I can't believe it's already been a week since little Lucy was born. On one hand it's all gone by so fast. On the other, it seems like a lifetime ago that I stepped into that labor & delivery room. It's amazing how in just seven days it's already difficult to remember what life was like before she arrived.
On my due date, Tuesday, May 25th, I arrived at my doctor's appointment with high expectations that I would leave with an induction date. Hope diminished when I was told that basically my body was doing nothing to prepare for labor. During my non-stress test however, the baby wasn't very reactive so my doctor sent me to the hospital to be monitored. I was told that I would most likely be sent home but there was a small chance I would be kept and induced that night. Of course, baby woke up once I got to the hospital and after spending an hour or so there I was sent home as expected. Two days later, on Thursday, I headed off to the doctor again. Still no progress. I was close to tears, sure my pregnancy would be dragging on into the next week. But then my doctor told me he was scheduled to be at the hospital on Sunday, and we could schedule an induction then if I wanted to. Otherwise we could wait until after the weekend to see how things played out. I left his office a few minutes later with instructions in hand for Sunday morning.
On Sunday, May 30th, five days past my due date, I called the hospital at 7:30 in the morning to make sure they had room for me and was given the green light to come in. I arrived at the hospital at 8 and was told I was the only patient on the labor & delivery floor (so yeah, they had plenty of room). Apparently, not a lot of people wanted to have a baby on a holiday weekend. So I had plenty of personalized attention from all the L&D nurses. In addition, my doctor was the "in house" doctor at the hospital that day which meant he was there the whole time. It was a nice change from my other two labors, which both involved the doctor showing up at the hospital only after a full day of seeing patients in the office, arriving just in time for delivery. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention this time around.
Pitocin was started at 9am. By 11, I had dilated to 3 centimeters and one of the resident doctors broke my water. Now, I have never had my water broken before getting an epidural, and for the first time in three births I started experiencing some intense, painful contractions. I asked for an epidural and received one around 11:45am.
Now, I have been induced two times before, and both times I delivered right around dinner time (5:29pm for Ella, 6:47pm for Claire). This labor seemed to be progressing perhaps a little faster, but in a very similar fashion. So at around 12:40pm I didn't think twice about sending Matt to the hospital cafeteria to get some lunch. At 12:49pm I sent the following text to a friend:
Got the epidural an hour ago and was at a 4. They seem to think I will go quickly...I'm guessing around 3 baby will be here!
The baby was born 20 minutes later.
At 1pm the resident doctor checked me and to my surprise basically told me I was completely dilated. I think I asked her to clarify herself twice because I couldn't believe it had happened so fast. She told me the head was already visible and had my doctor come in to get ready for delivery. At 1:04pm Matt walked into the room with a bag of chips and a soda in hand. The doctor said, "I'm glad you're here. We're about to have a baby."
Without any effort on my part, the baby's head was already almost out. At this news I started laughing, more in disbelief than anything else, and was told by the doctors and nurses to please not laugh. Apparently it was pushing the baby out further. And so without even a single push, Lucy Caroline basically birthed herself and entered the world at 1:09pm. I think I was in shock for about an hour after her birth because I still couldn't believe how quickly it had all happened. If Matt had decided to stop and grab a candy bar, as he contemplated doing, he probably would have missed it. The doctor told him there was nothing he could have done to stop it. Apparently they were still talking about my delivery sans pushing on the L&D floor the next day.
Lucy arrived with a healthy set of lungs, a head covered in dark hair, long fingers, and full cheeks. She definitely fit the Woodbury girl mold. At 8lbs, 1oz she was by far my biggest baby (I had guessed she would be 7lbs, 3 oz) and was also the longest at 20.5 inches. Oh, and did I mention she is absolutely perfect?
Seconds old.
Minutes old.
With mom, one day old.
Morning nap.
Ten perfect toes.