Lyric Noel

Monday Morning: Mild contractions start early in the morning and continue to last throughout waking up.  At 5 minutes apart, I call Dr. Lewis to see what she recommend I do.  "Even if the contractions are not hurting that bad?" I asked. With other signs and contractions so close together, she suggests that I go the the hospital.  With bags packed, Bryan and I got the the hospital around 9:30 a.m.  After an hour of evaluation, we got told exactly what we expected.  "You're not in full term labor yet.  See you later!"

Tuesday Morning: With contractions continuing to get worse throughout the night before, I went to bed not knowing what to expect.  I went to sleep at around 10:30 p.m. and woke at midnight with contractions hurting like never before.  To see if this was the real thing, I got up and moved around and watched some TV in order to evaluate if this was real or just another fluke.  Once heavy contractions were hitting me every 5 minutes, I woke Bryan up.  This was around 2:00 a.m.  Time to go to the hospital and this time we were not coming home without a baby!

We got to the hospital around 3 a.m. and went straight back to triage for evaluation.  I had dilated since the morning before which was good.  The nurse said that I was 80 percent effaced and the head was at a level lower than most at this stage of labor.  During the hour, Bryan and I sat there getting more and more excited since we knew this baby was coming soon.  When the nurse came back to evaluate me, I hadn't dilated at all.  This meant that I was not in active labor and they couldn't admit me.  All Bryan and I could think was: How can you say that?  Contractions are coming hard less than every 5 minutes and you want us to go home?  How would we know when to come back?  This looks like the start of intense labor to us!  She offered me an Ambien to go home and see if it could make me rest.  Then, the tears came.  There was no way I could go home in this much pain!  If only I could dilate 1 more centimeter.  When returning with my Ambien, Bryan asked if we could go walk around to see if we could get this thing moving along quicker.  With approval, off we went walking the hospital at 5:30 in the morning.  Contractions began to progress to about every 3 minutes and I had to sit down and focus during each one.  (Those things hurt!)  Back in triage, the nurse checked me for the third time and made sure to get as precise as she could with my dilation, holding nothing back on her end.  (Ow.)  As she was checking me, my water broke and we could be admitted.  (Yay!)  Woah, woah, woah, hold on with the "yay's"...things then got REALLY bad.

Contractions continued to come hard, really really hard every 2 minutes as we waited and got into our room for delivery.  There's no way to explain what I was feeling, so we'll just all agree that it was absolutely, mortifyingly awful.  Our delivery nurse assured everything would get better once my epidural arrived...IN AN HOUR!!!  Are you kidding me?  You expect me to go through THIS for the next hour??? Bryan was great support as each hard hit came.  Couldn't have done any of this without him.  Holding my hand as each one came, he never left my side and encouraged me that I could do it.   During the WAIT, Baby started having a tough time.  Baby's heart rate was going up as time went on and even with extra fluids and oxygen, there was no change.  Epidural FINALLY came, and before it even started working, my nurse informed us it was time for an emergency Cesarean section.  What?  But I don't want one of those!  Is my baby okay?  What's going on?  

Doctor Lewis shows up and she is bummed out for us.  We get all prepped and with her team and all their positive energy, my nerves were eased a bit.  Bryan sat by me during the procedure and we were both shocked when we heard the doctor say, "Oh, that was the problem...your cord was around your neck."  But soon enough, Baby was being pulled out with ease.  Then I hear, "Here's the head, and the shoulder...Daddy tell Mommy what you have."  Bryan stands up and looks down at me.

"It's Lyric."

Lyric was born 7 pounds, 1 ounce and 19 1/2 inches long.  (Doctor Lewis guessed our baby would be 7 pounds 2 ounces the week before.)  Even with all the ups and downs, we have an incredibly gorgeous and healthy baby.  We love sharing Lyric with all our family and friends!  All the generous pink gifts have been wonderful!  I can't wait for her to wear them, but since she is still so small she can barely fit in anything.  So for now I tell her that she can wait to wear the cute outfits and stay super small for a while.  Mommy is doing good.  Definitely recovering, which is hard because I want to run around at times.  My body is definitely NOT allowing that at the moment.  Daddy is absolutely wonderful.  He loves his daughter with emotions he had never felt before.  Watching him sit and watch her in wonder and awe brings tears to my eyes. Delilah is adjusting.  She was a little crazy for a bit when we brought her home, but is learning that this baby is staying.  We make sure to give Delilah individual attention when we can. :) (In case you are confused, Delilah is our human pet dog.)

Praise God for answering our prayer!  We had no idea how wonderful an experience this would be.  Taking one day at a time with each diaper change, new facial expression, cuddle, and kiss.  We are thankful for life and can't wait to share ours with our little Lyric Noel.

The next blogs will be less frequent, but about how Lyric's life is becoming more and more joyful.  We welcome you to join us on this journey as we celebrate life!