Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Lucy Grace's Birth Story



On August 23, 2012 at 1:46 pm we welcomed Lucy Grace into our life and our hearts.




7lbs, 12 oz and 20.5 inches long and she changed us in an instant.

Here is Lucy's story.

We were scheduled to be induced at 6am on August the 23rd. We didn’t really want to go the induction route but my OB highly suggested it. I ended up starting to feel labor contractions early Thursday morning. We ended up going to the hospital at 1:30am, a couple hours before my induction. I was in a ton of pain.  They asked if I wanted an epidural and I said hopefully I was far enough along that I could go without. They checked me and I was only 4cm. I was devastated. I was in more pain by the minute. I soon agreed to get the epidural and I have no regrets about that decision. Shortly after getting the epidural Lucy’s heart rate started to drop, nurses ran into the room, stabbed me with a shot of something and made me flip from side to side (while totally numb waist down) to get her heart rate up. The shot slowed my contractions down and then labor stalled for awhile. I got stuck at 7cm for a number of hours. By 9 am I was 9cm dilated and then by 10 am I was a full 10 cm dilated. We started practice pushing. I was going on 24 + hours of no sleep at this point and nearly fell asleep numerous times between pushing. I was having a lot of contractions but we had to skip every other one because after each push session her heart rate would drop. It’s really hard to push when you are numb from the waist down because you have no idea if you are doing it right or not. I pushed for a total of 3 hours. Into the 2nd hour my OB said that there was a good chance that I could be getting a C-Section because things were not advancing. I was to be prepared for an emergency C-section and things would happen very quickly if it came to that.  Things started to pick up but my OB told me that she was going to have to assist with the delivery and use the vacuum. Everyone got in place for delivery and at this point I had regained some feeling in my legs which helped a lot but I didn’t feel any pain. I was able to deliver Lucy on my own with my own body. The OB did use a vacuum to help get her out and had to give me a small episiotomy and I had 4th degree tears. I feel lucky that we were still able to have the delivery that I wanted even if it has come much differently then I imagined.






Being a new mom is so much harder then I ever could have prepared myself for. But this is my heart, and I'm so in love.





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5 comments:

  1. I LOVE your birth story. I don't know if you read Birthing from Within, but it is all about the journey, and the challenges we face along the way. It is a beautiful story to treasure. Don't you somehow feel like you share something with womankind in a crazy granola kind of way now? I did after my birth. Looking back now almost 4 months later I'd totally do the labor and delivery again, but I don't think I want to go through the sleepless nights a second time!

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    1. It is funny you mention that, now that its been a week I can't help but notice how fond I am of looking back at the whole thing and reliving it in my mind. Just amazing. Still can't believe it all REALLY happened!

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  2. Congratulations on the birth of your beautiful Lucy!

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  3. Congratulations!!! She is so beautiful! Best of luck with all that comes with having a newborn! Its hard sleep-wise, but that gets better. I have found the website Troublesome Tots to be really helpful for sleep info. Anyways, congrats again! :D

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