The Birth of Lydia Margaret

On January 24th Russell and I got up early and headed to St. Bernardine's to induce labor and have our baby girl.  I was still 8 days away from my due date, but I was huge and my babies are always big for their gestational age (Nathan was 8lbs 9oz at 22 days early) so my doctor took pity on me.  On a side note, Dr. Yang was my doctor through all 3 of my pregnancies because he is one of the few who will let me have a vaginal birth after I had a c-section with the twins. Sadly, I'll have to see someone else for any future children as Lydia was one of Dr. Yang's last babies to deliver. He retired just a couple of days later.  He delivered Russell's brother, Travis 23 years ago :)

Anyways, at the hospital I got the pitocin and Dr. Yang broke my water (um... ow) and got things going around 6am. With Nathan, Dr. Yang had made it seem like he required me to have an epidural in order for him to allow a vbac, so I got one.  This time all of the sudden at the hospital he and the nurses kept asking if I would want one.  I was caught off guard and had not prepared for the possibility of not having one so I thought I'd just do it.  I'd heard horror stories of others' inducements taking ALL day long so I was feeling pretty nervous, but I didn't want to be on the epidural that long so I didn't want it right away.  I was only dilated to a 3 anyway. My contractions started pretty instantly and I was doing pretty good for a while, but then it started to get pretty uncomfortable.  Okay it hurt.  And then it hurt more.  And I told the nurse I was ready for the epidural.  While I waited the pain got worse and I was nearly hyperventilating during contractions and getting light headed.  I was trying not to cry but doing a lot of whining and moaning and I felt like the nurse thought I was being a wuss because she just ignored me. It took almost 45 minutes to get the anesthesiologist in to see me and by then I didn't think I was going to be able to hold still enough for the epidural.  The nurse was great and helped me hold still through it, though.  After it was done it was seriously incredible how much better I felt (I was pinning on pinterest on my phone ;) The nurse checked my cervix.  She said, "oh no wonder you were in so much pain, you're at an 8 already!" They called the Dr. and when he got there a while later it was already time to push.  Pushing was a little awkward this time around (well, it's always awkward) because my contractions were very strong and I was progressing, but they were still 2-3 minutes apart.  So during delivery there was me pushing through the contraction for a few seconds and then Russell, Dr. Yang, and all 6 or so nurses in the room would sit and stare at me or the monitor waiting for what seemed like 10 minutes, but was actually less than 3, waiting for the next contraction to start. *cricket cricket*  I'm just grateful Russell didn't feel the need to fill the awkward silence with dumb jokes ;) After about 5 contraction of me pushing Lydia graced us with her presence. She was born at 11:10am... just about 5 hours from when things got started!  I was sooo relieved and grateful.

So at 8 days early this little lady was 10 lbs!  Just imagine if my dear doctor wasn't willing to induce me until after my due date!

We named her Lydia, a name we had been hearing more and more over the last year or two and really liked.  Her middle name is Margaret after my paternal grandmother, her only living great grandparent.

Here are pictures galore of her first day...

With mom right after birth.  Sucking on her hands, of course.  This girl was born with the strongest sucking reflex... it caused me a lot of pain and little sleep on her first night.  We finally asked the nurse for a pacifier halfway through the night and she told us, "we try to encourage moms not to use pacifiers for the first few weeks"  Um... okay thanks for the encouragement but this isn't my first baby just get me the plug so she'll stop using ME as a pacifier! No I didn't say this, but I wanted to. I explained the situation and she reluctantly brought me one, only to have the next nurse tell me the same thing in the morning when she saw the pacifier in the crib. Oi.

Anyways...

Proud Daddy

She had a TON of black hair.

I had dark hair like this as a baby ;)

When the kids came to meet their new sister, Nathan was a little unsure of everything. This is what he did when he took his turn to hold her...

Madylin was a pro

and Morgan was elated.

His shirt was still cute!

Nathan got over it quickly and could be seen fawning over her with Granna. Love this.

Admiring her with Daddy.

I've had to recover from a c-section with pre-eclampsia where I was put completely under, so I feel like I can appreciate how much better it feels afterwards to have had a vaginal birth.  I've seen the other side and I know how much better it is this way and I think it helps me to bounce back fast.  We left the hospital less than 24 hours after Lydia was born and I was feeling really good. So blessed!

Here is our little Lydia on her way home!

So grateful for her!