August 10th 2014 - Lucy's Bornday

It's been four weeks, and things have gotten pretty dang crazy around these parts to say least! I have been meaning to capture Lucy's birth in a looooong post for my own reference - so here it is almost a month out. Not too graphic, but skip it if you're disinterested in or creeped out by birth stories.

Pre-Lucy family selfie!

Lucy was slated to make her debut on August 5th but in usual Woodland family fashion she wanted to make a grand entrance and really make us work for it. We called the doctor to schedule this little lady's eviction on her due date. They promptly told us that we could only induce on Monday, August 11th. Fine with us! We scheduled the induction for 7:00am.

Sunday, August 10th around 9:00am I began having pretty weird cramps - but not "contractions", right? We were being induced MONDAY...not Sunday! By 11:00am I was fairly confident my water had broken because I was leaking. I say "leaking" because there was no gush, at least not for me. Instead it was a steady leak for about an hour. In the meantime the cramping got worse and worse and was kinda hard to breathe through. But I was making oatmeal M&M cookies for the youth at church, and we were being induced on MONDAY! We called the hospital to check it out and I said, "I am leaking and having cramps...am I in labor?" the sweet labor nurse said, "there is no "leaking" dear...and it should be contractions, not cramps. Call us back when they are five minutes apart and you have walked around the house and soaked a few pads with water...then we know you're in labor." Well, I had already done that. For the past hour and then some, so we just got in the car and went to the hospital instead.

On arrival at Scripps Hospital the contractions (which still just felt like horrific cramps) had intensified and I was having trouble walking, breathing, and generally thinking. Which is when they began to register us into Labor and Delivery. Why is that package of registration paperwork three inches thick? I had already pre-registered! Nonetheless, they needed my John Hancock on each leaflet of registration paperwork along with lots of pertinent numbers and life information that my brain was not at all able to focus on. At that point the entire package of papers went to Matt who diligently read them, filled in things (correct or not), and forced my hand into some kind of signature pattern. It worked, and they booked us in the system.

Soon there was an anesthesiologist/miracle worker who stuck that beautiful epidural in between the perfect two vertebrae and I dozed a lot. I was really nervous I would be sick, but since I had failed to eat anything of substance that was a non-issue. Matt, on the other hand, snacked like a champ for us both. All was glorious for the next few hours.

Post-epidural, obviously

Kelly Tip: if you might be in labor don't eat - then you cannot puke. True story. Some ladies will tell you to eat for the strength you'll need for labor before you leave home. Those people are either superwomen or they puke. There is no in between.

Fast forward to around 8:00pm. I had been at the hospital for eight hours in passive labor. I'm sure this should have been uncomfortable but Epidural! So fantastic. We had watched golf, football, and were now on the Next Food Network Star Finale. Then the nurse said that I had reached 10 centimeters dilated, so we were going to move to active labor (pushing). Okay! Except, I couldn't feel anything, and my left leg kept falling off the table. Also? There were very, very few staff on the floor as they had admitted far more than the allowable share of pregnant women that day. Three women were laboring in triage. The nurses kept having to run off and check other women - and they actually believed it was due to the supermoon/meteor shower that was taking place. Multiple nurses and midwives made reference to it throughout our stay. Whatever it was that was causing the influx, that left no doctors and very few nurses to birth our baby.

Thank goodness for Matt. My husband was basically the entirety of my labor and delivery staff. This is the man who was faint during our hospital tour, and mentioned a few times how disinterested he was in the business end of birth. Apparently a complete lack of medical help will cause even the most reticent parent to grab a leg and start reading the contractions printout they have on constant loop. Without hyperbole, Matt was actually both Lucy and my hero that night.

Here's why:

Prior to pushing they had let us know that we wouldn't be seeing a doctor that night unless something went completely awry.  The doctor's on the floor were so swamped with the multiple patients that they were focusing on the toughest cases first. The midwives would be delivering all "normally progressing" births. Fine with me - I am all for midwifery. We met our midwife, and she let us know it was her first day at the hospital. Still fine. Remember, I was on drugs. Then our labor and delivery nurse was so attentive despite balancing multiple patients that I truly didn't care. However, Lucy is one large-headed child (all of those brains!) and although delivery was progressing great, she wasn't gonna make it out on her own with just my pushing. Our midwife was hesitant to move forward with a procedure that would help Lucy's head get out quicker because it wasn't the most "natural" of courses and our L&D nurse was pretty insistent that she go ahead and move with the procedure because Lucy was stressed. Next thing I know I had spiked a 102-degree fever and my whole body was being ice-packed. Lucy was getting more stressed and her heart-rate was super fast. Then they told me that if my fever ever gets to 104-degrees they have to perform a Cesarean section and take Lucy to the NICU right away. I was pushing and fevering, Lucy's heart-rate was getting faster, our L&D nurse and our midwife weren't really in agreement on how to proceed, and Matt was just a total rock star. He was this perfect calm in the storm. People kept dropping my dead left leg off the table and he would be there to catch it even though he was in charge of the body parts on the right side of the table.

Finally, the L&D nurse said, "we are bringing in the cavalry" and explained that there would be one NICU respiratory doctor, one NICU nurse, one lab person with a bunch of antibiotics, and two additional L&D nurses coming in to take Lucy as soon as she arrived. Well, wouldn't you know with about seven additional medical staff in the room awaiting Lucy's arrival, my midwife thought it was the perfect time to proceed with the procedure (that had been suggested about two hours prior) to get Lucy out fast! I had been pushing for two and a half hours at this point, and once the procedure was done Lucy was right there in seconds. All 9 pounds 9 ounces and 21.5 inches of her. It was immediately the best moment of our lives. Who knew love happens so fast?

Note the ice pack and Lucy looking like she ran a baby marathon

In the end they did not have to take Lucy to the NICU and instead the nice NICU staff treated Lucy in our delivery room, and then took all of these family pictures instead. I suppose that it was a welcome relief for all involved.

I know that we could not be happier with out little family, and for the record the first thing I said to Matt after Lucy got here was, "None of this was bad! We should do this again sometime!" Although I think we may need to see how the sleepless nights go first. ;)

Soon we were surrounded by all of Lucy's fan club. Our parents had all driven and flown in overnight to see this child. We are very, very lucky to have such a fantastic support system with our families and friends.

Grandpa and Grandma Mik

Grandma Kitty

Auntie Meggo

Grandma Joyce

Grandpa and Grandma Woodland

It has been an eventful first month, and we can't wait to see whats in store for our little Lucy!