My Birth Story

Wow! I can't believe it's been a month. The day after I wrote my last post I went into labor and here are the details I can still remember!

Photo by Channing Johnson

Thursday night we went to eat dinner with my parents and Chris's dad at our favorite local spot, Gina's by the Sea. I didn't feel awesome at dinner and I couldn't get comfortable in my chair. Something inside of me knew the big event was happening soon. Sure enough the next morning my water broke. There was no question about it. A huge gush came out when I got up to go to the bathroom for the 100th time. It wasn't a one time thing.....it continued to flow pretty much every time I stood up. I never knew it would keep flowing like that. I didn't have any contractions yet so I tried to go back to bed. I calmly told Chris when he woke up that it was time. We came downstairs and told the family that the day had finally arrived, but there wasn't a huge rush to get anywhere since I still wasn't having any contractions. My midwife told me to wait it out at home until things got moving. So at 9am my mom and I went to get our nails done. I figured we could all sit at the house and stare at one another or I could go do something relaxing. 

Around 4pm the contractions started coming on stronger so we decided to head on in to the hospital. It was such a strange feeling as we drove to know that was the last time it was just the two of us. When we got in the car to come home our lives would be completely different. I got all checked in and set up in my hospital room. I bounced on the ball and walked/swayed as each contraction came along. My midwife, who is also a close friend, wasn't working but came in just for us. I am so lucky! 

I guess I imagined that once we got to the hospital it would be go time. That wasn't the case. We ordered dinner and settled in for the night watching a Harry Potter marathon. Chris was in heaven. Around 10pm they checked my progress and I was disappointed to hear that I was barely dilated. The contractions were getting pretty intense and I was sure that I had to be further along. My hope was to try to do this naturally, but I quickly learned that my pain threshold is not as high as I thought it was. At some point in the middle of the night, I finally made it to 5cm and asked for the epidural. This allowed me to get some rest. Then around 7am we found out it was finally go time. I didn't really have time to process it all so I just focused on meeting our baby and began to dig deep. The epidural was wearing off at this point so I was able to feel some of the contractions which helped me push....and push.....and push for 3 hours. It didn't feel like 3 hours at the time but man I wanted this baby out of me. My midwife began talking to one of the nurses about getting a doctor to come in and use a vacuum to bring the baby out because it just wasn't making it over my pelvic bone. That was all I needed to hear. I gave one more push and there she came!! 

It's a girl!!!! I quickly learned why it was so tough to get her out. She was 8lbs. 8 oz. and 20.5" long. They immediately put her on my chest and she was solid. I couldn't believe it! We have a beautiful, healthy baby girl!! After having 3 nephews we were sure it was a boy, but we finally broke the streak. This girl is going to be tough, strong and completely protected by those boys. I can't wait to watch her give them all a run for their money. 

After she was delivered, we got to spend an hour together, skin to skin, just getting to know one another. This was my favorite time and something I will never forget. All the pain immediately vanished as we laid together. Then I learned I had 8 stitches. She did a number on me, but it was all worth it and I've been told that one day I won't even remember all the bad parts. But for now, I still remember all of it. 

It took us the entire first day to name her. All the girl names we had at the top of our list just didn't suit her. We kept testing them out and it just didn't feel right. So I pulled out our master list that I had on my phone of every name I ever liked. We went through each one and when we came to Lyla it clicked. Then I looked up the meaning and it said, 'beautiful island girl.' That was what solidified it for us. She is an island girl and of course she is beautiful. Her middle name is James after both of her grandfathers. I'm not sure yet if she will be just Lyla or if we will give her some southern flair and call her Lyla James. I'm from the south and we love our double names! 

Photo by Rebecca Brown

We spent two more nights in the hospital and attempted to get some rest. The nurses were wonderful and we were lucky that it was an empty floor while we were there so we got plenty of attention. Before we knew it we were packing up to head home. It's crazy that we just walked out of the hospital as a family of three...well four once we got home to our fur baby Summitt. 

Next week I will get into what the first four weeks have been like. Now I need to take a nap, but I will probably end up just staring at my beautiful baby girl! 

Photo by Rebecca Brown