Welcome Lydia Katherine!!

She's here!

Lydia Katherine is here! I still can't believe it!!

And it's been a whole week since she joined our family. This was supposed to be an announcement, but it's kind of turned into an announcement/birth story at one week. It kept growing and growing.

Our beautiful baby girl arrived on Friday February 8th at 6:37 pm.

She weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz., and was 21.5 inches long.

So far she's mellow and sweet. But sleeping all the time, just crying when she's hungry, and looking around a little bit more every day can only be taken to be mellow and sweet.

I'm so thrilled about my labor. It went exactly how I'd hoped. I labored at home for most of it, just went to the hospital at the very end, got my epidural, pushed a couple times, and she was out!

I know it's probably bad to start playing favorites so soon, but between Everett's and Lydia's, Lydia's was my favorite labor. (;

With Everett, I was ten days past my due date. I was induced for reasons I still think were mostly unjustified. I was in the hospital for over 12 hours being pumped with drugs before my labor even started, and when it did, it was long, intense, and exhausting.

This time, I started off by bugging my doctors until my due date was made February 6th (from the last period), not January 27th (from the first ultrasound) or February 1st (from the next two ultrasounds). 

I think more time before being called "overdue" took some stress off all of us. 

Starting the 21st of January, I started experiencing some mild "pre-labor" symptoms: menstrual-like cramping, mild back pain, mild contractions.

On January 26th, things started getting more noticeable. All the symptoms started getting more intense, especially the contractions. But all the symptoms were separate from each other, irregular, and totally tolerable. 

But from that point on, I was like: "it could happen any minute!" Which was so weird for me because I never had any pre-labor symptoms with Everett. And I'd never even considered possibly having a baby in January!! 

But those same symptoms continued unchanged for maybe a week/week and a half. Early in February, they started getting a bit more serious.

I decided I would try to put off labor as much as I could so when it stared "for real," there would be no stopping it. So I used techniques designed to stop pre-term labor. I relaxed, took warm baths, stayed really well hydrated with coconut water and recharge (and regular water), and I even started drinking a glass of wine a night to really relax.

On Thursday the 7th, I guess my contractions were strong enough, and apparent enough to others, that Brian took the next day off work.

That night, I got into bed at around 11:00 thinking, "I really need to get some sleep if I'm going to be in labor tomorrow." But when I laid down, I couldn't get comfortable. The contractions were so strong and uncomfortable that I almost wanted to cry and I thought, "I don't know if I can do this. What have I gotten myself into?!?"

But, of course, it was just the position I was in. I got up and took a bath. Then I sat in the recliner and watched some Poirot, dealt with the contractions. I didn't expect it, but I actually got some sleep in the recliner, while having contractions.

They tell you this is the case with real labor versus Pitocin labor, but some contractions really are worse than others, and sometimes you get a bit of a break!

The whole next day I was dealing with contractions 20 minutes apart, then 15, then 10 minutes apart. But they were all very manageable, and never super consistent (but pretty consistent).

We had pretty yucky weather that day. I felt bad, after I texted Gion about coming to get Everett (around 11:20), it started POURING down rain and even HAILING!

We ate some chicken soup.

We watched some Arrested Development, something we did in the mother baby room after Everett arrived.

We tried to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, but it wasn't distracting enough.

We watched part of Zoolander, something we did when I was in labor with Everett.

In the afternoon, it cleared up enough that we decided to walk around the house. Couldn't quite face a neighborhood walk. And even around the house, I had to stop a few times, even brace myself on the porch. Things had gotten heavy, but I wan't quite ready to admit it.

I took a bath, and a few of my contractions in the tub were intense, but most were manageable.

But I got out of the bathtub and, WOW! I had a tough time getting dressed. I had to keep sitting down on the bed. I was in a lot of pain.

It was at that point I realized we had to go to the hospital NOW! If we didn't go then, I didn't know if I could mentally face getting into the car.

Brian had been scrambling around packing the car, packing last minute things for himself. He said, "should we go to the hospital soon?" I said, "yes!" and he said, "good." [enter sign of relief from him]

We left home at about 3:40 pm.

The drive to the hospital was ok. I couldn't even handle hearing the classical station, so we drove in silence most of the way.

We went into the emergency room entrance as we had been instructed, and the young woman at the counter, poor girl. She asked me how close my contractions were. I said, "pretty much all the time." She asked if my water had broken. I answered, "no." I thought, "that's a complication! It's rare! Is that something you ask every laboring woman coming through the door?!?" My look could have killed her.

Some guy came up and asked the same questions. We had to sign some paperwork. Paperwork! In full blown labor!

They wheeled me up to the room. I got changed into my gown and peed. Did I mention how hard changing is when you're in labor, let alone using a toilet?!?

But then they checked me . . . and I was 8 cm dilated!

I think, one of a pregnant woman's main fears during labor is that they'll check her and she won't have progressed, or she'll feel like she's in full blown labor and only be 4 cm. That's what happened to me during my labor with Everett.

But I was an 8!

The first thing out my mouth was "can I still have an epidural?!?" Ha! The first nurse I asked said I was probably too far along. Panic set in a bit. Even though I had thought it might be a blessing in disguise if it happened, the thought of it happening when the time came was rough. I was reaching my pain limit (or at least my limit in these days of modern medicine).

