LilyAnne's birth story

Remember a couple summers ago when I wrote a post about Ruby's birth story, and the week of  emergency room craziness that ensued immediately before?

Insane Birth Story, Second Edition:

LilyAnne's fluid levels had been low for a month or so, so we were attending bi-weekly appointments to do stress tests and ultrasounds to keep tabs on everything going on inside. Jonathan begged each appointment for me to request that the doctor "get her out" at that appointment, because he just "neeeeeeeeds, to see how cute she is!".  All the kids were with us at our last appointment when we got the diagnosis of "fluid levels too low, go induce", and Jonathan let out some excited yells, "YEEEEESSSS!!! YEEEES!!" Everyone's excitement level immediately went through the roof, and mine was accompanied by a mild amount of this-is-going-to-hurt-so-bad panic :)

We took some fun family shots right before going in to document our excitement (can you see the little bit of panic in my face??).

WAHOOOO!! {Sissy was sleeping in the car}

 I love the way God orchestrates so many details in His care for us. The day we were sent in to induce we had spent the whole day running errands together as a family, and I'm so, so grateful for that time with the kids before spending several days away from them at the hospital. Also, the night before Roo had been up, wanting Daddy-snuggles, and we decided to let her sleep in our bed. She laid awake for a long, long time, stroking our faces, flopping onto Daddy's pillow... it was a sweet time with her as the baby of the family one last time.

Ruby, looking rather BIG!

 This whole pregnancy had been rather off-the-beaten-path for us, with odd complications with my body keeping us guessing. We figured labor/delivery would be unique in it's own way too, especially since every labor has been very, very different. We arrived at the hospital at 5pm, and the nurse administered some prostaglandin(sp?) gel to ripen the cervix. That started mild contractions, and we settled in for 6 hours of "ripening" before starting pitocin. I was hooked up to monitor contractions and baby's heart rate (which remained BEAUTIFULLY within the healthy range for the entire labor!). We were told to sleep while we could, before things picked up. In the wee hours of the morning I was at 2cm and we started pitocin, which picked up the contractions for a little while. At this point I was uncomfortable, but not in much pain. I labored for about 12 hours off and on, fluctuating between pain and discomfort. We started getting antsy, and requested a dilation check. 3cm. Boo. A nurse advised unhooking everything, having a snack and a nap, and then getting back to it. We rested and ate, and started cranking the pitocin back up. After 6 more hours we checked dilation again, this time at 4cm. I was starting to get nervous, knowing I only had a few more hours until 24hrs after having my water broken, at which point the medical staff would get more anxious to get her out sooner than later. The pain began to increase, and knowing I still had 6cm left to go, I decided to call for an epidural. I wanted to do everything we could to have her traditionally before that 24hr mark, and having an epidural would allow them to push my body a little harder, have me prepared in case we got to a C section, aaaand in my last few birth stories, babies have come less than an hour after getting an epidural. :)  True to form, an hour after the epidural a nurse checked me, and called for the doctor! I had been temporarily deeply asleep when the nurse woke me to check, and barely came to my senses in time to be coherent for delivery! Our doctor came rushing in huffing and puffing, and 9 minutes after "completion" I had a beautiful little girl on my chest! Her eyes were big and open and full of wonder.

 

 I held her skin-to-skin for an hour, then we wrapped her up and called in her big brothers and sister. Their faces were packed with excitement and anticipation, and they exclaimed over their new sister- my heart was so, so full!!

6 of us!!

 

 

 Another way God made His divine orchestration known to us was that the very same nurse that requested to help us with Evelyn's delivery (almost exactly 3 years ago) was assigned to our room! She remembered us, remembered Evelyn and lots of significant details about that significant time. It was so, so redemptive to see her again,  to show her the two daughters God has gifted us since Evelyn's birth, and introduce her to the handsome boys He gave us before.

 

 Okay, now to the emergency room portions of this story! Henry just got a cast off his right arm a week or so ago (his left was in a cast when I was delivering Ruby).
 

 

  Aaaaand last night Jonathan fell out of his bunk and broke his right elbow! (He fell out of a tree a few days before Ruby was born and needed xrays of his chest because of some bad bruising).  This morning I remembered that a month before HENRY was born, we took Jonathan to the ER with a really high fever- I shoulda known this time around! ;)

 Sissy loves her newborn buddy :) She can't get enough of her!

 Welcome to the family, LilyAnne Ruth. You feel so right, added to the mix!