. So Adam decided to call in to work and I decided to call my parents. My dad was able to get a flight and was going to be getting in to Louisville at 11 pm. So, we also called friends from church to let them know that I was in labor, and that we would probably be calling soon for them to come over and watch Ethan and Emma.

At about lunch time, my contractions were getting a little bit closer together, about every 10-15 minutes apart, but they still weren't very strong. So we decided to keep staying at home until the contractions got stronger. We put the kids down for a nap, and then I tried to lay down and was able to take about a 30 minute nap. But then about 2:30, I woke up with a pretty strong contraction. And then after that, I was continuing to have contractions that were stronger. Even though they were still about 5-10 minutes apart, I could definitely tell that they were stronger. So, I said to Adam, "I think we better have the Marlettes come over and go to the hospital soon."

Our kind friends from church, the Marlettes, came over at about 3:15 to watch Ethan and Emma, and then Adam and I left for the hospital at 3:30. We got to the hospital a little before 4 and by the time that we were checked into the triage room it was 4:30. At this point, I was pretty anxious to hear how dilated I was so that we would know how close we were to delivery! The nurse checked me and I was glad to hear that I was at 6-7 cm! She asked me, "so are you going to do this naturally?" To which I said, "well, I'm going to try, but I'm also very open to an epidural" (I know it's pretty silly, but I did want to try to do it without an epidural just to see what it was like, and also because my 2 hardcore sisters had been able to do it, so I really wanted to try...)

We were then checked into a room probably around 5:15 and I became known as the "all natural chick" by the nurses (that is actually what one of the other nurses called me when she was called in to the room by our nurse to help with the monitor. She thought I was ready to deliver and came running in, and then when she realized I wasn't, she said, "oh, I thought the 'all natural chick' was ready to go!'"). The contractions for me were really not that bad. I was thankful that I was able to stand up, which really helped. I found that standing up, swaying back and forth, and rubbing my lower back with my hands really helped me to get through the contractions. Slow, controlled breathing also helped.

I was in the room for about 1 hour and then the nurse checked me again and I was at 8-9 cm. Which, of course, was welcome news! Then I went and sat on the toilet, because the nurse said that that really helped to make things go faster. Which, it definitely did! In about 10-15 minutes, my contractions went from not too bad to terrible. This is when I felt out of control and wondered if I was going to be able to do it. I had one really bad contraction and then I felt the need to push, so I said to Adam, "I think I need to push, you better get the nurse" (when I felt the need to push, I really couldn't keep myself from pushing and it felt like the only way that I could deal with the contraction...)

The nurse came in to the room and said, "okay, let's get you on the bed and check you! Dr. Buck is coming!" Thankfully, I had one small break in contractions that enabled me to walk from the bathroom to the bed. Then, Dr. Buck arrived, the delivery team came in, and just as another contraction was coming, Dr. Buck checked me and said, "Yes, you're ready, go ahead and push!!" I pushed and screamed with the contraction and Lydia's head came out. Then another contraction came and I screamed again, pushed, and the rest of Lydia came out! And it was over! Wow! It went so fast!! :-) And it was so amazing to see and meet our little girl for the first time.

I am thankful that God was good and so kind to us. Labor and delivery went very well and I am thankful that I was able to do it without an epidural. If we had another child, I can't say for sure that I would do it without an epidural again. :-) After doing labor naturally, I still think epidurals are great! I was thankful that my labor with Lydia really wasn't that bad and was very manageable, except at the very end. And, most importantly, Lydia was born healthy and is doing great! Praise God!