We had a baby!
We had our precious baby girl this morning at 4:36am, Scotland time. I started going in and out of contractions yesterday afternoon and evening, and then they got crazy at about 1am. Christy came over and had a wild night with our {first} 2, while we headed to the hospital. Knowing I wanted an epidural, we headed for the Labour Ward and they were happy to oblige in theory…it just took a while to get the process started, which is what ultimately back-fired. My contractions were 2, maybe 3, minutes apart and I was almost 4cm dilated. This was well past any pain level I had experienced with Rebekah or Luke, so I answered questions as quickly as I could and took the IV during a contraction to ensure we could get the epi as quickly as possible, too. Y’all, I am not kidding- I think I was less than a minute away from getting my blessed relief when some other lady had the nerve to deliver twins and need to be in theatre! ;) I will say at this moment, watching my anesthesiologist walk away, I was very brave. I really was. That is where my bravery ended, tho. I opted for some other drip med that you can use as you feel contractions…it helped ease the pain and gave me a light-headed feeling that greatly aided me for an hour or so. Then, that quit working. I was never impressed with the gas and air and only kept taking it b/c they insisted and it gave me tube to bite on instead of yelling more. It was at this point that I started crying uncontrollaby and screaming like a banshee through most contractions. I will say I apologized over and over, but I felt like the kids and the more I tried to quit crying, the harder I sobbed…even between contractions. Some people call this a panic attack. I have never felt so much pain in my life and couldn’t quit thinking, “I can’t do this.” But then I kept thinking about friends who had managed before me and I tried to picture the precious bundle waiting at the other end, but I will say that I was scared out of my mind. My water still had not broken, though contraction rolled in after contraction, to the point that the midwives quit looking for the anesthesiologist and got me on my knees to push her out. I apparently lost my IV and all chance at meds {even tho they hadn’t been working for a while}, so transition was all on my own. This was when my water broke- as I pushed her out?!?! It wasn’t pretty, but I will tell you those women know what they are doing! It was incredibly intense, but the delivery went as smoothly as possible regardless of my preferences- I owe it to a faithful God who sees to His people’s needs, a WONDERFUL husband and his exactly right and perfectly-timed words of encouragement and praise, and finally precise instructions for slow pushes that got my girl out with very little “trauma” to either of us. Anyway, the delivery was not at all what I wanted or prayed for as a process, yet the final result is far better than I could have hoped and I survive my biggest fear: delivering a baby sans meds! Praise the Lord!
{Interestingly, we are already home. With a normal delivery, you can check out 6 hrs after your baby is born. Our only concern was that she wasn’t maintaining her temp, but a little time in the incubator solved that. We still need to wash her matted hair as they don’t give the first bath. They pretty much deliver your baby, give you ample time to nurse and do skin-to-skin, and that’s that.}
Elizabeth Sophia: Lizzie
Meet Elizabeth Sophia. We chose Sophia because it means “wisdom” in Greek and seemed to nicely parallel Rebekah’s middle name of “Grace.” We pray she will be a faithful servant of the Lord like her predecessor Elizabeth was and that she will embody wisdom as she grows in grace and truth. Just so you know, we are calling her Lizzie, and you can too. ;)
She is a 7lb, 3 oz perfect little girl who is healthy and already a great nurser {answer to prayer for a quick and eager latch-on!}! She has a full head of dark, dark hair and resembles both her big sister and big brother! She has Luke’s and my chin, as well as a small stork bite above the bridge of her nose like he did/does, but Rebekah’s hair and her crazy alertness when she’s awake. Her nose reminds me of my niece’s, Riley’s. She seems tiny, probably because she is a full 2 lbs lighter than her brother was and 5 oz lighter than her sister!
I’m not sure why it’s so hard to get brand new baby pics, but it really is. They’re out of order, but you can see what’s going on and how lovely she is!
