The Real Deal

So I went to bed last night thinking that Lucy had decided to stay in there forever. But I was wrong of course. At 2 am I started timing contractions because they seemed close. They were between 3 and 4 minutes apart. So I thought well maybe this is it but I knew I wanted to wait as long as possible and let people sleep. Rich told me every night, "Just don't do the middle of the night thing again." Well that's just what he got. I got up to go pee at about 2:20 and when I got back in bed I was lying on my back and my contractions had stopped for like 10 minutes, Not again!! So I flipped over on my side to see if they would start again. No sooner had I moved I felt a pop and felt like I wet my pants, which by the way I was extremely used to doing since I had the never ending cough. A cough and nine month pregnant woman doesn't mix well. So I got up and felt leakage all the way to the bathroom. When I sat down on the toilet more liquid came out. My water had broke, which has never happened before so I didn't know what to expect. I changed my clothes, grabbed a pad and woke Rich up and told him we had to go to the hospital. I had no way of knowing how fast she would come at this point. So we went and woke up the rest of the house. We moved the boys into the master with Norris, Brenna and Briana. Trisha came with us to the hospital and the rest of the women followed. My mom, Briana, Brenna, Charlene, Vanessa and Sierra. We had quite the crew at the hospital at 3 am. My doctor had told me that I could have as many people in the room as I wanted during delivery. Well not the case, the nurses told me I could have 3. I asked for 5 and she said she would let me have 4. Dang it. Well Rich obviously is a given. I had my friend Carly coming to take pictures so she was in. Then I wanted my mom to be there and Trisha hadn't had the chance to be there for my other two so she was the lucky #4. I was crying and couldn't stop and a few other tears were shed. I felt bad because everyone had come and sacrificed their sleep to have the chance to see Lucy's birth.

Well when we got to the hospital they admitted me right away and got me on monitors. They checked my progress and I was at a 2. WHAT! I thought for sure I would have been farther along than that. Oh well! I told them I was doing a VBAC (Vaginal birth after caesarian) and they looked at me like I was crazy. Which I knew would happen, they normally don't allow them but Dr. Cooper was willing to do it for me since I had a successful VBAC already with Rocky. About an hour passed and one of the nurses came in and said Dr. Cooper is not responding to our calls we are going to try one more time and if he doesn't come in we will have to take you in for a C-section. Well when you call him I said can I please talk to him because that is ridiculous! The thing with a VBAC is that your doctor has to be there the whole time you are in labor in case an emergency arises. Not 10 minutes later another doctor came in and introduced herself she said Dr. Cooper was held up in Northridge and would be there soon but she was filling in until he got there. Yeah!! Dr. Cooper followed through!! The nurse asked me when I wanted my epidural to just let them know and I said well right now would be good. Why should I feel any of this pain if I know I will be getting it eventually. Right?? They only allowed two people back to my room at a time so everyone was taking turns to come see me. A little before ten they moved me into the delivery room. Once in there the nurse checked my progress and said oh you are ready and you are hardly going to need to push she is right there. So Dr. Cooper came in along with all the other staff and we started at 10:08. I pushed two times. Dr. Cooper said, "Stop Smiling." Which made me laugh and then he worked her head out with mineral oil. The cord was loosely wrapped around her neck but he had Rich cut it so it was out of the way and then he worked the rest of her body out. She was born at 10:17, It was the easiest delivery and Dr. Cooper was the Best Doctor!! I had no tearing my recovery was easy and Lucy is absolutely beautiful!! Dr. Cooper said, "You are the best looking family I delivered all week!"

I don't know how to describe the experience of childbirth. Mine are painless, joyous, wonderful events. Lucy's birth was absolutely beautiful and the feeling of holding my newborn baby girl skin to skin was indescribable. She is a gift from God, a miracle and a blessing in our lives! I feel like I have a little piece of heaven in my hands and I am to care and watch over her precious spirit. Welcome to the world my sweet baby Lucy!

7 pounds 10 ounces 19 1/2 inches