Sweet Lydia Charlotte made her debut this past Monday, September 2, 2013, 11 days past her due date. Just as I predicted months ago when I found out that both my parents and neighbor would be out of town Labor Day weekend, that's exactly when she chose to arrive. The irony of going into labor on Labor Day did not escape us. Fortunately, some sweet friends stepped up to help hubs and me out with the older girls for the two days I was in the hospital. We came home from the hospital Wednesday and are in the midst of learning how to parent THREE girls.
During the entire Labor Day weekend, I felt like her birth was imminent. I kept telling hubs that I really felt like she was coming soon, though I had nothing concrete to pin this "feeling" on. The truth is that I had no idea what it was like to go into labor as Juliet was an induction baby. Instinctively, I just knew it would be soon. A sweet friend took me for pedicures and spicy food Saturday, and I told her the same thing. But that night, no labor. Sunday morning we went to church. I told several people there the same thing, that labor was coming. I stayed around the house the remainder of the day Sunday while hubs took the girls to a birthday party...nothing. I woke up early Monday morning to use the restroom and still felt nothing. It was so discouraging! Our alarm went off at 6:45 Monday morning. I rolled over to turn it off, got out of bed and my water broke. I knew what was happening immediately, and I got all shaky and excited. I was going into labor all by myself!! As silly as it sounds, this was something I desperately wanted this time around. My induction experience with Juliet was less than ideal, and I did not care for a repeat. I called my mom, then my doctor, who urged me to get to the hospital ASAP.
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| Last pregnant pic...headed to the hospital. |
I called my friend who'd agreed to be on-call if I went into labor that weekend. She arrived by 7:45 to get the girls. At 8:00, I ate a piece of toast, and as I sat down to eat it, the real contractions began. There was no mistaking them.
We packed all our stuff in the car and left for the hospital, arriving around 8:30. By the time I got checked in, my contractions were coming every 4-5 minutes, and I was 100% effaced and was dilated 4-5 cm.
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| Ready to have that baby! |
Within two hours, my contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes. The nurse urged me to take the epidural if I wanted it. She was concerned I would progress too quickly if I waited. By 10:45, the epidural was in, and I was feeling much more relaxed. The nurse checked me again at this point, and I had progressed to 6-7 cm. An hour and a half later, the nurse came back to check me, and I was at 9 cm! I could hardly believe it. By this time, it was about 12:20 pm. Everything was happening so quickly, and my epidural was working this time! I didn't feel any pain, only the pressure of the contractions. At this point, I started to notice the pressure was heavier lower in my abdomen, and my contractions were coming every 1-2 minutes.
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| Contractions coming every 1-2 minutes...it's almost time! |
When the nurse came back, I told her this, so she checked me again and told me I was ready! The doctor and other nurses were gathered and after pushing through just three contractions, Lydia Charlotte entered the world at 12:58 pm, weighing 7 lbs 7 oz, and measuring 21 in. From start to finish, the whole event lasted a mere 5 hours and 58 minutes.
When Lydia was born, she cried for a few seconds as they took her away to be cleaned. Hubs went with her and began talking to her. She stopped crying and just stared at him. She did the same thing when they gave her to me. I began to talk, and she stopped moving and just tried to focus on me, as though she was studying my face as best she could. Lets just say that Mommy and Daddy are completely and totally smitten with our newest daughter. She's also much calmer and easier than Juliet was. She rarely cries, and is generally content just to sleep or sit with me when she's awake. She also enjoys her bouncy seat and swing, which are FINALLY getting some use as big sister Juliet hated both. She also will sleep unswaddled!! This NEVER happened with Juliet. I will say she does better swaddled at night, but we often lay her down during the day without her swaddle. Behold, the evidence!
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| I love the missing sock in this pic! Oops. |
The rest of us are doing well too. I'm recovering better than I did with Juliet, and I'm getting a lot more rest, which I'm sure is helpful. Both the girls seem to really like their new little sister. Juliet told me yesterday, "Mommy, I like baby Lydia." When my parents came over Friday on their way home from El Paso, Juliet said to my mom, "Grammie, I want to show you my baby." I'm so glad they seem to like her. I was especially worried about how Juliet would react. Liesel had been looking forward to Lydia's arrival since she learned I was pregnant, but Juliet had been varying levels of indifferent. They especially love to play with her fingers and kiss her head. It's pretty adorable!
This week, things slowly start to return to normal for us. Hubs still has one more week off, but we will be back in the swing of things with Liesel's pre-school, Juliet's dance class, PT appointments, Chinese school, errands, appointments, etc... My mom has volunteered to keep the older girls overnight later this week, which will be nice for hubs and me. My mom has also volunteered to come on Tuesday and Thursday morning to be an extra pair of hands while I help Liesel with her home-school material this week. Our church Sunday school class begins bringing us meals tomorrow, which will also be a huge help. I still haven't quite figured out how grocery shopping will work, so it will be nice not to have to meal plan or grocery shop for a couple more weeks. Hormonally, I'm coping much better than with Juliet. I think it's due in large part to the fact that we are sleeping more and also that we are not planning/packing for a cross-country move (we moved from Missouri to Texas when Juliet was just 6 weeks old). I have felt some sadness over not being pregnant anymore. I find this strange, but I can only guess it's because it may be my last pregnancy. I'm open to a 4th child, but I'm not sure hubs is, so this could be it, and I'm acutely aware of that. I've also noticed that I just can't stand any yelling. This is the hardest part with two rambunctious children running about. The yelling just stresses me out.
Lydia will be one week old tomorrow. It's hard to believe that a week has passed already. People always say the time goes by way too quickly, and it's true. I remember blinking and Juliet was a year old (or at least it felt that way)! Mostly, I just sit back and marvel at how blessed we are. I know I say this a lot, but it is true. We have three beautiful, healthy girls, and I can't imagine why I ever feel the need to complain. My heart is full! I'm looking forward to seeing how Lydia changes over the next few weeks and months. I love to watch babies grow, change and develop little personalities. Watching them turn into little people is one of my favorite things as a parent.
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| First family photo as a family of five! |
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