Family of four!
Here goes 🙂
Tuesday, April 29th started out like any other ‘normal’ (as in, I’m 9 months pregnant normal) Tuesday. Haley and I met our friends at music class and then met Daddy for lunch. That afternoon Haley took a nap and I had a very nice, if short nap too. While Haley was sleeping my mom called and said that she and my dad had just gotten into town (my dad had a meeting in NPR). Haley and I met Gammy at the nail place and Haley got her fingernails done and I had a pedicure. The lady who did my nails said that she had another lady go into labor the next day after getting her toes done – so I was hoping!
After getting our nails done we came home and played with our neighbors for a while. Granddad arrived and then we all went to dinner (with Sean) at Cody’s. We were supposed to be celebrating my mom’s birthday (which was the 22nd), but I got a little distracted! When dinner was winding down, I started noticing some contractions and started timing them. Sean noticed me and I let him know they were 10 minutes apart. I think they started around 7:30 PM. Since I had already had a couple ‘false starts’ with contractions and thinking my water broke, we agreed to not say anything and my parents headed back up north.
We came home and put Haley to bed, all the while I was having contractions and they were getting closer together. After getting Haley down, we decided we had better call my parents and have them come back (whoops!) and let our neighbor know that she would be needed soon (to watch Haley until my parents got here). This was probably around 9 PM. I took a shower and we got the rest of our stuff together. We were not rushing, but we were focused.
Leading up to labor I was really nervous about getting to the hospital in time due to my previous experience with Haley. With Haley we waited at the house for a bit and by the time we got to the hospital I was already 9 cm and Haley was born an hour after we got there. My total time for labor for Haley was under 7 hours. So with this second pregnancy, I was nervous I wouldn’t know in time that I was in actual labor and then I wouldn’t make it in time. I was also supposed to get at least 2 doses of IV antibiotics 4 hours apart before delivering this time – I was trying to make that happen.
Anyway, we left and I know we were driving in the car a little after 10 PM. My guess is that we probably got there around 1030ish. By the time we got there my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and lasting between 45-60 seconds. It took a while to get checked in, but by the time we made it to our room and the nurse checked me I was… 3.5 to 4 cm (which is what I was at the Dr. office on Monday). I was a little disappointed, but also glad that I would be able to get my antibiotics in. The midwife came in and spoke with us. She was really pushing us to just use her instead of the MD (which is what our plan was). We said we still wanted the MD, and although she was a little disappointed, she said the nurse would call the Dr.
Well, it was probably about 30 minutes after that when I started feeling a lot of pressure. I got back in bed and when the nurse checked me, I was 9 cm. They asked the midwife to come in, since the Dr. wasn’t there yet, and I was 10 cm and started pushing. My water broke while I was pushing and the fluid was meconium stained – which freaked me out being the NICU nurse that I am. I didn’t push for too long – probably about 15 minutes and then Lily was here! Sean got to say, “It’s a girl!” No, the Dr. never made it. And yes, I did break my tail bone again 🙁 Other than that, the delivery was pretty uneventful. Lily was born at 12:17 AM on April 30th. The midwife said that she knew Lily was a girl because she came out with her hand first – reaching for Daddy’s money already 😉 She was also born holding onto her umbilical cord (with the other hand) and she wouldn’t let go. The midwife couldn’t clamp the cord and let Sean cut it because Lily just kept on holding on! She had to pry it from her hand! Silly girl.
They did take Lily to the warmer right away since the fluid had meconium in it. They needed to suction her out right way so that she didn’t breath any of that into her lungs. After they did that and dried her off a bit, I got to snuggle my new little baby girl. She was ready to eat right away and didn’t really ever stop for the next couple of hours!
We got moved to our new room after a few hours. Since we wanted Haley to meet her new baby sister first, we didn’t have any visitors until later the morning. Sean went home around 8 AM to get Haley. Haley got to meet Lily around 10 AM on Wednesday – about 24 hours after we had been at music class.
Haley was so excited to see Lily – I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look on her face when she and Sean came in and she first saw her little sister. True love and excitement. She climbed up and started petting Lily right away. Then she got to hold her and that was so wonderful to see – makes me tear up just to think about it. Then GG, Opa, & Uncle Nic came in and soon after Gammy & Granddad got to meet little Lily too.
Because I didn’t get my antibiotics in, we had to stay a full 48 hours after Lily was born. That meant we were stuck until Friday. Wednesday night was a really rough one, but luckily we had a really great nurse. She took Lily to the nursery for a couple of hours so Sean & I could get a sliver of sleep. It was wonderful. On Thursday Haley, Gammy, & Granddad came back around dinner time and we had a pizza party. Auntie Dawn also came by and got to meet Lily too. Then on Friday we got to come home! We made it back around 1:30 PM. It was great to be home with both our girls!
Thanks to Miss Brie for watching Haley – not only ‘labor night’, but for numerous Dr. appointments, as well as our ‘water breaking scare!’
Thanks to Gammy & Granddad for taking wonderful care of Haley while Mommy & Daddy were at the hospital with Lily. We knew we didn’t have to worry about our little girl while we were getting to know our baby girl.
And last but not least, thanks to GG, Opa, & Uncle Nic for driving down and back in the same day just to meet their newest grandbaby/niece. That’s love 🙂
Oh! I also need to thank my loving, supportive, awesome partner and labor helper 🙂 Once again Sean was my rock and I thank God I had him there with me. Thanks for being so wonderful – in everything!
And, thank you to my first born, Haley Laurel. You made me a Mommy. You have been so wonderful with your little sister – you love her so much and for that I am so happy. I hope that you two are best friends and your love for each other grows and grows.
Lily weight at birth: 8 pounds
Height at birth: 21 inches
12:17 AM Wednesday, April 30th
