Baby Lucy's birth story
Wednesday Oct 13th started like every other day. It was my first official day of maternity leave and I had A MILLION things to get done. We were planning on going to Lake Powell for a few days for a little relaxation and we were leaving late that night.
I started the day bright and early at 7:30. I got Parker ready for school and got a load of laundry going. While Parker was at school I went to the grocery store and got all the shopping for the trip done. After picking Parker up from school we came home and I got to cleaning. I did both bathrooms, cleaned my room, did more laundry, dusted, etc etc. I have this huge issue with leaving my house messy while I go on vacation. What can I say, I like coming home to a clean house :)
After I got the majority of the dirty work done I got myself cleaned up. I still had a few errands to run so I was rushing and pushing myself alot more than I should have been. After I showered and got dressed I went to switch the laundry again. It was about 2:30 and I was moving the clothes from the washer to the dryer when I dropped one of Parker's little socks. I bent down to pick it up and SPLASH!!! Gross right?! I sat there for a couple of seconds kind of shocked then said "Oh shit!"
After I came to terms with what was going on I got moving again. John got that dreaded call of "Honey, we're having a baby." So, while he was on his way home I put my makeup on and started getting my hair done. I couldn't show up at the hospital looking like a drowned rat right?! So, John got home and wanted to go right to the hospital. I, on the other hand, had a ton of stuff to get done before we went. However, it was slightly uncomfortable doing ANYTHING while feeling like every time I moved I was peeing my pants!
I didn't have my hospital bag actually packed but I had made a very detailed list of things we would need. So, I got John started on the list while I finished my hair. Then I realized that Parker needed somewhere to go, so I called my mom and dad and neither answered. So I kind of started freaking out at that point. I mean, seriously, of all days for this to happen it HAD to be today. She couldn't have waited three days to let me go on vacation. She couldn't wait until I was all the way ready for her. Nope, my kids ARE NOT patient.
So anyway, my dad finally called me back and said he'd come get Parker. I got my bag all packed and I got the rest of the laundry done. I had been yelling at Park all day to get his room cleaned. As my luck would have it, he didn't clean any of it. Not one little bit. So, I went in and got it semi straightened up. I know, I'm kind of psychotic. It drives me CRAZY to come home from vacation or whatever to a messy house. I wanted to get the floors vacuumed and the kitchen floor mopped but by this point it was already 4:30 and John was getting really, and I mean really pissed off that I wasn't ready to go yet. Not to mention Dr. Nance told me to go straight to the hospital when my water broke. So, we finally got Parker and Maisy off to Grandma and Grandpas and we left for the hospital.
As we pulled into the hospital I took one look at the parking lot and started refreaking. There were so many cars there! And here I was looking like I had peed my pants! I had to walk all the way from the parking lot to the labor and delivery unit with John walking behind me so noone would see my 'accident' LOL.