But when the next nurse came in, who ended up being our main nurse for the rest of the labor, I asked if I could have an epidural, and she said, "Sure! I'll put the order in right now!"

The anesthesiologist came in, and his name was Mulder (I'm a big X-Files fan, so it seemed like a sign). He said to me, "you're already so far along, are you sure you want an epidural?" I looked at him blankly and said, "yes." Or maybe I just nodded.

I only had a few normal contractions with the epidural before they started getting lower and more pressure-filled. The epidural didn't help so much with the pressure, but I think it took some of the edge off.

Most of my contractions I spend holding Brian's hand. Sometimes with my head resting on his chest. I just breathed in through the nose, out through the mouth. I hardly opened my eyes other than to look at Brian every once in a while.

Before labor, I was nervous that I didn't know enough vocalizations or positions, but in the end, I didn't feel like I needed vocalizations. And I was ok figuring out potions on my own.

I knew my contractions had changed and I'd have to start pushing soon. I didn't feel "the need" to push yet, but I knew it would be coming soon. The doctor on call from our OB's practice was finishing up a c-section at the time, so the nurse didn't encourage me to push. She didn't have me put my legs up or anything. But she got prepared to "catch" the baby herself or have Brian do it. I think she actually asked Brian if he'd like to catch his own baby.

But the doctor made it in time, and they had me start pushing right away (arguing a little about who would stand directly . . . uh . . . there, since my bag of waters hadn't broken). With Everett, they made me wait for a contraction to push, but this time, they were like, "push, push, push!" Haha. A few times I stopped and waited for a contraction, but once they all started sounding exited, I just kept pushing, and she was out! I don't know how many times I pushed, but it only lasted a few minutes.

And then she was here! And I was holding my beautiful, messy baby. It's amazing how you carry this being inside of you for 9 months, not knowing what she even looks like, and then she's here, and she's like a stranger and an extension of yourself simultaneously.

We got to the hospital a bit before 4:00, and she was born at 6:37! Two and a half hours in the hospital before she was born! If I could have done anything differently, I actually would have gone in a little earlier. Filling out paperwork, in the emergency room and while in the labor bed, in full blown labor, was no fun (and we had pre-registered!). Plus, I almost missed my opportunity to get my epidural! But it's so hard to know where you are in labor, if I'd gone in earlier, I would have been afraid I wasn't far enough along.

I text messaged Gion as we were heading to the hospital, and she called my parents. After she was born, Brian called Phil and Gion and my parents. And he text messaged Rachel. Before we knew it, we had visitors! Bearing champagne and sushi!

And Big Brother got to meet his little sister! It was so sweet. Brian knelt down with her and introduced him, and he was looking around, totally didn't know what he was looking for.

But then he figured it out, and he has been super sweet to Baby Sister ever since.

After such a short labor in the hospital, it seemed like forever that I had to sit in that labor bed before they moved us to the recovery/mother baby room, definitely longer than I labored. They weighed and measured Lydia, bathed her, did whatever else nurses do after a birth.

But I felt so good afterward, like completely normal, that it was hard just sitting there. I wanted to get up and at least eat my sushi. I really wanted a shower, but they wouldn't let me do that because of the epidural (still worth it).

Rachel had come quickly to meet Lydia when she was first born (in the middle of a mommy/son date with Andy, Heather, and Gus), but she came back later to spend more time with us and cuddle Lydia.

Gion brought Everett the next day to visit, my parents came back, and Gion and Everett came once more in the afternoon.

The first time Everett came to visit on Saturday, we gave him his gift from Lydia: a purple stuffed Triceratops. I hope it becomes very special to him. So far, it's not his favorite.

We chose to spend just 24 hours in the hospital. I find the constant monitoring by the nurses exhausting (although I understand why they do it), and the bed Brian had to sleep on he described as springs wrapped in tissue paper. It was also hilariously thin, half the width of a twin bed? I can't imagine anyone larger than Brian sleeping on it, and Brian's thin!

We watched a lot of HGTV (something I miss not having cable), and Brian went out and brought back Hush Harbor sandwiches!! I didn't eat lunch meat during the pregnancy to protect against listeria, and I really missed their turkey grinder.

So, yeah. We just hung out, had guests, cuddled and got to know our little girl.

We got to go home a bit after 7:00 on the 9th, after Lydia got her final tests.

We weren't sure if Everett should spend another night with Phil and Gion (just because we missed him, he always has a blast with his grandparents), but we were really happy he did. It was nice to spend a quiet night at home with the little one. The next night, with Everett here, was pretty chaotic.

My recovery has been great. Much smoother than after Everett. But I really had a great recovery after that labor too. This time, I was just less zombie-like the next day or two since I had fewer drugs. And my labor was shorter and a bit less traumatic, so I'm in less pain. I also didn't get nearly as puffy, which I think is because I didn't have so much liquid pumped into me from an IV.

I'm, truthfully, almost back to normal. Almost . . .

Ok, I'm going to have to wrap it up now. I was going to get current, but I'm so tired.

We are so in love with our little girl. She's the cutest. So far, she only cries when she's hungry. She sleeps most of the time, but she's spending more and more time awake.

More about her and the rest of us in the February post!