Lydia's Birth Story

Disclaimer -- this is for women only who want to hear all the gory details of my labor and delivery. It's kind of on the long side and is a "too-much-information" post, very personal, so if you don't want to know the details, just skip to the next post. Thanks!

So, here it goes...

For the last few weeks the baby had been sitting very low which has made just about every moment with my legs very painful. Wednesday Mike and I walked around the grocery store for a while and I felt as though the baby was going to fall out! I had a feeling that the baby would come early, but was waiting for some other prelabor signs besides just the baby dropping.

Thursday morning I woke up and I was soooo tired, so around 10:00 I did something I rarely do these days, I took a nap. (No burst of energy here!) About 1:45 that afternoon I got the first definite prelabor sign, and 15 minutes later I had a second! Last time when I had the first one, Emily was born within 24 hours, so I had a feeling that this baby might follow suit. At that point, we washed all the baby clothes as they had been sitting in storage for over a year. We hung them on the line to dry but they weren’t drying very quickly due to the rainy weather we’ve been having. At 6:00 that evening I started feeling some light contractions. About 20 minutes later I started timing them and they were about every 5 minutes apart. At that point we really started to get our bag for the hospital ready and Emily ready to go to stay with our friends. Mike was almost pushing my out the door to go to the hospital, but I was dragging my feet because the baby's clothes weren't dry and I didn't want to get to the hospital and be only 2 cm dilated. But, he managed to get my out the door by 7:30 and off we went to the headquarters of our sister organization here in Brazil to leave Emily with some friends.

Only two days before we had gone to the mission to see if there would be any one there willing to watch Emily should the baby come before my parents arrived the following week. Fortunately we had gotten to know the people at this mission pretty well when we had taken classes there for a couple months last year. We ended up talking with a Brazilian couple there that was more than eager to agree to watch Emily, so Thursday night we called them and headed their way with Emily! The headquarters was located about 15 minutes away from the apartment, so we got there pretty quickly. While Mike got the pack-n-play ready for Emily, I threw the baby clothes in the clothes dryer (they actually had one there) and waited by the laundry area while my contractions were becoming stronger and stronger and about every 3 minutes apart. I must have been a sight, walking in circles around the laundry area and breathing deeply every couple minutes. After about 20 minutes we were ready to go to the hospital (although it felt more like an hour).

We got to the hospital and the doctor was there waiting for us. We had found a woman doctor to be my obstetrician. However, as we got to the hospital, we found out that she was actually pregnant herself and had suddenly had complications, so was on strict bed rest -- so her husband who is also an obstetrician was filling in for her. He was nice, so we weren't too disappointed.

Within minutes of getting to the hospital, the doctor checked me and I was only at 4/5 cm. I was so bummed. With Emily the contractions weren’t nearly this strong or close at this point. So, we went out to the waiting room (well, actually to a second waiting area for paperwork, etc).

About three months before we had gone to the hospital and gotten an estimate of the costs and were told that the hospital needed a $10,000 Real (Brazilian currency) cashiers check (which is pretty standard down here). So we presented the check but were told that in the last few weeks they had changed their policy and now needed a $3,000 Real check. So, ironically they wouldn't accept our $10K. So, we were in a bind because there was no way of getting another check made at 9:00 at night. So after making calls to the accounting department, talking with lots of different people, and finally having the doctor say, come on and push for us, we were finally able to be admitted to the hospital. In the meantime, this had been about an hour and a half while I was having contractions every couple minutes. A lady even came up to me and asked if I was in labor as she could see my stomach tightening!

Finally we got a room and the doctor asked if the contractions were more intense. I said a little bit, so he went ahead and checked me. When we had gotten to the room I had said to Mike, “I want an epidural! I don’t think I can handle this anymore!” At that point the doctor checked me again. His eyes got really big and said that I was already at 9 cm and the baby was right there. He had me to get back into the wheelchair and we headed up to the delivery room. I had a strong contraction in the elevator, then they wheeled me outside the delivery room while the doctor and Mike scrubbed up. Mike told me later that he after he saw all the delivery rooms and women coming in and out, he asked the doctor which room it would be. The doctor said, “Follow the screaming.” I guess the rest of the ladies that night were having cesareans.

As I waited outside the delivery room while in the wheelchair, I had a really strong contraction and felt like I had to push. I leaned forward (because if you’re not very tall, a wheelchair is very uncomfortable). Immediately a nurse rushed to me and called for help shouting that I was going to fall out of the chair. At last the contraction ended and I was wheeled into the delivery room. As soon as I saw Mike I told him “I have to push, I have to push!” The doctor has just made it into the room at that point. A short contraction came and I pushed and my water broke. Or as Mike says, it shot half-way across the room, almost drenching the doctor as he walked by.

Then another contraction came and I pushed again, screaming a lot. Mike told me that if I could get the baby out in the next contraction I wouldn’t need an episiotomy as the doctor was trying to find something to make the cut with. The pediatrician was beside me and said the baby would come on the next contraction. The next contraction came and out came Lydia! I was so relieved! They brought her to my face and I was able to talk to her for a couple minutes before they took her to be cleaned and weighed.

Mike said later that the doctor was kind of upset because the delivery room wasn’t completely ready and so he wasn’t able to find the scalpel for the episiotomy. That was ok with me! I just had a minor tear and only needed a couple stitches. After I was cleaned up, they wheeled me into a type of recovery area. I ended up waiting there for almost an hour and a half but the whole time I prayed for Lydia and kept thanking God that I wasn’t still in labor!

Lydia was taken to the NICU for about an hour and a half because they wanted to monitor her breathing. When I finally got to my room I saw Mike, but no Lydia. After a few minutes, they brought her to us and we were able to enjoy the little miracle that God had given us. 

Some quick facts:

Weight:
Lydia: 7 pounds (3.205 kilos)
Emily: 8 pounds, 7 ounces (3.830 kilos)
Length:
Lydia: 19.5 inches (49.5 cm)
Emily: 19.5 inches (50 cm)
Length of Labor (from first contraction to delivery):
Lydia: 4.5 hours
Emily: 9.5 hours
Time at hospital before delivery:
Lydia: 2 hours
Emily: 3.5 hours
Length of pushing:
Lydia: 5 minutes
Emily: 40 minutes
Day, time:
Lydia: Thursday, October 22, 10:39 p.m.; 15 days early
Emily: Wednesday, December 5, 11:38 p.m.; 8 days early
Last minute changes:
Lydia: Our doctor was on bed rest, so her husband filled in instead
Emily: The hospital was full, so we had to go to another hospital

Thanks to everyone for praying for us. I'm healing well (I feel far less pain walking now than I did before the delivery) and nursing is going well. (Nursing is so much more convenient than pumping and then feeding with a bottle!) Lydia continues to be a joy and an overall content baby. Big sister Emily hasn't shown to be jealous so far and is enjoying giving her sister kisses. She also thinks it's hilarious when Lydia starts crying, which we find irresistibly funny. Thus far the change from one to two hasn’t been too bad, but we’ll keep you posted!

~Kelli