We got all checked in and settled in our room by 5:15. The nurse checked me and I was at a whoppin 2 and 90% effaced. I wasn't having any noticeable contractions. Dr. Nance wanted to induce me but I really didn't want any Pitocin. I wanted to start labor naturally but he decided that since my water had broken 3 hours earlier and I still wasn't having any contractions that he wanted to start me. So, they started me at 4 of pitocin to see if that would get me moving along. I had them do the epidural at 6:20 since when they started me with Park I went from a 1 to a 10 in an hour. I didn't want to be caught without it. At 7 I was checked again and was about a 3. So, a couple hours rolled by with very little progress and still no noticeable contractions. I was starving, thirsty and SO uncomfortable from the epidural. I had tubes coming out of my hand, my back, and two tubes up my yoohoo! The nurse checked me again at 9:20 and I had upgraded to a freaking 3. I was seriously almost in tears. I was wishing I hadn't even had the epidural cause it was causing me so much stress and discomfort. Around 10pm John headed down to the cafeteria to get some dinner. I was laying there, by myself ten minutes later when I started feeling hard contractions. After about 15-20 minutes they started getting more and more intense until they were coming every minute or so. I was in SO much pain so I tried to push my epidural dose button but the damn thing was nowhere to be found. So, I tried to call for the nurse but the damn nurse calling thing was nowhere to be found either. I couldn't move from the waist down so I was feeling around everywhere trying to find those damn buttons! I gave up and just laid there. Miserable and alone. Waiting for my husband to come back from his dinner run. I assumed he was going to get his food and come back to the room and eat it, but no...he stayed in the cafeteria to leisurly eat his food while I laid there, alone and in pain!! He FINALLY came back about the same time the nurse came in to check on me. At 10:40 she checked me and I was FINALLY at a 10! She had given me my epidural button to push but told me it would take at least 15 minutes to start working. I pushed that sucker like there was no tomorrow!! She had the anesthesiologist come in and give me an extra dose of epidural at 11:00. Dr. Nance called at a quarter to 11 and said he was stuck in traffic. CRAP! But at about 11:10 he FINALLY made it. He took one look at me and said "Get ready, you're gonna have a baby!" Seriously, why does everyone say that? Do they think I don't know?? So, he gets all situated down there and about 1 minute later tells me to get ready to push. I pushed 6 times through 2 contractions and little Lucy was here!! She was born at 11:22pm weighing 8lbs 9 oz and she was 20 inches long and absolutely perfect!!
While they were getting her all cleaned up the weirdest thing happened...I started itching, like crazy! All over my face, neck and head. I seriously could not scratch my head hard enough. The anesthesiologist didn't know why but gave me some benadryl. It only lasted about 20 minutes and then stopped. Weird!
Finally at about 2am we got all settled into our room and we finally got a little rest!
During our time at the hospital Lucy's blood sugar levels were low so they had to test her every three hours. Her poor little feet were so bruised :(
Finally on Friday we got to go home! When we left the hospital she was down to 8lbs 1oz but was doing fantastic.
Her first couple of weeks she was such a good sleeper! She would sleep all day and only wake up to eat. She would sleep for 5-6 hours at a time.
At her 2 week checkup she was up to 8lbs 11oz (64%) 22in (95%) and her head was 37.5cm (83%). I have a feeling shes going to be tall and skinny like everyone else in the family, except me! I'll be the short chunky one in all of our family picutres LOL.
Now, at 4 weeks, shes starting to show that she has quite the attitude! She is still sleeping really well at night. Anywhere from 5-8 hours. But the daytime is a completely different story. She loves loves loves being held and she cries if I put her down. Needless to say I don't get a whole lot done during the day. It's ok though. I forces me to slow down and relax and enjoy my time with her. Lucy is a super good eater. She eats every 4-5 hours during the day and once during the night, usually about 5 oz at a time. She gets the hiccups after almost every feeding, just like when she was still in my tummy. I knew she was gonna be a hiccuper LOL. Shes started making eye contact and she LOVES to stare at my face. She also really likes to be on her tummy which is completely opposite from Parker. He hated tummy time! Lucy is super strong and can turn her head from side to side while shes laying on her tummy and she can hold it up for a couple of seconds while shes laying over my shoulder. She still has a ton of dark curly hair and her eyelashes seem to grow longer overnight. Oh, and weird thing that I totally did not expect, she has BLUE EYES! Huge, gorgeous blue eyes. We are definitely gonna have our hands full with this one!
On a side note, Parker has done great with transitioning to big brother instead of only child. He was a little jealous at first but is completely over it and LOVES to help out. He loves to hold her and 'pet' her head. He loves to help mommy by getting diapers, blankets, burp rags etc. I do feel bad that I don't have as much time with him as I used to and I tend to have less patience. I think its been harder for me to deal with having another child in the house than it has been for him. However, it has been hardest on Maisy. She gets so jealous of Lucy and she has to be touching me wherever I am. She'll even sleep on my foot if I'm sitting on the couch with my feet on the floor. She seems to be getting better and is accepting the way things are now but it was really very sad for the first couple weeks.
I'll end this post before it becomes a novel but I'm going to try and do weekly posts so I'm not so overwhelmed :)
